Thinking of buying a house in NO East and flipping it

Don't forget about insurance. You will need to get a builder's risk policy for the time you are repairing it, and then maintain homeowner's on it after that (while you're selling it). If you are not the primary resident, that could be very difficult to get, not to mention requirements for flood insurance, etc. Obviously, you can get around this if you're paying cash for the house, but your opening yourself to a lot of risk.