Part 7:
Benefits of Flipping Houses

Aside from the obvious financial rewards that go along with real estate investing and flipping houses, there are a few more abstract benefits that can be gained when you embark on a house flipping adventure, in case you are looking for a little more incentive to get going in the direction of your dreams of real estate riches.

Most things in life have more than one pro or con to them and the same can be said when it comes to flipping houses. Whether you are doing this for a living or this is a one-time deal, you will find that there are all kinds of little lessons you learn along the way.  Knowledge is rarely a bad thing and the lessons you learn while flipping houses are lessons that can be applied in many aspects of your life.

1. Budgeting. There are few things that can give you a crash course in budgeting quicker than flipping a house.  In order to successfully flip the house you are working on, you will need to learn to budget quickly or you will wind up hemorrhaging money.
   
   Learning to set a budget and stick with it are both necessary skills for anyone flipping houses, but when they carry over into other real-life applications you will find that this is a very useful skill that has you looking at everyday purchases with new eyes.
    
   
2. Muscle Definition. Who knew that flipping houses would be such an excellent workout?  This is especially true for those who traditionally hold jobs that aren't necessarily dependent upon physical labor and who do much of the repair work themselves (which you may need to do at times to save expensive and profit-eating labor costs).
   
   From heavy lifting to hammering and several other physical jobs in between you should discover that your labors are rewarded in more ways than simply watching your project come together.
    
3. Attention to Detail.  This is a huge benefit that comes from flipping houses and you will get better at this with every subsequent flip.  When flipping houses, the money is often made in the small details that others will overlook such as new electric faceplates, proper staging, and a good eye for color throughout the property.
   
   These things make potential buyers see a home that is loved and cared for rather than just another house on their list of places to see.  If you take this attention to detail into your 9 to 5 job after flipping houses or into your tax preparation, event planning, and home organizing, or other areas of life, you will find that the lessons you've learned while flipping houses are well worth the time, effort, and labor that went into learning them.
    
   
4. Positive Thinking. You will hear many times in life that positive thinking is a powerful tool.  There are very few places that this holds true more than when it comes to flipping houses.  You definitely want to season your positive thinking with a nice hefty dose of reality, but you should be aware that thinking positively has many benefits to you when flipping houses and in almost every other aspect of your life.  You do not want to spend the time you could be improving your flip searching for problems or excuses.
    
   
5. Just Do It.  The old Nike commercials had a point and, if flipping houses doesn't teach you anything else, it should teach you this lesson.  Procrastination wastes money.  Every day that you carry the house, you carry the expenses of the house (electric, mortgage, interest, etc.).  Get in there, get it done, and move on to the next project.  Putting off the distasteful tasks won't make them go away so you may as well go ahead and get them over with.

Flipping houses isn't rocket science but it does take a unique combination of effort, skills, and stubbornness to turn a profit in this particular business.  Learning the lessons above will help you not only succeed when it comes to flipping houses but in other aspects of your life as well.

Sincerely,

Todd Heitner

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