Can I Flip Properties?

The million dollar question that everyone asks me is "can I still flip real estate". The answer I give really depends on who is asking. For the novice investor I would simply say no, the market conditions are not suited for this exit strategy. For a seasoned investor I would ask a few questions. What did you buy the property for? What are your comparable sales? How much do you plan on improving the property? How long are you able to carry the property before you "must" sell. These questions are key to whether it makes sense to use a flip as the exit strategy. If you are able to over improve the property based on the neighborhood and still be at or under market value and are able to carry the property for 2 to 4 months then it would be possible to still flip the subject property. In all other cases I would recommend a buy and hold strategy. I will discuss these in later posts.