One more sign that the housing market is recovering: Reality TV shows about flipping are back. Recently, four teams of renovators remodeled a quartet of condos at 1119 Sonora Ave in Glendale for a competition show airing on HGTV in July: Flipping the Block. The show is hosted by Josh Temple of House Crashers fame. Josh also mentored the teams as they set about transforming the dingy units into a modern-day Melrose Place (but without the building being destroyed in an explosive cliff-hanger).

During the seven-week project, the teams lived in the four identical two-bedroom, 1.5-bath units containing just under 1,000 SF. The team that makes the biggest profit in a live auction—taking place this Saturday, May 17 at the Hilton, 100 W Oaks Blvd in Glendale—wins the profit margin on the condo plus $50k in cash. (The losers should have to redo their own bathrooms in plaid wallpaper.)