Covering everything from fix-and-flip horror stories to how to stay successful in an unsteady housing market, Stoa’s “Why Flips Fail” webinar is filled with pearls of wisdom from successful real estate investors.
Cesar Yepez, Doffis Absher, and Larry Mohammed joined Stoa for the hour-long discussion. Having different business sizes and working in different markets, each person brought unique perspectives to the table.
The webinar kicked off with the guests sharing their worst experiences in the fix-and-flip business and what they learned from them. Larry’s story was the most surprising. Even though he had issues familiar to most real estate investors — a solo contractor who continued to miss deadlines and the house being appraised with the wrong square footage — by the time he was ready to sell his second flip, a serial killer had been stalking the neighborhood.
“Things like that make people shy away from wanting to buy a house in that neighborhood,” Larry said.
More Ways to Avoid Fix-and-Flip Failure
Later in the webinar, which is now on demand, the guests shared their thoughts on the best places to find properties. While each person’s preferences work for them, Doffis’s strategic approach to using the MLS is the most easily repeatable.
“What we stick with is just direct targeting based on the information that we’re seeking to find the property,” Doffis said. “So when you tell me these margins, when you tell me these risk factors, we’re going to actually directly target that, and we’re going to go directly for what we’re looking for.”
He said if a real estate investor looks at everything, they will find everything, adding, “Getting started, you kind of throw [stuff] at the wall and hope it sticks, but over time you will learn a system and an algorithm. ‘How did I find this?’ And then you want to go back and repeat that process that found the best deal.”
The discussion then turned to the best way to approach the fix-and-flip business in the current real estate market. All three investors were in agreement: Stoa is the safest path.
“When the market is going up, I would just act based on the ARV,” said Cesar. “But now with the down market, the way it is right now, definitely I’m not buying anything to flip on the market, nothing for the MLS. Until I get an offer from [Stoa], I’m not acting on any contract.”
Doffis elaborated further, saying he feels that the Stoa model is “bulletproof.”
“They already know where these deals are going,” he said. “The cash offers are in place, which that’s why I love this model. That’s why I’m going to scale this.”
For even more advice on being successful as a fix-and-flip investor, check out the on-demand version of the “Why Flips Fail” webinar.
