My flipping has changed considerably since this thread started. The economic down turn has brought out many hard core flippers in the Tampa market. I'm a regular working guy with a full tie job, bike are simply a hobby for me, a hobby I happen to make money on. Because the flippers are scooping up anything worth buying within an hour there's virtualy nothing left for me to buy. So I adjusted, in the past my golden rule was $100, if I couldn't net $100 I wouldn't buy it, now my golden rule is 250, if I can't make $250 I don't buy it. I've also move more upscale, I wont hesitate to buy a $1,000 bike or even a $2,000 if I know I can make money on it.

The benefits of my new strategy are many, I turn around far fewer bikes but I make a lot more money off each flip. Up market bikes tend to be in much better condition which means I spend much less time fixing/refurbishing. From a pure profit perspective I'll venture a guess and say I'm flipping at least 5X fewer bikes for the same profit. From a time perspective I'm putting in at least 5X less....3 of my last 4 bikes were in 9.5/10 condition as compared to new, all they needed were quick tune ups and a polish.

At the end of the day I'm spending much less time and making more money by going up market.