He’s made a good income but he’s learned some even better lessons. Now as president of the Utah Valley Real Estate Investors Association he teaches others.

UVRIA helps investors find the resources they need to turn deals. Its website is http://www.UVREIA.com.

”I’ve already learned the lesson,” he said of a loss he took when he was first starting out. “You don’t have to learn it, too.”

Since taking that hit in the real estate school of hard knocks he claims a success ratio of more than 98 percent. Here are some of the concepts he’s passing on to other would-be house flippers:

• When you go in, know how to get out. Know the Value After Repair or VAR. Whether you buy properties to rent or resell have your exit strategy in place in the beginning. He targets homes under $200,000. The average flipping cost, for him, is $20,000 to $30,000 and he usually borrows it. It all becomes part of the budget. It’s called OPM in the biz– Other People’s Money.

• Always get the home inspected before you buy it. “You don’t want to buy a house with a volcano under it,” he advises. And he never buys a house with structural problems. Use licensed contractors to make the repairs and upgrades. 

Bennett recalls the first house he bought and flipped. It was a house in Provo he acquired in 2005 for $190,000. Every night after work he’d head to the house and work on it until after midnight. He did that for seven months. When the work was done he sold the house for $320,000 and after expenses made more money on that house than at his job that year. 

”I’d have earned maybe $30,000 more if I’d used a contractor,” he said, now more seasoned.

A contractor would have done it faster and not made the mistakes a novice makes on things that had to be done over.

• Get written contracts from the professionals you use — even if it’s your brother. He pays his contractors in three draws — the first for the materials, unless he buys them himself; the second halfway through and the rest when the job is finished.

• This is a business. If you don’t know how to do it, take a course. Bennett says he’s made money from every course he took, even the bad ones.

• When doing the rehab be sure and focus on curb appeal. That means remodeling the front lawn and yard, if necessary. And change the ugly front doors. “It makes a big difference,” he said.  “Lots of buyers won’t go in if they don’t like what they see from the street.”

• Put in things people like — like fireplaces, wood floors and granite counter tops, for example. Go to the annual Parade of Homes to learn the trends for the next year. Rooms that raise value are kitchens and baths. Focus on those as well as adding usable square footage where you reasonably can and enhance the outdoor spaces. And add something a bit extra to make the home stand out, but don’t over-invest.

• Stage the home to sell. Staged homes sell faster and for more money, he said. Staging shows the possibilities to a prospective buyer more than the personal touches of home decorating.

• Jump into a project only if the numbers work. Don’t fall in love with the house. Fall in love with the numbers.

• And finally, he always lists the completed home with a Realtor. “The only time I sell a home by owner is during the (rehabilitation process),” he said. To sell the home quickly he prices it a bit under the competition after making it the best-looking house on the street.