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DH and I aren't handy enough to flip houses. I've heard horror stories about flipped houses having issues later on because the people flipping the house don't do a good job with the work.

Never. I am way too chicken, too! I watch those shows and I just feel like some of those people have a sixth sense about up-and-coming neighborhoods and where they're going to make the most profit. I definitely don't have that and would almost certainly lose money if I tried!

That's actually DH's dream, to be able to flip houses one day! I think it would be fun but the business side of it (the important part lol) would definitely stress me out!

We have investment properties but that's different.

Yes! My dad does and it's my dream to do one eventually. He is a higher sales real estate agent (finds and sells offices and complexes/plazas to doctors) and he knows where all the foreclosure and super cheap buildings are so he buys them at dirt cheap, invests a lot into them and makes them awesome (seriously) & sells them...he makes like 5% profit, which on a place that costs 450,000 is a ton! It's his hobby but he makes so much on it that he often time puts his job on the back burner during projects. My mom is glad theyre divorced because he used to drag her into DIY projects and that's just *not* her

Never! Our house was a flip and in my opinion, it's a disaster. They did every short cut they could and we're left repairing everything. Never buying a flip again and I could never feel honest about flipping a house myself. So much can go wrong with a house, plumbing, electrical, mold, flooding and DH and I aren't THAT handy. The market is crappy anyway so it's too big of a risk.

I wouldn't, but we just don't know that much about that kind of stuff. DH is really good with the money side of it, but neither of us has any experience with even owning a house, much less making more than basic repairs, so it would be very stupid for us to do it. We'd be better off investing money in the stock market (which is what we will be doing shortly).
But if you are good at that kind of stuff, including knowing the up and coming markets, and you have enough of a cushion that you won't be flat broke if it doesn't work out, than it does sound like a sort of fun way to make some money.

Definitely! I think it would be a lot of fun. We bought our house because it was ugly on the inside, but had great bones. We've had it for a year and if we sold it today we'd make a nice profit. I enjoy fixing up homes.

Totally! My parents always did that and we helped where we could. I can't do everything but I know how to do basic electrician stuff, drywall, tile and paint of course. My husband was a plumber.

@MrsTiz: Omg, come help me if I ever get a house!

I am way to clueless to ever do this, plus neither DH or I are very handy!

My parents used to build spec houses though, which is a little different, but same general idea. I think that they generally did pretty well, but not well enough to continue doing it. They stopped doing this well before the real estate market imploded. I think it was just a lot of work for them in general, and I know that 2-3 of the houses didn't sell immediately and they were stuck renting them out for years!