How to Make Money Selling your House Flips

By Terry Tancey


Now for the best part of flipping a house...selling.

No doubt, one of the most exciting parts of house flipping is selling. It's the culmination of months of work and many house flipping steps. You raised some money having learned how to flip houses with no money, you bought the property, you repaired it and rehabbed it and now you're ready to sell it.

The ARV number when you first started the project is now the benchmark you'll use to sell with your real estate broker. It is a super exciting time in your life for sure. You're looking forward to cashing that big check, and cash in on all that hard work you've put in over the past three to six months. Enjoy this time! Enjoy it before you go onto the next house flip.

I have always advocated ARV as a standard number to set your sights on when house flipping. Simply stated, the ARV is the price you hope to get when you sell. ARV or after repair value is the price you hope to get when you sell your house flip.

Think about it...if you don't know what you can sell a house for, it doesn't matter what you buy it for. If you can get houses really cheap, it doesn't mean it will make you money.

So the ARV from your initial assessment is a huge number that sets the tone for the whole house flipping project. The ARV from 6 months ago is important for sure, but what really matters is the price you can sell it for in today's market. This is the number of what you can sell the house for today.

After she does the market analysis, your broker tells you that you can sell your flip for $200,000. She carefully performed a market analysis and using compilations of other sold properties known as comps. Today, six months after the start of the house flip project, you have a very good feeling about getting top dollar when you sell. Your broker's job is to find you a buyer who will see the value and pay the price.

So because the broker tells you the price should be $200,000, do you go out and list the house for $200,000? Absolutely no way.

It doesn't matter if its your first flip or if you've been doing it for thirty years, always listen to your house flip advisors. Selling is the time to get your real estate broker involved, ask her opinion and lean on her advice. Thee is nobody who knows the market as well as she does

Ideally, the real estate broker may be the same broker that you worked with early on when finding your first house to flip. If you agreed ahead of time to sell the house with the same broker you bought from, you need to keep your word.

This alone will do much for your house flipping reputation. The promise keeping helps you and your business, it allows you to establish and strengthen your reputation. If you did promise them the listing when you are looking to sell, then make sure you stay honest and keep your word.

Be honest and keep your reputation intact. Word travels fast in the local house flipping world, so keep your word and your reputation in check.

When your real estate agent does the competitive analysis, listen to what it tells you. Like most house flippers, you've been keeping an eye on the market so you probably have a good idea as to what the new price might be...but the truth is in the numbers.

Two things could happen: the market analysis could come in on a higher number than your original ARV or it could go lower. If it's the latter, that's when the 70% Rule will save you.

So when you do sell your house flip, make sure you put safeguards in place to make sure you lock in your profits. This can be done by buying your house 70% below your final ARV. This number also includes the rehab costs as well. If you do this properly, you will make money flipping houses. Using these tips will help you to sell and profit when flipping houses.