When a new housing boom is emerging, potential "flippers" come out of the woodwork in droves to try for big-profit investments they've seen promoted on TV. That's what's happening in many markets today.

As most people know, house flipping is the practice of buying a home at a discounted price, improving it in some way and then quickly reselling it for a financial gain.

This is an excellent time to invest in real estate and holding the property for long-term benefit. But purchasing a house for quick resale and profit is a risky venture.

A bit of further basic information on flipping:

The investor-flipper needs to accomplish the purchase-resale transaction within the shortest period of time possible. A flipper tries to buy, rehab and sell the property, all within the shortest time so that he or she can lock in profits and not get eaten up by their carrying costs.

These "soft costs" as they are known, include monthly bills that accumulate over time. They include monthly financing charges, property taxes, condo fees (if applicable), insurance, utilities and any other maintenance bills required to keep the house in good showable shape.

The key problem for flippers in today's market is finding a genuine bargain-priced home. We're passing through a period of extremely low inventory of available properties. In fact, many areas are experiencing "bidding wars" resulting in prices being obtained by sellers that are higher than their asking price.

If the flipper settles on a home at a price just a bit lower than current market value, his potential profit will quickly vanish in the sea of rising carrying costs.

Also, mortgage interest rates are edging upward raising the financing costs. Those rates are still very low, historically, but they are upward-bound.

Keep in mind that many of your competitive flippers have deep pockets, sometimes making all-cash offers.

Q: Are prices of vacation homes rising?

A: Yes, they are rising along with primary residence homes. The median sales price of a vacation home in 2012 was $150,000 — up 24 percent from the prior year —and this summer could be another sizzler, it was reported by Real Trends.

Values are still well below the 2005 peak of $204,000, and many sought-after areas are teeming with investors, according to Zillow chief economist Stan Humphries.

The hottest locations, like Florida, were hit hardest by the downturn. Last year 46 percent of vacation-home buyers paid cash, reports the National Association of Realtors, up from 42 percent in 2011.

Q: Are mortgages generally improving in quality?

A: Definitely. Mortgage performance data in April continued to point to a recovery as delinquency and foreclosure rates posted record improvements, Lender Processing Services, Inc. reported.

In April, the delinquency rate sunk below 6.5 percent for the first time since July 2008, according to the data provider. At 6.21 percent, the delinquency rate recorded a month-over-month decrease of 5.81 percent and a year-over-year decline of 9.61 percent.

The foreclosure pre-sale inventory rate, which stood at 3.17 percent in April, plunged 24.55 percent from a year ago, it was reported.

Q: Are the number of mortgage applications tapering off?

A: Generally, applications are dropping a bit, according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association's Mortgage Applications Survey.

The Market Composite Index, a weekly measure of mortgage loan application volume, decreased 8.8 percent in late May on a seasonally adjusted basis from one week earlier. On an unadjusted basis, the Index decreased 9 percent compared with the previous week.

"Refinance applications fell for the third straight week bringing the refinance index to its lowest level since December 2012 as mortgage rates increased to their highest level in a year," said Mike Fratantoni, MBA's Vice President of Research and Economics.

"Rates rose in response to stronger economic data and an increasing chance that the Fed may soon begin to taper their asset purchases."

Q: Are speculators depressing the housing market?

A: Lack of inventory is now the major problem in most markets. Last year, some analysts were speculating the large supply of REOs (bank owned properties) and shadow inventory would keep the market depressed. But instead, the market is dealing with a lack of inventory available for sale, ProTeck Valuation Services noted in its May Home Value Forecast.

"In reality the shortage of housing inventory has led buyers to bid more competitively against one another leading to significant home price increases and tighter housing conditions," said Tom O'Grady, CEO of Pro Teck, as quoted by DS News.

To find out more about Jim Woodard and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.