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If House Flipping is “Dead,” How Is She Flipping 10+ Houses THIS Year?


Many people assume house flipping doesn’t work anymore.

They’re wrong.

House flipping isn’t dead. The “easy” money is. While it’s true that flipping houses isn’t as forgiving as it was just a few years ago—and yes, the “bad” flippers are being exposed—the fear surrounding this investing strategy is actually creating massive opportunities for those who do their homework.

Just ask Henry and today’s guest, Dominique Gunderson. They’ve been flipping houses for many years and are still finding plenty of real estate deals, even in this tough housing market. They’re just doing it a little differently than in years past.

In today’s episode, we’re getting into what’s changed and what investors need to do to find, buy, renovate, and flip houses for a profit. We break down our own processes for analyzing properties, estimating rehab costs, pricing them on the back end, and so much more.

Whether you’re a complete newcomer or a frustrated investor eager for the numbers to work again, follow our blueprint to make your next flip a successful one!

Henry:
Some people seem to think house flipping is dead. Costs are up, margins are gone, the glory days are over, but they’re wrong. Some of the best opportunities we’ve seen in years are showing up right now in 2026. House flipping didn’t suddenly stop working. The easy version of it did. And the investors who were too aggressive with their numbers and bit off a bit more than they could chew, they’re being exposed. But for the rest of us, things are pretty good. Dominique Gunderson still does around 10 to 12 flips every year. And between the two of us, we’ve done over a hundred flips and counting. The differences we’ve adapted. Today, we’re breaking down what has changed in the last few years and how investors are winning in this housing market from smarter deal analysis and discipline buying to renovations that maximize your ROI. We’re sharing the exact framework we’re using right now.
Whether you’re looking to do your very first house flip or just trying to make the numbers work again, this playbook has everything you need to find, buy, renovate, and flip houses profitably in 2026. Hey everyone. I’m Henry Washington, co-host of the BiggerPockets Podcast, and today I’m talking with Dominique Gunderson. She’s a real estate investor flipping houses and buying rental properties in New Orleans, Louisiana. So let’s welcome Dom back to the BiggerPockets Podcast. Dom, welcome back to the BiggerPockets Podcast.

Dominique:
Thanks for having me. I’m excited for this one.

Henry:
Perfect. And this is a great time to be talking about flipping because there’s a lot of chatter out there in the real estate world about it. But before we get into that conversation, can you remind our audience who you are and what your history is in the real estate space?

Dominique:
Sure. Yeah. I got started in real estate straight out of high school, which was a little over 10 years for me now. So I’ve kind of done a few different things in that time, but started with the basics, just got my real estate license, kind of jumped in learning the game, learning sales and marketing. Did a little bit of wholesaling for about a year and a half, kind of get my feet wet in the investment space and then jumped full-time into flipping. So I did my first flip back in 2019 and have slowly scaled it up from there today running 10 or 12 flips at a time, mainly flips, but I do have a little bit of a rental portfolio now as well.

Henry:
I do a very similar volume. I do 10 to 20 flips a year. So I think that makes us both pretty qualified to talk about this. And a lot of people are saying it’s not a great market to be flipping houses in. So how would you describe the flipping market or the flipping landscape now that we’re in the middle of 2026?

Dominique:
Yeah, I think, man, a lot has changed since even just two or three years ago, but I’m sure you would agree since you’re still flipping 10 to 20 houses a year. It’s not a bad market to flip. It’s not a bad time to flip. There’s tons of money to be made still in flipping

Henry:
Right

Dominique:
Now. But things have changed in that the margin for error is so small right now compared to a couple years ago. And so I don’t want to put this term on anybody, but bad flippers are kind of being exposed with the current state of the market and have been for the last two years because I mean, you literally can barely make a mistake on a deal without losing money or breaking even or making five grand and you hope to make 50 or whatever. So yeah, it’s just changed a lot in the margin of error.

Henry:
Yeah, there’s a lot of areas where I think flippers can make mistakes, but the first mistake that you make is typically the offer that you pay. Your offer price is going to be based on the ARV. So first of all, for me, it starts with comping.

Dominique:
Right. And I feel like there’s so many nuances that you have to look at too with comps. In 2021 and 2022, you could kind of just put renovated property into one big bucket and as long as you kind of fit in there, you’re good. You can sell at the same price all those people are selling for. And again, this is definitely market specific, but I think generally speaking, what I’ve noticed is buyers are just getting so, so picky. So you have to be just as picky when you’re looking at the comps. There’s a reason why something sold today for the highest price in the neighborhood. It’s not just because it’s “fully renovated.” It’s because it was probably designed by a professional designer and everything looks perfect and beautiful and trendy. It’s not just the gray and white rental grade colors. It looks amazing. And so if you’re not going to match that level of design, you’re not going to match that level of materials that you’re putting in your property, you better not be using that comp and expecting that number.

Henry:
I totally agree with you. And so I don’t know how you comp your properties, but for me, I have an agent comp mine and they give me a zone. Typically it’s a high, a medium, and a low. And I am underwriting now at the ARV that falls somewhere in the mid to low end of that sale. Because that way, if I go and I list my property, when I go to run my comps again before we sell, if it’s gone up a little bit, I may adjust. But I’m never trying to get the tippy-top most money possible because I’d rather sell my house fast for less money than shoot for the stars and try to get the most money because sometimes it just makes your property sit on the market longer and then you lose your profitability to hold in costs anyway and make the same amount.

Dominique:
Yeah, no, I couldn’t agree more. I’m always underwriting, like you said, right in that kind of mid-tier, not expecting the absolute highest. The other thing too is I’m trying to underwrite my deal when I make the offer, expecting what is my number going to be after I get two price drops, after someone asks me for $10,000 in closing cost asistance, after I held the deal for two months longer than I wanted to. All those things, that’s my ARV that I’m basing my offer off of kind of knowing that hopefully some of those things, all of those things don’t happen and we can pick back up some extra profit on the back end, but the deal still underwrites if it does happen.

Henry:
Yeah. I’m not trying to underwrite deals so it tells me to buy it. I’m trying to talk myself out of buying deals. I’m underwriting so conservatively that I want to talk myself out of it. And then if it still says I’m going to make money, then it’s probably a really good deal. So I think based on us just walking through that, what I’d like to do is to go through the different elements of underwriting a flip and talk about how we have adjusted those numbers for the 2026 market. And so numbers I want to talk through with you are ARV, which we just did. Then we’ll talk about commissions, closing costs, holding costs, renovation budgets, and profits. So we can dive into each one of those factors and talk about how it’s affecting us in our business or how we shifted when we’re underwriting those numbers into our offer prices, but we’re going to do that right after the break.
All right, we are back on the BiggerPockets Podcast and I’m with expert flipper Dominique Gunderson. She’s done about 90 flips in her career so far and I’ve done several as well. And so we want to give you the things that you need to be looking out for as a flipper in this current market or economy. We said before the break, it’s not a bad market to flip. I actually think it’s kind of the opposite. We’re getting great deals right now because there’s a lot of pain in the market and people still need to sell. And so I’m finding fantastic spreads and flipping, it’s a circle in my opinion. It’s either very easy to find deals and harder to sell them, or it’s very easy to sell deals and harder to buy them.You just pick your hard.

Dominique:
Oh yeah, absolutely.

Henry:
So before the break, we talked about how we were handling our after repair values, so how we’re comping properties to determine what the ARV is and how we’ve shifted doing that in this more challenging market. Next, let’s talk about the cost. So we can kind of cover commissions and closing in one fail swoop since they’re very similar. Have you adjusted how you’re accounting for commissions and closing costs in this new economy?

Dominique:
Yeah, I mean I made a pretty big shift, not that everyone can do this or wants to do this, but at the beginning of 2025, I went ahead and got my license. And prior to that, I had never listed any of my own properties. But again, just kind of feeling the market tightening up and it being harder to make those spreads as mistakes get made, that was a huge, I mean at least two and a half percent if you’re paying five total that you can save on every deal, two and a half percent of your sales price, which is a lot. I mean it works out to, for me, hundreds of thousands of dollars a year that kind of get put back into the profit margins. And so that’s been a big shift for me, both in just increasing profitability, but also I’ve actually found it extremely helpful in learning more about how to design the properties that it will best sell to buyers.
What are buyers looking for? What’s driving their decisions? Even just things as like how many times do they have to see a property or how many properties are they seeing before they make a decision? You get all that feedback and data when you’re the one that’s getting the calls from the agents and all the feedback. And so being the owner, that’s invaluable feedback that

Henry:
It’s

Dominique:
Just kind of hard for an agent as much as they want to send you feedback. They can’t download absolutely everything to you.

Henry:
That’s a pretty cool, I agree with that. Not enough so that I’m going to go get my license, but I think that that’s a pretty cool perspective.

Dominique:
It’s

Henry:
Helpful

Dominique:
That I flip out of state and I’m not there because so many of the tasks I have to delegate anyway. It’s mainly just taking extra phone calls and a little bit more paperwork and stuff, which even I delegate a lot. But yeah, I could see it if you were there running around, putting up signs, doing showings and all this stuff, just being a lot of extra time.

Henry:
For me, commissions and closing costs, I did not change. I always assume I’m going to pay 6% in realtor commissions just because that’s worst case scenario and I want to underwrite it worst case scenario. Now I don’t always pay 6% commissions. My agent that I’ve been working with for a long time typically gives me a break on a percentage point or depending on the deal, it might be more or less, but I don’t factor that into my underwriting. I just assume 6%. And then for my closing costs, I just take historicals. So I’ve closed enough deals now that I can look back and see what am I typically paying for closing costs on a house of a certain price point. And so I don’t really have to guess at my closing costs. I can really be pretty specific about the closing costs. But where I think people do screw up in their underwriting for closing costs is they don’t underwrite for the closing costs on the buy and the sell.
They’re typically only underwriting for the closing costs on the sale. Then they get hit with closing costs on the buy and then it wasn’t in your numbers and so that shrinks your profitability.

Dominique:
Yeah, I totally agree. I haven’t really adjusted much on closing either, but yeah, just going from historical data.

Henry:
And for those of you who’ve never done a deal, obviously you can’t use historical data, but you can have a title company estimate closing costs. So you don’t have to guess. If you have the address of the property, you can typically send it to your title company and say, “Hey, can you run a preliminary HUD statement? I just want to see what my fees might be. ” And they can typically get you pretty close to the ballpark on what your closing costs will be. So that way you don’t have to guess as much either. All right, next on the list is the rehab budget. This is the one that gets people because estimating rehabs is, it’s kind of like a mix between an art and a science because we’re talking about estimating. And even when you have a contractor do the estimation for you, it’s still an art form.
They’re not actually doing the work yet. So it’s a best guess. So how have you adjusted your rehab estimations in your underwriting?

Dominique:
I don’t think I’ve done a ton differently as far as the estimate goes. Kind of similar to what you said for closing costs. I use a lot of historical data since we’re using the same crews over and over again, the same type of product that we’re putting out. It’s kind of easy to look back at past projects, but I do think it’s super important that you’re adding in the proper contingencies because probably 70 to 80% or more of my rehabs have major $10,000 plus surprises. It’s just what happens when you’re pulling out walls, you’re digging up under houses, you’re looking at the plumbing, the old wiring. It happens.

Henry:
So you’re saying 10K plus surprises, not 10K plus items you know are going to be there. These are just things that 80% of your flips, no matter what you budget for, there’s an extra 10K hiding behind a wall somewhere.

Dominique:
Yes, almost always. So there’s one thing to say there’s always a surprise that’s $10,000. That sounds crazy. There’s another thing to say that’s very predictable.
You need to pad your major system renovation numbers knowing that there’s going to be a plumbing surprise probably. If there’s not, there’s going to be an electrical surprise or whatever, a framing surprise, termite damage. If you know that you’re getting into major projects that are going to have surprises like this come up, you just need to estimate the correct contingencies. So for me, what I like to stick to is if it’s a project that I can fully inspect beforehand, we get a chance to run cameras down the pipes, get my contractor in there and everything. I think somewhere around a 10% of your total estimated rehab cost is a decent contingency, which if it’s $100,000 rehab, that’s still 10 grand. On the other side of the scale, if it’s a sight unseen buy or maybe you only got to drive by or look in the windows, you don’t have any access and inspections, you should bump that up to 20%.
Literally double your contingency because it’s a risky deal.

Henry:
Absolutely. For us, we have adjusted underwriting, but it’s more because just labor and materials cost more now. Tariffs were a thing for a while and that caused material prices to go up. So that meant our rehab budgets went up some. Plus labor just is more expensive. I mean, it’s economics. There’s inflation. There’s inflation with labor and materials as well. And I tend to overestimate my budgets from the standpoint of, again, I’m trying to price myself or talk myself out of doing a deal. And so us as flippers and in real estate investors in general, we all have a superpower. We all have things where we’re like, oh, I get this cheap. I know a guy that knows a guy that knows a guy. I got a carpet guy. My carpet prices are dirt cheap. I’ve got a roof guy. I get roofs done dirt cheap.
When I am underwriting my deal and putting together my renovation budgets, I’m not putting the Henry special contractor roof deal price on my underwriting. I’m not putting my carpet guy’s pricing on the underwriting because what if something happens and they fall off the face of the earth before I get to that part of the renovation or their price just magically goes up? I mean, have you ever had a contractor just magically charge you twice as much for something on a house that they didn’t the house before? Happens all the time. So I never underwrite to those numbers. I always underwrite to market value on the renovation. And then if I can get it done cheaper, I will. So I underwrite to market value even if I can get things done cheaper and then ad a contingency on top of that. For me, I typically add a 10% contingency because my numbers are pretty tight.
But for a new investor, you’re right, it should absolutely be higher. All right, so the last section I want to talk about is profit. Now this is definitely different for different investors. I underwrite my profit into my offer price. So when I’m underwriting a deal, I’ll say, okay, I need to take the ARV and then I need to subtract the commission, the closing cost, the holding cost, the rehab budget, and then I want to subtract how much money I’m going to make that equals my max allowable offer. That’s the offer price that I want to make. I have a rule of thumb for me in my market, but everybody’s a little different. So my general rule of thumb is I want to make the same amount of profit as I’m spending on the renovation. And my thought process behind that is I want to be paid for risk to reward ratio.
In other words, I’m assuming a higher renovation is a potentially riskier deal. It’s more work, it’s more level of effort, there’s more moving pieces, there’s more room for things to be found that are high dollar ticket items. And so I don’t want to do a $100,000 renovation and end up with a $20,000 net profit deal. If I spend 100, I want to make 100. If I spend 60, I want to make 60. And I will adjust that rule. I’ll bend that rule if I’m more comfortable with that house. Let’s say I’m doing a three, two, 80s built single family home, desirable neighborhood floor plan I’ve sold a million times and it needs a $70,000 renovation. I might be willing to make 30 or 40 of profit on that because I am so overly confident in that product selling. And the more confident I am, the less risky it is, so I’m willing to make a little less profit.
So I might push that profit number down and make a higher offer to get that deal because of my confidence level. Now, if it’s a house that’s in a neighborhood, maybe I’ve never done a flip-in before, layout’s a little funky, I got to change some things. I don’t know. If I’m doing a $7,000 renovation, I might need to be pretty close to that $70,000 profit number in order for me to do that deal because I see it as a little riskier. But that’s how we manage it on our side. What are you looking at in terms of what’s your profit margin you’d like to hit when you’re underwriting these deals?

Dominique:
Yeah, I like that you highlighted that every flipper does it differently and even in every market it can be so different. I usually target making a 15% return on the total investment into the deal. So purchase and rehab and closing costs and some little fes in there. So if all in were spending $100,000, let’s just say, they’re usually not that cheap, but I would want to make 15 after everybody else is paid out on that deal. Lenders paid out, contractors, everything. I will push that up slightly, like you said, if I don’t feel as comfortable about the deal or I feel like the market is really shaky maybe in that particular neighborhood, that particular floor plan, or even if I just have a ton of really good projects on my plate right now and I don’t really need another deal, I’m not going to buy one that has a less than good margin that I’m looking for.
I’m actually going to push it up to take on a slightly better, only slightly better deals. But that 15% return on investment is kind of like the minimum that I try to underwrite with.

Henry:
That makes perfect sense. And that’s a fantastic point. If you were as conservative as I am in your market, you probably wouldn’t do many deals because people are going to be able to offer more than you and you’ll lose out on deals. And that kind of leads us into the next part of the conversation, which is there are so many market intricacies that will shape you as a flipper in your flipping business. And yes, the fundamentals of flipping are all the same. We want to find a deal, buy it, add value to it, sell it and make a profit, but the market specific intricacies will really shape your business. Dominique came to visit me in Bentonville, Arkansas, and we got to compare notes. I took her to some of my properties, showed her what I had bought, talked to some of the numbers and got to ask her about some of her deals.
And it was so interesting because we would be walking through one of my properties and I’d go, “Well, what do you think? ” And Dom would say, “Well, I’d never buy this. ” And not any shade. It wasn’t a negative thing. And the reason was because our markets are so different. In Dom’s market, she has more competition than me. There are more homes available per sale based on the amount of buyers that are looking to buy, which means buyers have a lot more options in hard market than they do in mine. When buyers have more options, you’ve got to know exactly what they want and you got to be able to provide it to them and you got to be able to provide it to them for cheaper than your competition provides it to them. And so it’s just a different business setup. So Dom, can you talk to us a little bit about A, just what that’s like in your market?
Wht do you focus on the major things you focus on in your flips that you would say you focus on because it’s market specific?

Dominique:
You almost want to study the market in such a way where you’re looking at kind of like – for-like data, which is what I do. I mean, I do this almost every single day. I go on and figure out, okay, what are all the new listings? Are these flips? Are these new builds? Are these just someone selling after 30 years type of house? And I’m paying really specific attention, especially to the flips. What’s coming on the market, what’s working and what’s not working. Especially when I see houses that I might’ve looked at that deal and passed on it. I’m going back and pulling up pictures, what did they all do to this house? Is it working? Did it fly off the shelf and dang, I should have bought that deal? Or is it sitting and it didn’t work? So I mean, just getting very, very specific in looking at your data and specifically data that is very applicable to the type of product that you’re going to be putting out on the market and studying what’s working and what’s not.
How long is it taking? What percentage of list price are they actually closing at? Are they giving closing cost assistant? What’s the true sale price? All that data.

Henry:
I like that you framed it like that, how you essentially are telling people you’re studying your market on a daily basis and it is more necessary now than ever. One of the things I remember you said when we were walking one of my properties is because I think all the kitchens and the properties that I took you through, we just repurposed the cabinets. Either we were just changing out the hardware and painting the cabinets, or we were just changing out the doors and keeping the boxes. And you made a comment to me that you put new cabinets in almost every kitchen because your buyer expects a new kitchen. Are there other things like that that you know every time this is something I have to do in my market?

Dominique:
Yeah, the kitchen is definitely the biggest one. It’s definitely hard for me to salvage kitchens. Oh,

Henry:
I salvage them all the time. All the time. I rarely put new cabinets in. I’d probably say less than 10% of the deals I do get new cabinets. That may be pushing it. It may be even lower than that.

Dominique:
That’s crazy. Yeah. I can’t remember the last time I’ve salvaged a

Henry:
Kitchen.

Dominique:
One thing I remember noticing that was actually a little different too is bathrooms also. Your bathrooms are top notch. And I remember we were talking about tile prices and I’m like, dang, you spend that much on

Henry:
Tile. I’m still jealous of what you told me you spend on tile. I’m like, gosh, no, bathrooms cost me an arm and a leg, man.

Dominique:
Yeah. So for me, I’ve noticed that if we do a really beautiful kitchen and even just in general entryway, nice flooring, feature walls, specified dining space all staged and people get an envision for that general living space, we can not skimp out on the bathrooms, but we don’t have to make the bathrooms top-notch. Especially if there’s two or three bathrooms in the house. I’m usually finding one or two of them that I can completely salvage. Not redo the tile in the shower at all, keep a tub insert, just do wallpaper on the walls or a nice feature color to make it look nice, nice tile on the floor, but very minimal stuff. Whereas I didn’t see any of your bathrooms that weren’t dialed in. So that would be one thing. I think generally though buyers are pretty much expecting one consistent paint color throughout, one consistent flooring throughout minus maybe tile in the bathrooms.
But it’s hard for me to salvage when there’s three different kinds of laminate floor that kind of look nice, could be salvaged. That’s really hard for me to resell with salvaging it. Same with paint. If you’ve got four different colors throughout the house because everyone painted their room their own color, it kind of looks nice. It might be newer paint, but it’s not consistent. Same with light fixtures. Hard to salvage all that stuff. Consistency is pretty key.

Henry:
My thought process has always been the bathrooms are smaller. So if I got to make one pop, I can make the bathroom pop cheaper than I can make a kitchen pop. And also, look, if I was going to go get cabinets, I’m just going to go get Lowe’s cabinets. Every place has Lowe’s cabinets. So even when I spend more money on a newer kitchen, it’s hard to make it look that much different than my competition’s kitchen. But in a bathroom, I think it’s a little easier. I can get a more expensive tile because at the end of the day, it’s less than a hundred square foot of tile. I want to dive into more about that right after the break. All right, we’re back on the BiggerPockets podcast. I’m here with Flipper investor Dominique Gunderson. We are talking about how to be successful flipping properties in a more challenging market, specifically the market that we’re in right now in 2026.
And before the break, we were talking briefly about how every market is so different, but the market that you’re in will also shape the kind of flipper you are and how you do business. One other thing I wanted to talk to you about is do you have a price listing strategy when you go to list?

Dominique:
I typically try to pay attention to all the comps and active data within 30 days before we’re going on market. So I’m just paying super close attention. Anything that comes up that looks kind of like mine, even if it’s not renovated, it’s the same size square footage or whatever. I’m watching those hawk like, okay, they’re still sitting. Maybe I shouldn’t list that high or man, those went so fast. Okay, I’m going to adjust based on the active data within 30 days.

Henry:
We’re pretty similar. So for us, if the house is maybe in not the most desirable spot, or again, if the house is a little weird or if there’s something about the house that’s a little different than the comps, typically what we’re doing is we are looking at what are all the comps priced at? What do all the finishes look like? And we typically will list under what the comps are listed at so that it’s essentially undercutting them. I want to ensure that if a buyer is shopping for a house in a neighborhood my house is listed in, that they have absolutely no reason not to go see mine. And typically the only two things that would do that are you’re priced lower and you look better. So I want to make sure it’s both. So before we go and list a property, if it’s one I’m super confident in, we’ll stick to our number.
I know it like the back of my hand, no big deal. But if it’s one where there’s any level of potential doubt or competition seems super higher in that neighborhood, then we are always going to price under what the best comp is priced at so that we get all the same looks that they get and people are force to make a decision. Do I want to buy that one where I get a little less for more? Or do I want to buy this one where I get more, it looks better and it’s priced lower. So it doesn’t make us popular with the neighbors, but it gets us more offers faster. It’s

Dominique:
Kind of a no-brainer decision when you do it that way for buyers.

Henry:
But I am leaving money on the table sometimes, guys. That’s the sacrifice you’re making. The last time we did this, we went under contract in 24 hours, but I listed it $25,000 less than what I planned to list it for when I underwrote the deal. I think that those are the tough decisions that people don’t understand that flippers make when we’re doing these projects. The choices was like, do I want to make a sale and make $25,000 less now or do I want to risk it, try to make that extra 25 grand and then maybe not get it and end up making the same amount of money, but I won’t make it for another six months? Those are tough calls to make and they’re very market specific, but those are the things that you need to be thinking about as a flipper. Those are the calls you have to make.
We talked in the beginning of the episode about underwriting to try to convince ourselves that like, “Hey, we’re going to underwrite so conservatively that the numbers still say it’s a good deal.” Yeah, it’s one thing to underwrite conservatively, but that doesn’t make it easy to make that offer. Underwriting conservatively means your offer’s going to be crazy low. Right now you got to have the confidence to go out… There and make that offer. So it makes this business pretty tough.

Dominique:
I’ve had the same thing probably two or three times in the last six months. I’ve had offers before we listed or before we even finished construction and it’s awesome. Zero days on market, that’s amazing. And even if it’s the price or right near the price you were going to list for, it kind of does make you think like, “Well, dang, if someone’s going to get me this off market, how good is my product then?” So yeah, there’s always the tough decisions. And ultimately though, I’ve always been sticking the route you’re talking about is money now is way better than potential money later.

Henry:
Of the deals that you’ve done that either didn’t go well, has there been a consistent thing that you found that’s either caused the problem or put you in that position where it didn’t go like you wanted it to? Or what have you just learned that I cannot and will not make this mistake in this economy or this market because it’s so tough? This is the one thing that will always be done a certain way.

Dominique:
It’s crazy that you asked that question next because that’s such a good transition. It’s literally what we were talking about right before this is it’s always been a high stakes, high pressure or pressure I’ve put on myself situation. I lost more money on deals that I bought in 2024

Henry:
Than any other

Dominique:
Year.

Henry:
Yep, me too.

Dominique:
And I can look back though and see, sure, there were plenty of mistakes. I didn’t design it right. I should have been more conservative. I missed this reno thing, whatever. But the consistent theme on all the deals were why did I want to buy that house so bad?

Henry:
Yes. Yes. It’s

Dominique:
A funky house. I didn’t need to buy another house that month, but in my head I did or else I’m falling behind. I didn’t need to bid that extra, but man, I was right in the middle of the bidding war. It breaks down to the deals that I didn’t have to buy. I shouldn’t have bought. I shouldn’t have pushed myself to buy a deal just to buy a deal. I should be buying only great deals that you feel as 100% confident as you can about.

Henry:
Amen. Every time I’ve lost money on a deal, it’s because I bought a deal where I knew I was pushing either my numbers or I was buying something a little just outside of the comfort zone I want to. There was always an adjustment. It was never like, oh yeah, this is 100% a no-brainer. It was always like, this could be good or it could not. And I’d say I’m probably still 70 / 30 on those. For the most part, I’ve overcome it and we’ve made money, but that 30% where it didn’t go well, I don’t think people realize the tougher part about flipping. It’s not that you lose money at the closing table. The days I’ve closed deals where I lost money, I felt good about it. I was like, “I’m so glad to be done.” It’s all the anxiety and sleepless nights prior to that of you trying to fix it and not being successful, of you sitting there and waiting and waiting.
It’s all that anticipation and anxiety that ages you, that stresses you out. But I’d say that’s probably 100% of every deal I’ve lost money on has been one that was just, I knew better and I did it anyway.

Dominique:
That’s why they call us business an addiction.

Henry:
Right. Very true. Very true. All right. Well, this has been amazing. Thank you, Dom, for coming on the show and being so open and transparent about your business and how to be an effective flipper in 2025.

Dominique:
Yeah, absolutely. It’s been fun. I love that we’ve gotten to download so much of our time together earlier this year and just share all those details because comparing notes is always one of the most helpful things for me. So I hope it’s been helpful for everyone else to hear too.

Henry:
Absolutely. I hope it has been helpful for everybody else. And for those of you who want more of an opportunity to compare notes with other flippers, you should consider coming to BPCon. Not only will there be tons of other flippers at BPCon who you can chat with and talk just like Dom and I talked on this episode, but you can also go and listen to Dominique Gunderson and James Dayner during their flipping session where they will be talking about their flipping businesses or how to effectively flip properties. And that’s going to be in Orlando, Florida on October 2nd through 4th. So if you want to come, go ahead and grab a ticket. You can go to www.biggerpockets.com/conference. I would love to see you there and I’d love to talk to you about your flipping business. All right everybody, that’s our episode. Thank you so much for joining us.
It’s been a pleasure and we’ll see you on the next episode of the BiggerPockets Podcast.

 

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Intel Stock Soared About 278% in the First Half of 2026, Then Fell 10% in a Single Day. Buy the Dip or Run for the Hills?


After years of decline, Intel (INTC 1.80%) has seemingly revived its fortunes under the leadership of CEO Lip-Bu Tan. The successful adoption of the 18A process, rising demand for CPUs, and increased customer commitments in its foundry business helped the stock rise by 278% in the first half of 2026.

Unfortunately, the stock’s fortunes began to reverse course in July, leading to daily drops of as much as 10%. Amid that downtrend, one might wonder whether to buy the dip or run for the hills. Interestingly, the answer may be simply to hold off on any decisions on the chip stock, and here’s why.

Image source: The Motley Fool.

The state of Intel stock

Without a doubt, Tan has transformed Intel from a former industry leader in decline to a vibrant competitor.

Its success with the 18A process node means that it could potentially challenge Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (TSMC) in the production of the world’s most advanced chips. Also, as CPUs become more critical to data centers, Intel has an incentive to try to take its technical lead back from AMD, whose CPUs surpassed Intel’s in terms of performance.

Reports surfaced that Intel’s foundry business has begun to win business. Tesla and Apple have signed production agreements with Intel, and other industry giants considered shifting production to Intel as well. This is a massive win for the U.S. as Intel works to shift more production away from the geopolitically contentious Taiwan region.

Intel Stock Quote

Today’s Change

(-1.80%) $-1.75

Current Price

$95.23

Nonetheless, Intel’s financial metrics indicate that investors got ahead of themselves in bidding up the stock price. In the first quarter of 2026, Intel’s revenue of $13.6 billion rose by 7% compared to year-ago levels. Although that improved over the flat revenue performance during 2025, it is far below other tech giants, which reported revenue growth in the double-digit percentage range.

Additionally, it was a $4.1 billion restructuring charge in Q1 that contributed heavily to its $3.7 billion net loss. Still, when considering the $26 million in net income for 2025 and the $1.5 billion in non-GAAP net income for Q1, investors can at least know that Intel has become profitable again from an operational standpoint.

Furthermore, the aforementioned $26 million profit is too small to offer a meaningful P/E ratio. When looking at the forward P/E ratio, it comes in at 127, and the forward one-year earnings multiple is at 89. Thus, even with Intel on a likely recovery path, the stock price is likely years ahead of the company’s anticipated growth.

Intel stock is a likely hold

Intel’s stock probably fell in recent days due to the stock price moving ahead of fundamentals. Hence, when also considering its forecasted growth, the stock is likely a hold.

Thanks to Intel’s technical breakthroughs and recent contract wins, the company again emerged as a competitor in the chip industry. Assuming it stays on that path, it may eventually justify the stock’s massive AI rally.

Unfortunately, the high forward multiples imply that the selling trend could continue over the near term. Until that decline stops (or the valuation becomes more reasonable), investors should probably refrain from buying more Intel shares.

Your Business Has Changed. Has Your Website Kept Up?


Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

Key Takeaways

  • A website can become outdated even when the business is growing and the team is making reasonable updates along the way.
  • Growth changes what a website needs to do. It may need to serve new audiences, explain new services, support sales, build trust and reflect a more mature business strategy.
  • The strongest signal that a site is outdated is often confusion, not only appearance. If sales teams, founders or marketing constantly have to explain what the site should make clear, it may no longer be supporting the business properly.

A company’s website rarely becomes ineffective overnight.

In the work that crosses my desk and in the conversations we have with clients at ArtVersion, this pattern comes up often: The first concern is usually visual, but the deeper issue is that the business has changed and the website has not fully caught up.

The company added a service, and a new audience became important. The sales process changed, and leadership refined the positioning. Marketing launched campaigns for the new market the business entered.

Each update made sense at the time. But after enough small changes, the website may no longer represent the business clearly. That usually means the company grew and the site may have been built for an earlier version of the business. As the company evolves, the website has to explain more, guide more, prove more and support more decisions.

At some point, redesigning a site becomes a business realignment project too.

Growth changes what your website needs to do

In the early stages of a company, a website usually has a straightforward job to explain who the company is, what it offers and why someone should care.

As the business matures, that task becomes more complex. The website now may need to speak to multiple buyer types, support different stages of decision-making, explain a broader service offering, build trust for a wider audience, support recruiting, help sales conversations and strengthen brand perception.

The challenge is that many websites are expanded piece by piece instead of being reconsidered as the business changes.

That is how a site that once felt clear begins to feel crowded and the user journey becomes confusing.

Users do not see the internal history behind all that growth. They only experience what is in front of them. If the path feels unclear, hesitation happens. If the message feels inconsistent, questions about the fit arise. If the value is hard to understand, they move on.

This is why a good-looking website can still underperform.

The warning signs are not always visual

It’s easy to assume you will know when a website needs attention because it looks outdated. Sometimes that is true. But a website can look current and still create confusion.

One sign is explanation fatigue. If your sales or marketing team regularly has to clarify what the company is or what the brand differentiator is, the site may no longer be supporting the business properly.

Another sign is audience drift. The homepage may still speak to the audience your company served three years ago, while the business is now trying to reach a different buyer. The services may be accurate, but may no longer reflect the company’s current priorities.

Navigation is another signal. When menus reflect internal priorities more than customer needs, visitors have to translate the business for themselves. Users should not have to do heavy lifting.

Content can also reveal the gap. Case studies may no longer represent the company’s strongest work. Blog content may attract traffic but fail to support current goals. Service pages may rank in search but describe an older version of the offer.

The site may contain useful information overall, but it is no longer organized around the decisions customers are trying to make.

Start with the business questions

Visual design matters, and that is true for every brand. A website should feel current, credible and aligned with the brand. But when a business has outgrown its website, the process should begin with sharper questions.

  • Who is the site built for?
  • What does that audience need to understand first?
  • Which services or products matter most to the next stage of growth?
  • Where do prospects hesitate?
  • What proof do they need?
  • What should the website help them do next?
  • How would they find us?

Those questions change the role of a redesign. The work becomes less about replacing pages and more about rebuilding clarity.

They also help avoid costly technical errors that need to be addressed in the post-launch phase.

Build for the business you are becoming

A strong redesign should solve for the present while preparing for what comes next.

That means creating a structure that can grow without becoming hard to maintain. Navigation should be clear but flexible, with page content that is easy to update. Design patterns should be consistent enough to scale and also repeatable as new pages are published. SEO should be considered before launch. Analytics should help teams learn from real behavior. And web accessibility and site performance should be part of the foundation.

The best websites are built with enough clarity and structure to support change. The change always happens; it’s just a matter of time when it will accrue.

A website is one of the most important assets a business has. It shapes first impressions, supports sales, builds trust, helps internal teams stay aligned and helps customers understand why they should take the next step.

If the company has grown, expanded, repositioned or matured, the website should evolve with it. That is not a sign that something went wrong. It is often a sign that the business has moved forward.

Key Takeaways

  • A website can become outdated even when the business is growing and the team is making reasonable updates along the way.
  • Growth changes what a website needs to do. It may need to serve new audiences, explain new services, support sales, build trust and reflect a more mature business strategy.
  • The strongest signal that a site is outdated is often confusion, not only appearance. If sales teams, founders or marketing constantly have to explain what the site should make clear, it may no longer be supporting the business properly.

A company’s website rarely becomes ineffective overnight.

In the work that crosses my desk and in the conversations we have with clients at ArtVersion, this pattern comes up often: The first concern is usually visual, but the deeper issue is that the business has changed and the website has not fully caught up.

The company added a service, and a new audience became important. The sales process changed, and leadership refined the positioning. Marketing launched campaigns for the new market the business entered.

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Our Verdict

It says shipping and handling not included but when you enter the code it is, YMMV. 

Hat tip to reader Loy

Deferring Home Loan Repayments: Things You Must Know


If you’re struggling with your home loan repayments, deferring them might sound extremely tempting. Hitting pause on your repayments for a few months could give you some much-needed breathing space, and for some it might seem like the only way to avoid falling into arrears, or even defaulting.

However, it’s important you don’t think of deferring your repayments like a get out of jail free card, there are definitely strings attached.

How to defer mortgage payments

Most home loan lenders don’t simply present a ‘defer anytime’ button in their app. While many banks offered customers the option to defer repayments for up to six months during the pandemic, unconditional deferrals are now less common.

Nevertheless, if you’re in need of a temporary hiatus from your repayments, there are several options to choose from.

1. Repayment holiday or temporary reduction

Some lenders allow customers who are ahead on repayments to hit pause for a while, drawing down on excess funds in redraw facilities.

CommBank, for example, offers borrowers the option to take a repayment holiday for three to twelve months. A similar feature offered by Westpac is called a repayment pause.

To make use of both features, funds available in a redraw facility need to exceed the total value of the repayments missed during the hiatus.

CommBank customers even need at least one extra month’s worth of payments beyond the holiday period. So, for example, if you had $12,000 in your redraw and your monthly repayments were $3,000, you would only be eligible for a three-month repayment holiday.

During that holiday period, interest would continue to accrue on the outstanding loan amount.

The bank also only offers the option to defer repayments to borrowers with variable interest rate home loans, meaning conditions might shift if rates change. If your repayments were to go up during your hiatus, making your available funds insufficient to cover the whole period you had planned, your ‘holiday’ might be cut short.

2. Hardship arrangements

If you’re struggling with your repayments because of a change in your financial situation, you could contact your lender’s hardship team for help. Per the Uniform Consumer Credit Code (UCCC), a borrower has the right to seek changes to a credit contract on the grounds of financial hardship.

Reaching our for help might lead your bank or lender to put you on an alternative payment plan with reduced repayments, or allow you to postpone your repayments for a specific period.

Lenders are required to consider “in good faith” if a request made on the grounds of hardship is “reasonably appropriate”. If you’re turned down, ASIC offers an external dispute resolution scheme that you could appeal to.

Deferring payments through hardship arrangements is only available when there is a material change in your circumstances, such as job loss or illness. Generally, interest will still continue to accrue while repayments are deferred, so any relief offered will only be temporary, as with the other options.

3. Interest only repayments

Another way to temporarily reduce your repayments is by switching to an interest only home loan. As the name suggests, this means only paying the interest portion of your home loan repayments and repaying none of the principal balance.

While making interest only repayments isn’t exactly ‘deferring’ your mortgage payments, it might significantly reduce the amount you owe each week, fortnight, or month.

For example, let’s say you have 20 years and $400,000 remaining on a home loan and an interest rate of 6% p.a. Your monthly principal and interest repayments would be around $2,865.72.

Switching to interest only repayments would reduce that to $2,000 per month, as per the Your Mortgage home loan repayment calculator.

Switching to interest only repayments can be a great help to borrowers experiencing a temporary income reduction, allowing them to cope.

For property investors, interest only repayments mean paying more interest each year (since none of the principal is repaid), which could help maximise potential tax deductions.

However, in the long run, signing on to an interest only home loan means paying more interest than you otherwise would, since you will owe more for longer. Once an interest only period expires, you might end up with more expensive principal and interest repayments than you otherwise would have.

The maximum length of an interest only period varies between lenders. At the big four banks, interest only periods are capped at five years for owner occupiers and ten years for investors.

Benefits of deferring home loan repayments

There are a few ways that pausing or temporarily reducing home loan repayments can be beneficial for borrowers.

Ease financial pressure (in the short term)

The most obvious benefit to deferring home loan repayments is immediate relief. Mortgage repayments are the most significant regular expense for most people with a home loan, so deferring them can ease the financial burden.

This might particularly be the case for borrowers dealing with a sudden change in circumstances (job loss, illness, etc), as deferring mortgage payments could provide vital breathing space. A break from making home loan payments could also be an opportunity to get your financial situation under control without the pressure of monthly mortgage dues.

For some people, relief from such stress might make deferring worth it.

Protect your credit score

Deferring mortgage repayments may also circumvent the impact that missing home loan payments could have on your credit score.

Struggling borrowers who have decided against pursuing a deferral due to the long term cost need to factor in the risk a compromised credit score presents. While a single missed payment, addressed quickly, is unlikely to hurt your credit, lenders may report repeat offenders to the credit bureau. And if you end up defaulting, the effect on your credit score is likely to be severe.

A low credit rating can impact your borrowing power. You might find your maximum loan size capped or you could end up on the higher end of the spectrum when applying for products with tailored interest rates, like personal loans.

While deferring might mean paying more interest overall on your current home loan, it could save you money in the long run if you would otherwise default and you wish to take out other loans in the future.

Free up cash flow

Temporarily pausing or reducing your home loan repayments could free up your cash flow for other expenses.

It isn’t exclusively mortgage stressed borrowers who defer. Some people might turn to interest only repayments or a payment deferral to fund a major holiday or a wedding, for example.

In other cases, getting a whole lot of extra cash flow could make deferring an efficient investing strategy, even if it means paying more interest on the loan in question. For instance, a borrower who is 20 years into a 30-year home loan and plans to take out a second loan to buy another property might be better off deferring or switching to interest only repayments on their existing loan so to make extra repayments on the new, larger loan.

Drawbacks of deferring your mortgage

There are also a couple of reasons deferring your home loan repayments might not be the miraculous solution it appears be.

Larger overall interest bill and longer loan term

If you stop paying down the principal amount you owe on a home loan, the interest payable will still continue to accrue. Therefore, deferring or switching to interest only repayments means paying more interest overall, since you’d have borrowed a larger amount for longer.

It can also mean it takes longer to pay the home loan off entirely.

Only a temporary solution

Deferring payments can offer temporary relief, but it doesn’t mean you owe any less. If you’re struggling with your mortgage because of an underlying issue – chronic overspending, for example – deferring without addressing the root cause of your financial woes will just kick your problem down the line.

If you’re struggling, it’s worth taking a closer look at why. There may be more permanent ways to address the issue. If you’re burning cash on non-essentials, you could take a look at your spending habits. Or, if it’s high interest rates that are causing your problems, you might wish to explore whether refinancing is for you.

Should you defer your home loan payments?

The decision of whether to defer your mortgage payments or not will depend on your circumstances and long term plans.

Hitting pause or switching to interest only repayments might be the buffer you need to get yourself back on track. It could also be a handy way to navigate temporary income reductions.

However, the cost of doing so could be a larger overall interest bill, so it’s important to run the numbers first and work out whether deferring is your best bet in the long run.

If you’re still unsure, it’s worth reaching out to your lender or an independent expert. Most lenders recommend those who are struggling reach out to their hardship team as soon as possible. Even if you don’t end up with a hardship variation, you might get more clarity about your best move going forward.

Alternatively, a mortgage broker might have the experience needed to assess your situation.

Alternatives to deferring mortgage repayments

If you’re struggling with your mortgage repayments, there are other potential sources of relief.

Refinancing to a lower rate, cutting non essential spending and consolidating other debts are alternative ways that could ease your financial burden.

In some cases, you might decide to sell your property in order to pay off the home loan. That’s particularly worth considering if you’re in a positive equity position, as you will likely come out in the green following the sale.

Wondering if refinancing a home loan could help ease a burden? You might wish to compare your current interest rate to some of the most competitive available on the market right now:






Lender Home Loan Interest Rate Comparison Rate* Monthly Repayment Repayment type Rate Type Offset Redraw Ongoing Fees Upfront Fees Max LVR Lump Sum Repayment Extra Repayments Split Loan Option Tags Features Link Compare Promoted Product Disclosure

6.04% p.a.

6.08% p.a.

$3,011

Principal & Interest

Variable

$0

$530

90%

  • Available for purchase or refinance, min 10% deposit needed to qualify.
  • No application, ongoing monthly or annual fees.
  • Dedicated loan specialist throughout the loan application.

Disclosure

5.89% p.a.

5.80% p.a.

$2,962

Principal & Interest

Variable

$0

$0

80%

  • A low-rate variable home loan from a 100% online lender.
  • Backed by the Commonwealth Bank.

Disclosure

6.14% p.a.

6.18% p.a.

$3,043

Principal & Interest

Variable

$0

$530

90%

  • Available for purchase or refinance, min 10% deposit needed to qualify.
  • No application, ongoing monthly or annual fees.
  • Dedicated loan specialist throughout the loan application.

Disclosure



Important Information and Comparison Rate Warning

Important Information and Comparison Rate Warning



Picture by Andrea Picquado on Pexels

First published in May 2024

What If YOU Invest $10k In The 3 Best Fidelity Index Funds



What If YOU Invest $10k In The 3 Best Fidelity Index Funds

Take $10,000. Split it across three Fidelity index funds. Leave it untouched for years.

One fund builds stability. One chases growth. One quietly compounds in the background.
Same money. Same start. Three completely different outcomes.

If you liked this video and would like to see more videos like this, we would be happy to welcome you as a subscriber. Thank you very much

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Iran just crossed Trump’s red line for resuming all-out war as fighting worsens with no end in sight



The deaths of U.S. service members after Iran attacked a base in Jordan followed a week of fighting that has steadily upped the ante and could trigger the resumption of all-out war.

The U.S. military has reinstated a naval blockade and bombed Iran for several consecutive days, concentrating attacks on coastal areas near the Strait of Hormuz. But airstrikes have recently extended to infrastructure, such as railways that could be used to ferry weapons.

On Saturday, the U.S. military announced a new wave of airstrikes in retaliation for the deaths.

“The strikes are designed to further degrade Iran’s ability to threaten commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz and swiftly punish Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps forces who launched attacks against American service members in Jordan last night,” U.S. Central Command said.

At the same time, Iran has launched attacks on commercial ships and at its neighbors across the Persian Gulf region, targeting U.S. military assets. Tehran has also hit energy infrastructure and even water desalination plants.

Still, fighting hasn’t been as extensive as it was during the initial phases of the war. But U.S. deaths previously represented a red line for President Donald Trump.

Early last month—before both sides signed a memorandum of understanding that has since collapsed—he confided to aides that he would consider ending the prior ceasefire and go back to war if Iran kills American troops, according to the Wall Street Journal.

When asked for a comment and whether the U.S. would return to all-out war, the White House only responded with a statement from Central Command announcing the casualties.

Oil prices have jumped as fighting has intensified in recent days, and more war would deliver another shock to global markets.

Consuming countries have drawn down their oil stockpiles to the lowest level in decades with little breathing room left to endure another extended closure of the Strait of Hormuz.

The U.S. established an alternate route through the narrow water to bypass an Iranian corridor, but the renewed fighting has effectively it shut down.

On Friday, no crossings via the U.S.-backed route were detected, and no shadow fleet movements were recorded either, while Iran’s route saw seven transits.

Despite the massive U.S.-Israeli bombardment, the war didn’t bring about an overthrow of Iran’s regime and has failed to fully reopen the strait.

To be sure, Iran’s economy is reeling and conventional forces were decimated, but the Islamic Republic has enough combat power to scare away commercial shipping and isn’t deterred from continuing its attacks.

Meanwhile, hopes for a new round of talks to cobble together another ceasefire are vanishing. Previously, some officials appeared to leave the door open to negotiations despite Tehran’s defiant statements in the face of U.S. strikes.

That’s after pragmatists inside Iran privately admitted that the initial naval blockade had crushed the economy, with the blockade’s resumption reportedly deepening a rift between pragmatists and hard-liners who want to fight more aggressively.

But on Saturday, Iran’s supreme leader warned of “unforgettable lessons” if the U.S. keeps attacking and called Trump’s signature “worthless and invalid.” 

For its part, the U.S. blames Iran for violating the ceasefire agreement by refusing to reopen the strait and attacking ships sailing outside of Tehran’s approved corridor.

The stalemate has raised fears of an endless war, something Trump campaigned on avoiding, as tit-for-tat attacks continue along an escalating spiral.

“The immediate dispute concerns who controls the Strait of Hormuz, but more is at stake,” Ali Vaez, the Iran Project Director at the International Crisis Group, wrote in a New York Times op-ed on Wednesday. “The collapse of even this minimal understanding could remove the last barrier between episodic confrontation and a forever war.”

Gregory Brew, senior analyst for Iran and energy with the Eurasia Group, told Fortune’s Jordan Blum earlier that there’s no military option for reopening the strait, adding that Iran will not let go of its main source of leverage.

He also warned that some form of Iranian fee to cross the strait seems inevitable and that U.S. attacks only strengthen Tehran’s resolve.

“The options are to escalate or cut a deal. And I think the [Trump] administration is likely to do the first, see it fail, and end up with the second,” Brew predicted.

IRS Data: Families Paid Just $464 On Average In 529 Plan Penalties


New IRS data shows that the dreaded 529 plan penalty is far less common, and far less painful, than most families fear.

According to the IRS Statistics of Income division’s line item estimates for tax year 2023 (the most recent year with data available, released in June 2026) just 165,152 tax returns paid the 10% additional tax on non-qualified distributions from 529 plans and education savings accounts, totaling $76.6 million. That works out to an average penalty of about $464 per return for people reporting 529 plan distributions.

Out of the more than 160 million individual returns filed for 2023, roughly 0.1% paid this penalty at all.

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Why It Matters

Fear of the 529 plan penalty is one of the biggest reasons families hesitate to open a 529 plan account. What if my kid doesn’t go to college? What if they get a scholarship? What if we save too much?

The data shows those worst-case scenarios rarely turn into big penalties. The 10% additional tax only applies to the earnings portion of a non-qualified withdrawal, never the contributions. So even families who cash out entirely typically owe far less than they expect.

By The Numbers

Here is the data from Form 5329, Part II (the section where taxpayers report additional taxes on education accounts) for tax year 2023:

  • 231,622 returns reported taxable earnings from a non-qualified education account withdrawal, totaling $913.8 million. Everyone in this group owed ordinary income tax on those earnings.
  • About 165,000 of those returns also paid the 10% penalty, totaling $76.6 million — an average of roughly $464 per return.

Why the gap? The income tax on earnings always applies to a non-qualified withdrawal, but the 10% penalty gets waived when an exception applies. Roughly a quarter of families reporting taxable earnings avoided the penalty this way.

The most common exception to paying the penalty is receivinga scholarship. When a beneficiary receives tax-free educational assistance, a matching amount can be withdrawn penalty-free. Death, disability, and attendance at a U.S. military academy also qualify.

Note: The IRS combines 529 plans, Coverdell ESAs, and ABLE accounts on this line, but 529 plans hold the overwhelming majority of education savings assets. The figures also slightly understate the total, since filers with no exception can report the penalty directly on Schedule 2 without filing Form 5329.

How This Connects

The penalty has become even easier to avoid in recent years. Qualified expenses now stretch well beyond tuition, covering K-12 tuition, student loan repayment up to $10,000 per beneficiary, and trade schools, apprenticeships, and professional licenses. Leftover funds can roll to a Roth IRA, transfer to another family member, or simply stay invested for a future grandchild.

Even honest mistakes are fixable. Families who withdraw too much can recontribute the funds within 60 days or apply the money to other qualified expenses in the same calendar year.

The 529 penalty is real, but it’s not a dealbreaker. In 2023, the latest year with IRS data, fewer than 1 in 1,000 tax returns paid it, and the average hit was under $500.

Families skipping the tax-free growth of a 529 plan out of penalty fear are giving up a lot to avoid a risk that rarely materializes, and when it does, costs less than a semester’s worth of textbooks.

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529 Plan Ownership Rules Explained

529 Plan Ownership Rules Explained

Editor: Colin Graves

The post IRS Data: Families Paid Just $464 On Average In 529 Plan Penalties appeared first on The College Investor.

Researchers Uncover a Surprising Benefit of the Mediterranean Diet



A study finds that a steady menu of fatty fish, fresh fruit, and veggies is linked to higher levels of 2 microproteins associated with heart and brain health. ‘It’s a new biological pathway,’ says the lead researcher.