This is a simple concept in which the investor buys, rehabilitates, and then resells a property at a profit. This is also known as “flipping” a home. This process usually happens remotely, because the investor remains in his or her own home, sometimes in a locale where flipping doesn’t make sense, and utilizes the Internet to find and invest in opportunities. The goal here is to make the process of investing in crowdfunding real estate platforms Singapore as easy as possible, so all the investor has to do is flip a switch or “turn the key.”
Typically, then, you’re purchasing a single-family home, fixing it up, in order to bring it in line with current codes as well as make it more appealing to buyers. Here’s how it works:
- A turnkey retailer or company purchases the property.
- One or more investors purchase a share in or all of the shares in the house.
- The retailer or company “fixes up,” or rehabilitates, the property to make it current and appealing to buyers.
- Once the property is rehabbed, it’s put back on the market for resale.
- As soon as a sale is closed, the investor gets his or her money back plus whatever profit was earned, according to what share of the investment he or she owned.
If done properly, this can be a very sound investment strategy. You, as the investor, have earn a profit from flipping the home, and you can have as little or as much involvement as you wish. You can be as involved or uninvolved in the flipping process as you desire, helping to oversee the contractors rehabilitating the home or leaving the entire process up to the turnkey retailer.
Why not just buy a house myself and flip/rent it?
You might be thinking you can just eliminate the middleman, the turnkey retailer or company, and do all of the legwork yourself. While many investors do just that and succeed at it, there are some drawbacks. In most cases, you’ll end up undertaking much more work than you would as an investor. Here is what you would have to do if you became a flipper, rather than utilizing a turn-key solution and having the turnkey retailer handle the process for you.
- Finding the property: First, you would have to locate a suitable property, which means knowing which neighborhoods are going to appeal to buyers or tenants.
- Rehabilitating the property: Next, you would have to renovate and rehabilitate the property, making it adhere to current codes and also be an excellent single-family property. This requires proper budgeting and attention to contractors and laborers, something that requires an on-site presence.
- Marketing the property for sale or rent: Once the house is move-in ready, you would have to find a buyer or a paying tenant to move into the location.
Should you decide to rent out the property, you would be entering a whole new dimension. For more information on turn-key real estate investment where you rent instead of resell, check out our outline of that investment strategy.
If this sounds like a lot of work, that’s because it is. With turn-key real estate investing, as little or as much of that work can be taken off your shoulders and put on someone else’s. Let’s look at the advantages of turn-key real estate investment.
The advantages of turn-key real estate investment
In a full-fledged turn-key real estate investment situation, you are an investor, not a flipper or landlord. You’re hiring someone else to manage the property for you, so all you have to do is collect on the profit. Here are some of the primary advantages of turn-key real estate investment.
Does not require your presence locally
With turn-key real estate investment, you acquire single-family properties in remote locations. This allows you the freedom to remain living where you want, while still maintaining a cash flow from a location that has excellent real estate values. You can continue living in your gated community in Florida, for example, where flipping houses might not make sense, while investing in flippable or rentable properties in Seattle or anywhere else that has a strong demand for such properties.