Got this amazing offer for contractors, and people who actually want to monetize...Get the money get the hype

Most "flip a house" courses point you at the same crowded MLS listings every wholesaler in your city is already bidding on. Condemned and red-tagged properties are a different pool entirely — they're sitting on county condemnation lists, code enforcement dockets, and absentee-owner rolls that almost nobody is mining because they look scarier than they are.

A few things I wish someone told me before my first one:

• Condemned ≠ unbuyable. Most condemnation is triggered by code violations (structural, electrical, plumbing) not by the property being worthless. Once you know which violations are cosmetic-fixable vs. structural, you can price risk accurately instead of walking away from real margin.

• Banks won't touch these, but that's your edge. Less financing competition means better negotiating leverage on price. Hard money and private lenders are usually the move here, not conventional mortgages.

• Getting your real estate license changes the math. MLS access alone lets you see distressed listings days before they're publicly marketed, and the commission you save buying/selling your own deals adds up fast once you're doing more than one or two a year. It's not required, but it's worth understanding the numbers on it before you dismiss it.

• Your exit isn't always a retail flip. Some of these properties make more sense as a hold-and-rent once renovated, or a quick wholesale to another investor if you don't want to carry the renovation timeline. Decide your exit before you close, not after.

Happy to answer questions on sourcing, financing, or renovation sequencing for condemned properties — drop them below.