Can You Flip a House in a Month? Answered

Flipping houses is a great way to make money but one major drawback to house flipping is how long it takes to flip a house.

As most house flips will usually take anywhere from 4 to 6 months or between 120 and 180 days to complete, making it impossible to flip a house in just one month.

In fact, as we will explore in more detail below, in most cases one month will not even be enough time to complete even one of the major steps involved in flipping a house.

I know for me personally the fastest I’ve ever flipped a house from beginning to end, was four months and that’s only because everything went perfectly.

However, with house flipping things rarely go perfectly.

Which is why most of my house flips usually take around 6 months to complete.

Average House Flipping Timeline

Now that we know it takes between 4 and  6 months or between 120 days and 180 days to complete a flip.

Let’s take a look at a typical house flipping timeline, to find out why it takes 4 to 6 months on average to complete a house flip.

Step 1: Buying the House

The first step of the house flipping process is the actual acquisition or buying of the property.  

And the amount of time it takes to buy the house can vary greatly depending on the particular source for the property.

For example, if you were to buy a property from a wholesaler, the closing process will usually only take a week or two.

If however, you were to buy a short sale property, the closing process could take anywhere from two to six months.

So in order to give you a better idea of long it might take to actually buy the property you plan to flip, we created the below table, that shows how long it usually takes to buy a property from a particular source. 

*Average Closing Timelines Based on Cash or Hard Money Loan Purchases

Step 2: Rehabbing the Flip

The next step in the house flipping process is the actual rehab of the property, which will usually take anywhere from 1 to 2 months depending on the level of rehab required and how much work you plan to do yourself.  

As property rehab and remodeling can look very different from one flip to the next.

As some houses only require a light update, needing only flooring, a fresh coat of paint, new fixtures, and perhaps some fresh landscaping.

While other properties in poor condition with extensive deferred maintenance can require major updates and rehab, potentially requiring foundation work, a new roof, a new HVAC system, and extensive interior remodeling.   

Because of this, the property rehab and remodeling timeline for a particular house flip can vary quite a bit.  

But even if you’re just doing a light update to a property, I would still allow for at least a month for property rehab and remodeling.

As everything usually takes twice as long as you think it will, when flipping houses and rehabbing properties. 

Step 3: Marketing the Property

Once you’ve finished the remodel and rehab of the property and have the house looking its best, you’re ready for the next step in house flipping, which is marketing the home for sale.

And as was the case with the first two steps of the house flipping process, the amount of time it takes to complete the marketing phase can vary greatly depending on several factors including:

• Whether You Sell the Flip as a For Sale By Owner or with a Realtor
• The Level of Exposure the Home Receives
• Whether or Not the Home is Priced Correctly for the Market
• Whether it’s a Seller’s Market or a Buyer’s Market
• The Quality of the Remodel and Rehab on the Property

But, in general, you should allow for at least two weeks and up to a month for the marketing of the home and negotiations with potential buyers.  

Step 4: Selling the Flip

The final step to successfully flip a house is the closing process with the buyer that has the property under contract for purchase.

And while you might think that this is just a forgone conclusion that’s nothing more than a formality.

It can take a substantial amount of time to get through the closing process and to the closing table on a flip.

As these are many steps that need to be completed in order to sell a home to a buyer that’s using traditional home financings, such as an FHA or Conventional loan.

Typical Closing Process for a Home

1. Property is placed under contract and earnest money is deposited into an escrow account.
2. Buyer submits the loan application to their lender.
3. Seller or buyer orders the agreed-upon title company or closing attorney to start the title work on the property, which includes a title search.
4. Buyer completes their home inspection.
5. Buyer and seller negotiate any repairs to be completed on the property based on the home inspection.
6. Lender orders the appraisal.
7. The lender receives the appraisal back from the appraiser, ensuring the home value is at or above the agreed-upon purchase price and that the home doesn’t need any lender-required repairs.
8. The title company or closing attorney reviews all the title work to ensure the property has no encumbrances and is able to be sold free and clear to the new buyer and issues title insurance based on their search.
9. Seller completes any agreed-upon repairs to the property.  
10. The lender sends the closing file to their underwriting department for final review and loan approval.
11. The closing date is set that is agreeable to all parties.
12. Buyer and seller close on the property with the title company or closing attorney, where the seller receives the sale proceeds and transfers ownership to the new buyer.  

As you can see there is a lot that has to be accomplished in order to close a financed transaction.

And because of this, it usually takes anywhere from 30 to 60 days to sell a property and complete the final step of a house flip.

The Complete House Flipping Timeline:  Adding It All Up

Now that we’ve seen how long each individual step of the house flipping process takes, let’s add up all the different timelines to get a better idea of how long it typically takes to flip a house.

How Long Do You Have to Own A House Before You Can Flip It?

There is no specific amount of time you have to own a home before you can flip it, as it’s possible to flip a house after just a few days of owning the property.  

However, there are two caveats or specific situations that can impact how long you need to hold a house before flipping it.

Including the type of financing you used to buy the property and the type of financing the buyer is using to buy your flip.

How You Financed the Flip Can Affect How Long You Need to Hold the Flip

The first situation that has the potential to affect how long you have to wait before you can sell the flip is what type of financing you used to buy the flip. 

Because while cash or a hard money loan won’t have any impact on how quickly you can sell a flip.

Certain types of home loans, such as FHA loans and even some conventional loans can have a big impact on how long you need to own the flip before you can sell it. 

This is because all FHA loans have a lending requirement that states you must live in the home, as your primary residence, for at least one year, before you can sell it.

In addition, others types of loans, such as conventional loans, are placing similar types of restrictions on their loans as well.

So while you can flip a house using an FHA loan or a Conventional loan, this is one major drawback of doing so.

How Buyer Financing Impacts the Length of Time You Need to Own the Flip

The other side of the coin that can also impact how long you need to own the flip before selling it is the type of financing the buyer is using to buy your flip.

Because many types of loans require a “seasoning period” or for the seller to have owned the property for a certain amount of time before they will approve the loan.

For example, FHA loans as a condition of the loan, require the seller to have owned the home for at least 90 days before they will approve the loan, which is often referred to as “90 Day Flip Rule” when flipping houses.  

This means if you plan to sell your flip to a buyer using FHA financing, which is one of the most common types of home financing available, especially for first-time home buyers, you will need to have owned the home for at least 90 days before doing so.

The good news though, is that a lot of this waiting time will be absorbed during the property rehab for the flip, which can easily take a month or longer.  

For more information on how financing and even taxes can affect how long you should or need to own a flip before selling it, check out our article “How Long Do You Have to Wait to Flip a House?“.

Real Estate Investing that Takes Less than a Month

While it’s not possible to flip a house using the traditional fix and flip method, in just one month.

There is one type of active real estate investing that does allow for a one-month investment timeline, which is wholesaling real estate.

As real estate wholesalers will often wholesale a house, which is just another form of house flipping, in less than a month and often in just a few weeks.

By finding a good deal on a house, placing the property under contract with the seller, and then immediately finding a new buyer to assign the contract to for a small profit.  

But there is a lot more to know about real estate wholesaling than we can go into here.

So if you’re interested in how you can wholesale a house in just a few weeks for a quick profit, check out our article “Wholesaling Houses: Everything You Need to Know“.