Tommy Harr on A&E’s Wild New Makeover Show

Meet Tommy Harr, a real estate dynamo whose new show Zombie House Flipping: Family Business is A&E’s latest in its Home.Made.Nation lineup. The show premiering May 30 follows Harr as he works with his relatives to turn undesirable eyesores into hot properties within the Columbus, Ohio area. 

The operation is indeed a family affair with his dad Chris a longtime inspector, mom Katie a realtor and designer, brother Jake an inspector, and sibling Will project manager in training. Here Harr opens up about the challenges they’ll tackle and what makes his series stand out. 

How long has the show been in the works? I know you’re pretty active on social media. Was that how it came about? 

Tommy Harr: It has been in the works for the better part of almost three years. I joined a Mastermind group based out of Tampa, Florida called the Family Mastermind. There was an old A&E exec that was in it. He was transitioning into another phase of life, but he still did a little headhunting. We kind of brushed shoulders one night and exchanged numbers. We followed each other on Instagram. A year later he said, “I think you have a potential TV show on your hands.” A year after that we had a TV show. It has been a long process, but it has very fun. 

What was it like for everyone getting used to cameras being around? 

I shoot a lot of social media like you said, so being behind the camera is second nature to me. This is different. This was guided. Usually, my social media content is all me. In this one, I also have two cameras, my two brothers, my mom and dad. They don’t do a lot of camera stuff. My two brothers grew up with that stuff, but it was a little terrifying at first. We were having conversations like, “Was this the right thing to do?” It was a little scary. As we started to settle in, everybody really enjoyed it. More or less we put out a great project, but we were able to spend a lot of time together and make something we can watch together forever. 

Was it hard to get them on board for this? 

I think they’ve always had a bit of blind trust in me. I think we all thought this was a shot in the dark. This was a once in a lifetime opportunity, but thought, “Is it going to happen? Probably not, so let us talk to these people and have them over with the expectation this is never going to happen.” Sure enough it happened. It happened really fast. We got the call two weeks before we started filming. I needed to provide 10 nasty zombie houses within almost two weeks of getting the call that they were flying 15 people into Columbus, Ohio invading your privacy and also recording everything you do for the next six months. It rocked all of our worlds for a bit there. 

A&E

How long has the family been working together? 

There was an evolution to it. I’ve always worked with my dad. My dad is a home inspector, and he has been doing that for 25 years. He also had a property preservation business when I was growing up. The banks would hire him, as they would foreclose houses to take care of them. As I hit 12 or 13 years old, I wanted to make a little bit of money and worked for my dad. I would work for him in the summers. As the oldest boy among five kids, I wanted to work with him for the rest of my life. As I graduated college, I became a full-time home inspector for him. I convinced my mom to become a realtor at the same time because I was going to flip all these houses when I’ve never done one before. She thought I was crazy. Then my two brothers after they graduated college, they joined one by one. 

Who do you think viewers will see as the breakout TV personality within the family on this show? 

My mom no doubt. If you know my mom, you know. She is a ball of energy. She is happy. She is just intense, in your face, and fun. She wears her heart on her sleeve. It really does show in the TV show. 

Chris, Jake, Tommy and Will Harr (A&E)

What do you think makes this market stand out? 

Columbus, Ohio is an amazing town. It’s my hometown so I’m a little biased. Every area has different types of houses. We have inventory from 1800 builds to 2020 builds. In the South you don’t have basements. We have so many problems that come with these problems as well. Not only are they architecturally beautiful, they come with hundred year problems. We have not only designed things we have to hurdle, but major problems we have to hurdle. Columbus, Ohio is also a beautiful city. It’s kind of like a hidden gem nobody knows about. 

Tell me about these transformations. 

I would bet you’ve never seen houses this bad on TV before. We have a house that didn’t have a roof. It was fire damaged on the Fourth of July, so I bought it with no roof. We had another house where the whole back of it was built on a deck. Another one was a porch we had to rip it off and rebuild it. We had to build additions. We had extreme roaches, extreme hoarders, moisture issues. You name it. Every big issue people would run from we took on in the series. 

How would you describe the working dynamic among families? Do you have set boundaries? 

There are zero boundaries in our family. There probably should be some we put up, but there are none. We hang out almost every day. Ever since COVID happened, we realize, “Oh wow, life is finite. It’s short.” We started going to family dinners every Sunday at my mom and dad’s house. They cook. My dad cooks. My sister is a chef as well, so they cook. We play games. We play a lot of Euchre  for my Midwesterners. We play Yahtzee and a bunch of games. We don’t talk business a lot. We talk a little bit of business, but it’s more of enjoying each other’s company. Sometimes there are little arguments, but most of the time it’s happy and cordial. 

Tommy and Katie Harr (A&E)

Of course, this is TV so we want to see some conflict or drama. Any of that with you and your brothers or dad? Do we see some disagreements? 

Oh yeah. You’ll get into some conflict between me and my brother, me and my mom. My dad is not a confrontational kind of guy. Him and my mom are polar opposites. They say opposites attract. That is true with them. My mom is going to say what she wants to say, in your face, and tell you how it is. My dad is just cracking jokes in the background. 

When it comes to this kind of show, anyone who has given you advice entering this unique world? Anyone you look at? 

There is Dolmar Cross, who is part of Zombie House Flipping Tampa. He has been instrumental. It’s a new world. I didn’t know what to expect or what we were stepping into. It’s more than meets the eye. I knew that, but I had no idea what was going to happen. I still don’t know what is going to happen because it hasn’t aired yet. Having someone you can really ask questions, lay your head on their shoulder and ask what we can expect. It has been very helpful. 

How did you take in this filming experience? 

We realized no house is too bad to take on. The biggest thing for me is we are providing so many pluses in our own backyard. We have a premiere party planned on the 30th when the show airs. Just being able to invite the contractors who were able to help and put food on the plate and inspire people around us. It’s not only having a TV show, which is amazing. But transforming some of these houses. Showing what is possible because before me and my family, nobody flipped houses in my family. It was kind of this long shot where my mom thought I was crazy. But they supported me. Now here we are 10 years later with a TV show about flipping houses. This is showing you can literally do whatever you want if you put your mind to it. It’s so cliche, but it’s also so true. 

Do you find the market is harder because so many are entering the industry from shows like this? 

Absolutely. With TV shows and social media, people may think this is easy. Hopefully, our show shows you these houses are hard, but it is possible. It may give people the confidence to jump in, so it makes the market a little more competitive. That’s where my edge is. I have my whole family involved. I have my dad and brother, who are going to inspect the houses. My other brother is running construction. My mom is my designer and realtor. All of them give me the confidence to take on houses that people are not willing to do. Most are these one-man or two-man shows who don’t have the background. The 25 years of home inspections from my dad. That amount of confidence it gives us is extreme. 

What do you want to say to viewers about the final products we’re seeing?

 The houses are beautiful. We hit every big category of design. You have Mid-Century Modern, Contemporary, all of these. These houses are unbelievably beautiful. These are houses everyone watching would be like, “I would love that house.” We’re just really proud to put out a product like that. 

Zombie House Flipping: Family Business premiere, May 30, 11 a.m./10c, A&E