The 6 Stages of a Flip Walk-Through

Ashley and Andy Williams are U.S. military veterans: They met in Baghdad while he served in the Marines and she served in the Army. They’re also Texas real estate veterans: As Recon Realty, the power duo has bought and sold 50 homes all over Texas. Each of those homes presented its own combination of advantages and challenges, of course, but the initial walk-throughs? Those follow a formula as tried and true as Sale Price:

(Purchase Price + Renovation Costs + Closing Costs) = Profit, or

Full Refrigerator + 2 Years Without Electricity = Let’s Come Back With Masks.

Consider the very first episode of Flip or Flop Fort Worth, and we’ll break that process down.  

Stage 1: The Meet-Not-So-Cute

Much as chess masters envision the ten moves that will follow their next move, flippers consider potential properties and imagine what they will look like at the end of a merciless makeover. That doesn’t mean finding a diamond in the rough isn’t rough.

Stage 2: A Whiff of...Promise?

TV chefs are fond of saying they wish viewers had smell-o-vision to fully appreciate their culinary chops. No flipper has ever wished their audience had smell-o-vision.

Stage 3: Wild Kingdom

Look, the fact that humans have passed on a property doesn’t mean it’s uninhabitable. Au contraire, mes amis! (Ashley “[doesn’t] do bugs.” Andy: “Ashley spent six years in Iraq and the girl is still afraid of bugs. That is crazy.”)

Stage 4: Bargaining

Math comes at you fast in a walk-through, and you’ve got to spend money to make money. By that logic, this kitchen will make a lot of money.

Stage 5:  The Mysteries of Life

Real estate is like a box of chocolates: You never know what you’re gonna get. Or why you got it—best to go ahead and gloss right on over the why.

Stage 6: Eureka(?)!

Nerves of steel on this one. (Good thing: She’s going to need every last one of them to flip this ranch house.)

So, where does the wild ride go from here? Was that fuzzy math? Will that dog hair in the master bedroom find its forever home? Tune in for Flip or Flop Fort Worth’s series premiere on Thursday, November 2nd, at 9|8c, and all will be revealed.