“There aren’t any deals in this market.”
I’ve been hearing this phrase ever since I started investing in real estate almost 10 years ago. But you know what’s strange? Over those 10 years, my coaching partner, Andy McFarland, and I have done well over 1,000 real estate investing transactions between the two of us. And our coaching students are doing deals on a daily basis.
How is that possible if there are “no deals” in this real estate market? Why is it that some investors are making money while others are “striking out”? Do some of us have a secret weapon we’re not sharing with everyone else? What’s the difference?
Two months ago, I decided I was going to figure it out. I began an extensive research project. I started writing down all the people I knew who were making a ton of money flipping houses. Everyone I took into consideration had to be making at least $250,000 or more a year flipping or wholesaling houses. That was my only criteria. I narrowed it down to the 100 people I knew best so I could dig in deep.
Then I went through the list and asked, what are their secrets? What were they doing that others weren’t? My goal was to find the one thing they all had in common. Was it intelligence? Time? Health? Good looks? Crazy tenacity? An awesome morning routine? Perhaps they were born into money or their family members were entrepreneurs? Perhaps the opposite was true and those who didn’t have these advantages were more driven, making them more successful? Did it have anything to do with race, religion, sex, age, marital status? I wasn’t concerned with being politically correct; I just wanted the facts. Did these people sleep more or less? What did they eat? What did they read? Did they work out? Did they go on vacation often or very little? Did they have “day jobs” or no job at all? What was it?
I was shocked by the results.
None of these things had anything to do with these individuals’ success. Some of them may have attributed their success to one or more of these things, but in the end I just couldn’t find evidence to support that. I was looking for the one thing they all had in common, but I’ll be honest. I didn’t find just one thing. Instead, I came up with 12. Not 12 things they all had in common, but 12 key success factors that clearly drive the achievements of the top 5% of real estate investors in the nation.
But here’s the thing…
None of them did all 12 of these things perfectly. In fact, none of them were doing all 12 of these things at all. But what I found is that all of these top investors were doing “enough” of these 12 things “well enough.” And I realized, that’s really what it comes down to. There’s no one secret that will make you a success in real estate flipping. And you don’t have to be an expert at everything to succeed.
If you do enough of the right things well enough, you can make a killing. And it’s actually not that difficult. The problem is, most people aren’t doing very many of these 12 things, if any. And the parts that they are doing, they’re not doing very well. In fact, the majority of newbie investors don’t even know what these 12 things are.
I was blown away by my findings, but at first I wasn’t sure how I could use this information to help my own business as well as others who were struggling to succeed at flipping houses.
Then it hit me.
The other day I went to the repair shop to get my car fixed. I didn’t know what was wrong with it, but the repair guy went through his checklist and ran a diagnostic test. After that, he knew exactly what needed to be fixed. Simple. So he fixed the problem, and I left with a car that runs great again.
I thought, Why can’t I create a diagnostic test like this for house flipping?
Imagine if there was a tool that told you exactly what you were doing wrong and exactly what needed to be fixed. Do you think that would help you adjust and improve your house flipping business? Of course it would!
The truth is, most people will try to “fix” a problem that really isn’t the problem. They’ll think they’re making progress, but they’re really just spinning their wheels. Once you’ve identified the real problem, you can easily fix it without wasting any more of your precious time.
I knew I had to create this house flipping diagnostic tool. But I wasn’t sure exactly how to do it. At first I wanted to come up with some kind of complex software program that would calculate everything for you (and that may still happen in the future), but then I realized all I needed to do was come up with a simple scoring system.
So that’s what I did.
I’m not claiming this scoring system is perfect, but I’ve tested it multiple times in multiple scenarios, and I have to say it’s pretty darn accurate. It definitely gives you a pretty good indication on where your current real estate business stands—and what you need to do to get to where you want to go.
About the author
Justin Williams has over 8 years of experience as a real estate investor, having flipped over 500 homes. He is dedicated to making House Flipping HQ the ultimate online resource for house flipping. His goal is to provide the house flipping resource hub that he wishes had been around when he first started out. No fluff. Just real, actionable information that you can use today.
