I’m a mid-20s guy from Iowa with a strong background in home renovations. My family and I have a diverse set of skills: I’m an electrician, my dad is a framer and drywaller, and my cousins handle HVAC, along with many other family friends in different trades. We’ve successfully taken on various projects for homeowners, but we’ve never ventured into flipping houses ourselves. The financing aspect has always felt daunting, and we could really use some guidance. If anyone has experience with house flipping in Iowa or knows of resources, tips, or even mentors who could help us navigate this process, I would be incredibly grateful. Your insights could make a huge difference as we look to take this exciting step. Thank you in advance for any advice you can share!
Typical flip financing would be hard money lenders. Backflip Capital, Capital Fund One, etc. You have a great advantage by knowing the repair costs, processes, and timelines. Now you just need to get good at finding deals, analysis, and funding them. Some recommendations include: How to Invest in Real Estate by Dorkin/Tuner, Millionaire Real Estate Investor by Keller, a book on flipping houses by J. Scott, House Flipping Framework by Dainard, and Finding and Funding Great Deals by Young.
@Keir
Thank you so much, your feedback is greatly appreciated! I will definitely be purchasing a few of these books going into the new year. Just out of curiosity, have you flipped any homes yourself?
Sloane said:
@Keir
Thank you so much, your feedback is greatly appreciated! I will definitely be purchasing a few of these books going into the new year. Just out of curiosity, have you flipped any homes yourself?
Yessir, around 160 or so.
I’m in Iowa currently fixing up an old Victorian! We took out a home equity loan to fund the renovations since we had to fix the foundation, demo a failing addition, and handle some other large fixes. It’s hard to recommend financing because every situation is different. It needs to make sense for you. We found our house for cheap enough to purchase and do all necessary fixes with a 90k loan. We talked with several banks; one wanted us to do a balloon loan, which felt too threatening for my liking. We finally found the right fit by comparing loan offers. I hope this can help open up different routes of thinking you may not have considered before. Where there’s a will, there’s a way. Best of luck.
@Sayer
Best of luck with the new property! It’s really nice to have a fellow Iowan share their experience with the process. Were you able to find your home off market? Also, did you have assistance from an agent?
@Sloane
I had just gotten Reddit and got excited when I saw another Iowan’s post! I was keeping my eye on the market for about 2 weeks and we went to look at another house, but I had a bad feeling about that one. I had a premonition about focusing on a specific small town and found this house 12 minutes after it had been listed. It was uninhabitable; luckily my husband is an electrician and a jack of all trades. We’ve built whole buildings together. It sounds like you have the skill set too, so keep your eyes out for daunting houses with potential! If you have a realtor app, you can set it up to notify you of new listings that meet certain criteria.
If you can leverage your trade skills to minimize renovation costs, that’s your competitive advantage. Local trade costs have gone through the roof in the past couple of years, so being able to put in some sweat equity is key to making deals pencil. Lastly, remember that the key is buying right—profit is made at the purchase, not the sale.