The biggest real estate questions are “How do I get started?” and “Is it really possible to make money?”

The best way to get started is to flip. Flipping is simply buying a property with a little something wrong with it; preferably around 25 percent under market value. Make  a few improvements and  sell  for a profit in less than a year. 

I know some  flippers have gotten   some bad publicity over the last few years, and I think that’s a shame, because generally most flippers are sincere real estate investors working very hard to add value to neighborhoods.  By and large, that’s the way many get their “big break” in the business. 

Here’s what you need to  keep in mind.  “A little something wrong” means just that.  Stay away from properties that have more than a little something wrong with them.  You certainly don’t want surprises and you don’t want to deal with major issues like structural damages. 

But this is what amazed me when we  rehabbed  what has become my pride and joy property.  The day of the closing we walked in on a junk farm.  I’ll never forget that sinking feeling.  “This place is a dump” kind of stress. Can it ever look good? 

You know what?  It wasn’t that bad.  Paint really does make a tremendous difference.  We painted, we spruced, we got it back in shape.  And I kept it. 

Here’s today’s thought.  Mostly the rule is for every $1,000 you spend on painting the outside of a house, you can increase the market value by $10,000.  (That works different ways for different people and your results may vary, but that’s the general rule).  Exterior painting can bring spectacular results in many cases. 

We’ll cover more on flipping in future posts.  Meanwhile keep a look-out for the worst and  ugliest houses  in good neighborhoods.  There could be a lot of potential just waiting for a little smooth fresh paint. 

Popularity: 34% [?]

• Real Estate Stimulus Fail For two years I've preached that artificial means to prop up an inflated real estate market are not permanent solutions. Obama and his economic advisors (who are gradually jumping ship) thought otherwise. Can you guess where this is going? After flooding our economy with billions in home buyer tax credits......
• The Mortgage Interest Tax Deduction Should Be Repealed I will no doubt be crucified for this one.  Americans love their tax deductions and there's one deduction they like more than all the rest combined:  the mortgage interest tax deduction.  People love it because they think it saves them money, but in reality it does no such thing.  Here's......
• Passive Income—The Goldmine of Commercial Real Estate Investing [/caption] Passive income is the money generated from real estate or business transactions in which the investor is not actively involved. There are several ways to generate passive income from investments in commercial real estate. To understand the value of passive income, it is important to understand how income is......
• The Number One Mistake that Would-be Real Estate Investors Make I met with my friend's wife this weekend to learn more about her thriving real estate business. She helped to confirm what I suspected to be the number one mistake that new investors make: they expect to make good returns by paying "retail" prices for real estate. By "retail" prices,......
• Real Estate Investing 101 This is a guest article by HIB who blogs at Happiness is Better about personal finance, real estate investing, early retirement, and being happy. If you enjoy this article, make sure you head over and subscribe to his blog. Real estate investing is a relatively simple business. It requires......