There are a lot of 'house flipping' shows out now. I used to watch "Flip This House," an hour long program on A&E, but the "team" on that show (from North Carolina) was "recast" for the second season, even though the cast owned the rights/created the show. So "Trademark Properties" got its own show on... something... Discovery? TLC? Called "The Real Deal," which got changed to "The Real Estate Pros" for some reason.

And "Flip THAT House" is a half hour program that doesn't really feature any one person, and I have no idea when or where it airs but the TiVO saves it for me occasionally. (Google says it's on TLC.)

Then there's that Bravo show about house flipping, "Flipping Out," which I only watched two episodes of and couldn't relate to, because it was like, $4 million flips.

The point is, I'm now a house flipping show junkie. It holds the same fascination for me as Trading Spaces once did. So I have opened this thread to see if anyone else out there is addicted, too.

And mostly, I wanted to complain about the Montelongos, who apparently aren't on "Flip This House" to demonstrate house flipping; rather, they like to talk about themselves and how great they are. Which would be ruining the show for me except the Montelongos are claiming to have walked away from the show. Woo.

I like the flipping homes show because I own a house that I plan to sell within a couple of years. I got hooked on Flipping Out because the personalities interested me. That North Carolina team was awful. They seem to think that the intrigue is in the speed at which they can fix a house, instead of showing us which improvements have the most impact.

Who are the Montelongos?

Hmm. The North Carolina team is "Trademark," whom I generally enjoy because they aren't total assholes. Which is to say that Richard, the head dude, realizes he's an asshole but they frequently do things to give back to the community, like rehabbing the local highschool's concession stand.

The Montelongos are the "San Antonio" team. The other night I watched an episode where Armando (the head dude's) wife had gone $5500 over budget on design, and instead of, oh, I dunno, saying "No," cancelling the orders for the expensive stuff, and/or just not giving her the money, he decided the correct response was to do donuts in his GC's pickup truck (he couldn't even use his own truck) in the front yard of the house they were flipping. And his explanation was: "Hey, baby, remember when you were flying to California, and your plane was leaving the gate and I made them stop the plane and pull it back in to the terminal so I could give you a hug and tell you I loved you?" Hey, great, this helps me learn about wallpaper. NOT. By the way, you know who else remembers when you did that thing on the plane? EVERYONE ELSE ON THE PLANE WHO NOW HATES YOU.

I believe is actually in SC or they sure have done most of the shows I've seen there. Richard is a bit too much in love with himself.
I like the flipping shows. I like the one on TLC because the amateurs are either awesome or dumb. I'd like to redo my house in 4 weeks but since I'm working for a living I guess I'll just slowly try and get it done. The way some of the hope to make it big buy borrowing on my credit card and do it myself people are the ones that make my eyes roll. Now that the market is cooling some of those hope to get rick quick kids are going to fall even harder on their butts.

I'm not addicted, but I do enjoy watching these shows when I catch them, even though I still can't tell them all apart. Although the sadist in me can't help wanting to see them go horribly over budget and lose money sometimes. :-) I did see one episode a week or two ago where the woman went over budget and made some really questionable design choices, and then decided to live in the house because she liked it so much - can't help wonder if the lack of buyers had anything to do with that decision, hmmm?

Ooh, yeah, you're right. I got confused by the James Island thing. Also I am bad at geography.

Every house flipping expert I've ever read (except for the Montelongos) says it SHOULD take more than four weeks to rehab a house. To do it right, anyhow. And it's not as lucrative as A&E's graphics would have you believe.

The real estate markets vary so much from place to place. I wonder if San Antonio is as good a place for flipping houses as they present it.

It's the return of Mindy Paige Davis Page. I may actually watch Trading Spaces once again now that Paige and the old designers are returning.

Well, that's good news. I watched the first show of the new season and it sucked.

I saw a good one yesterday on TLC. This family bought a modest little 50's rancher, did all the work themselves, the one guy who was supposed to handle the plumbing went off to Baja California for a motorcycle race, the stucco guy was a stoner, the guys put a tiny closet in the Master Bedroom they added on, and it took 9 months instead of three. By the time they were done the market tanked and they couldn't sell the house.

After all that, they still wanted to flip another house.

Trading Spaces starts back up this Saturday at 10 pm Eastern on TLC. The return of Mindy Paige Davis Page is a reason to once again stay home on Saturday nights.
I'd probably enjoy it more if they exes could pick the design rather than the designers.

I bet both of them will fight to see which one gets to work with Hildi. "Staple hay on my ex's walls? SURE!"

So, Paige got fired because of a racy TV Guide cover, stripping at an AIDS fundraiser in front of a crowd of mostly gay men, and allegedly having made sex tapes with her husband. This is FAR MORE exciting than any supposed Rachael Ray scandal, EVER. How is it we don't see more crazy Paige hater stuff?

I have to say the show was very uncomfortable because the husband was clearly not over his ex-wife. Did love seeing Paige back. Doug needs to eat a sandwich.

Probably because Paige doesn't have a show about food or children, the two things that seem to make people psychotic.

DodgerGirl Posted: Jan 27 2008, 10:08 PM