This is a simple concept in which the investor buys, rehabilitates, and then resells a property at a profit. This is also known as “flipping” a home. This process usually happens remotely, because the investor remains in his or her own home, sometimes in a locale where flipping doesn’t make sense, and utilizes the Internet to find and invest in opportunities. The goal here is to make the process of investing in real estate as easy as possible, so all the investor has to do is flip a switch or “turn the key drop.”

You might be thinking you can just eliminate the middleman, the key drop retailer or company, and do all of the legwork yourself. While many investors do just that and succeed at it, there are some drawbacks. In most cases, you’ll end up undertaking much more work than you would as an investor. Here is what you would have to do if you became a flipper, rather than utilizing a turn-key drop solution and having the turnkey retailer handle the process for you.

Finding the property: First, you would have to locate a suitable property, which means knowing which neighborhoods are going to appeal to buyers or tenants.

Rehabilitating the property: Next, you would have to renovate and rehabilitate the property, making it adhere to current codes and also be an excellent single-family property. This requires proper budgeting and attention to contractors and laborers, something that requires an on-site presence.

Marketing the property for sale or rent: Once the house is move-in ready, you would have to find a buyer or a paying tenant to move into the location.

Should you decide to rent out the property, you would be entering a whole new dimension. For more information on turn-key real estate investment where you rent instead of resell, check out our outline of that investment strategy.

If this sounds like a lot of work, that’s because it is. With turn-key real estate investing, as little or as much of that work can be taken off your shoulders and put on someone else’s. Let’s look at the advantages of turn-key real estate investment.

In a full-fledged turn-key real estate investment situation, you are an investor, not a flipper or landlord. You’re hiring someone else to manage the property for you, so all you have to do is collect on the profit. Here are some of the primary advantages of turn-key real estate investment.