Flipping

17 articles

• A HELOC cuts this flip’s loan costs from $12,075 to $7,331

  Yes, if your home has the equity and your lender allows it. In this example, a HELOC at 8.5% with no points instead of hard money at 10% with 2 points cuts the cost of the money from $12,075 to $7,331 and lifts profit from $37,525 to $42,269. Your home secures the debt.

  6 min read

• An inherited house nets $211,600 as-is. A $45,000 fix nets $204,400.

  Compare the cash each route leaves after selling costs, the repairs and the months you hold the house. In this example selling as-is nets $211,600, while spending $45,000 and selling four months later at $275,000 nets $204,400, so fixing it only pays above about $282,826.

  5 min read

• The same flip makes $37,525 in six months, or $22,375 as a live-in flip

  A live-in flip is a house you move into and fix up while living there, then sell. In this example it makes $22,375 over 24 months against $37,525 for the same house flipped in six, and what the strategy buys back is the home-sale exclusion on the gain.

  5 min read

• Three mistakes took this flip from $48,147 to $8,307

  Flips lose money in a short list of places: the purchase price, the rehab budget, the resale estimate, the months it takes, the selling costs, the tax bill and the price where it breaks even. In this example a flip that clears $48,147 keeps $8,307 once three of them go wrong.

  5 min read

• This flip clears $37,525. After tax it can be $29,269 or $23,967.

  Flip profits are usually taxed as ordinary income rather than at long-term capital gain rates, and a flipping business can owe self-employment tax on top. In this example a $37,525 profit leaves $29,269 or $23,967, depending on which applies.

  5 min read

• The right policy for this flip costs $1,505 more over seven months

  A flip is not anybody’s home, so it is usually insured on a dwelling fire policy or a builder’s risk policy rather than a homeowners policy, and liability is bought separately. In the example below the better cover costs $1,505 over seven months and the profit drops by exactly that.

  5 min read

• Every $1,000 this rehab goes over costs $1,070 of profit

  Estimate a rehab from a room-by-room scope with real quotes, then add a contingency for what the walls hide. In this example a $59,000 budget that runs 20% over takes the profit from $36,657 to $24,031, because every dollar of rehab in the loan costs $1.07 by the time it is paid for.

  5 min read

• Hard money costs this flip $12,968 and lifts the return from 26% to 94%

  A hard money loan is short-term borrowing against the house, priced in points up front plus monthly interest, and repaid in full when you sell. In this example it costs $12,968 and takes the return on cash from 26% to 94%, because it leaves $46,718 of your own money in the deal instead of $219,000.

  5 min read

• A first flip that clears $37,525, and the three numbers that can erase it

  A first flip is five decisions: the resale price, the rehab budget, the offer, the loan and the months you hold it. In this example a $150,000 house with a $45,000 rehab sells for $275,000 and leaves $37,525 after every cost, on $42,975 of your own cash.

  5 min read

• The typical flip’s $66,000 gross profit ends $2,200 in the red

  Flipping still pays, but the headline number is not profit. ATTOM reports a typical gross profit of $66,000 for the first quarter of 2026, which is only the resale price minus the purchase price. In this example, a $15,000 rehab plus closing, holding, loan and selling costs turns that $66,000 into a $2,200 loss.

  5 min read

• Waiting out FHA’s 90-day flip rule costs this flip $2,490

  FHA will not insure a loan on a house being resold 90 days or fewer after the seller bought it, so a flip that finishes early either waits or sells to a buyer using different financing. In this example the extra month costs $2,490 of a $37,674 profit.

  5 min read

• This flip sells for $180,000 over its purchase price. The profit is $69,923.

  Judge a flip by its profit after every cost, not by a gross figure. ATTOM’s typical margin for the first quarter of 2026, 25.4%, counts only the sale price minus the purchase price. In this example, a flip that sells for $180,000 over its purchase price makes $69,923 after every cost, a 16.5% margin, and a rehab overrun plus a slow sale cut it to 12.1%.

  6 min read