One way to make money in real estate?
Move every two years.
Basically, buy a home that needs some cosmetic improvements, buy at a discount, fix it up, and sell.
Certainly, it can be riskier than other investments, but I can understand the logic.
If you’re a serial home seller, contact me. Your commissions will put my kids through college.
Some tips:
1. Don’t buy a house in excellent condition (it lacks fix-up profit potential). Instead, buy the worst house in a good neighborhood.
2. Avoid most condominiums and townhouses. The reason is no matter how nice you fix up your unit, its maximum resale market value will be held down by the recent sales prices of other units in the same complex.
3. Stay away from “extreme makeover” houses, which need to be torn down (called a “scraper”) or renovated by moving walls and rebuilding the interior. Profiting from such houses is extremely difficult.
4. No matter how much potential a fixer-upper house has, stay away if it is in a bad location, high-crime area, or the public-school quality is poor. These three criteria will hold down resale value no matter how well the house is upgraded.
Complete article: Buy the worst house in a good neighborhood for big profits – By Robert J Bruss, Inman News, by way of The Boston Globe
