House Flipping Reality TV Shows: Good or Bad for Newbie Investors and Flippers?

Those shows really get on my nerves since they give sellers unrealistic expectations. Do an open house get 10 offers.

I watch the flipping shows, but I’m like an old man complaining about politics when I watch them. I can’t stand watching episodes where some guy fresh out of college wants to be a real estate mogul (who also appears to have no clue about what he/she is doing). Then the show proceeds to show how a house is renovated back to the studs on 30k and a 6 week schedule. The kicker for me is when I see the purchase price, say 300k, renovation costs of 30k, and then a sales price of 500k for a profit of $170k. I don’t know about you guys, but a lot of other people want to get paid before I get my ‘profit’ of $170k, including the lender for the pleasure of borrowing money from them, the title company, brokers, utilities, property tax collector, etc. to name a few… After all that ranting, I will say that I watch ‘Flipping Out’ religiously, and find it to be more realistic than most, despite all of the psychic house blessing ceremonies, cat accupuncture, etc.

Great article Joshua
I agree with many of your pro and con points, but I come to a different, yet similar conclusion.

These shows are not good or bad. They’re entertainment. Some people, and this is not confined to RE Investors, have a hard time with seperating entertainment with reality. For some, these shows set unrealistic expectations. For others, they show what is possible.

As John C Maxwell says, what you see is determined by who you are.

I think it definitely gives people a false sense of hope - I always find myself saying “yeah right” when I watch these shows.

great article. I think it’s an interesting situation. Most of the shows give an unrealistic expectations, but most of the flippers suffer setbacks and get a dose of reality. And now some of those shows are telling the viewers what really happened ie. it sat on the market for several months and fees lessened their profits.

Hi Josh,

That’s a good question. You hit the nail on the head when you mentioned that these shows simply glamorize the whole process. It’s kind of like watching poker on TV… viewers are only shown the ‘big hands’, they don’t show the dozens of hands players had to throw away as they patiently wait for that ‘monster hand’.
I used to be a foreman for a small remodeling company. We even flipped a few houses, and I can attest that there is absolutely nothing easy in the remodeling process. Sub-contractors are often very unreliable and building inspectors can be a real pain! But, I do see the value in buying low and selling high regardless of the product. I think that these shows can be beneficial, and for newbie investors.. I think a lot will be learned during the whole process (trial and error). It may all depend on the individual investor.

Add a fence and that will be an extra $40k when you sell. SURE IT WILL! Please

lol Dallas . . .
I’m glad you guys generally agree on this one . . . anyone else?

Yeah, I watch these shows for entertainment. They’re usually full of bull. They build stories to make good TV watching. Here’s the formula

1) Introductions
2) Everything’s hunky dory
3) OMG!! Something’s gone terribly wrong!
4) Open House
5) 5 offers and we’re in the money!!! Whew!

Every. Single. Time.

Some observations:

- It seems like every rehabber on these shows puts granite countertops and stainless steel appliances. Its rare to see homes that have these features unless they’re model homes.

- Get in business with your buddy and your flip and friendship is doomed.

- They never factor into the profits the 6% you’ll be doling out to real estate agents.

- When guys make mistakes they look like bumbling morons. When women make mistakes, they look like bumbling morons. Equality at last!

As I say in my classes when someone asks what I think of the shows…. “I think they are the best hours of comedy on TV.”

Shows give an unrealistic expectations. Entertainment nothing more or less.

I think these shows create a problem for our industry…we wonder why so many people come in thinking it’s going to be so easy! I wonder if police hate the show “cops” for the same reasons!?!

Sounds very interesting. Acutally I did not have much time to watch those shows but I wanted to learn more about flipping. So is there one show which is better than the others or are all basically bullshit?
So which material would you recommend for a newbie to the subject. What are the 5 Books I have to read?

These shows get ratings based on drama and not the actually act of flipping houses. I agree with you Joshua there are more cons than pros of these shows for the real estate community.

What about the other shows that deal with real estate on t.v., “sell my house”, “curb appeal”, do these shows also paint an unrealistic picture of real estate?

Rebecca D. Levinson

Overall I think they’re bad for the general public because they set such unrealistic expectations sometimes, but if someone REALLY wants to get into that game there are opportunities to be had if they’re diligent and thorough. I think the thing that really drives me bonkers is seeing the supposed “cost” of a particular piece of the renovation, and then the supposed “value” it adds. That’s the point I really start to pull my hair out - Reno is different from Dallas, which is different from Elizabeth City, NC. To try and make such a broad generalization is inappropriate, IMO.

I think those shows do leave out a real reality that is not always rosy.

I have to confess that I sometimes watch the shows. However, what makes me mad sometimes is that they always show people making a profit in the end. They rarely show flips that go wrong.

I must admit, these shows have a positive effect and i my opinion must have contributed to the rise in the number of newbies buying property for profit. I agree that the shows do not give too much “technical” info about the real side of the property business but the rehab shows do give a good overview of what is involved on teh rehab side.

I even saw an old friend of mine on the property ladder and was surprised to see him do so well on a rehab (he was a commplete beginner). So yes its difficult but not impossible,

in the uk we have a few shows “property ladder” and others. its a shame that they don’t seem to date stamp the shows as some of them were filmed in the rising market here. you could just buy a house, keep it for 2 months and sell it on for profit.

i’ve also noticed that the more recent shows do not show us the selling price. just the agent valuations. is this because maybe.. they can’t sell??

These shows make things seem too easy and gullible people are likely to believe they can do things that are not possible. Investing in real estate takes expertise. These shows have hundreds of experts around them. It’s unrealistic for someone to actually think they can do it on their own.

sorry to bring up an old post but….

They set an unrealistic stage for the wanna-be or newbie investor. Both ways, private investor and the actual ‘flipper’/ buyer / rehabber.

Frankly, i dont think just anyone should flip houses. When i flip a house, i have a quality end product. Permits are pulled, professionals are brought in for the tasks that we dont carry expertise in. We check the plumbing, electrical and HVAC. If its not up to snuff, it gets replaced. We care that two years down the road the house could burn down or the plumbing could burst.

Too many of those shows have ‘investors’ that really don’t care about the person buying the home, they only care about their bottom line. Instead of fixing the issues they cover them up. Yes, profit and bottom line is important in any business but this business IS personal to the families that purchase YOUR product.

Never flipped a house before but I would like to. I watch the shows and I agree that there is not enough information about the financial side of house flipping and the correct way to go about it or how many people get a portion of your profits. But, I think that people should be smart enough to know that it is a tv show and there are hidden truths. I believe it would be wise to obtain a real estate courses and learn about the real estate business instead of charging into it blindly or with unrealistic expectations and no knowledge of the business and it’s pros and cons.

Does anyone actually ever follow the advice or take direction–especially difficult direction–that they see on TV? If everyone followed through after having seen an inspirational/motivational show, we would all be super-fit, wealthy rock stars with clean, organized houses and well-behaved children.

Overall I think they’re bad for the general public because they set such unrealistic expectations sometimes, but if someone REALLY wants to get into that game there are opportunities to be had if they’re diligent and thorough. I think the thing that really drives me bonkers is seeing the supposed “cost” of a particular piece of the renovation, and then the supposed “value” it adds. That’s the point I really start to pull my hair out - Reno is different from Dallas, which is different from Elizabeth City, NC. To try and make such a broad generalization is inappropriate, IMO.

I think these types of shows give unrealistic expecatations for most people

I watch these shows just hoping to see huge failures. That’s the entertainment for me. I love when they get some family friend to pretend they are going to buy the house. On one show they even got the same person to say they were going to buy the project house on two separate episodes. It was the contractor who worked on the job too! Laughable.

From an experienced renovation company standpoint, what we find most often is the hesitancy on the part of the flipper to go the extra mile and facelift the property for a few extra thousand which on the backend make a huge difference in movability. Sure, we go in and fix windows, doors, drywall, flooring, and make sure the place is painted while we try to give it that “new home” aroma. But facelifting the friont entry- or adding an outside entertainment area in the rear of the home- we have found- really create peak interest. Our advice on this subject, focus on kitchens, baths, front entry and entertainment areas- to bump your peroperty to the front of the sellers market.