[spex x]

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If you were me.......................................and you were looking to buy a 250k condo/fixerupper with 50k down.
Playing the interweb poker full time (2/4nl-5/10nl + donkament)...at the time of purchase how much money is the right amount to have????

Want to put down 20%?!
Have money set aside so I don't have to stress the mortgage payments/other costs?
Have money to play poker?

Net worth needed at time of purchase?

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I know lots of RE investors that are profitably flipping properties all over the country. I don't really know how much real experience the others that've posted have in RE investment, but my experience is that flipping can be profitably done in just about any market - including inner city slums, and everywhere else.

Judging from your questions and the other comments that you've made, I'd guess that you arent' really trying to 'flip' the property. In order to flip a property you would have to buy a property for LESS THAN MARKET VALUE. That is the only way it can be done.

The problem with what you're talking about - buying a fixer and putting some sweat equity into it to increase its value is that there really isn't any money in it. Thats because fixers are usually NOT prices sufficiently low to compensate for the time and effort that it takes to do all the work. Young couples and naive 'investors' disagree, and point out how they fixed a property and added $50k in value. I point out to them that the only reason they pulled that off is becaue they valued the time they spent working on the house at $0. Not my idea of investing.

Young couples and naive investors, though, are stuck once they buy a fixer. You've gotta fix it to get any cash out, but you will VERY soon find that you CANNOT afford to hire a professional to do the work - it'd kill your profit. So you gotta deal with it - living in a construction zone, working full time then working on the house, arguements, stress, etc. PLUS while Bob Villa makes putting in a tile counter top look real easy, I assure you that its not - there is a steep learning curve with anything construction related.

If I were you, I'd seriously consider if the repairs are priced into the market value of the fixer. If a fixer is selling for $80k and it needs $20k worth of work, while a perfect comparable house is selling for $100k, you don't have a deal. So be careful.