My guest is Laura Guillory, a native Houstonian with a passion for real estate and interior design. She got her real estate license and started successfully flipping houses after being inspired by HGTV.
She says HGTV has increased competition for flips: “Now everybody thinks they can do it.” But Laura is successful because she’s willing to do things others aren’t willing to do. Plus, as you’ll hear in this interview, she’s uniquely confident, personable and likable.
This interview could be used as a “how-to” manual for getting started flipping houses. It will also give you a sense of the tenacity required to be a highly profitable house flipper.
Here’s what we cover:
- Money management & setting a budget
- Knowledge of the construction process
- Understanding the aesthetics of what buyers are looking for
- I want to be a house-flipper, where do I start?
- How to save money on real estate commissions
- Why she’s picky about which properties she takes on
- Setting up alerts
- How to get comfortable with the numbers
- Developing a good rapport with your work crew
- Accessing Zillow & the MLS
- Getting “sold” data
- The number of houses a flipper views vs. offers on vs. deals closed
“The buy-side of the deal is everything”
- Commit to running the numbers over and over
- Calculating your holding costs
- How to find a good lender
- What type of loan Laura gets for her flips
- The interest rate you can expect for a flip loan
- Being conservative in your cost estimates
- The 70% Rule of Thumb
- Don’t start with $500,000 flip just because the bank approved you for that much
Doing Deals (at 26:37)
- Approaching flips like a professional
- Taking your emotions and your ego out of the deal
- How to differentiate your offer
- It’s a numbers game: get in front of people (get more “at-bats”)
- Why Laura admires Sarah Blakely
- Finding the Hondas and Toyotas of service providers
- How to motivate workers to get work done on time
- Advice for paying contractors
A Discussion on Negotiating (at 32:48):
- How to start a negotiation
- How not to start a negotiation
- Reading body language and micro facial expressions
- A small tip that has made a huge difference for her
Building a Strong Network (47:07)
- What to know before hiring a General Contractor
- Acting as your own General Contractor
- Building your roster of workers
- Learning how much different trades will cost (roof, windows, etc.)
- Recommendations for how/when to pay workers
Listen here:
The things you regret the most are the things you don’t try. – Laura Guillory
