In my earliest days of real estate investing, I thought the path of least resistance would be starting a fix and flip business. My plan sounded simple, to me at least. I would buy distressed houses, do a little fixing up, then easily sell the homes for market price and cash the check.

But, I found out anything that sounds too good to be true can’t actually be true. After a handful of investing flops, I learned that there are some pieces you need to put in place to consistently achieve your goals. Consistency is the key word, as many people can get lucky once, but have difficulty repeating that success.

4 Fundamental Resources For Starting a Fix and Flip Business

I’ve been doing this for years now but the initial learning curve was pretty painful, so I’ll share what I got out of the experience of trying to piece together the basics. The four not-to-be-overlooked elements for getting your fix and flip business off the ground are training, tools, mentorship, and leads. There are many ways to acquire these resources, but only one has really worked for me. Let’s look at them one-by-one.

Real Professionals Train Hard Before They Can Work Hard

Nowadays, I often see newer real estate investors make rookie mistakes because of a lack of quality training—and I was once one of them. It can be anything from buying too high, rehabbing too much, or selling too low. And, it always ends in a pinched ROI, or worse: the end of a professional real estate investing career.

Luckily, I was able to move forward from my real estate investing mistakes and sought out quality training. I didn’t have the time anymore for high-falutin theories or ambiguous get-rich-quick schemes. And, you don’t either.

To get some training, you could join an investing club, study blogs, or spend some serious money to take a real estate investing course. Harvard, for example, has excellent classes, but start to finish will take you a year and a half to get certified—and certification isn’t even required in this profession! Other programs, like those run by Rich Dad Poor Dad Education, Fortune Builders, or Udemy are shorter but more costly, and won’t cover exactly what you need to know to effectively buy, rehab, and sell distressed homes.

Building a fix-and-flip business requires training that meticulously covers the “nuts and bolts” of real estate investing. You’ll need to know the basics, including:

1. How to find properties with the best opportunity for ROI.

2. How to evaluate the rehab costs, including local labor and materials.

3. How to understand the after-repair value (ARV)—and your potential returns.

4. How to market your investment property to the right demographic.

Then, you need to be able to do it all over again and again. That’s how a successful real estate investing business is built. And, it all starts with comprehensive training.

The Right Tools Get The Job Done Right

Look in a PGA professional’s golf bag and you won’t see the same clubs that are sold as a set at Costco. Every club is different, weighted, and tailored to fit that particular golfer’s swing. The same can be said of professional real estate investing tools. We need industry-specific tools to achieve our objectives.

You could find your own tools by trial and error while you invest, like many do. But, it usually ends up as a hodgepodge of software that may or may not work well together. Or, you might get frustrated trying to make a general business software program work for the specific requirements of real estate investing. It’s never a good fit—and your investing results show it.

You need a real estate investing tool that doesn’t cause so much grief. It should be easy to learn and have the capability to perform all the tasks you do most in a day. The best tool will be able to evaluate a potential investment property, provide accurate rehab estimates, deliver comps for the after-repair value, and connect you with hard money lenders—all with the touch of a few buttons. Believe me, having the right tools on hand can make all the difference in whether you can build a real estate investment portfolio or not.

A Mentor Can Make The Difference

If you’ve already tried your hand at buying one, or even two, investment properties, you know that there inevitably comes a time when you have a mission-critical question—and you need honest feedback. What if the rehab is more than you think you can handle? What if it takes too long to renovate and the hard money loan comes due?

If your real estate investing mentor is charging you by the hour, you’ll probably get the same old answer: “buy anyway.” One-size-fits-all advice from a by-the-hour mentor will most certainly lead you astray of your personal business goals—and, potentially, into debt.

To build a solid fix and flip business, you need a mentor who is actually dedicated to your
growth, not just their bottom line. Your mentor should have a proven track record of building a successful real estate investing business and be readily available to field any questions you come up against. Having experienced professional support is like having your training extended to cover any circumstances that arise in real life.

There’s No Business Without the Lead Business

You can get all the training, tools, and mentoring that you want, but your fix-and-flip business is gonna go nowhere fast if you don’t have a solid lead generation strategy. In a competitive market, you might be tempted to gamble on a property at a real estate auction or sheriff sale just to get your hands on something.

But, let me tell you from experience, you might be left with something all right: Liens that are suddenly your responsibility, tenants you have to evict, or a money pit that you never were allowed to inspect. All it takes is one or two of these bad deals to drive your budding business into the ground.

Leads can seem like a needle in a haystack if you don’t know where to look. Luckily, I found a lead generation method that brings distressed homeowners directly to me. And, it’s not as difficult as you might think, either. In fact, you probably already know about it.

I started out with a simple plan for building my fix-and-flip business, only to find out it wasn’t so simple after all. The irony was that what I thought would be simple is actually much simpler. And, it can be for you, too.

Starting a Fix and Flip Business Can Be Simple

After nearly giving up my fix-and-flip business dream because of too many mistakes, I looked long and hard for the solutions to my biggest challenges. And what I found won’t surprise you: an independently owned and operated HomeVestors® franchise opportunity.

As a HomeVestors® franchisee, I got all the elements I needed to get my professional real estate investing business on the right path. From the outset, I received a one-week comprehensive training that helped me feel confident again. I was also connected with a dedicated mentor who was so experienced, he could almost foresee where I was likely to fall—and help steer me in a better direction. The tools at my disposal now are also some of the best in the business for valuing properties, estimating rehab costs, and getting financing that requires just a few taps on my Ipad.

And, qualified leads are never a problem. I’m sure you’ve seen the nationally-known “We Buy Ugly Houses®” advertising. It’s so effective that just about everybody has seen it—including distressed homeowners who need to sell fast. That’s how I get my qualified leads now. No more hassle, no time and money spent on rabbit trails that go nowhere. Just solid leads to build my business on.

If you are ready to start a fix-and-flip business with the right training, tools, support, and qualified leads, call HomeVestors® today.

Each franchise office is independently owned and operated.