Things That Have Come To Light About Tarek El Moussa
New details come out every day about the downfall of the Flip or Flop real estate couple, Tarek and Christina El Moussa. Whether you're deciding to join team Christina or team Tarek, you're probably wondering how this super cute couple could call it quits. Maybe it's something in their past thwarting their future? Well, we've already learned about Christina, so let's learn about her counterpart, Tarek El Moussa.
He has entrepreneural spirit
One of the most incredible things about the successful Flip or Flop couple is just how young they are. At 35, Tarek has amassed quite a bit of success and money. But it's no surprise because he started kind of young. According to his HGTV profile, he got his real estate license when he 21 and started to make a name for himself rather quickly. That's extremely impressive when you think that at 21, many of us are still sleeping on the twin-sized bed we got when we outgrew the crib.
But, seriously, a 2013 real estate survey found that only 6 percent of real estate agents are were under age 34. The average age of a real estate agent is 57, which kind of makes sense because would you buy a house from a kid? I think not.
He auditioned on a whim
While it might seem like Tarek (and his stunning wife) were born to be on TV, their entrance into the small screen was less predestined and more happenstance.
In 2011, Tarek and a friend, made an audition tape for HGTV in which he recorded the entire process of flipping a house. A year later, HGTV offered the couple a weekly time slot dedicated to buying and selling homes in Southern California.
He's a pilot and almost crashed a plane with Christina in it
When Tarek isn't flipping houses, he's apparently flying planes. According to an interview with David Bromstad at HGTV, Tarek got his pilot's license. However, when he took his wife on a ride through the sky, he ascended too quickly and caused the sensory alarms to go off.
"I got her in like a 1950s plane and there was like a wind storm, but I told her everything will be OK," he said. "We got up there and the guy told me to make a left turn. I pull (the yoke) and we went straight up. All of a sudden everything starts beeping and the plane is stalling because I was going up too steep."
He added: "Yeah, I almost killed her."
HGTV wasn't too sure about him
Though Tarek and Christina were the sweethearts of HGTV, at one point the channel wasn't so sure about the aggressive couple. According to the pair, when the show initially launched it was given the 11 p.m. slot because the channel was worried the show might not go so well. The show launched in 2012, just a few years after the housing market bubble burst and an estimated 6.2 million people lost their homes. To everyone's surprise, the show went extremely well, with more than 1 million viewers by the end of the first season.
He really was a flipping novice
The crux of the show is that a couple with no real experience flipping houses set out to flip houses. And for Tarek, that was really true. Before the fame of HGTV, the couple struggled to get to where they are. In an interview for their real estate education venture, Success Path, Tarek said they only had a vision when they entered the investment property world.
"When I first started the company, we didn't have any money. We literally put a business plan together and pitched it to family and friends and everyone said we are crazy," he said. "They didn't want to give us money because we were kids."
Fortunately, Tarek had a friend who was willing to help them out, and that's how they ended up in the house flipping business.
He has dogged determination
The Washington Post reports that the couple lost almost everything during the housing market crash of 2008. They had to downgrade homes and would share Subway's $5 footlong sandwiches because they couldn't afford to buy two. That's all while Christina was pregnant with their first child, Taylor. Though the couple had financial backing, didn't mean they had it easy.
In an Orange County Register article, Tarek said he would drive around scouting houses from 10 p.m. to 3 a.m., after the addresses were listed on the auction website.
He's a cancer survivor
A very astute fan gave Tarek some life-saving help. In 2013, a registered nurse who was watching the show noticed a lump on Tarek's neck. She contacted HGTV to let him know he needed to see a doctor ASAP. And shockingly, he did.
Tarek received a thyroid cancer diagnosis. The cancer spread to his lymph nodes. He had surgery to remove the cancerous cells. He then underwent radioactive iodine therapy. In 2015, Tarek got to meet the nurse that helped save his life on the show The Doctors.
He has business partners
So Flip or Flop is more like a long-term docu-series than a reality show. Specifically, the couple are really business partners. When the couple was looking for initial investors for their flipping business, the only person that took them seriously was Pete De Best. So as business improved, and the show came along, the couple continued to do work with De Best. All three now own Next Level Property Investments. The company not only sells homes, but also does construction and design.
He is living his passion
Whether Tarek and Christina get back together or each get real estate spin-offs (yes, I'm putting that into the universe, HGTV Gods, please make it happen), Tarek is in real estate for the long haul. In a 2014 interview for Realty 411, Tarek said: "I enjoy the chase of the properties, the rush you get when you find them, the design and the transformation, and the profit at the end."