How to Flip a House in 90 Days: Getting Started to Demolition

By DIY Maven

The short version:

Find the money to buy a depressed property in a great location, and then work your behind off.

The long version:

In our case, we exercised a line a credit against the equity in our home to come up with the funds. That only provide for half of what we needed, so we found a guy with cash who was as crazy as we were with whom to partner. We hired a lawyer to draw up an LLC to protect us, financially.

Don’t let the picture of this cute 1 ½ story fool you; inside is was barely habitable. Half the work, however, was complete. Its new siding, roof, soffits and fascia proved it as the perfect house for us.

When buying a home to flip, location is more important than ever because when you’re finished with the remodel, you’re going to want to unload the financial burden as soon as possible. Also, when looking for a property, it was important to us to find something convenient. We did not want to return home from our 9 to 5 jobs and drive an hour to get to the project to start our work for the night.

Can We Start Remodeling Now?

No. Before you close on the house, you’ll need to get insurance for it. This can be tricky. Our homeowner’s provider couldn’t help us as our flipper was going to be unoccupied, so we had to find an insurer who would be willing to take the risk. And, as always, the greater the risk, the higher the price.

Try to get into the house before you close, so you can start taking measurements for all lead-time components such as cabinetry and flooring. You’ll also want to make contact with all technical trades-people you might need to hire as you proceed. Referrals are a must! You need reliable people who will help keep the project on schedule and on budget.

Contact the city in which your flipper is located so you can arrange for all permits needed.

The Fun Begins...And Ends

We gutted the entire house, save one bathroom for obvious reasons. The kitchen, pictured right, was emptied in 20 minutes thanks to cabinetry that was nearly falling off the walls. I don’t know anyone who doesn’t enjoy demolition, so relish it! It might be the last fun you’ll have for...oh...about 90 days.

Check back tomorrow for the second installment (How to Flip a House in 90 Days: Let the Construction Begin) of this series.

Tagged:
flip remodel demolition

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November 20, 2006

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About: Self-proclaimed Maven of DIY, I'm up for anything from gonzo rehab to dressing a room. Although...

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urbanmom

November 20, 2006

good to see this here......my mother tells me that "flipping a house" is exactly what I need to do.

gregoryjohnson

November 20, 2006

Okay, DIY Maven, I have one word for you: Uncle! I give in! Your latest project is (deservedly) featured on the main Curbly page (congratulations, by the way), and I'm fairly confident you didn't have to barter 100 DIY CD lampshades to get the spotlight. I'm starting to feel like a DIY poser in light of this latest contribution. ~ Gregory

DIY Maven

November 20, 2006

Absolutely include the video of your construction on a post! You'll be as cool as Bruno, then!!

As far as bungee jumping from your helicopter-tiny-house-mobile, I think I'd pay to see that! Hey, how about a pay per view Curbly post???? Bruno and Ben, are you reading this???

gregoryjohnson

November 20, 2006

DIY Maven, You rock! And this is just the first installment of a series? We're way beyond mobiles made from old CDs now. Stay tuned for the first installment in my multi-part series titled, "How to Build a House in 90 Days: Getting Started to Completion" including time lapse video edited on my super computer and ported from YouTube. I was actually thinking about this yesterday. I have the video footage from when I built my tiny home (another DIY project where someone else did most of the work). It actually did take about 90 days, so I'm not just copying your title for the fun of it (although I might borrow your headings - they're pretty good). I put in about 60 hours on the project and Jay Shafer put in about 200 hours of work. In a separate DIY series I plan to show how to make a mobile out of tiny houses using a helicopter or large crain and some high-tension steel cables. The video for that series might just include me bunji jumping from the mobile. ~ Gregory