Masters of Flip duo dishes on their dynamic teamwork
Kortney and Dave Wilson, stars of the hit TV show, have renovated and flipped about 80 houses so far
Kortney and Dave Wilson must really, really like each other. That is the only conclusion when you factor in the amount of time the married stars of the real estate reality show Masters of Flip spend together.
They have had two intertwined, high-pressure and public careers, first in the music business and now on television. The couple also shares three children. Season 2 of their hit house-flipping show just debuted last week and they are in Toronto to flog it.
“Are you cold, honey?” asks Dave as the couple poses for publicity stills on the rooftop of the Corus building on the Toronto waterfront. They’re snuggled up in the damp breeze coming off the lake, at ease showing intimacy to the cameras. Dave looks down at his wife in the crook of his arm and smiles with such warmth that the makeup artist, who works with them all the time at their home base in Nashville, lets out an audible “Ahhh.”
The cliché goes that renovating with your spouse is a recipe for divorce. That is the underlying tension, and wit, of Masters of Flip: Kortney and Dave have a sexy couple’s negotiating style as they work through the inevitable rotten plumbing surprises and gnarled electrical wiring you find when you open up a100-year-old home. This, say the Wilsons, is known as “the oops factor,” and it is what keeps us tuned in.
Reality shows are about heightened reality, and the couple has to be able to deliver the requisite conflict without leaving scars. “After all,” says Kortney, “our kids are watching the show!”
Dave hails from Ottawa and Kortney is from Ayr, Ont., via Sudbury and Windsor. The two met in Nashville, where both had landed to pursue contemporary country music dreams. They went on to record as a duo. Kortney grew up in musical theatre and doing TV commercials, and she landed a summer stint on the soap opera One Life to Live.
When the bottom fell out of the economy in 2008, the couple switched gears from singing to hammering. Kortney, who has absorbed more than her fair share of southern sunshine and hospitality, became the real estate agent of the team, and she takes over the decorating duties onsite. “As an agent, I know where to spend the money,” she says. “And Dave is really good at what areas are going to be the next big thing. Location, as they say, is the key.”
The petite, blond dynamo scours the East Nashville market, a funky and diverse neighbourhood where the family also lives, for likely properties. The couple has since flipped more than 80 houses, with Dave doing what he describes as the less-sexy guts work, “the plumbing, electrical and HVAC placement.”
The Wilsons have been learning their trades live on camera since the early days. In 2009, the CMT Canada show Meet the Wilsons chronicled their first flips. Later, CMT gave them a daytime talk show slot called Kortney & Dave: By Request, where they addressed audience home renovation issues.
What they are selling is reinvention, of themselves and the houses they take from sow’s ear to silk purse. Each flip delivers a victory-over-adversity narrative, against the backdrop of the couple’s compromise. You get to feel like you have accomplished something as they actually do.
“Yes, we are really busy,” says Kortney. “Luckily, for now, we all thrive on it. But balance? I don’t know what balance is.”
Theirs is a high-wire act in practical, financial terms: “Look, we own five to10 properties at any time,” says Dave. “Imagine if the market turns?” The couple does not employ tricks customary to the TV trade such as sponsored product, so their financial butts are on the line. “You can lose your shirt in a heartbeat,” says Dave,
“Look, we own five to 10 properties at any time. Imagine if the market turns? You can lose your shirt in a heartbeat.” DAVE WILSON MASTERS OF FLIP CO-HOST
noting that the couple has not had a loss to date. But having skin in the game ups the drama quotient: they are just like us as we risk the margins with every trip to Ikea.
Part of the thrill of watching the show is as a tourist to East Nashville, a community of creative folk, now leaning toward the hipster vibe. “We’ve watched the gentrification,” says Dave. “We used to say 37206 (the postal code): Do you know where your porch furniture is?” As in, it has been stolen, along with your lawn mower.
Today, “you see a songwriter with10 number-one hits beside an unemployed hairdresser,” says Kortney. “We’re selling an East Nashville culture” with each home, and on the program, of musicians and models, vintage stores and artisanal food.
“We care about these flips, because the people who buy are going to be our neighbours.”
Once the bones are done, the couple brings in a stager before the house goes on the market.
“Some things are mandatory” says Kortney. “Like master bedrooms and walk-in closets, something these Victorian homes did not have. Open layouts. But it’s the little things, the fuchsia paint on a door, something that costs me $30, that sell the house. The stuff that is attainable is what resonates.”
The couple flips all year, and they shoot every day. “We need to get the scene,” says Kortney. “If the crew sees something go wrong, like Dave can’t put in the coffered ceiling I have my heart set on, they want to capture the reaction live.”
The drama has to end every night at dinner though. The couple’s kids are aged 12, 10 and 7. “We have to let it go when we get to the table. And no, it’s not perfect,” she adds, blushing.
Clearly they thrive on the rhythms they have created together. Says Kortney: “We are drawn to each other’s logic.” And they keep their duties on set and on site clearly defined, and separate.
But the real secret might lie with Dave, who uncharacteristically gets the last word on the mystery of their kinetic compatibility. “I say a lot of ‘Yes.’ And, ‘You’re right.’ ” An approach that works better in real life than on TV.