You see it on primetime all over the place. People buy residential homes, fix them up as lovely as they can as quickly as they can, and then flip them for sale back onto the market. Entire programs revolve around this on cable television, and you probably hear or see ads for property flipping workshops from assumed gurus all the time in your area. While there is profit potential, it’s not always perfect. In truth, flipping property has both benefits and drawbacks.

The primary allure of property flipping is the possibility of making a lot of money. Just fixing up and flipping one single residential home can mean your profit is more than the average person’s yearly salary. Also, fixing and flipping can usually be done quickly, sometimes in just a matter of months. Along the way, you can help create comfortable homes for future families and learn a lot about your local market. You’ll even pick up some construction knowledge.

Pros and Cons

There are downsides, however. It costs money to get involved with something like this. You have to buy an entire home. Then, on top of that, you have to sink in the money necessary to fix up a property. Depending on the property’s condition, there might be unexpected expenses that need to be patched up. Also, you can face even more costs the longer you hold a property and how hard you get hit with taxes. Time is a factor since owning a property too long might mean the local market changes and prices decrease.

Selling isn’t always easy either. Some buyers don’t like buying from flippers out of trust issues and rushed processes. You want to get the most return for your investment, but you also don’t want to sit on the market too long. If you’re lucky, you get a bidding war going the first day you have an open showing. Staging can be another few thousand dollars in expense, but it can also help buyers visualize themselves living there. That’s key to a home sale.

Flipping a property is a high-risk, high-reward adventure. The potential for massive financial gain is there. Then again, so too is the possibility of losing a lot of money.