To get to an answer, it may help to clearly define each term and put each one in perspective.

House flipping is the practice of buying a residence and then selling it at a profit within the smallest time possible. House flippers try to make the most money within a very short period of time, thus the word flipping.The house flipper does not hold on and rent the house. As a matter of fact, the less time they own the home, the better their profits.

Real estate investment on the other hand, means buying a house then selling it later for a profit.

The real estate investor might buy the property with the purpose of selling it at some time, but not for a while.

Now that you understand the differences, which one is the best way to go?

The main difference between the two investment schemes is that in house flipping, the investor is looking for quick profits while investors want to make money in the long term

A house flipper aims to buy at a below market rate. In doing so, it guarantees a quick profit from a quick sale.

In most cases, the property will be purchased at a cost considerably less as compared to its market price (in the cover anything from 40-80% lower than the market will bear).

Renovation is the most popular way of flipping a house. The house flips, buys, renovates and sells all within a few months.

House flip renovations are popular because if you estimate your fix up costs, you can turn a profit quickly. It is also possible to acquire experts who know the specific renovations considered necessary and the house will look really good for a quick resale when it?s done.

This allows the home flipper to get a fast market for the home and at the same time getting a really good price for the house.

House flipping tends to be simpler than buy and hold real estate investing because the flipper does not deal with landlord issues and the profit is made more quickly instead of it being done over time.

Where a house flipping pro works is important as well and this depends on the local real estate market in large part, the house flipper can make higher return on investment (ROI) if he/she can manage to flip the houses in short times. In contrast, the buy and hold real estate investor makes his return over time through rental income and appreciation over years of holding.

In buy and hold real estate investing, the scheme is more long term and for investors looking for a steady income. A big advantage to buy and hold real estate is that the real estate investor does not need to sell immediately and can wait for market conditions to improve, then worry about resale when the time comes.

Additionally, the buy and hold real estate investor can also leverage bulk buying of renovation materials if he is going to do multiple properties at once

I am purely biased, but house flipping is my preferred way of making money in real estate, what do you think?

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