Posted on May 21st, 2009 by Lindsey Harper

If you’re interested in investing in real estate, now is a great time!  Cheap houses for sale are available to bid at record numbers right now.You'll find homes for as low as a $1 starting bid.

For example, I found this home for sale in Michigan at an Internet auction site.  When I first saw this home, only a couple of hours ago, it was available for a starting bid of $1.Currently the bid is only $501.  The bidding ends on May 29 at 7:00 PM.  Since the home is at such a low price for a starting bid, the final bid could possibly be yours at still a low price.

There are factors about cheap houses for sale that you need to pay attention to.Most of them often require some type of repair.  Sometimes the repairs needed are extensive.Sometimes the homes require very little repair.Because they are inexpensive, they are great for investment.  You can fix the house up for re-sale, as a rental property or to live in yourself. The home was built in 1920 and has a 2 car garage.They would also make a great starter home.

Home for Sale in Michigan

If you are interested in investing in real estate you can get started at Government Auction Network.  They list   bank foreclosures, government foreclosures and local real estate auctions.  You can find many cheap houses for sale online at Government Auction Network.

I’m always here to help with working with Government Auction Network.  You can simply click on “About Lindsey” then just click on “Just Ask Me.”  The economy is prime for investing in real estate and I’m here to help.

Government Auction Network –  investing in real estate – cheap houses for sale – home for sale in Michigan

Aside from the obvious financial rewards that go along with real estate investing and flipping houses there are a few more abstract benefits that can be gained when you embark on a house flipping adventure if you are looking for a little more incentive to get going in the direction of your dreams of real estate riches through flipping houses.

Many things in life have way more than 1 pro or 1 con to them and the same is said when it comes to flipping houses. Whether you are doing this for a living or this is a one-time deal you will find that there are all kinds of little lessons you learn along the way. Knowledge is rarely a bad thing and the lessons you learn while flipping houses are lessons that can be applied in many aspects of your life.

1) Budgeting. There are only a couple of things that can give you a crash course in budgeting your money faster than flipping a house. In order to successfully flip the house you are working on you will need to learn to budget quickly or you will wind up literally hemorrhaging money. Learning to set a budget and stick with it are both necessary skills for any flipping houses but when they carry over into other real life applications you will find that this is a very useful skill that has you looking at everyday purchases with new eyes.
2) Muscle Definition. Who knew that flipping houses would be such an excellent workout? This is especially true for those who traditionally hold jobs that aren’t necessarily dependent upon physical labor and those that do much of the work themselves (which is highly recommended when you can in order to save expensive and profit eating labor costs). From heavy lifting to hammering and several other physical jobs in between you should discover that your labors are rewarded in more ways than simply watching your project come together.
3) Attention to Detail. This is a huge benefit that comes from flipping houses and you will get better at this with every subsequent flip. The money, when flipping houses is often made in the small details that others will overlook such as new electric faceplates, proper staging, and a good eye for color throughout the property. These things make potential buyers see a home that is loved and cared for rather than just another house on their list of places to see. If you pay attention to detail in your 9 to 5 job after flipping properties or into your tax preparing, event planning, and even organizing your home, you will find out that the experience you’ve gained while flipping properties is well worth the time, labor, and money that went into getting it.
4) Positive Thinking. You will hear it often in your life, but positive thinking is a very powerful tool. There are only a couple of areas that this holds true more than when it comes to flipping houses. You will definitely want to season your thinking positive with a BIG dose of reality but you should be well aware that thinking positive has many advantages to you when flipping houses and in almost every other area of your life. You don’tt want to spend your time that you could be repairing your property searching for problems or excuses+.
5) Just Do It. The old Nike commercials had a point and if flipping houses doesn’t teach you anything else it should teach you this lesson. Putting things off wastes money. Every day that you carry the house you carry the expenses of the house (electric, mortgage, interest, etc.) get in there, get it done, and move on to the next project. Putting off the tasks that you don’t want to do, won’t make them go away so you might as well just go ahead and get them over with.

Flipping houses isn’t rocket science but it does take a unique combination of luck, skills, and stubbornness to turn a profit in this particular business. Learning the lessons above will help you not only succeed when it comes to flipping houses but in other aspects of your life as well.

Please don’t forget to check out my blog at http://cashmoneyhousebuyerblog.com

When it comes to making a profit in the business of flipping houses and other real estate investments you will find all kinds of do’s and don’ts along the way. The truth is that these are extremely useful whether this is your very first flip or you have been flipping properties for 35 years. As a matter of fact you might just find that you can learn something new by reading lists such as this, even if you’ve been flipping houses for 30 years and have completed many successful flips.

1) Don’t forget to check out the neighborhood before you buy. You will want to make sure that the property you are considering is a good fit for the neighborhood. You should also make sure the plan you have drawn out for the property will match with the other neighborhood properties in order to make a quicker sale.
2) Don’t blow your budget without just cause. Your budget is what you used to determine whether or not the house would be a profitable venture. If you spend your budget and cannot recover the money you’ve spent in the selling price of the house you will have cut into your profits, if not cut them all together. The goal in property flipping is to get in and out quickly and spend as little money as possible in order to make as much money as possible.
3) Don’t forget to set daily goals and hold yourself accountable to those goals. If you don’t reach your goals for the week it can set the entire project back as much as 3 weeks depending on the goals and what has to be rearranged as a result. Stick to your timeline and your daily schedule in order to avoid potentially costly delays in time and money.
4) Don’t neglect the exterior. Curb appeal is what brings buyers into the house. If you spend all your money, time, and effort making improvements to the interior of the home you will have very little left to make the outside appealing to potential buyers. A homebuyer is in the market for the whole house, not part of it. A home that looks run down on the exterior leaves the lasting impression of being neglected on the inside and many buyers will never walk inside the house, if the outside looks bad.
5) Don’t spend money you don’t need to spend. While it would be great to put in granite countertops and stainless steel appliances into the kitchens of every home it isn’t always practical and this is often money that you will not receive back on the sell of the property, particularly in homes that are in lower to middle class neighborhoods. If you want to get the most for your money avoid costly expenses that aren’t exactly necessary for the successful completion of the flip. Resurface bathroom fixtures rather than replacing them if possible and use new cabinet doors or hardware rather than adding new cabinets all together to cut down on expenses. In other words, salvage what you can, fix what needs to be fixed, paint what you can, and add a few cosmetic touches before moving on.

The real estate market is a very fickle market. Avoid risking too much time and money on a property that isn’t going to recover those added touches and expenses. Instead hold onto those ideas for higher end flips once you have a few successful flips under your belt.