The 5 Best Business Credit Cards for House Flippers & Landlords [2021]
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When it comes to real estate investing, a majority of folks decide to stick to rental properties or house-flipping as their go-to strategy.
These 2 popular strategies have pros and cons, but regardless of which one you fall under, this is one of the best ways to generate income off of your assets.
Whether you’re a rental property investor working primarily with tenants or a house flipper primarily working with contractors and skilled laborers, you’ll want to have the best business credit card to make your business management seamless.
In this article, we’ll be walking you through our top picks for the best business credit cards for house flippers and landlords.
Table of contents
Table of Contents
What To Look for in a Business Credit Card for House Flippers & Landlords
As a house flipper or landlord, you will incur different types of expenses throughout the course of the year. As you can imagine, house flippers (at least those who fix properties up before selling them again) generally have larger expenses on a yearly basis.
House flippers must often pay for large, singular expenses, often in excess of $10,000 per transaction.
So what we looked for in a great business card for house flippers is a large spending limit, a big spend bonus, business purchase protections, and bonus rewards on as many spending categories as possible.
Landlords with rental property will have to pay for expenses like advertising rental listings, materials and supplies, and small touch-up repair projects in between tenants.
A large credit limit or spending limit is likely not an essential credit card benefit for landlords, but it’s still great to have.
Best Overall Business Cards for House Flippers and Landlords
One thing is certain: house flippers and landlords have varied expenses at different times of the year for different reasons. So how can a business owner like yourself manage this?
Well, the first approach you can take is to get a business credit card that offers huge rewards on many bonus categories. The second approach is to get a business credit card that offers great rewards on all bonus categories.
Regardless of your approach, you’ll want to use a card that can help you manage your expenses and ideally has a high spending limit to help you scale your business headache-free.
Whether you’re paying contractors, buying office supplies, or putting ads in the local newspaper, you’ll want to have a solid business card in your wallet. So, let’s get into our favorite business cards for house flippers and landlords!
1. The Business Platinum Card® from American Express
| Credit Card | Key Benefits & Info |
|---|---|
The Business Platinum Card® from American Express  Apply Now (at Amex's secure site) |
Must Reads: For more info on the Amex Business Platinum, see our insights on its benefits, top card FAQ's and the best airport lounges you can access. Go here for our full review. This is one of several business credit cards from Amex. |
Our first (and favorite) business card for house flippers and landlords is the Amex Business Platinum card, and it’s one of the most well-known cards in the world.
When you sign up for this card, you’ll start off with a spectacular welcome bonus to hit the ground running with a points bonus worth a minimum of $1,500 alone, according to our valuations.
We love the Amex Business Platinum card because for new card sign-ups through June 30, 2021, you’ll also be able to take advantage of 5 extra bonus categories for your business where you can earn 5x Amex Membership Rewards points per dollar, up to 80,000 points per category:
Many of these expenses are common ones that flippers and landlords make use of regularly, including advertising, office supplies, and gas.
Also, the Amex Business Platinum card will earn you 5x points on flights and prepaid hotels at Amex Travel. So if you also have out-of-state properties, you can earn points on those business trips.
And speaking of travel, this card offers the most incredible travel benefits of any single card in the world. To start, you’ll be able to access the American Express Global Lounge Collection, which includes:
- Airspace Lounges
- Centurion Lounges
- Delta Sky Clubs (when flying Delta the same day)
- Escape Lounges
- International American Express Lounges
- Plaza Premium Lounges
- Priority Pass lounges
And just to drive the point home, the Chase Sapphire Reserve® Card, regarded as a competitor card, only offers access to Priority Pass lounges.
Other travel benefits include a $200 annual airline fee credit, access to Amex Fine Hotels & Resorts, complimentary Hilton Honors and Marriott Bonvoy Gold status, up to $200 in statement credits for Dell purchases in the U.S. (in the form of 2 equal semi-annual credits of $100), a 35% rebate when using Pay with Points, and a Global Entry/TSA PreCheck application fee credit.
However, one of our favorite perks is the large purchase bonus. The large purchase bonus allows you to earn 1.5 points per $1 (50% more points) on purchases of $5,000 or more. As a flipper or landlord, some of your largest expenses include payments to contractors, and these can easily surpass $5,000. This is one of the handiest, best ways to get rewarded on big transactions.
One of the biggest benefits of this card type for business owners is the absence of any preset spending limits. What that means is that American Express will use software to figure out how much of a spending limit to give you, and this changes regularly. This is in contrast with a traditional credit card, where your credit limit is set in stone.
American Express offers some of the highest spending limits in the industry if they believe you have the means to pay off all your bills. This can be instrumental in managing or scaling your house flipping or rental property business.
Of course, the Amex Business Platinum card offers purchase protection, extended warranty coverage, return protection, great travel insurance, and the ability to “plug-in” your QuickBooks account to integrate your business expenses for seamless accounting and bookkeeping.
Why We Like Earning Amex Membership Rewards Points
When you have the Amex Business Platinum card, the points you will accumulate are known as Amex Membership Rewards points.
These points are incredibly valuable — in fact, they are the most valuable points according to our valuations, easily worth 2+ cents per point!
Part of the value comes from the ease with which you can earn these points. Part of the value comes from the flexibility of redeeming points because you can use them for statement credits, charity, travel bookings through Amex Travel, gift cards, and more.
But what gives these points the most value is the ability to transfer your points to airline and hotel partners for phenomenal redemptions like Singapore Airlines first class. This is an easy way to get immense value out of your points.
Bottom Line: The Amex Business Platinum card is the best card to have as a house flipper or landlord. Between the welcome bonus offering instant value, the limited-time 5x categories, the travel benefits, no preset spending limit, and the valuable Membership Rewards points you will accumulate, it’s easy to see why this card should be your go-to option.
2. Ink Business Unlimited® Credit Card
| Credit Card | Benefits & Info |
|---|---|
Ink Business Unlimited® Credit Card  Apply Now (at Chase's secure site) |
Must Reads: For more info on the Ink Business Unlimited, see our guide on its benefits and our full review. This is one of several Chase business cards. |
Our runner-up best credit card is the Ink Business Unlimited card, which offers a unique value proposition for house flippers and landlords. This business credit card offers an excellent welcome bonus with easy-to-achieve spending requirements.
One of the selling points of this card is the fact that you will earn 1.5% cash-back on all business purchases, regardless of the spending category. These rewards are also uncapped.
In addition, your 1.5% cash-back is convertible to 1.5x Chase Ultimate Rewards points per $1 if you hold an Ultimate Rewards credit card such as the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card or the Chase Sapphire Reserve card.
Also, there’s an introductory 0% APR benefit you can enjoy when signing up for this card, which is designed to help you avoid interest fees on balances for your business.
Also, this card has no-additional fee employee cards, primary rental car insurance, zero liability fraud protection, purchase protection, and extended warranty coverage as other important benefits.
Why We Like Earning Chase Ultimate Rewards Points
Chase and Amex compete vehemently in the rewards landscape.
The Ink Business Unlimited card by itself doesn’t earn Ultimate Rewards points, but if you couple this card with an Ultimate Rewards card, you can easily double your return on spending by converting your cash-back rewards to Ultimate Rewards points.
Chase Ultimate Rewards points are worth around 2 cents per point, which makes them the second-most valuable behind Amex Membership Rewards.
However, Chase has some super-easy ways to redeem Ultimate Rewards points for great value, including cash-back, goods, gift cards, charitable donations, travel booked through the Chase travel portal, and Pay Yourself Back.
Our personal favorite way to use Chase Ultimate Rewards points is to transfer them to travel partners and redeem them for flights like Emirates first class!
3. American Express® Business Gold Card
| Credit Card | Key Benefits & Info |
|---|---|
American Express® Business Gold Card Apply Now (at Amex's secure site) |
|
The Amex Business Gold card has been one of our favorite cards for many years. Ever since this card got a facelift in rewards, it’s been a no-brainer for most business owners, including house flippers and landlords.
The Amex Business Gold card earns 4x Membership Rewards points on 2 of your top categories from this list each month (up to $150,000 per calendar year):
- Airfare purchased from airlines
- U.S. purchases for advertising in select media
- U.S. purchases made from select technology providers of computer hardware, software, and cloud solutions
- U.S. purchases at gas stations
- U.S. purchases at restaurants
- U.S. purchases for shipping
And the best part of this card is that your 2 bonus categories are automatically selected for you every month so you don’t have to worry about figuring out which categories to choose — you’ll rest assured that you’ll max out your rewards in these categories.
Hot Tip: If you maxed out your 4x points, you’d earn 600,000 Amex points, which is worth around $13,200! Couple that with a nice welcome bonus and you’ll have tons of points before you know it.
This card doesn’t have a preset spending limit, which means you can scale up your expenses and businesses without worrying about a hard credit limit every month. Plus, spending limits on this card are known to be significantly higher than normal credit cards.
You can add up to 99 additional employee cards with a yearly fee of $50 for the first employee card (and no extra fees after that). Other perks include purchase protection, extended warranty protection, travel insurance (including secondary car rental insurance), and more.
Alternative Business Credit Cards for House Flippers & Landlords
Having options in life is important, and this includes business credit cards.
We’ve made our opinions very clear on why the top 3 business credit cards above are great fits for house flippers and landlords. However, if you’re looking for other options, you’ll want to read this next section.
4. Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card
| Credit Card | Key Benefits & Info |
|---|---|
Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card Apply Now (at Chase's secure site) |
Must Reads: For more info on the Ink Business Preferred, see our guides on its benefits, 7 things to do as a new cardholder, and our full review. This is our favorite Chase business credit card. |
The Ink Business Preferred card is a very popular credit card for business owners, and it is our top entry in alternative choices for flippers and landlords.
This card offers a huge welcome bonus and 3x Chase Ultimate Rewards points on your first $150,000 spent every account cardmember year on these business categories:
- Travel
- Shipping purchases
- Internet, cable, and phone services
- Advertising purchases with social media sites and search engines
Notably, the Ink Business Preferred card earns Ultimate Rewards points directly, which means you don’t need to have another Chase card to earn these points.
It also earns 5x points on Lyft through March 2022. Once you’ve earned these points, you can transfer them to partner airlines and hotels or use them for gift cards, cash-back, charity, Pay Yourself Back, and more.
You’ll enjoy no foreign transaction fees, travel insurance, primary rental car coverage, amazing cell phone protection insurance, purchase protection, and extended warranty protection.
5. The Blue Business® Plus Credit Card from American Express
| Credit Card | Benefits & Info |
|---|---|
The Blue Business® Plus Credit Card from American Express Apply Now (at Amex's secure site) |
Must Reads: For more info on the Amex Blue Business Plus, see our guide on its benefits and our full review. This is one of several Amex business credit cards. |
The Amex Blue Business Plus card is one of our favorites because it earns 2x Amex Membership Rewards points on all business purchases with no need to keep track of bonus categories.
This card has no annual fee, and it earns 2x points on the first $50,000 spent every calendar year and 1x points after that.
You’ll also find a 0% introductory APR benefit for 12 months, plus no-annual-fee employee cards, extended warranty coverage, purchase protection, and the ability to access Amex’s famous Membership Rewards program without an annual fee.
Bottom Line: We absolutely love this card, and we’d recommend it wholeheartedly to both house flippers and landlords, but particularly landlords, since they tend to have lower yearly expenses.
Final Thoughts
House flippers and landlords need to think strategically about business finances, and a big chunk of that is having the right business credit card.
If you’re a house flipper or a landlord investing in real estate, you’ll want to look for a card that enables you to make large business transactions and offers great rewards and important benefits.
Our favorite choices are the Amex Business Platinum card, the Ink Business Unlimited card, and the Amex Business Gold card. For alternatives, consider the Ink Business Preferred card and the Amex Blue Business Plus card.
Whether you’re looking for travel perks, 5x bonus categories, lower annual fees, or simple earning structures, there’s bound to be a card option that fits your needs.
For rates and fees of The Business Platinum Card® from American Express, click here.
For rates and fees of the American Express® Business Gold Card, click here.
For rates and fees of The Blue Business® Plus Credit Card from American Express, click here.
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