3 Steps to Help You Feel More Confident About Flipping Houses

By Christina El Moussa

Taking the plunge with house flipping is a pretty big move, and it can be really scary, even if you’re keeping your day job and just taking on some part-time flips to earn extra cash. The first rule of real estate business 101, though, is to be confident in yourself and your decision to start flipping houses.

Okay, I just made up that rule about real estate business 101, but it really should be a rule because confidence is absolutely key to being a successful house flipper, whether you’re doing it part time or you’re making it your new career. Unfortunately, though, it’s not as easy as saying, “Feel confident!” Even if you have an investing partner and you don’t have to worry about paying off a high-interest loan, you’re still taking a pretty big financial risk, and your first deal could set the tone for the rest of your flipping career. No pressure, right? Well here’s my process for getting the confidence you need to get started flipping houses.

Do Your Homework – But Set a Deadline

First, the best way to feel confident about going into any kind of business is to learn as much as you can about it before you jump in. Research the basics of house flipping, the neighborhoods with distressed houses in your area, the markets in those neighborhoods, general contractors, accountants, and everything else you can think of to get familiar with all aspects of flipping houses.

Be careful, though. If you let it, this step can lead you down a never-ending rabbit hole, and you could find yourself researching forever and never actually getting started. So set yourself a deadline to have all of your preliminary house flipping homework done. You can keep learning more after that, but once you hit that deadline, it’s time to take the next step.

Get to Know Other People in the Industry

Whether you join a real estate investing club, find real estate networking events to attend, reach out to other flippers in your area, and/or build a relationship with your realtor and network through them, don’t ever underestimate the power of getting to know people in the industry. The more quality people you connect with in the house flipping field, the more you’ll hear about their successes and failures, and the more confidence you’ll build in your own future.

Tell Yourself You Can Do This

Now, those are things you can do to build up your knowledge and reputation to boost your confidence, but that’s not all you need to do to really feel confident in your flips. According to an article in The Guardian that I really like, it’s important to remember and “understand that confidence is a frame of mind.” It’s not necessarily a reflection of how you really feel, but it’s a projection of what you want others to see. If others see a confident real estate investor who knows he or she can handle a flip, they’re going to want to work with you, sell to you, and/or buy from you. And the more you work to project that confidence, the more you’re going to feel it, too.

There you go—three steps to help you gain more confidence in your flipping projects so you can always follow my number-one rule of real estate business 101. Follow these steps, whether you want to make house flipping your full-time career or whether you just want to earn extra cash, and you’ll see a lot more success in all of your flips.

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