This is the third article in a blog series on fixer upper homes in Northern Virginia. So far, we’ve covered Part 1 and Part 2.
Fixer Upper Homes – Investment Strategies Continued…
- Try to buy in an area that has had a good amount of comparable sales in the past 6 to 12 months. If it’s easy to comp, you’ll be more likely to get buyers willing to pay a good price for it. If there aren’t many comps in the area, purchasing a fixer can actually pull things down for a while if it’s one of the only sales.
- Inside the Beltway is generally considered the safest investment because demand there is generally the strongest. However, demand for real estate has also been great outside the Beltway, all over Northern Virginia, especially in many areas of Fairfax County.
- When thinking about your returns on a flip, make sure to factor in: closing costs as a buyer (roughly 2-3%), renovation costs, carrying costs (mortgage, taxes, etc), closing costs as a seller (around .5%), real estate commissions to buying agent’s brokerage (around 3%) and selling agent’s brokerage (I give a big discount to my investor clients when they list their properties for sale through me. Email me at DarrenRobertsonHomes@gmail.com to learn about this discount).
- One tip for maximizing your return on investment is to do some of the renovation work yourself, or at least save some money by not hiring a general contractor and instead hiring the various workers you need separately.
Read Part 4 of my blog series on strategies for investing in fixer upper homes in Northern Virginia.
Call me or email me at DarrenRobertsonHomes@gmail.com for my free report on the best fixer upper mortgage options that are currently available.