Neal The Real Deal Bloom with his exclusive phone interview with the star of A&E's Flip this House-San Antonio
In case some of you might not know it but I have a few partners and we have acquired property for investment reasons. We either flip..rent or hold the Real Estate we acquire. Lately I have been very intrigued about some the these shows on television about flipping property. Now ......I understand that most of the country is fighting a market that we have not seen in a long time.
About a year ago I started to watch A&E's Flip this House-San Antonio. I wanted to see what other ideas I could pick up and also see how real these shows were. While I was out of town I had some down time and decided to go onto my computer and read up a little about how these guys actually are able to be so successful at flipping property.
First thing I did was go to A&E on-line and it directed me to the stars business website so I sent him an email. I told him I am part of a Real Estate network that covers the entire U.S and I asked him if he would be interested in having me conduct an interview with him ...so I asked him if we would just do it via email ..sending him the questions and was just going to produce the transcript on my post. Two weeks went by and he emailed me back saying he would and that I could send him the questions ..which I did. Another week went by and my phone rang and it was Armando Montelongo calling me to ask me if I would be able to do the interview over the phone instead of through email. I was so flattered of course I said yes and we set up a time to do the interview.
Just so you understand.. ...this was my first interview with anyone and I was a bit nervous and wanted to make sure it came out alright so when you listen to this please cut me a little slack.....Walter Cronkite I'm not.... I just a good Realtor that knows how to blog a bit.
Please understand that this interview was a bit complex to make work correctly and the actual uncut version lasted about 50 minutes. It was laid out in 3 different segments and this way you can listen to it at your leisure. To me it was a very interesting. The first half basically talks about how he started with nothing and was able to get to where he is today and he even told me a few of his secrets on how he is so successful now and how his life as changed over the last few years. The second half we talked about the show and how he has become a popular reality TV star and a very knowledgeable businessman.
You can catch the first segment of this great interview below and the full interview on my other blog
86 Comments on My Exclusive phone interview with the star of A&E's Flip this house-San Antonio-Armando Montelongo
SEP
18
2007
Great post and interview Neal! Its amazing at what you can do when you make it happen. Also your personal blog is really nice! Will stop there in a little bit.
I konw it was longer than I thought it would be..if you get a chance you can listen to the rest on my outside blog. I was not the greatest reporter but hey...I'll do almost anything:)
I think you did awesome!! And the interview was really cool, I thought when Armando said he has the contractor agreements, and they can't place a Lien on the property, it just made me Smile because thats Priceless!! Thank you for doing this, I plan on listening some more when I get home, Also I did the animal thing at the hotel before, I got caught but I did it :0)
I'm glad someone from TX gets to listen to it...thanks for your interest. I hope he like it..I have yet to speak to him but will be putting in my call to him very soon.
Thanks and I hope you have time to listen...I broke it up into three segs or should I say Midoris husband Luis gets the credit for helping me through it.
Did I ever tell you I like your voice? You got that new england accent hoho! Anyway, that was great Neal...I got through to half of the third one....gotta deal with a leak in between my walls...crap.
Hey I just appreciate that some people had an interest and took time to listen to it..that's why I did the three segs so they can listen at their leisure.
hey Neal, that was a great idea.! kudos on putting it together..! very sweet. i bookmarked it to hear the entire interview later. i know there is more to it that it seems. that was a lot of work, eh? today i'm trying something different.. a book, rather than a blog.
Yes..it was..I had to use skype and another program for the audio and had a few bugs at first...the I lost my hard drive but still had a copy on another computer. I then had Midoris husband edit out some of it and load it on Boomp3 and then I extracted the file by using the embedded HTML...kind of cool but there were a few bugs to deal with. Thanks bro!
Neal, I was so thrilled to find your featured post today because I am a huge Armando fan! You also did a trmendous job of interviewing him (and you said you were nervous...ha!) congratulations on a tremendous accomplishment to be proud of!! Best regards,
Even though Armando doesn't appeal to me because he comes across as so arrogant on the show, I'm happy for you. Congratulations on the coup and thank you for sharing with the AR group!
That is awesome. The Montelongo's are my family's favorite "flip team" on that show. We still love that show even with the bad publicity the show received with the Leccima team. Good job on the interview!
You are right...he told me he is gentle to people such as his family and friends but sometimes for his business he can be a bit like what you see on the show...but in general because I have spoken to him a few times and he was very nice, cordial and willing to let me go with it...but you are entitled your opinion and I didn't expect everyone to like him let alone even know him...i just enjoy the show and how what he does because I have the same interest. If you have an interest in listening he mentions that as one of my questions was directed that way.
I knew about that incident with Sam Leccima...he said he was not involved as they are shooting in another state and didn't know too much about it...that's why he was signed on for another season.
I don't know what I'm doing wrong but I cannot seem to find the interview on here. I go to your site and click on the different links and nothing as well. Please help.
Neal, You did a great job with the interview. I really enjoyed it. I've never seen ths show but Armando soes sound like he knows his stuff. I'll have to tune in this week. Well done Neal!!!!
Neal I think you did a good job!! How do you get a phone interview onto your website?? That could really be good tool for phone seminars and things like that. What do you need to do that?
I wanted to congratulate you on this post for the effort that you put in to develop truly unique content. In my opinion, professionals that use the blogging medium to develop great material like this truly take advantage of the opportunities that this medium offers.
As far as your guest is concerned, I think the guy is unprofessional and most importantly not honest about his business dealings. As a matter of fact, after the Sam Leccima mock story broke out about homes that weren't in fact selling (but that were being portrayed as such) Mr Montelongo started backpedaling in the later episodes by getting ahead of the problem and revealing that about 50% of the flips featured in Season 2 they actually had to rent out due to inability to sell. During the period that Mr. Montelongo was claiming that they were flipping 20 homes per month, I happened to be in San Antonio on some business and I did not see a single Montelongo sign, even though I drove through most of the city. Now, unless the homes were all in a row on an obscure street, I stand corrected. But something just doesn't add up there. I actually wrote a blog post about an entire episode of Flip this House that made absolutely no real estate sense.
I understand Mr. Montelongo's antics can make for good reality TV, but when you push yourself as a guru that people go to and pay about $1000 to learn from, this becomes a dangerous game.
Neal - This is great! I am listening while writing this, but promise to pay attention. One thing - are you really in Florida........I hear an East Coast accent :)
Neal, you are one of the few people that sound like what I envisioned they did. I have not listened to the whole interview, but the parts that I have listened to sounded very good. Who knows you might have a new career ahead of you :)
I understand your point of view but you still can't tel me he is not successful since he was able to do pretty well and be able to continue to bring many people something they believe is possible to achieve. He can't be all that bad if he was able to make the leap to another level.I was told the Leccima situation was filmed in another state and A&E took the appropriate measures to band him from the show..as a matter a fact I listened to the news cast over the net. But I do thank you for stopping by to check it out. I can't speak for Armando but I figured there would be some mixed comments.
Paula,
I'm glad you liked it...it is getting me a little extended exposire on my new blog too.
Hi Neal, I just listened to the entire series via here and your own site. I liked it. It seemed very honest and straigt forward. By the way I've always wanted to move to florida, so when you become a big time reporter I'll move there and take over your existing clientele, with big fat referrals to you of course!!!! heheheh. Any way, that was a great interview and I'm definitely going to check out their system. BTW is that pic on your website of you and the Donald? Can you get an interview there? You definitely are in the wrong business. YOU SHOULD BE A REPORTER. That was GREAT! You totally sounded like a great reporter.
Ha!,,,just like the activerain beauty contest right?:) Thanks for always stopping by the ole blogger!
Brad,
no that is Armando ,his wife and their son with Trump.I needed a photo of Armando so I borrowed it from his wife's profile.I'll change it soon. I think it was taken at the learning annex here back in June...funny when he was here i was vacationing in AZ when I sent my email request. She joined Activerain from the invitation. Thanks and I'm glad you enjoyed it...interesting process..yeah..if I could get trump to do one that would be pretty cool.I might attempt to see if he would answer my emails.
Cool, I think I'm going to change my name to brad the real deal howe just out of respect for you. Oh wait....that doesn't rhyme. Oh well. thanks again!!
Great Post... it's great to know that you have taken so much effort and time to make up this post...I'm glad that you've paved the way for me to follow in your foot steps.....Thanks
Good JOb, Now, I can say that you are a fix and flip interviewer :) keep the good blog/interviews, I have not heard everything because it is too long, but I will.
I am constantly impressed by the quality of your blogs. You definately think outside the box and by getting Armando to do this interview, shows that you have determination and perserverance.
This is a terrific post!! I think you did an awesome job with the interview.
You don't know how many times I thought about calling him and finding out more about him since he is so close to Austin -perhaps, offering to take him to lunch. Since I started out my real estate career as an investor. ( I own about 15 properties throughout Florida, a couple here and one in New Mexico) I always find those kind of shows so interesting.
I don't know if I ever told you that I grew up in Coral Springs. My mother actually helped pick the school colors and mascot of the Coral Springs High School! I have several sisters still in the area.
Great job getting yourself out there. This is the type of thing we need to be unafraid to do. Thanks for the post. I look forward to listening to the interview later today.
If you play golf with me and I lose then my reputation might be less than it is today:)
Jeanette,
That is why I emailed you..I looked at your profile and saw you were also investing in property. Hey if you ever make it back to my area...please let me know and we can do lunch!
Steve,
Glad you enjoyed the post!
Diane,
Long process but it was well worth the time to experience it.
Richard,
I can't account for what the producers disclose on the show..I can only go by what he tells me and what the show exhibits on TV.
Andrew,
Thanks...never afraid...all he could do was say no...as a matter of fact ..I was very surprised when he actually answered my email and on top of it said yes and called me!
Debi,
Good for you....enjoy..let me know what you think.
Thanks for taking the time to look at this..I thought that this was totally different from most posts...and I really never expected it to be featured as I did a lead in on my own blog and left half out..but it did and it also got people to go over to my other blog. I really enjoyed the experience of doing it!
I miss Richard Davis from the Charleston episodes of Flip This House. The San Antonio & Atlanta "replacements" are such amateurs compared to the Trademark Properties folks.
I have seen Richard's new show but it does not have the energy of the first show.
Neal, that's very brave of you to get the courage to even contact someone with a "celebrity" status as Armando. What a surprise that he contacted you back, let alone called you up and talked to you in person. I am a fan of Armando myself, having seen him on TV and knowing that he came to where he is with nothing within the last 5 years of his life. I can't wait to listen to the interview. Thank you for doing this!
I started to watch the show when he has on it and then only watch Armandos version. Everyone does business a different way...we are all from different places and different cultures.
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