Tarek El Moussa Made $40,000 a Month Before He Was Even on HGTV

From House Beautiful

To say that Tarek El Moussa is having an eventful year would be an understatement. The HGTV star is returning on August 1 for Season 8 of Flip or Flop, alongside ex-wife Christina Anstead—the same day his new digital series, Tarek’s Flip Side, is premiering.

While everyone waits for his new HGTV show, Flipping 101 w/ Tarek El Moussa, to debut in early 2020—and to give them something to talk about other than whether or not he’s officially dating Selling Sunset star Heather Rae Young—here’s a peek into Tarek El Moussa’s net worth and how he got to where he is today.

Tarek's Life-Changing Moment

Right around the time the internet went wild over Tarek accidentally revealing the gender of Christina's baby with husband Ant Anstead, the home-reno expert shared a story that's worth noting by anyone working in real estate, has a side hustle, or dreams of ditching their 9-to-5.

In an Instagram post, the 37-year-old explained how much his life drastically changed, pre-Flip or Flop fame, and the big strategy that helped him go from living on a couch in someone's garage to earning $120,000 in three months flat.

"In 2003, I was so broke. I felt hopeless and lost," he wrote. "I remember I wanted so much out of life, but at the same time, I was flat broke and couldn’t even afford lunch."

Tarek was new to real estate, he explained, and in five months' time, he hadn't earned a single dollar. He had no idea what he was doing or how he'd ever break through and start making real money, until he told about expired listings.

Basically, these are homes that weren't sold during the time frame specified in the listing contract that the seller and agent agree to. When that happens, a seller can decide to keep working with their agent and list it again, or they can find a new realtor, without facing any penalties, according to Realtor.com.

The father of two saw this as an opportunity, so he committed to get clients from expired listings. He decided to give it a shot for 90 days to see what would happen, pushing himself to work at least six days a week, if not seven, and spend at least 14 hours a day at it.

"I cold-called at least 600 people daily and knocked on hundreds of doors," he wrote. "Talk about abuse and rejection LOL." At the end of the three-month experiment, Tarek had earned $120,000 in commission.

He continued: "My life literally changed over night! I left that garage and bought a million-dollar home 30 days later. I was only able to do this because I kept believing in myself! Success isn’t easy, but if you never quit, you can never fail!! And YES, I wanted to quit!"

So, What Does that Make Tarek's Net Worth?

Since then, Tarek's gone on to build out his real estate business further, and makes a reported $10,000 per episode for Flip or Flop, according to The Ocean County Register. Of course, those figures are based on Season 1 of the show, and as it snowballed in popularity, it's likely Tarek and Christina renegotiated for more down the road. There's no word on how much he'll earn from his upcoming solo show with HGTV, but Huffington Post estimated his combined net worth with then-wife Christina El Moussa was $4 million.

Only Tarek and his accountant know how he's doing financially, post-divorce, but given that he recently bought a $2.28 million home in Costa Mesa and treated his nanny to a Lexus for her birthday, he's probably doing all right for himself.

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