How to Flip Houses from Home, For Money: 7 Best Tips

When it comes to how to flip houses, one method is underrated: doing it virtually. That’s right – you don’t have to be on the ground, laboring over fixer-upper houses every day. Instead, you can arrange your fix-and-flip projects from afar. Let’s walk through how you can maximize this strategy, step by step.

Main Takeaways

• The core stages of virtual home flipping are choosing your target market, finding a joint venture partner to help oversee the project, and networking mindfully.
• Home flippers should choose their contractors very carefully and tailor their marketing to their hyper-specific market.
• Home flipping virtually allows flippers to access low-priced homes and attain a consistent income.

Table of Contents

• How to Flip Houses Virtually: A Primer
• Factors to Remember
• Benefits of Virtually Fixing-and-Flipping

How to Flip Houses Virtually: A Primer

As hard money lenders in Maryland, we know there are a few core stages you need to see through to complete fixer-upper houses. Make sure that you check off the below boxes.

1. Choose Your Market

You should choose your location based on its market conditions. When it comes to your target market, you would be better off sticking to less competitive markets where you can choose low-cost fixer-upper houses for a high ROI. Namely, you don’t want to choose notoriously pricey markets like New York or Miami. Rather, pick areas known to be house-flipping friendly, such as Maryland.

Your familiarity and connections in the area are also vital. For instance, if you went to college in the area or have friends and family there, that can be your foot in the door. As an example, you could even ask your in-laws to drive by your eyed property.

2. Find a Joint Venture Partner

As you learn how to flip houses virtually, you have to navigate a wider network of connections and resources. So, you shouldn’t go at this alone. At least in the beginning, get a joint venture partner who can traverse the whole experience with you.

A joint venture partner can show you the ropes of your target location. After all, every single market has its own nuances. Even if you’re knowledgeable about one segment, that knowledge might not apply elsewhere. For example, Pittsburgh’s market may be vastly different from Pennsylvania’s, even though they’re in the same state. So, you need someone from that area who can guide you.

To find the best possible partner, connect with target area industry experts, like local house flippers, to find your best fit.

Then, carve out a deal you want to collaborate on with your partner. Decide what each of your stakes in the deal is going to look like, such as splitting funding 50/50.

Most importantly, now, your joint venture partner can handle the in-person aspects of your fixer-upper houses. They can arrange and coordinate the finer details. Of course, you can have a significant say throughout the process.

3. Keep Your Networking Outreach Small-Scale

Next, you must undergo marketing to your target area. While you absolutely want to reach industry figures in your target markets, you shouldn’t overdo your efforts. In other words, you don’t want to spend more time and money on marketing than you can get back.

Some people employ a small team or call center that aggressively addresses many target markets at once. However, this can unintendedly serve to pester and annoy the people they’re calling. It can seem desperate. Even worse, it can pour thousands of dollars down the drain with nothing to show for it.

Instead, it’s a good idea to have your partner help, as well as other connections who are already local industry insiders. They can keep their eyes and ears open for you. All in all, you want to achieve a bigger depth of leads instead of shallow width.

Factors to Remember

There are a few points you should always keep in mind when virtually setting up fixer-upper houses. Take notes on the tips that can teach you how to flip houses from afar more effectively.

Be Choosey with Your Contractors

Some areas may be known for their great contractors. On the other hand, certain areas could have many atrocious ones. This is one lesson people on home renovation shows have learned. So, you also should be careful to sift through your options thoroughly.

The same goes for project managers. Some may be ineffective, and some areas may have a lack of them to pick from in the first place.

If you can’t access quality team members in your target area, you may have to bring in your own. That is a big factor to consider.

Effective Marketing Differs in Different Areas

Each market segment has its unique preferences. For example, if your target market’s real estate industry uses text messages as its main marketing format, the text receivers may have text fatigue. Because they’ve been bombarded with texts, they may see these communications as a nuisance now.

So, you want to market in a way that stands out from the pack in each area. Furthermore, certain audiences enjoy different marketing formats. Your radio ads could bomb in one city and gather countless leads in another. In summary, you may have to experiment to see what sticks.

Benefits of Virtually Fixing-and-Flipping 

When you do fixer-upper houses virtually, it can be easy and convenient. However, that’s not all. It can also come with game-changing lucrative benefits.

Cheaper Home Prices

There’s no reason to pigeonhole yourself into your local market, even when it’s saddled with deal flow issues and high average home costs. Why do that when you could opt for another market that has better optics? When you work on fixer-upper houses virtually, you can expand your reach to bigger and better markets.

Financial Stability

While you can make great gains by aiming for the hottest markets, it’s also a risky gamble that might not pay off. After all, your deals can ebb and flow. However, there’s a way you can have your cake and eat it too. You can focus on more stable, quieter, low-priced markets.

This may not sound so glamorous at the outset, but its benefits grow and grow in the long term. After all, because you can expect more deals at once, you can also expect more frequent checks. They may be smaller checks each time, but they’re abundant and add up consistently.

This benefit can be especially appealing when you have mouths to feed or a mortgage to pay. Furthermore, it can give you a better safety net than putting all your eggs in one basket.

Fund Fixer-Upper Houses with MHML

When you learn how to flip houses virtually, you unlock the potential to gain stable, accessible, long-term financial benefits. You expand your reach to markets and possibilities beyond your wildest imagination.

If you need to fund your fixer-upper houses as soon as possible, there is help. While traditional bank loans can take months to receive, you can turn to hard money loans as an alternative. Hard money loans are specifically designed to be efficient and effective. People can get them within weeks, with fewer repayments than traditional loans. Contact us today to jumpstart your virtual fix-and-flip project.