I'm a commercial developer and I believe that it's very misleading for you not to deduct the real estate commission (when applicable) and the interest on money borrowed. These are real costs and if someone watching your show is contemplating flipping, then you have mislead them. Kerry M., ME, JD

You mention a very viable fact in that there are a lot of misleading information in the Flip shows when the other costs aren't mentioned. I myself am a real estate professional as well as a flipper (see the tony episode from season 3). Some of the costs that I mention in my total included PITI payments to date. However, being a RE professional and being able to more strongly negotiate and eliminate all together some of those other fees it goes without saying that the profit mentioned is an estimate at best. Becuase to go as far as to mention the RE Commissions and cost of money being financed, we might as well start talking about capital gains taxes and personal income tax liablity as well. Truth of the matter is that there are so many factors in flipping that affect the final profit that by no means is it misleading to state the maximun expected profit. The ultimate statement of truth is that anyone looking to flip a home (as a flipper or investor) should know what those other costs are and have those numbers factored into their decission making system ahead of any firm commitment (we do). We actually prepare a detailed report that includes the costs of the mortgage (obtaining and carrying costs), title fees, escrow fees, as well as the realtor fees on both the purchase and the sell of the home. The show, for the most part, just isn't predicated for that much analytical information. In our episode we must of filmed close to 200 hours, and we see 22 minutes on Saturday.
Antonio (tonydflipper)

At least the RE commission, holding costs and closing costs should be estimated and shown so that the "newbies" keep those costs in mind as well. Never underestimate the power of knowledge. Your spreadsheet should show average comparison price in that neighborhood, minus purchase price, holdging costs, RE commissions, closing costs, and the real challenging one, the "fix it up" costs. Then, take the resulting number and divide by the number of hours you expect to put into the project. I'd bet you'd be making less than a burger flipper at McDonalds...