Flip or Flop: What we don’t know about the show

HGTV’s Flip or Flop has been on the air since April of 2013. The show quickly gained a massive audience with all those of us who dream of home improvement and in need of design inspiration. The show is part reality television part design show, with the hosts being husband and wife duo Christina and Tarek El Moussa. The show portrays the ups and downs of working together as a married (later divorced) couple and what it takes to flip homes these days. The show focuses on homes in California, specifically Orange County with a balance of relationship and home drama. Seeing as this show centers around a couple that flip homes, there is bound to be a lot of behind the scenes moments and unknown facts about the show and the couple that the public missed. Luckily, we were able to uncover some interesting and little-known facts about the couple and the show to make sure that we all get the full picture, whether the network (or the couple) wanted us to.

Young start

Christina is the design guru between the two, while Tarek is the real estate and construction mogul. The reason Tarek knows as much as he does is due to the fact that he started in the real estate field when he was a mere 21 years old.

Real estate is how Tarek met Christina in the first place, as she was also in the field at the time. Tarek and Christina were a real estate couple from heaven.

The recession

As many of the American people remember, 2008 was the height of the housing market crash that made banks file for federal assistance and housing prices to plummet. Tarek and Christina were not spared from the mess that the market was in. During that time, the couple had to downgrade from a $6,000 a month home, to a $700 a month apartment.

They had to sell their cars and watch their food intake to make sure they were able to afford their monthly payments. The couple has since looked back on that time and said that while it was hard, it made them stronger as a couple.

Almost didn’t happen

Tarek and Christina almost didn’t do the show! It was Tarek’s friend who convinced the two to make it happen. Tarek’s friend said to them that they had nothing to lose by sending in their audition tape to HGTV. After careful deliberation (and perhaps a little peer pressure), the two sent the tape in.

Tarek did not think anything would come of it, but he was mistaken as the network reached out almost immediately to talk agreements and next steps. The initial agreement was for 13 episodes, needless to say, the public wanted more as the show is currently on its seventh season.

Ratings

Anyone in television will tell you – ratings are everything. HGTV has made sure that their shows are ratings gold and Flip or Flop is no exception. There is massive competition between the shows on the network seeing as the lowest ranking one is usually in trouble. That being said, Flip or Flop was second to the top with Fixer Upper being the number one show (understandable, who can compete with Chip and Joanna Gaines?!).

The show has around 2 million viewers every episode, making the El Moussa duo famous on their own as well as their mad house flipping skills.

Profit-makers

To say that Tarek and Christina are good at what they do is an understatement. The couple has shown nothing but success in the flipping on the show and that is very much the truth as the couple has made a profit on each of the homes they have been a part in flipping for the past several years.

However, Tarek admits that at the beginning of his career he did manage to close some deals that were at a loss and that he learned from those moments to create the success that he and Christina have seen in the last few years.

Raking in the dough

With a successful show like Flip or Flop, Tarek and Christina were raking in the dough per episode. It is reported that the couple is bringing in $10,000 per episode! Additionally, their flipping is going so well that they use the money from the profit on the homes to purchase new ones, no longer touching their own finances to do so.

The two have indeed surpassed the days when they counted their pennies for dinner.

Halfsies

While the two make a pretty penny per episode on the show, the profit from the homes that they flip goes 50% to them and 50% to an investor that they signed a deal with when they were in the initial stages of their business.

The investor gave the duo funds to start out their home purchase and flip business which means that without him they would not have been able to even get started.

Information hunt

Tarek and Christina have a set list of rules prior to purchasing a property, and that includes an information hunt. The two make sure that before they buy a place, they make sure to know if there are any skeletons in the closet both financially and foundationally.

They research the owners and the property for any debts or deep foundational problems. Christina said that this is the single most important task that they do.

Teamwork

Teamwork indeed makes the dream work. Christina has said that they are often assisted by others in advice as well as help with finding listings that fit their needs. The two said that they use other individuals in the real estate field, as well as other people who flip homes to help them along the road.

It is thanks to the sounds advice of those around them that the two were able to be as successful as they are and they are very thankful for it.

Auction time

Remember those moments when Tarek and Christina would stand in an auction for a home? Many believed that those auctions were staged and that was the reason for how awkward they were, but they were not! The difference is that the show only airs the auctions that the two win, as there are many that they are outbid on.

There are only a few times when outbid auctions are shown but viewers always prefer the wins.

More than one

While you may be seeing the El Moussa’s flipping one house at a time on the show, in reality, there are a few homes being flipped at the same time. At most, Tarek said that the two have had 17 different projects running within California at a single time.

The two thought it would be smart to have their funds spread across multiple projects so as to secure their investments and not have everything put into one.

Car trouble

We don’t mean engine issues, we mean car theft. Tarek and Christina were busy talking about color samples for a garage in one of their homes when someone must have gotten the keys to their car from Christina’s purse, which was laying in the entrance to the home.

The next thing the couple notices is their very own car being driven away by someone that was not them or someone they recognized. Christina never made that mistake again.

Lifesaver

A man named Ryan Reade, a nurse, loved watching Flip or Flop when she had the time. She noticed over time that Tarek was not looking like himself and was so concerned that she decided to email the show to bring attention to a lump shown in Tarek’s throat that should not be there.

It was thanks to this astute nurse that Tarek was diagnosed with stage-2 thyroid cancer. Tarek owes the discovery and eventual recovery to this fan.

Additional health woes

Tarek decided to take the opportunity to check his entire body to make sure nothing else was creeping around. Unfortunately, the scan revealed that Tarek also suffered from a male-focused cancer if you will. Tarek decided to deal with this head on and was treated accordingly.

From that moment forward, Tarek decided to take his health more seriously so as to never go unaware about happenings in his body, it could mean the difference between life and death.

Seminars

The couple decided to launch their own seminar regarding flipping homes and the real estate market. While their intentions were good, the plan was not well executed. Attendees of the seminars complained that not only were the two not in attendance, they felt as though they needed to spend even more money on other courses.

Tarek and Christina did not like hearing these thoughts and wanted people to know that they are not scamming anyone.

Change of plans

The duo was set to appear at their seminar in Oregon before they decided to cancel due to an online protest against them, blaming them for the housing market issue in the area. While the fault of the housing issues in the area had nothing to do with them, the two got the heat.

This wasn’t new to either one of the pair, who have been on the receiving end of criticism regarding their style, and family.

Fitness

In addition to seminars and their show, Christina is a fitness and health fanatic. The beauty always has her best foot forward on-screen, so when she was pregnant with her son, Braydon, she decided to film a prenatal yoga class so as to have another thing to share with the female viewers of the show.

Christina and her entrepreneurial spirit have proven most profitable and smart in her endeavors outside of her and Tarek’s HGTV show.

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