Exes Page Turner and DeRon Jenkins Bring ‘Flip or Flop’ to Nashville

Even the thought of running into an ex in public is enough to send shivers down some people’s spines. Take that hypothetical, then up the ante with some power tools and a whole lot of money on the line. Can exes truly work amicably together to flip a house?

Short answer: Yes! On Flip or Flop Nashville, kicking off Jan. 18 on HGTV, Page Turner and DeRon Jenkins could be the poster children for how to successfully navigate a post-breakup relationship — and even make some cash while doing it.

“We work off of each other really well,” Page said. “I know exactly what makes him tick, he knows exactly what makes me tick and we get all the work done.”

“And we also know what pushes each other’s buttons,” DeRon said.

(Translation: This is probably going to be some good TV.)

A little more than 10 years ago, Page was showing a house to a client, when she ran into DeRon, the builder, and immediately gushed to her friends about how cute he was. She quickly became DeRon’s real estate agent — and then they started dating.

“But then our relationship changed, and we didn’t work as well together in that capacity,” Page said. “But we still worked really well together as far as building homes and selling homes and rehabbing homes went. So we continued our working relationship.”

That home where Page and DeRon met also happened to be one of DeRon’s first projects as a builder. In 1998, he was an NFL cornerback for the Baltimore Ravens and talked himself into a renovation after buying his first home.

“I didn’t really know what I was doing, but the house needed a lot of renovations,” DeRon said. “So I decided, ‘Hey, why hire someone? I’m just going to do it myself.’”

Seven years after that initial fix, DeRon was done playing professional football and realized he still had that itch to create. He quickly became a licensed contractor and even shifted into working in new construction, which eventually led to that first meeting with Page in Nashville.

“She really knows the heartbeat of the city,” DeRon said. “She’s really good at finding not only the homes on the market but homes that haven’t reached the market yet. She’s done a really good of networking and finding those little niches where we can get those great homes.”

The types of houses Page and DeRon find and flip in Nashville aren’t exactly like the ones we’ve seen on other Flip or Flop shows. (And neither are the buyers looking for said homes.) Music City is consistently ranked as one of the top 10 housing markets in the country to watch as its population of young people continues to grow and its housing remains generally affordable, compared to other growing metros.

“A lot of the homes in Nashville are older, so it gives us an opportunity to really go in and make something special,” DeRon said.

You could say the first episode of the season sets the tone well, for a show about a couple of exes working together: Page purchases a ranch home in need of a total gut job in a popular Nashville neighborhood — without telling DeRon.

“I can’t believe Page bought this house without telling me,” said DeRon. “That’s probably why we broke up!”

Let the games begin! Flip or Flop Nashville premieres Jan. 18 at 9|8c on HGTV.