Do You Make More Flipping Houses As a Business or Investor?
Flipping houses is a real estate strategy in which an investor purchases a property, fixes it up and then sells it again for a profit. When pursuing this strategy, you can choose to do it as an investor or as a business. While both of these options are viable, one may help you make more money than the other.
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Business vs. Investment
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Many investors who choose to get involved in flipping real estate do so on a part-time basis. They work another job full-time and they simply buy a property to make some extra money on the side. When this happens, this is known as an investment. Another approach to flipping property involves buying several properties. With this strategy, the majority of your income comes from flipping the properties instead of being from a job. The primary source of income helps determine if it is a business or just a secondary investment.
Tax Considerations
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When deciding whether to flip property as a business or as an investment, the amount of taxes you will have to pay could play a role in your decision. If you buy a house and hold it longer than one year before you sell it, you can be taxed at the long-term capital gains tax rate, which is lower than the rate you normally pay on income. If you hold the property less than a year, you will be taxed at your regular marginal rate. If you run it as a business, you will be taxed at your regular marginal rate regardless of how long you hold the property.
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Volume
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When you get involved with flipping properties, you can increase profitability by doing more deals. When you only do one house at a time, the amount of money that you can make is limited. By taking on several projects at the same time, you can take advantage of economies of scale. It will allow you to buy things in bulk for all of your properties instead of buying only a little at a time. You can focus on trying to find deals and then outsource all of the renovations.
Considerations
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When you want to make the most amount of money possible, flipping property as a business gives you the most opportunity to do so. However, many who have tried to take on this project end up losing money overall. To buy multiple properties, you must have a large amount of cash on hand. If you do not have enough cash to pay for renovations, you may end up borrowing more money and paying interest on it. Because of this, some prefer to only do one unit at a time so that they can handle the large cash flow requirements.
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