How to Make a Million Dollars a Year Flipping Houses. Jerry Norton
In 2007 alone I sold around 70 turnkey rental properties to investors from all over the U.S., Canada, Australia, the UK, and even Israel.
I became so efficient at finding, fixing and selling homes that I decided to start doing the same in the suburbs. The difference was now I was selling to end buyers (homeowners) in nice areas and not investors in rental areas. I started earning on average $25,000 net profit per deal. With every deal that I did, I would ask, “How can I do this better, faster and get someone else to do the work for me while at the same time making more money?”
Through trial and error and after flipping hundreds of houses, I perfected a system that I believed could be duplicated. Not only did I start to show other people how to follow my system but I also began using it to do deals in other markets all over the U.S. Click here to find out how you can earn a $10,000 finder’s fee for each deal you bring me.
I’ve since taught thousands of investors my proven system for flipping houses. This system will show you how to flip 40 houses a year, earning $25,000 (or more) net profit per deal. That is a million-dollar-a-year house-flipping business that has transformed my life and the lives of many others, and it’s the system that I will teach you right here.
**Note: Before I get started, please excuse any typos, misspelled words, incorrect abbreviations, punctuations and/or incorrect sentence structure. In addition to how to create a million dollar-a-year house flipping business, consider them my gift to you.
Learning Objectives: Let’s review what you can expect from this book. You’ll gain a thorough understanding of how to fix and flip single-family residential properties that earn on average $25,000 (or more) net profit per deal. You’ll gain the skills and the knowledge to immediately begin implementing this exact system in your market. This book is laid out in chapters that are in sequential order. I recommend you read though the chapters in order to fully understand the system and then refer back to specific chapters for further clarification. This book was designed to be hands-on and has examples, case studies and breakout sessions to help you fully grasp the concepts. Like anything, you get out what you put in it. The purpose of the book is to give you my exact model to follow. From this book you will gain the following:
•A step-by-step systematic approach to each aspect of the business
•Beat the competition to the best deals
•Consistently find deals each and every month regardless of what market you’re in
•Accurately estimate repair costs on any deal in 15 minutes or less
•Identify the ideal property and area to fix and flip in any market
•Marketing strategies to sell a property in 30 days or less
•Perfect the rehab process and timeline to renovate a home with no delays
•Select the exact materials and the design to attract the ideal buyer in any market
•Organize and maintain a budget
•Effectively find and manage the best subcontractors to do all the work
•Determine the precise after-repair value (ARV) of any deal and any market
•Find unlimited sources of other people’s money (OPM) to fund your deals
•Put the system and team in place to leverage your time (remove yourself from the model)
Throughout this book I will also be giving you several free tools that are critical to your success flipping houses. Watch for links that will allow you to download these tools.
Importance of Focus: Before we get started I want to talk to you about the importance of focus. Most of you are familiar with the Pareto Principal, often called the 80/20 Rule. The 80/20 Rule basically states that 20% of our actions give us 80% of the results, and therefore 80% of our actions give us only 20% of the results. So let me ask you a question – what if you focused on the top 20% of your actions? What would happen? Obviously, you results would go through the roof. So, as I’ve taken this fix and flip process and outlined it here, I’m going to share with you the top 20% of actions that have brought me the greatest results, that 80%. Really what this is about is focus. I believe that focus is the key to great success and is even more important than effort, experience, or even natural talent. And I believe this wholeheartedly...the key to success is taking action and as you take action, an amazing thing starts to happen. You start to build momentum and as that momentum builds and builds, it’s phenomenal the results that you accomplish.
Understanding Today’s Market: First of all, I want to talk about real estate market trends. Often in real estate, we refer to the market as either a “buyer’s market” or a “seller’s market.” A buyer’s market simply means that supply (inventory of houses) is up and demand (buyers) is down. So if we have more supply (homes) on the market, than we have demand (buyers) in the market, what happens? Price goes down. A seller’s market simply means that inventory (houses) is down, but the demand (buyers) for houses is up. What happens in a seller’s market? Price goes up. What’s important to understand is that whether it’s a buyer’s market or a seller’s market, the concept of finding a distressed property, making improvements and selling it for a profit does not change. The strategies for doing it may change based on the market demands, but the concept of finding a distressed property, making improvements to it and then selling it to a homeowner is a consistent and lucrative strategy.
Understanding Market Trends: The market we’re investing in will dictate the strategies we implement. For that reason, it’s important that we understand what type of market we are dealing with, not only on a national level but also on a local level.
Macro: For example, is it possible for a certain neighborhood, city, or even county to be a seller’s market while surrounding areas are a buyer’s market? The answer is yes. A successful fix and flipper is very aware of the market trends and shifts very quickly with the market, both on a macro and micro level. On a macro or national level it’s important to look at the FHA and other federal lending guidelines, federal laws such as the tax credit and other government programs and regulations that can affect the market. Also, the economy, interest rates, unemployment and job growth greatly affect the housing market.
Micro: Now, I also like to watch the market on a micro level (local market). Each county across the country puts out a market report. It tells the number of sales, homes listed, price ranges, etc. per city on a monthly, quarterly or annual basis. These reports are valuable in order to see the trends in the areas in which you invest. What I recommend is that whatever market you’re in, go to one of the largest real estate brokerages in the area and ask them. This report can usually be found online. Again, this is a great way to really understand and keep in touch with the different markets that you’re investing in to understand if you’re in a buyer’s market or a seller’s market, what’s the average time on the market, and how many homes are being sold in a certain city and at a certain price range. Make sure you understand the market fluctuations in whatever area that you’re investing in.
REO/Short Sale Inventory: The other thing that is important to gauge is the bank-owned (REO) and the short sale inventory. I like to watch how many REOs and short sales are on the market on a daily, weekly and monthly basis. Remember supply and demand? If there is a high supply of REOs or short sales on the market, what’s going to happen to price? It’s going to drop. If the short sale and REO inventory dry up, what happens to price? It goes up.
Fix and Flip Time Line: Fix and flip is the process of buying a property below value, making improvements and then re-selling it. Let’s look at a timeline of a typical deal:
The first thing you’re going to do is to look at a potential deal, which takes one day. Then you’re going to make an offer, which should take one day. The offer gets accepted which, with negotiations, let’s say it takes three days. Once an offer is accepted, the next step is to close on the purchase. Typically this takes 30 days. It could be less or it could be more, but on average, it’s about 30 days. After closing on the purchase, you immediately start making improvements to the property. This varies depending