Before you clear out the clutter or tear out the TV room, have a timeline and budget in place. That means you must know realistically how long it is going to take to demo, rebuild walls, re-plumb, re-electrify, get permits, order materials, pick colors, and do your homework. You will need to time your sale correctly and you will need to work backward from a dream open house date to make sure you are on track with your marketing and promotion. 

You do NOT want to finish a flip on the Friday before Christmas, so pace yourself and pad the well-planned timeline with at least two weeks before you put it in stone. Then, accept that it is probably going to change.

Money, Money, Money
 
Ask yourself some serious questions.  Where is it coming from? How much are you paying in interest? What are your carry costs? Do you have solid bids from vendors, subs and contractors that you can sign and get them to stick to so you can predict the fixed numbers? 

Are you forgetting to include pesky little items such as property taxes and maintenance or utilities as line items in your budget? Do you already have the money in an account or are you still waiting for extra financing to come through and HOPING it will get here on time? You can’t manage a budget if you don’t know how much money you have to spend.