The Weird Way Tarek and Heather El Moussa’s Baby Complications Threw a Wrench in Their

The one storyline that runs through the premiere season of “The Flipping El Moussas” is the much-anticipated arrival of Heather and Tarek El Moussa‘s first baby together.

You can tell how long a renovation is taking by the size of Heather’s baby bump when they first start on a house, and how much it’s grown by the time they finish.

By the season finale episode, “Last Flip Before Baby,” Heather looks more than ready to pop—and Tarek is worried.

A very pregnant Heather El Moussa works on a flip.

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“The current market that we’re in, it’s really scary to be honest,” he admits. “We’ve seen inventory shoot up, we’ve seen interest rates double, so the goal is to get these houses done as fast as we can and that way we’re just safe.

“So when the baby comes, we’ll be able to breathe for a couple of weeks,” he continues. “The more houses I get out of the way now, the more time I’ll be able to spend with Heather and the baby later.”

So the race is on. They’re working on a four-bedroom, two-bath house in a historic area of Long Beach, CA. They bought the 1931-built storybook Tudor for $565,000 and come up with a renovation budget of $186,800. With selling and commission costs around $31,000 and carrying costs at $28,000, they’re all in at $810,800.

Can they renovate and sell this house before the baby arrives? Find out just how fast these flippers can move, and the many renovation (and life and relationship) lessons they learn and impart along the way.

Sometimes it’s OK to get rid of a bedroom A kitchen and dining space this big is worth the elimination of a small bedroom.

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“Could we open up this wall and push the kitchen out and get rid of that bedroom?” Heather asks Israel, their contractor. “That bedroom is so tiny! I think buyers will come in and say it’s barely even usable. It could maybe be an office.”

Plus, a fourth bedroom isn’t all that necessary.

“If we already have a three-bedroom, then we really don’t need that bedroom,” she figures. “Plus, the comps in the neighborhood are three-bedroom homes.”

In the end, she gets her way.

“I’m figuring knock down that wall, extend the kitchen, get rid of that bedroom completely,” she concludes. “Because I feel like the kitchen is the heart of the home. Everyone wants to walk in and have a larger kitchen, and you still have a three-bedroom, two-bathroom house.”

Clay pipe must be replaced Rotted, decrepit clay pipes that must be replaced

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Apparently, back in the old days, they used to plumb houses with clay pipes. Who knew?

Israel did, apparently. Tarek comes by to check on the progress, and Israel shows him that decrepit clay piping runs through the house and it will take $8,200 to replace.

“These clay pipes are just too old,” says Tarek. “And to be honest, even if they were functioning, we’d replace them anyway because why make a new kitchen and paint the walls and put in new flooring, and then leave the guts of the house gross? Because eventually, it’s going to break, and eventually, it’s going to cause damage.”

It’s not always a sin to reduce storage They’ll never miss the extra closet in this reconfigured primary bedroom.

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The primary bedroom has two closets, one a spacious walk-in. Heather asks if they really need the smaller one, since it takes up valuable space in a room that’s not spacious to begin with.

“When it comes to houses, the last thing you want to do is take away storage,” says Tarek. “So that is a big no-no, especially in a primary bedroom.”

But there’s a caveat. “In this case, this house has such a big bedroom with a huge walk-in closet, and on the other side of the room we have another closet,” Tarek continues. “So if we remove this cubby, we’re not really losing anything, but we’re gaining a ton, because now we actually have a wall to put a bed on.”

The latest primary suite perk: A morning bar A morning bar

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Heather tries to find a way to make that upstairs primary suite more cohesive, since the roof is pitched and there are some funky angles and walls that can’t be removed.

She’s wondering if they could put some type of bar with wine storage or something like that against one wall.

“This area you’re talking about is called a morning bar,” says designer Rejoy. “And they’re like the epitome of luxury in a home.”

What was once called a kitchenette or coffee station has a minifridge, coffee maker, and wine storage—and it really classes up the joint.

Another hot trend: Under lighting A peninsula with under-lighting

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Israel is very proud of another special feature he added: lighting under the peninsula bar.

“Oh, I love that,” Tarek chimes in. “Under-cabinet lighting is, like, one of my favorite things and I wish we put it in all the houses.”

Perhaps he’s just new-daddy giddy because we’re not sure what all the fuss is about. Does anyone really want or need to have their knees illuminated? Is it really necessary to shine a light on the crumbs in our laps? In this case, we just have to trust Tarek.

Do the El Moussas finish this final flip before their baby arrives?

Surprise! Tarek and Heather welcome little Tristan Jay El Moussa into the world six days before the house is finished. When Tarek tours the newly renovated house, Heather accompanies him via smartphone live video.

When it comes to the design, this final pre-baby flip really is a stunner.

“This is probably one of my favorite houses I’ve ever done,” Heather tells Tarek on the smartphone tour.

One of Heather’s favorite flips

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“You say that about every house,” Tarek quips.

Then it’s time to talk numbers: Remember, they bought the house for $565,000, then went over budget and spent $195,000 on the rehab. Tarek estimates carrying costs at $28,000 and selling and commission costs at about $31,000, so they’ll break even around $819,000.

The good news is that there’s nothing else for sale in the neighborhood.

“There’s limited inventory,” explains Tarek. “Similar houses to this one that aren’t fixed up are selling in the high sevens.”

“Going into this, I was thinking we’re probably going to be listing at $850,000,” he explains. But since there’s no competition, Tarek and Heather believe $949,900 would be a good list price.

The house sells almost immediately for $910,000.

“The price was lower than we were hoping for, but it still made us a nice profit of $91,000,” Tarek says. “And given the slow market, we are grateful that this house sold so fast. Not bad for flipping in the worst real estate market in a decade.”