Ok I have been in Real Estate for 2 years. I would like to make an investment, but I'm not sure if I (1) Should invest in a REO and flip it. (2) Buy an REO live in it for 2 years and do work on it and then sell or (3) Buy a dublex? Any advice..

buy low and sell high.
Now is a great time to buy low. I think January and February are going to be fabulous times to buy low. It's hard to say which type would be best for you to buy...it all depends on how much you have to pay, upside potential, etc.

Why are you just focusing on the REO side of it?

Your goals will be about how you want to grow your portfolio and do you want to invest locally or nationally.

I don't know your market so I couldn't say what is a better investment.

My personal philosophy is in the beginning build cash flow by flipping a bunch of properties.Then for every five you purchase keep 1 to 2 of them to rent if it makes sense.

Over time your residential portfolio will build and you will start acquiring commercial properties as well.

The problem with buying rentals right out of the gate is if you have 3 homes and 2 become vacant because you had to evict you are now in a negative cash flow situation.When the real good deals come along you are now STUCK with these properties and your credit lines are maxed out.

Flip First and build up cash unless you already have an ungodly amount of money which is not typical for most new investors.

trailer park

Rentals are good for long term, flips are obviously good for short term. I think the best thing to do right now is do a few flips get some cash for the short term and pick up a rental or two once you have some cash to put down.
On another note, why only focus on REO? My experience has been that the majority of the time these do not offer a good at all.

If you are fairly limited on cash and you real estate market is not flourishing you might try your hands at real estate wholesaling. Real estate wholesaling works well in any market and is about as close to risk free as you can get.

You have to invest according to your circumstances and your resources. If you have little cash to invest, a quick flip could work out the best. Just get it done and over with quickly and make money on your first deal. Build confidence and find a great team to work with. You will need to know the market, you will need financing unless you have cash, you will need to know who to sell to and how. If your market is in a slump, id go for the quick flip.

Best of luck!

Quick flip is the way to go. If you live on a property for couple of years, fix it up and then sell it, that would go with a long term goal and would be a slow process. With flip you can get in and get out quickly and move on to next property if everything works out. With flip you could end up doing a few properties in a year but there is a risk involved in that. There are Mortgage companies that do 100% financing and even finance the repairs.

Now you can do IMO.
Buy low sell high.
Buy and hold. The market now is down, but in a few years will pick up and price will go up.

Real estate whole selling what is that never heard that term around here before?

Wholesaling is also called buy low sell low. You find a house worth $200k fixed up, buy it for $100k and sell it as-is to a rehab investor for $120k.

Different definition here...could be based on location.

To me, wholesaling is when you find a deal and put it under contract and then sell (or assign) the contract to a rehabber who then closes on the property.

Example:
Find a deal where the after repaired value is $200k that needs $10k worth of work.

Know that in many areas a rehab investor would buy this between $125k - $130k. So you need to put it under contract for less than that.

You write up a purchase offer for $120k and have it accepted. Then you assign your contract to the rehabber for $125k...you make $5k at closing.

There are other ways to doing this but this is the simplest explanation.

Chris

In my area, flipping is when you assign or wholesale a contract. Rehabbing is when you buy a house and fix it up for resale.

Why not buy low and cash flow those sons of guns? Then when the market goes crazy again sell them off?

Since in here we are talking about flipping properties, I was just wondering that a buyer can always check out the original home price on the internet and then it can cause problems in the deal, right. Any solutions or am I just wrong in my thinking? Suggestions please.

I did a flip a couple years ago, buying a house for 21K and sold for 56K a few months later. The buyer stated, "I know what you paid for this." My response, "So what? I fixed it and it's now worth market value." Another investor in my area routinely picks up foreclosures for 25-30K and sells them fixed up for 80K. I've seen his spread be as much as 100K. He used to offer "owner financing" and sell for more than market value (and then sell the loans), but the subprime meltdown has affected him and he's no longer offering that finance option. But he's still in the flipping business.