As of this writing, internet is down in the office and yours truly is typing on a new Word document. There’s a temporary broadband outage and might as well take this time to rant something about making a back-up plan for your fix and flip projects.

In real estate investing, pros call it an exit strategy but really it’s just a back-up plan. Sometimes Plan B. Basically, it’s something that you can effectively do to save the deal from being a total wreck. And when you’re in the fix and flip business, or even just in wholesaling houses, you should have one or two exit strategies.

If memory serves this old man right, there have been a few posts about this exit strategy here in this section. But the best way actually to avoid having to resort to a back-up plan is to simply make your main plan as foolproof as possible. Therefore, if you’re rehabbing houses, be sure to determine what your main intentions are. They are: to buy a property as low as possible, rehab it, and then resell it as high as possible.

Perhaps one of the better options should the house stay too long in the market is just to open it as a rental. Of course you should only use this if the market is a viable rental market. For instance, you can’t expect it to work as a rental in neighborhood where the norm is owning a property. But if you’re in an area where there are a number of apartments, you can stand out and offer the single family home as a rental. Hope this helps friends.

Ever tried rentals as an exit strategy for a fix and flip? Leave some comments. Log in on our forums or register with your email below.