Ok, so my husband and I just bought our first house to flip and I figured that there are others out there that may want to do the same. So, I will post as we go through the process so you can get a good feel for what it is like.

To start with we went the easy route and bought a property that was not listed on the MLS that I found through some industry connections. Most houses that will work for flipping have multiple offers and can be tough to get. None the less, we found our in a better area of North Mpls.
Step 1 – Get pre approved with a reputable lender and one who deals with these types of rehab loans on a daily basis – they are not your typical loan.
Step 2 – Find the house and make sure that you will be able to buy, rehab and cover all costs and still be able to sell at a profit. You want to know the comparables near your house so that you know what a REALISTIC sale price point is.
Step 3 – Have your contractor review the house to let you know how much it will cost to rehab and if there are any issues with the house.
Step 4 – Get your escrow set up. Please note that you will need to put at least 20% cash into an escrow account based on the total loan amount (cost of house + rehab costs).
Step 4 – Get a good title company (I recommend Trademark Title) to get you clear title. We ran into an issue on our house where there was a cloud on title from 3 transactions ago. Trademark Title is the only company that caught it! You want clear title and a smooth closing with no suprise assessments down the road. Which I have seen happen many times with other title companies.
Step 5 – Close on the house – we closed on Sept 1 and then we wait a couple of days for the contractor to get approval from the lender to get started.

So, this is where we are at in the process.
Our contractor is staging the supplies and we’ve already got people walking by on the street asking when it will be done! Hoping to be done within 6 weeks so looking to list it mid October!

Jen McKinnon
Realtor / Investor
AGENT REFERRAL NETWORK
jen[at]mnrealestateteam.com