4 Paint Colors to Avoid on a Flip
By Tarek El Moussa
When you get into flipping houses, it’s common to think that you’re the boss and that everyone works for you. If you keep that attitude, though, you’re not going to be in the business for long. Teamwork really is the key to successful real estate investing, and if you are a good team player, you’re going to be a great house flipper.
Build Your Team and Give Them Lots of Business
New flippers sometimes feel like every deal works on its own and is completely unrelated to the deals that came before or the ones that will come along later. That’s completely wrong.
Remember the episode of Flip or Flop when my flipping partner wanted to be the foreman for the property and I had to take Israel—a general contractor I’ve worked with for years—off of the project? That was not a fun phone call, and I really didn’t want to make it. I knew that I was risking offending Israel, and if I did that, I might lose a really great contractor that I’d come to depend on for a lot of my flips. I saved that situation by telling Israel that I had another flip starting that week and that I’d just move him and his guys over to that one. If I hadn’t had something else for him and his crew, they would’ve been in a bad spot, and they wouldn’t have been very likely to come back and help me out again.
Look at each one of your flips as a cog in the machine of your business. Look at your realtor, broker, contractor(s), attorney(s), accountant, and the other people you do business with as a team. Yes, they each have their own businesses, but they’re also each an essential part of yours. Treat them that way and be loyal to them, and you’ll get great work from them.
Listen to Your Contractors and Inspectors
A lot of novice house flippers find it easy to see their realtors and brokers as part of the team, but they forget that their contractors are just as important as anyone else. It’s easy to worry that your general contractor is going to overcharge you or give you a bad deal, because some of the rehabs they work on can be really involved. But a good contractor knows that he’s going to be working with you a lot in the future and that those future jobs are worth far more than a little bit of extra cash on this one.
Get to know your contractors. Treat them like the experts they are because you couldn’t do the job without them. Talk with them frankly about the work that you can do, the work you can help them with, and the work that you need to step back on and let the professionals take over. They’ll appreciate this, and they’ll be happy to work with you again in the future.
Work With Your Flipping Partners, Not Against Them
Christina and I don’t usually partner with other flippers because everyone has a different method to their madness, and those methods don’t always work together. That said, when we do work with other investors and/or flippers, we try to make as many compromises as we can so that everyone is happy at the end of the day.
Above all else, whether you’re partnering with other investors for a house flip or you’re building your real estate investing team, keep teamwork in mind. As a house flipper, you’re in a dynamic business that can be both fun and profitable if you have the right mindset and a great team.
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Tarek and Christina El Moussa have over a decade of professional real estate experience and have been featured in national print publications, online media outlets, and a popular real estate TV show. Tarek is known for his determination to get the job done and doing it right.
Latest posts by Tarek El Moussa (see all)
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- Exterior Paint – Is a Touch-Up Enough? - June 1, 2016
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