HOUSE-FLIPPING EXPERTS SHARE SECRETS
Stars from two DIY shows in town to share experiences, encourage others
Reality-TV remodelers and contractors can turn a rundown home into a thing of beauty in the span of a 30-minute episode — and, most of the time, convince you that you can do the same thing, too.
Those shows are everywhere, including HGTV and the DIY Network, but they all have one thing in common: They take rooms, homes and yards that sometimes look a lot like yours and turn them around without spending a fortune.
That’s every homeowner’s dream: a better place to live — on an easy budget. Stars from two of those shows — Catrina Kidd from DIY’s “Texas Flip N Move” and Ashley and Andy Williams from HGTV’s “Flip or Flop Fort Worth” — will be in the Houston area Saturday and Sunday to speak at home and garden shows in Sugar Land and Katy. Kidd will speak twice each day at the eighth annual Sugar Land Home & Garden Show at the Stafford Centre; the Williamses will speak twice each day at the 12th annual Katy Home & Garden Show at the Merrell Center. They all stumbled into TV work by accident, but they hope to share their experiences with others, encouraging audience members to try to improve their own homes. “The reality is, absolutely everybody can tackle home remodeling.
It’s their fear of not knowing that stops them,” said the 35-year-old Kidd, noting that she always encourages people to do their homework and then just dive in.
“At the end of the day, it is a remodel or a renovation, and if you don’t like it, you can redo it, it is not the end of the world.”
Kidd worked in the remodeling/real estate industry in Fort Worth, and one of her projects was remodeling the Gas Monkey Bar and Grill — which is related to the Gas Monkey Garage featured on “Fast and Loud,” a car restoration show on the Discovery Channel.
During remodeling work at the restaurant, Kidd appeared on screen briefly. Fast-forward a few years, and the executive producer on that show sought her out when casting “Flip N Move.”
Kidd served in a secondary role on that show’s second season and joined one of the show’s four competing remodeling teams during its third season. Season 8 is airing, and Seasons 9 and 10 are being filmed now.
In “Flip N Move,” four teams each purchase a home and move it to another location for complete renovations. The homes are sold to determine which team has made the biggest profit.
Kidd’s show partner is Casey Hester, a professional house mover who often is mistaken for her husband. (They tell people they’re both happily married — just not to each other.)
The Williamses, both military veterans — she from the Army and he from the Marines — met in Iraq. They had returned to civilian life and established a real estate investment company when they went to Tahiti on vacation. They met another couple who were on their honeymoon and struck up a conversation. It turned out the husband was a TV producer, and he was struck by the couple’s passion for real estate and their interest in helping other veterans become real estate entrepreneurs.
The final episode of the first season of “Flip or Flop Fort Worth” aired last week, and the Williamses are waiting to hear if their show will be renewed.
During their talks in Houston, Kidd and the Williamses will discuss their TV shows and their businesses, but they also expect to field a lot of questions about their families and personal interests. What the fans all have in common is that they want to know more about working on homes, she said.
Kidd said she prefers clean and simple design with a farmhouse feel. The TV show, though, forces her to stretch herself professionally.
“This show pushes me out of my box because every home in every show has to be different,” she said. “The network pushes me to go from incredibly contemporary to incredibly traditional. I mean, I’ve built a treehouse, for goodness sake.”
She and her husband, Mark, raise their four children in the small town of Weatherford, west of Fort Worth.
“I now have the ability to meet my clients and find what they want without any of my personal design style having to be the primary focus. It has opened my eyes to a whole lot more than I would do in my own home,” she said.
Kidd said she spends 30 hours a week, year-round, on the show and another 30 hours a week on Kidd-Wagner Construction, the business in which she’s a partner.
Kidd expects to talk more about remodeling and design trends, even providing some DIY tips, while the Williamses will focus more on entrepreneurship.
On the Williamses’ show, the couple have 10 veterans working with them to learn about remodeling and real estate investing. They hope to encourage them and others to consider a career — or self employment — in some part of the real estate industry.
Andy Williams, 36, said the key to his investment is doing his homework, whether he’s planning to keep a property as an investment or sell it right away. He hopes his advice will help the Houston area, where Hurricane Harvey upended the real estate market and pushed many homeowners into unplanned remodeling and restoration projects.
Williams started his business, Recon Realty, while still in the military, and Ashley, 32, joined him after they married. He was building a portfolio of rental properties until the 2008 economic crash, when he shifted more to residential redevelopment, he said.
They have two children, ages 5 and 6.
“Once he showed me how easy it was — there are only a couple of things you have to know to make money — I wanted to keep going,” Ashley Williams said. “We were starting a family, and I wanted to be home with our kids for a while, so real estate our saving grace.”