First, right off the bat, off let’s tackle the “Is flipping houses illegal?” question. Flipping homes or flipping anything for that matter, real estate or otherwise, is perfectly legal. The term has recently been used in the mainstream media to describe what is essentially mortgage fraud. In a mortgage fraud scheme multiple people collude to inflate and falsify appraisals, doctor and falsify loan applications, invent fake people etc. That is definitely illegal and can get you serious jail time. But here’s the thing I could never understand… you can only do that once or twice and then, even if you get away with it up front, you are a fugitive for the rest of your life! Is one big check worth that?