Getting Started

How do I start flipping houses with no experience?

Start by learning your local market's comps, running the numbers on a few practice deals with the 70% rule, and building relationships with a real estate agent, a hard money lender, and at least one reliable contractor before you make an offer. Most first-time flippers underestimate their rehab budget and holding costs — track both closely from day one, either in a spreadsheet or a dedicated house flipping app like FlipMargin.

How much money do I need to flip a house?

You typically need enough for your down payment or hard money loan points, your full rehab budget, and 3–6 months of holding costs (loan payments, taxes, insurance, utilities) as a buffer, since flips commonly run over budget and past their planned timeline.

How long does it take to flip a house?

The average flip takes around 5–6 months (roughly 161 days) from purchase to resale, though timelines vary widely based on the scope of the rehab, permitting, and how fast the property sells.

ARV, Comps & the 70% Rule

What does ARV mean in real estate?

ARV stands for After Repair Value — what a property is expected to sell for once renovations are complete. It's the single most important number in a flip's underwriting, since your rehab budget, offer price, and profit projection are all built around it.

How do I calculate ARV?

ARV is estimated by pulling recent comparable sales ("comps") of similar renovated properties in the same neighborhood — similar square footage, bed/bath count, and condition — and adjusting for differences. Most investors pull comps from their MLS, a real estate agent, or a site like Redfin or Zillow before entering the number into FlipMargin.

What is the 70% rule in house flipping?

The 70% rule is a quick underwriting formula: Maximum offer = (ARV × 0.70) − estimated repair costs. It's a rule of thumb to make sure you're leaving enough margin to cover holding costs, selling costs, and profit — not a guarantee of profitability on its own.

What's the difference between ARV and market value?

Market value reflects a property's worth in its current "as-is" condition. ARV specifically projects value after renovations are completed — it's a forward-looking estimate, not a current appraisal.

Budgets, Contractors & Holding Costs

How do I create a rehab budget?

Break your rehab budget down by trade (demo, framing, roofing, HVAC, electrical, plumbing, kitchen, bathrooms, etc.), separating labor and material costs for each. Get real contractor quotes wherever possible instead of relying on rough estimates — quotes are far more accurate than guesses.

How do I track contractor payments and draws?

Most flippers pay contractors in draws — partial payments released as milestones of work are completed and inspected, rather than one lump sum upfront. FlipMargin lets you log each contractor's quote, track draws paid against it, and see what's still owed, all tied back to your overall rehab budget.

What is a draw schedule on a hard money loan?

A draw schedule (also called a construction holdback) is how a hard money lender releases rehab funds in stages — typically 3–6 milestone payments — after each phase of work is inspected and approved, rather than funding the full rehab budget upfront.

What are typical holding costs on a flip?

Holding costs are everything you pay each month you own the property before it sells: loan or mortgage payments, property taxes, insurance, and utilities. These add up fast on flips that run longer than planned, which is why tracking projected vs. actual timeline matters as much as tracking the budget itself.

How do I avoid going over budget on a renovation?

Log every real expense as you spend it — not at the end of the month — and compare it against your budget by trade in real time. Budget overruns are hardest to catch when you're only reconciling numbers weeks after the money is already spent, which is the core problem tools like FlipMargin are built to solve.

Profit, ROI & Deal Calculators

How do I calculate profit margin on a house flip?

Net profit = ARV (sale price) − total project cost, where total project cost includes purchase price, closing costs, rehab budget, holding costs, and selling costs. FlipMargin's Deal Summary calculates this automatically as you enter your numbers.

How do I calculate ROI on a house flip?

ROI = Net profit ÷ total cash invested (purchase, closing, rehab, and holding costs — excluding the amount recovered from the sale itself). Most experienced flippers target at least 15–20% ROI, with enough dollar profit to absorb the risk of the project running over budget.

What is the BRRRR method, and does FlipMargin support it?

BRRRR stands for Buy, Rehab, Rent, Refinance, Repeat — a strategy where you renovate a property, rent it out, then refinance to pull your cash back out and repeat the process. FlipMargin includes a dedicated BRRRR calculator alongside its Flip, Rental, and Wholesale calculators, so you're not switching tools as your strategy changes.

Does FlipMargin work for wholesale deals too?

Yes — FlipMargin includes a Wholesale calculator alongside Flip, Rental, and BRRRR, so you can underwrite any deal type in the same app.

FlipMargin App & Pricing

Is there a free trial for FlipMargin?

Yes — every new account gets a 7-day free trial with no credit card required. The trial lets you fully evaluate FlipMargin on one active project.

How much does FlipMargin cost?

After the free trial, FlipMargin Plus is $15.99/month (or $9.99/month billed annually) and covers up to 5 active projects. FlipMargin Pro is $25.99/month (or $19.99/month billed annually) and covers up to 30 active projects. FlipMargin Business is $49.99/month (or $449.99/year) with unlimited active projects, for investors and teams running high volume. AI receipt and quote scanning is unlimited on every paid plan.

What's the difference between the Plus, Pro, and Business plans?

Every feature — AI scanning, custom categories, cloud sync, PDF reports, and all four deal calculators — works the same across all three plans. The only difference is capacity: Plus covers up to 5 active (billable) projects, Pro covers up to 30 active projects, and Business covers unlimited active projects.

Can I scan receipts automatically to log expenses?

Yes — FlipMargin's AI-assisted scanning reads a photo of a receipt or contractor quote and automatically extracts the vendor, amount, and category, so you're not manually typing every line item.

Does FlipMargin sync across my phone and the web?

Yes — your data syncs automatically across iOS, Android, and the web dashboard, so you can log an expense from the job site on your phone and review it on your laptop that night.

Is my financial data secure?

Your data is encrypted in transit and at rest, and stored on Supabase's cloud infrastructure. See our full Privacy Policy for details on what we collect and how it's used.

Is FlipMargin available on both iPhone and Android?

Yes — FlipMargin is a native mobile app for both iOS and Android, plus a web dashboard you can access from any browser.

Comparisons

Is a house flipping app better than a spreadsheet?

A spreadsheet works fine for planning a single deal, but it doesn't update itself from the job site, doesn't scan receipts, and gets harder to maintain across multiple projects. A dedicated app like FlipMargin keeps your budget vs. actual spend current in real time instead of reconstructed after the fact.

How is FlipMargin different from DealCheck or FlipperForce?

DealCheck and similar tools are strong at pre-purchase deal analysis but offer limited ongoing project tracking once you own the property. FlipperForce offers deep project tracking but at a significantly higher price point ($79+/month) aimed at teams. FlipMargin is built mobile-first with AI receipt scanning, live budget tracking, and all four deal calculators (Flip, Rental, BRRRR, Wholesale) at a lower price point for individual investors.