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Yahoo
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
EXCLUSIVE: ‘The Mother Flip' Stars Treat Real Estate Listings Like Dating Profiles—and Say All Homebuyers Should, Too
Friends and home flippers Kristy Etheredge and Rebecca Franchione are sharing how their experience with motherhood has made them savvy real estate investors—in any neighborhood. Now, they're revealing the surprising advice that always delivers with viewers on A&E's new series, "The Mother Flip." Etheredge, 45, is a mom to son Winston, 15, and daughter Harper, 13, while Franchione, 49, has sons Wyatt, 21, and Gunnar, 16, and daughter Isabella, 19. The new reality stars live just three houses away from one another on the same street in Wimberley, TX. The pair first became interested in house flipping while walking around their neighborhood together. "We call ourselves the walking realtors even though we're not realtors. We got weighted vests recently, we're on that trend right now,' says Etheredge, who credits her and Franchione's social skills and authentic connection to the Texas Hill Country community for their success in real estate. 'I think the secret sauce is how we find the houses,' explains Etheredge. "We're always behind the scenes out talking to people, networking, kayaking. We have so many people in the Hill Country that don't necessarily want to list their house with someone unless they know them. "I mean, that's the one thing about Texas, is there's just this feeling, this connection, and so it is just the adventure of finding them. We will go to all lengths to find a good deal.' The moms didn't have to go far to score their first deal. When their contractor friend, business partner, and co-star Roy Salinas was searching for a place in the highly desirable Hill Country area, Etheredge and Franchione pounced on an off-market opportunity they were privy to. 'Kristy said, 'Well, the house across the street from you, next door to me is a cat hotel—[The] people moved into a retirement home, and they just come over once a day and feed the cats; I bet we can get it,'' recounts Franchione. 'We ended up brokering the deal on a napkin.' After Salinas bought the house, Etheredge and Franchione renovated it, and the property became the trio's 'international headquarters' for their newly formalized house flipping partnership. Their very next project was a cabin in the woods that they purchased for $425,000, put $65,000 into it, and sold a few months later for $715,000. Business "snowballed" from there, and the savvy moms have relied on their friendships and motherly instincts to guide them ever since. Indeed, their favorite piece of advice to follow and recommend sounds like something a parent might say to an adult child who's wading through the dating pool. 'One of our good friends, he's a realtor in Bryan-College Station, he said, 'Think of every listing as a dating website profile, so the best pictures are the first and that's going to reel you in, but you've got to go to pictures, like, 25 to 28—those are the pictures. Once you start diving down in there, you don't know if you want to date that person or not,'' says Franchione. Avoiding 'hot messes' might be preferred when looking for love, but when it comes to homes to flip, Franchione insists the messier, the better, because it gives her and Etheredge a blank slate to design something that will stand out to buyers. 'We try to find the houses that we don't want to date, but we want to marry later,' says Franchione. 'We love to make something one-of-a-kind per home, something that is so unique that when you go on it's the only house that has it. We don't like cookie cutter. There's nothing cookie cutter about any of our homes.' When cooking up custom features for their flips, Franchione and Etheredge often utilize an important skill commonly acquired in motherhood: resourcefulness. 'We built this amazing outdoor shower at one of our river houses,' shares Franchione. 'We used rocks from the property and then we found a log along the river bed and so we piped water through it, which saved us thousands of dollars.' 'Rarely do [we] ever go buy new rocks and gravel, it's just all there,' notes Etheredge about the area's natural resources. Another money-saving move the pair frequently makes is reselling items left on the properties and investing those profits into the makeovers. 'We're flipping a 3,600-square-foot monster house right now, and we found some copper wire and I just sold it yesterday for $800 cash,' says Franchione. 'We've always sold things, and that's an approach that a lot of flippers don't use,' adds Etheredge. 'They'll just go and demo everything, rip everything out. We do that, too, but we try to sell as much as we can or reuse as much as we can. That's sustainable design, sustainable flipping, [which is] so much better for our environment.' More affordable design tips Etheredge and Franchione swear by include shopping at discount stores and making sure to 'clip the coupons' whenever possible. 'As moms, we're always trying to find the best deals,' admits Franchione. 'We love Habitat For Humanity ReStores. I just found a ton of tile there for a laundry room floor, and so we love to utilize that. I always tell flippers, get your lights there, get your tile there, it is such a great savings.' Franchione notes she just purchased a $2,300 couch for her bedroom for just $320 at her local Habitat For Humanity ReStores location and has even picked up decor off the street for free. 'My patio furniture is from the side of the road,' she says. 'The Mother Flip' stars also champion doing renovations in phases. Both Franchione and Etheredge say that their own homes—and in particular, their kitchens—are in need of an upgrade, but they're taking time and finances into consideration as they plan for future work. 'We've done half of our remodel and that was a big undertaking,' says Etheredge. 'I'm talking load-bearing beams, connecting the house, structural engineering, so we are half done.' 'Everyone gets in a rush saying, 'I have to do this all at once'," she adds. 'Take me, for example; I did half and that's what worked for my family because we wanted to put a lot of money towards this flipping experience. You don't have to do it all at once.' But perhaps the best budgeting pointer Franchione and Etheredge can offer fellow renovators is to carefully vet all contractors and bids. 'I always tell people [to] get multiple bids,' says Franchione. 'So many flippers and people who want to renovate their home can pay five and six times [the real cost] if they're not careful.' It's a lesson Franchione and Etheredge learned the hard way. 'When we were building, nobody knew we had Roy in our back pocket and so they thought it was two women they were dealing with,' says Franchione. 'We would get, for example, a concrete bid for foundation [anywhere from] $22,000 to $43,000 and all over the place, thinking they are going to rip Kristy and I off, thinking we're two stay-at-home moms who don't know what the heck we're doing.' Etheredge acknowledges those unique challenges of being a mom operating in 'a male-dominated industry' but says she and Franchione are up for the challenge of demolishing the proverbial glass ceiling as they overhaul homes. 'We're regular moms, but we wanted to prove to our daughters we can do this—you guys can do this,' says Etheredge. 'The Mother Flip' premieres Saturday, Aug. 16 at 12 p.m., on A&E's HomeMadeNation. Solve the daily Crossword
The South African
07-08-2025
- Sport
- The South African
SASCOC announces SA flag bearers for 2025 World Games
Team SA's participation at the World Games in Chengdu, officially gets under way on Thursday in the south-western Chinese city which is home to 20 million people. South Africa will be one of over a hundred nations parading at the opening ceremony, with archer Hendre Verhoef and orienteering's Sarah Wimberley being given the honour of carrying the country's flag on such a big stage. Verhoef, 17, and Wimberley, 22, are part of Team SA's representation of 20 athletes across eight different sports. These are the 12th The World Games, a multi-code event for several sports and disciplines that are not in the Olympic Games programme, with the event taking place every four years. This is South Africa ninth successive participation at The World Games, having accumulated 20 medals from their previous eight appearances. This year's edition of The World Games is being held from 7 to 17 August. Both Verhoef and Wimberley are ranked No 1 in their disciplines in South Africa and both have represented the country previously on the international stage. Verhoef will be wearing green and gold for the eighth time, while Wimberley has already participated in two Junior World Orienteering Championships and two World Orienteering Championships. In congratulating both Team SA athletes on their appointment as flag bearers at the opening ceremony, the president of the South African Sports Confederation, Olympic and Paralympic Committee (SASCOC), Barry Hendricks, offered words of encouragement to the pair. 'This will become a life memory for both of you. It is indeed an honour for you to represent your country on the international stage, but carrying the flag adds to the enormity of the achievement. It's important that you soak up the atmosphere and carry the energy of the ceremony into your competition. 'There is a huge audience watching The World Games and you have done all the hard work in earning your Team SA colours. Enjoy the moment and go out there and do your best on this big international stage,' he added. Verhoef and Septimus Cilliers get Team SA's campaign started when they take part in the men's target compound qualification, with the knockout stages beginning on Friday. ARCHERY (3) Men: Hendre Verhoef, Septimus Cilliers Women: Jeanine Van Kradenburg Management: Gerda Roux CANOEING (2) Men: Hamish Lovemore Women: Saskia Hockly Management: Nkosi Mzolo KICKBOXING (5) Men: Ahmad Mahomed, Matthew Gething, Muhammad Mia Women: Leanne Van der Mescht, Saentone Louw Management: Aslam Mahomed, Shabnum Mia MUAYTHAI (1) Men: Damian Collins Managemet: Brett Clarke ORIENTEERING (1) Women: Sarah Wimberley Management: Garry Morrison POWERLIFTING (2) Men: Harold Pietersen Women: Megan Faul Management: Andrew Ludick, Rodney Anthony SPORT CLIMBING (4) Men: Joshua Bruyns, John-David Muller Women: Aniya Holder, Tegwen Oates Management: Dean Bruyns SQUASH (2) Men: Dewald van Niekerk Women: Hayley Ward Management: Jean-Pierre Brits Let us know by leaving a comment below, or send a WhatsApp to 060 011 021 1 Subscribe to The South African website's newsletters and follow us on WhatsApp, Facebook, X and Bluesky for the latest news.
CBS News
08-07-2025
- General
- CBS News
After his family died in a Texas flood 10 years ago, he vowed to help others. Now, he's keeping his promise.
Texas dad who lost family in 2015 flood joins search to help others today Jonathan McComb knows what it means to lose everything. In 2015, a flash flood swept through Wimberley, Texas, washing away the home where he was staying with his wife, their two young children and several friends. McComb was the sole survivor out of nine people in the home. He turned up 11 miles down the Blanco River, climbed out of a cliff and knocked on someone's door for help. Since then, he has returned to disaster sites across the state with Texas Search and Rescue — including the deadly floods that struck Central Texas over the weekend. But this time, it hit a lot closer to home. "I know that there's folks out there that are hurting, and I know exactly how they're feeling," McComb told CBS News. "And so I want to be able to help them and hopefully give some closure and just be a light to them right now." "This is more about them than it is me," he said. McComb is part of a quiet but crucial network of volunteers searching for the missing, enduring sweltering summer heat and trudging through massive debris piles. Like many searchers, Louis Deppe isn't from the community. He doesn't know the layout, but he knows loyalty. And when his friend Ty Badon's daughter was swept away, he came, driving his mud-caked truck past roadblocks and into the heart of the flood zone every day. Joyce Catherine Badon, 21, was staying in a cabin with three friends when it was swallowed by raging waters on July Fourth. Badon's body has been found, but two of her friends are unaccounted for, so Deppe is still searching. "I don't have a time limit, so however long it takes," Deppe told CBS News. For McComb, the work is also about honoring the people who searched for his own family a decade ago. "When I was in the hospital after my ordeal, and knowing that everybody was out there searching for my family, I knew that I needed to give back," McComb said. In the 2015 flood, his 4-year-old daughter was never found — a fact that still drives him today. "It's pretty important. I know what it feels like, and so I want to do everything I can to bring that closure to them. Not that we can promise that, but we're going to give every effort we can and keep going," McComb said. McComb has since remarried and has a 5-year-old daughter who knows his story. Before leaving for this latest search, he explained to her why he needed to go. "That was a tough, tough hug when I left her on July 4 to come out here to help," McComb said. "And she understood." contributed to this report.
The Independent
07-07-2025
- Climate
- The Independent
Texas officials long feared for riverbank summer camps. A warning system was rejected as too expensive
Officials in Kerr County, Texas, had long been concerned about kids' summer camps along the banks of the Guadalupe River, an area known as 'flash flood alley.' The camps in the idyllic Texas Hill Country, where children from the surrounding big cities of San Antonio, Austin and Fredericksburg came to fish, horseback ride, and snorkel, relied on a word-of-mouth system from camps further up river when it came to flooding, according to The New York Times. But in 2015, a flood in Wimberley, 75 miles east of Kerrville, killed 13 people and hundreds of homes were destroyed and damaged when the Blanco River crested to nearly 30 feet in a matter of hours. It brought the dangers of flash flooding front of mind for officials in Kerr County who debated at local meetings whether to bolster their flood emergency system with weather sirens now used by other cities. Tom Moser, a former Kerr County commissioner, proposed that Kerrville establish a similar system to one that had been put in place in Wimberley. But it was deemed to expensive by fellow commissioners. 'It sort of evaporated,' Moser, who retired in 2021, told The Times. 'It just didn't happen.' On the Fourth of July, downpours and catastrophic flooding in hill country devastated Camp Mystic, the Christian girls' summer camp on the Guadalupe River. The river rapidly rose 20 feet in 95 minutes in the early hours of the morning. Camp Mystic confirmed Monday that 27 girls, some as young as eight, and staffers had been killed. Ten girls remain missing and one counselor, according to local officials. Moser wasn't the only one who had pushed for a better emergency warning system, according to The Wall Street Journal. Former Kerr County Sheriff Rusty Hierholzer, who had responded to the 1987 floods that killed teens at a camp in Kendall County, was hoping to install outdoor warning sirens in Kerrville. The sirens in Kendall County, which is about 81 miles away from Kerr County, went off on Friday. Rob Kelly, the Kerr County judge and its most senior elected official, also said budget concerns waylaid any action. 'Taxpayers won't pay for it,' Kelly recently told The Times. He said he didn't know if people might reconsider in the wake of this tragedy. In 2018, Kerr County applied for a $1 million grant for a flood warning system. The application was not selected, according to KXAN. In 2020, a commissioner said the county had been 'trying to get a new flood warning system here.' As recently as a May budget meeting, commissioners were discussing a system being developed by a regional agency. Attempts to improve response on a state level were also met with resistance in the last few months. A bill that would have established a statewide plan to improve the state's disaster response did not pass at the statehouse. But, had it passed, it still would not have gone into effect until after the Hill Country flooding, The Texas Tribune noted. And it's not just smaller communities that lacked warning systems. The city of Austin, which also saw fatalities in the floods and is one of the state's largest cities and home to nearly a 1 million residents, doesn't have an emergency warning system. But, a spokesperso n for the city of Austin told KXAN the fastest way to get information out is with 'the technology we have today' and there was a concern that sirens could 'cause confusion.' Since the disaster, 446 people have signed a petition for an early warning siren system in Kerr County. Moser said Kerr County had previously taken some measures to mitigate potential danger, including installing flood gauges and barriers, according to The Washington Post. This weekend, Texas Governor Greg Abbott says a special session at the Capitol will focus on better warnings for floods. It's hard to know how much of a difference a flood warning system would have made last Friday, Moser said. But, he believes it could have had some benefit. As of Monday afternoon, the death toll stood at 91 people with dozens more still missing. 'I think it could have helped a lot of people,' said Moser.
National Post
07-07-2025
- Sport
- National Post
Young relative of Kansas City Chiefs owner dies in Texas floods
Tragedy struck the Hunt family, which owns the NFL's Kansas City Chiefs, this weekend as flooding has devastated parts of Texas. Article content Janie Hunt, a nine-year-old cousin in the family, was one of the Camp Mystic campers who died in the natural disaster. Article content 'Our hearts are broken by the devastation from the floods in Wimberley and the tragic loss of so many lives — including a precious little Hunt cousin, along with several friend's little girls,' Tavia Hunt, the wife of Clark Hunt, wrote in an Instagram post on Sunday. 'How do we trust a God who is supposed to be good, all knowing and all powerful, but who allows such terrible things to happen — even to children? Article content Article content 'That is a sacred and tender question — and one the Bible doesn't shy away from. Scripture is filled with the cries of those whose hearts have been shattered, who still wrestle to trust the same God they believe allowed the pain.' Article content View this post on Instagram A post shared by Tavia Hunt (@taviahunt) Article content Article content 'The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who crushed in spirit,' she wrote, quoting Psalm 34:18. Article content 🚨 BREAKING: Christian summer camp, Camp Mystic, confirms 27 campers and counselors are among the deceased in the Texas floods. Absolutely heartbreaking. Please keep praying for these girls and their families. I can't imagine how they feel right now 🙏🏻 — Nick Sortor (@nicksortor) July 7, 2025
