Who is Cherie Barber? Australian house flipper becomes HGTV’s latest hit

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The breakaway success of HGTV’s Five Day Flip has many viewers wondering, “Who is Cherie Barber?” But international viewers are no stranger to Barber’s quick-flipping ways, as Barber has been a fixture in Australia for years. The newest member of HGTV’s celebrity house flipping stable is Australian-born, has flipped houses in the English-speaking world for nearly two decades, and rose to prominence as the Renovating For Profit expert on Australian lifestyle programme The Living Room.

Here, then, is a series of some of the most commonly asked questions about Cherie Barber–let us know, in the comments, if you have more!

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Who is Cherie Barber? Is she a professional house flipper? And is Five Day Flip real?

47-year-old Cherie Barber (she was born in 1970, according to her official bio), is at this point a seasoned veteran in the renovation game. She flipped her first house–a cosmetic redo–in 1991, and abandoned a lucrative marketing career to go full-time in 2001. In the fifteen years since she made the decision, Cherie turned over approximately 50 houses in Australia alone–not counting work she’s done on The Living Room or Five Day Flip–and netted a sweet $50 million on those projects, for an average annual profit of over $3 million per year.

However, the premise of Five Day Flip has come under some scrutiny in the States, thanks to Cherie’s slow, methodical progress Down Under. Is she really flipping houses in just five days? According to all the information we were able to uncover, the answer is a resounding yes, and the reasons why appear to be fairly simple. For one thing, Cherie always works with a crew of four to seven while the HGTV cameras are rolling (as evidenced by the photo above!). At the same time, neither Cherie nor Five Day Flip‘s production company will sign off on a property unless it’s gone through an extensive inspection–which means the unexpected structural issues or code violations that sometimes make up the drama on other network shows–Fixer Upper is probably the most prominent example–are nonexistent on FDF.

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Does Cherie Barber have a daughter? Is she married?

Cherie does have a daughter: her name is Milan, and she was born in 2006. At the time that Milan was born, Cherie was in a long-term relationship with noted Australian home remodeler Stephen Tolle, whose star rose in the antipodean renovation community right alongside Cherie’s. Unfortunately, after twelve years together, Cherie and Stephen separated in 2011. According to several reports, though, they remain devoted parents to Milan–and have to be, since Cherie’s newfound popularity on HGTV means she’s splitting her time between Australia and the States.

(Click here for a photo of Cherie and Milan, taken late last year.)

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What paint colors does Cherie Barber use? What does she recommend?

This is one of the most commonly asked questions about Cherie Barber, since, as it turns out, she keeps her special formula under lock and key. “I renovate all of my properties and my TV properties the same color,” Cherie explained to Australia’s LifeStyle HOME, “regardless of the property.

“Unfortunately,” she continued, “[I] don’t disclose my personal colour formulas to anyone but the students of my Renovating for Profit workshops. This was at the request of numerous students, so as to give them a competitive edge against other renovators in the marketplace.” (Sounds like some circular logic–but it appears to be working!)

Having said that, Cherie uses White Knight’s line of laminates and primers, and recommends a neutral, coffee-ish color for “modernizing” a given space.

 

What is Cherie Barber’s net worth? (Hey, inquiring minds want to know!)

As we’ve demonstrated before, house flipping can be quite a lucrative business even if you don’t have your own show! Cherie wasn’t hurting before she got into this business, though: she was a high-level marketing executive at L’Oreal, pulling in a sweet $120,000 per year (plus use of a company car). But Cherie Barber is no exception to the success that top-tier flippers have found: thanks to her fifteen years in the business, her net worth has been estimated at a hearty $8 million. (However, there is one caveat–it’s actually not clear if that figure is in American dollars, or Australian! If it’s the latter, Cherie’s worth $5.7 million US. Which is still very good.)

A major source of income for Cherie Barber, beyond the six-figure profits to be found with each house flip, are those oft-mentioned flipping seminars. Cherie’s putting her reputation on the line with her system, and learning it for yourself isn’t cheap: the latest round of Australian classes will run you $6,000, if you register as a lone flipper. Couples get something of a per-person discount; you can sign up as a double for a total of $10,000.

As for her show itself? Five Day Flip is currently airing on HGTV–check the network for exact days and times.

(Photo credits: Who is Cherie Barber via Twitter, Facebook)


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