Updated On: June 19th, 2021
First-time or beginning house flippers will often greatly underestimate the amount of time it takes to flip a house.
Mainly, because they underestimate the amount of work involved in rehabbing a property and they forget to account for all house flipping steps.
So how long does it take to flip a house?
It typically takes between 4 and 6 months to complete a house flip from purchase to the sale of the property.
But to understand why it takes 4 to 6 months to complete a house flip, you have to look at a typical house flipping timeline, which we will be doing in the rest of this article.
What are the Steps to Flip a House and How Long Does Each Step Take?
There are four main steps to flipping a house including purchasing the flip, rehabbing the flip, marketing the flip, and sale of the flip. In order to have an accurate picture of how long it takes to flip a house, you have to include each of these house flipping steps into the overall timeline.
Purchasing the Flip
After you have found the perfect house to flip you must go through the closing process in order to actually purchase the home.
The closing process on a flip can vary slightly depending on where and whom you’re buying the home from but a typical closing will take between one week to around a month when buying a home as an investment.
Even if you’re using cash to purchase the home, it will typically take at least a week for closing due to the title work that must be completed. Typical title work on a house includes the title search on the home, title insurance, and deed preparation.
Keep in mind if you’re using a loan to purchase the home it can take up to a month to close on the property. Because while the title company can be ready to close within a week, it will usually take the lender at least a month to provide the loan.
Also, one thing to be prepared for when purchasing a home to flip especially if buying a foreclosure or a distressed property is that there can sometimes be title issues. These potential title issues can include a cloud on the title or liens on the property which must be dealt with before closing, which can substantially delay the purchase.
Rehabbing the Flip
After you have successfully purchased the home you then need to turn your attention to the rehab of the property. Depending on the scope of work needed on the house the rehab process can take anywhere from a few weeks up to several months to complete.
If the flip just needs a light updating and is a paint and carpet flip you can greatly reduce the amount of time needed to update and remodel the home which will help to reduce your overall house flipping timeline.
If however, the home requires a complete overall and needs such items as a new roof, updated electrical or plumbing, a new HVAC, or foundation work etc… then the rehab of the house can take many months or more to complete.
As you can see the amount of time it takes to rehab a home can vary greatly depending on the scope of work. But a universal truth that I have found when it comes to flipping houses is however long you think something will take, double it, as everything takes twice as long as you think it’s going to.
Marketing the Flip
Marketing the flip which includes gathering all needed information, finding and hiring a real estate agent, taking photos, listing the home on the market, and finding a buyer can take anywhere from a few weeks to several months.
Keep in mind though that marketing is a step that can be streamlined thereby reducing the overall house flipping timeline.
For example, you should not have to find and hire a different real estate agent every time you sell a flip. Instead, work to find a really good agent that will do a great job in getting your flips sold and stick with them.
Even if you do streamline the marketing process though, it can still take a good amount of time, so it’s important not to forget to account for this house flipping step in the overall timeline.
Selling the Flip
Just as it took time for you to purchase the home it will also take time for you to sell the home.
Because a typical retail buyer will not have the cash to purchase your home and will typically use some type of standard 30-year mortgage, it usually takes longer to sell the home than it did to purchase.
When selling a flip you can expect this step to take anywhere from 1 to 2 months because of the amount of time it takes for the buyer to go through their loan process.
Also keep in mind the amount of time it takes to sell the property can depend on the type of loan the buyer is using. For example, a conventional loan will typically take around a month to complete, where an FHA loan usually takes around a month and a half, and a VA or USDA loan can take as long as two months.
Putting it All Together – Complete Timeline to Flip a House
Below is the breakdown of a typical house flip and all of the different timelines discussed in this article.
- Purchasing the Flip – 2 Weeks
- Rehabbing the Flip – 10 Weeks
- Marketing the Flip – 4 Weeks
- Sale of the Flip – 6 Weeks
- Total Time – 22 Weeks or 4 to 6 Months
Ways to Reduce the Amount of Time it Takes to Flip a House
- Start as Soon As Possible – While you are waiting on the closing to purchase the home use that time to start working on getting bids and developing a plan for the flip. That way when you do own the property you will already be that much farther ahead.
- Stack the Trades – This means to line each trade up one right after the other with little to no downtime to prevent the house flip from sitting idle. Be forewarned though, this can lead to a lot of extra stress when subcontractors don’t complete their work on time.
- Pitch In – Don’t be afraid to get your hands dirty or help with a particular job if it will get the home flipped faster.
- Price the Home Correctly – By pricing the home correctly you can avoid wasting time with an overpriced listing sitting on the market. Make sure you know what the home is truly worth and price the home accordingly to be competitive.
- Lower the Price – Even with an in-depth market analysis and a careful consideration of the competition sometimes you can miss the mark when pricing your flip. If you don’t get an acceptable offer on the house within a month, drop the price don’t wait. Remember time is money when flipping houses.
Want to know the average profit for a house flip? Check out our article “Flipping Houses Average Profit You Can Expect“.
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