A must read for flipping real estate

Flipping: A buyer purchase the property, fix it up, and put it for sale for profit in a short period of time. I have done a flipping deal two years ago. I bought this run down property and intend to fix it up and put it on market for sale for profit. I did my homework and estimated the potential profit by estimating all the number: the cost to fix up, the buying and selling cost involved, the purchased price, and finally, the projected selling price. It turns out that all the amount I estimated are pretty close to the actual number. I thought I did great and I've made the projected amount of profit. However, I found that I've missed one important number in my original profit calculation: The CARRYING COST! From the time I acquired the porperty, fixed it up, to the time I sold it for a profit, it took total five and half months for the whole process. In the meantime, I'm responbile for all the holding cost that a normal buyer are responsbile: the mortage, the insurance, the tax and the utility. Each month, these cost add up to over $3000 dollar in my case! $3000 X 5.5 month =$16500! This is almost half of my profit! This is a big mistake I 've made but I learn from it and I'd do it differently if I do a flipping real estate again in future ==> Instead of closing the deal 30 days (normal real estate transaction), I'd ask for a longer closing time, say 3months. In the meantime, I ask for seller's permission to get in the property and do fix up and rehab to increase the value. Once the rehab is finished, I'd bring in an appraiser to appraise the property. Certainly, the new appraised value would increase. Then, I'd obtain a mortgage based on the new appraised value. Once 3 months period reached, I then acquired the property. Immediately, I'd put it back on market for sale. In essence, I will be minimizing my holding period, reducing the expense, and potentially get a better mortgage rate to further reduce the expense and increase the bottom line profit.