11 Inspirational House Flipping Shows to Watch

House-flipping shows can be an excellent source of inspiration when you’re at the start of your investing journey.

Not only are they entertaining but they can also provide some much-needed motivation for over-thinkers who are mulling over whether to give this business a go.

Here are the 11 best house-flipping shows you can watch to get in the property-flipping mood. We also address whether or not the show is realistic and if you can use it as a basis for your first or next flip.

1. Holmes On Homes

Real estate investing can be a pain when you don’t have the right team in place. For example, unscrupulous contractors can deliver poor-quality workmanship to investors who don’t know what to look for.

 Holmes on Homes is one of the best house-flipping shows to watch if you’d like to develop an eye for excellent craftsmanship.

Certified contractor Mike Holmes hosts the show, offering remodels to homeowners who’ve fallen victim to corner-cutting contractors. 

At the time of writing, the show has run for seven seasons and offers real estate investors a ton of information on how to spot excellent, and not-so-excellent, work. 

2. Zombie House Flipping

Zombie House Flipping follows the property-flipping escapades of project manager Justin Tamper and realtor Ashlee Casserly. True to its name, this show features some of the ugliest undead abandoned houses available. 

You get to watch the crew work their magic on these structures while learning some home improvement tips along the way.

If you watch house flipping shows to get gratification from seeing a distressed property transform into a liveable abode, you’ll find Zombie House Flipping appealing. 

The show has been airing since 2016 and there are 66 episodes.

3. Flip Or Flop

Flip or Flop is one of the best shows to watch to get an idea of what flipping houses entails. 

Its hosts, Tarek El Moussa, and Christina Haack, are a formerly-married-couple who put their money down when purchasing and renovating rundown properties. 

Despite the co-hosts’ divorce, the show had a decent run, ending in 2022 after nine years on the air. 

You can stream all 160 episodes of this reality TV show on Amazon’s Prime Video or Discovery+. It’s also available on iTunes and Google Play. 

4. Love It or List It

Love It or List It is a real estate flipping show with an intriguing premise. 

Its hosts, Hilary Farr (an interior designer) and David Visentin (a real estate agent) assume possession of a family’s home and give it a makeover. At the end of each episode, the family decides whether or not they like the improvements made. 

The hook is that they can decide whether they’ll keep the house as-is or list it for sale.

The quality that makes Love It Or List It essential viewing for a potential real estate investor is the feedback the show’s hosts receive. It can help understand what buyers look for in a property. 

Also, you may learn a thing or two about conservative refurbishments, as the hosts usually make improvements based on the homeowner’s budget.

5. Property Brothers

If you’re ready to start flipping houses but your available budget is what’s holding you back, Property Brothers might be worth your while. 

This popular house-flipping show follows identical twin brothers Drew and Jonathan Scott as they help families search for, purchase, and do up dilapidated homes. 

Drew, the real estate expert, brings his business acumen to the table, while his certified contractor brother Jonathan provides the vision needed to transform distressed houses into warm homes. 

This show is also useful for anyone who wants to learn how to find a house to flip.

6. Designed To Sell

Are you at the renovation stage of your home flipping journey? 

Designed to Sell might be right up your alley! 

This show is for the house flipper who’s looking for pre-house flip improvement ideas that’ll help them get their property ready for the real estate market. It follows a team of property experts (real estate agents, designers, carpenters, etc.) as they do up properties.

Over six years (and eight seasons), the revolving cast of real estate professionals has given homeowners tips for making their properties more marketable. 

The best part about this popular show is that it teaches house flippers how to flip houses while on a tight budget.

7. Flipping 101 (with Tarek El Moussa)

Flipping 101 is a reality TV show hosted by former Flip it or Flop it host Tarek El Moussa. 

In the show, Tarek mentors people who want to invest in the real estate industry via house flipping. Throughout each one-hour episode, he shares wisdom nuggets to help newbies succeed at the business.

As a relatively new show (the first episode aired in 2020), there aren’t that many episodes, so you can binge the 20 episodes currently available in a week or two, depending on your schedule. The show currently airs on HGTV.

8. Fixer Upper

Married couple and property enthusiasts Chip and Joanna Gaines host Fixer Upper, an HGTV show set in Waco Texas. 

In the program, the Gaines help Waco residents transform their fixer-uppers into properties they’d be proud to live in. It has tons of useful information for house flippers who’re interested in learning more about the renovation side of flipping homes.

Fixer Upper had a relatively short run, airing between 2013 and 2018. During that time, the show produced 79 episodes. Since the show’s end, it has seen multiple spin-offs and a revival, which premiered in 2021.

9. Austin Flipsters

Austin Flipsters is the brainchild of college buddies Lincoln Edwards and Lauren Ahrens, a duo who are “happily married but not to each other.” The two business partners run an online entertainment empire that spans YouTube, Instagram, and the Austin Flipsters website.

 As its name suggests, their shows feature property flips in Austin, Texas.

Together, the Austin Flipsters have completed hundreds of flips, meaning you’ll have a ton of videos to whet your appetite for information related to this business.

And if you’re impressed with their content, you can consider joining the Austin Flipsters community where you can learn how to get into house flipping from like-minded individuals.

10. Flipping Out

By most standards, Flipping Out can be considered a classic. The show aired back in 2007 and, after its first four seasons, pivoted away from distressed homes due to the financial crash. 

So why does it make this list? Because the episodes that do focus on real estate flipping are super entertaining!

The show’s host, Jeff Lewis, an interior designer, injects his personality and personal life into the show, making for some riveting viewing.

11. Genevieve’s Renovation

While not a house-flipping show per se, you can learn a lot from Genevieve’s Renovation. The six-episode show follows home improvement show host and interior designer Genevieve Gorder as she works on renovating her Manhattan apartment. 

You should consider tuning in because home renovations are a huge part of house-flipping projects.

Before Genevieve’s Renovation, Mrs. Gorder hosted multiple home renovation shows, starting with Trading Spaces, for the TV network TLC. She’s also hosted Stay Here (which is another option you can add to your list), for Netflix, and White Christmas for HGTV.

You’re guaranteed to be watching the culmination of her home renovation experience and can poach some ideas for your projects!

Are House Flipping Shows a Good Depiction of Reality?

As inspirational as most fixer-upper real estate shows can be, they’re not an accurate portrayal of the reality of house flipping. 

The biggest issue is these shows condense what ordinarily takes months into a 45-minute or one-hour episode. This brevity may give a false impression to inexperienced investors who want to jump on the house-flipping trend.

Yes, some popular house-flipping shows depict the hundreds of issues that can crop up during a project. However, like a traditional sitcom, all problems get resolved by the episode’s end.

Meanwhile, many of these shows gloss over all the planning that goes into transforming dilapidated properties into marketable ones.

Additionally, there are plenty of areas these shows don’t cover. For example, none of these shows teach you how to create a house-flipping business plan.

And, if you’re not financing purchases with your capital, you’ll need to learn how to get a loan to flip a house, which is a side of the business that isn’t always shown in TV land.

The takeaway is that you shouldn’t make a house-flipping show your only resource when learning about this business.

Wrapping Up

The shows discussed in this article offer an entertaining glimpse into house flipping. While it’s okay to draw inspiration and motivation from them, you also need to temper your expectations. 

Always remember that you’ll need to conduct your research and plan extensively to succeed at house flipping, or any other gig of your choice.

Do you plan on watching any of these shows? If you already did, let us know in the comments below what your favorite is, and share this with your friends who’d like a new show to watch!