Question by rastapunker: Whats the best way to get into Flipping Houses?
I want to get into flipping houses. Do I need a real estate lisence? What education should i get? What are the legal requirements?

Best answer:

Answer by CJKatl
With your eyes wide open.

Flipping is not the cash cow it once was. I’ve been house hunting lately and there is a huge difference between a home where someone knew what they were doing and a home where someone thought slapping a can of paint up would be a money maker.

If you want to flip houses, you need to get construction experience, project management experience, and decorating experience. If you’re going to have to pay people to do everything, you’re looking at very little profit.

There are small, professional firms that do rehabs in this area and most people will only consider homes they’ve done. Heaven knows what kind of cheap slip-shod work was done by someone who doesn’t know what they’re doing but wants to make as much money as possible.

Among the gems I’ve seen:

The house where there was a space for a microwave above the range, but they put in a hood instead. But the cabinets below the hood were not finished. Once we noticed that, we started seeing corner cutting everywhere. Clearly, they ran out of money. And the house has been on the market for over a year!

The house that failed inspection. There was a water issue in the basement and a crack in the brick. The masonary guy I sent over said the house needs to be condemned. But somebody had put about 0,000 into it but missed getting the brick checked. Someone who thought flipping was easy. Someone headed to bankruptcy.

The house with the drive-through. The person didn’t have a clue and put these two windows extending out to the street that look like a drive-through. The house is laid out so funny that it will never sell.

The house with the backwards doors. The doors open up all over each other, making the house clumsy.

I could go on. There are many houses being renovated in my neighborhood. The ones where someone knew what they were doing sell quickly for around 0k. The ones that were done by someone who woke up one morning and decided to flip homes sit on the market under 0k.

What do you think? Answer below!

Question by kscavarda: What does it take to get into real estate investing?
I am 19 years old and i am trying to figure out my career. I have a big interest in getting into Real Estate investing. But I don’t know how to get into it. Everybody tells me to find a mentor, but they are either so expensive or theres the decision if its worth the money or people tell me you have to be rich to start. There has to be a way around that. What does it take? Whats the best way? How do you start out? What are the steps?

Best answer:

Answer by Eric
Florida State has a great real estate Bachelors program.

What do you think? Answer below!

Question by Curious: how can one get into commercial real estate investing?
how much money does one need to start?
is it easy?
do u need a college degree?
how much money can you expect to make in the first year?
how much money can you expect to make after that?

Best answer:

Answer by Joe_know_it_all
I take it you mean a commericial real estate business. you can invest in commercial real estate through securities (REIT’s) Real Estate Investment Trusts. They can yield you 25-30% return in good years.. others can be -15%.

If your looking to start a business, you best be very smart and have a degree in finance, enteurpeurship or other business oriented degree to crunch the numbers. You will need to buy a mortgage in order to buy the your first piece of real estate.. this best be done after extensive community research and study to the area, demographics, and how hard it would be to maintain clients in the lease area. The hard ecomony is going to put some small companies in hardships and your mortgage is going to be expensive.

Here is an example

You buy a 12,000 sq ft building with 10 lease lots for 0,000. each lot can be leased per month for 1,200 dollars. Say you leased 8 of the 10 units. You would bring in 9,600 dollars a month.. Now time to pay the morgage, if you put decent money down 50K or more, you could get a lower interest rate at lets say 5%. This would be very low for the estimate and the monthly mortgage payment would be ,000 per month for the next 15 years, abolute bare minimum.. and probably the most your commerical building would yield would be 80%-90% leased out. Some building can fall to 20-30% full.. that would yield you 3,600 dollar a month and barely paying your mortgage. We havent even calculated taxes into this mess which will whipe out about 1/3 of your income. The point is, it is not easy to run, not easy to estimate and takes alot of work and advertising just to lease. Best pick a very high trafficed area or have leasees that are long term and will lease for years and years to come.

but if business is good, and you remain full leased for 15 years you will get paid off.. Even after 1 year of full leasing you could yield. 6k a month for a year or ,000 before taxes. You also havent paid maintence, other employees, etc. Not an easy business to get into, especially now a days with mortgages being stingy and real estate still being 10-20% overpriced. LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION.

PS i own a commerical real estate company. only i started 35 years ago.

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