I know some people have written the show off as another 'reality television' show shipping a husband and wife team, but I do think the show starting off fairly legit. I think it's a basic primer for buying moderate sized homes from banks, renovating them using a contractor, then selling them through open house. Whenever they are successful, they usually make in the lower five figures, which I believe is reasonable (after the initial investment, renovation money, giving the contractor his fair cut, and finally paying the closing costs). Initially, Tarek and Christian El Moussa started off buying houses through daytime auctions. Now, they are shown using an online app that notifies them of listings in real time (I'm not sure of the name of the app, maybe someone here can help me out with that). What are your opinions of this husband and wife team buying and selling real estate? Even if you feel that the show may be becoming more and more staged, what do you feel about the concept? How can it be improved? My initial thoughts are that it must take a LOT of starting capital. From the looks of it, Tarek came from fairly good means and his family pitched in with the initial investment. To compete, they sometimes have to buy houses in cash for 400k easily. And the wife Christina is more than just 'eye candy' (lol), she has a pretty good eye for design in the renovation, especially for someone who probably didn't study that in college. Plus she's good with the home staging when they present it to buyer families. I will say that now they are poses to make more money selling their "tips" through training workshops. So it's an extension of the business to make more money on the side.
reality tv, for the past decade or so, is just boring pre-scripted BS that somehow managed to get people watching. As for the whole flipping houses thing, you hear of a lot of people doing it. You never hear of anyone ever failing at any point. They always make a profit, they always sell the house quickly. But hey, that doesn't work in reality. Sure it works for some but I'm sure there are a lot of cases where you buy the house (probably with a mortgage), renovate it, and then it sits there empty while you constantly lose the interest on the mortgage, all the upkeep costs and as an added bonus you have your own capital tied into it too. If becoming rich was simple, then wouldn't everyone be rich?
Thanks for the honest feedback. It's what I was looking for because most fans of the show have nothing but constant praise for it. I think one of the main draws of the show is that it's a young couple, so a lot of people see themselves in this couple. To be fair, they have shown them to lose money on several of the houses they tried to flip. At one point, Tarek had to borrow money from his parents and their homes because the couple was operating on a loss. Most people don't have that luxury. If the average person lost $800,000, they could very well face financial ruin. And I agree that getting rich isn't that simple. It's life anything in life - if most people could do it, then EVERYONE would do it. And then it wouldn't be that special at all. I will say that one of the ways I sort of side-eye this couple is actually with the workshop they are selling. I don't know if their track record is that great that they can sell the "secrets of the trade." After a certain point, their income will probably come more from the reality show itself and the workshop they are selling. It won't make a difference if they are real estate moguls at all. I don't know, maybe I'm slightly envious that they found a hustle lol. It's like the Rich Dad Poor Dad author, or the 4 Hour Workweek. They made more money selling the book (and the dream), than actually being the experts they claimed to be.
