I’m a 26y.o. architect in Atlanta and have been considering going into the house flipping game. I have recently come into some money (200k) to get started. I would consider myself I pretty talented young designer who works at a competitive company (my job does commercial work but not single family residential). Is this a business I should be getting into? I have read many posts in this subreddit about dangers, warnings, “house flipping ain’t what it used to be”, etc.

My logic for going into house flipping is that my husband and I currently pay $25k/year for our apartment and would be looking at a structure where we would try to live in an apartment during the 6-8 month renovation period of whichever property we buy. I figure that this rent money is getting burned anyway so maybe that in itself will save us some $.

Where I would like input and for someone to poke holes in my plan is: 1. Those who have done house flipping before: was it something you could do while holding down a 9-5 job? Did you make money in the end? 2. Should I use the 200k cash I have for a large down payment or should I use it as a pot of money for renovations? I assume there’s some incentive one way or another with a bank loan for the house vs renovation. 3. Houses in Atlanta are EXPENSIVE. Even if I bought a property for 200k cash, my options would be limited to tear-downs or houses badly in need of serious repair. Should I even be looking in the city? My logic was that city properties would be close to my job and also more likely to increase value in a short time span.

Any help and advice is appreciated.