Yorba Linda Serving Yorba Linda since 1917
AN EDITION OF
Star THURSDAY, APRIL 4, 20 1 3
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They liked the fact that we were poor and were trying to make something of ourselves.” CHRISTINA EL MOUSSA
‘Flip or Flop’ Broadcast on HGTV Airs at 1 1 p.m. Tuesdays (Airs at 8 p.m. on DIRECTV) ● The first show airs April 1 6 ● The website is pietown.tv/Shows/flipflop ● ●
PHOTOS: KEVIN LARA, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Tarek and Christina El Moussa with their 2-year-old daughter, Taylor, sit in the living room of a Fullerton home repaired by the Yorba Linda couple in the new HGTV series, “Flip or Flop,” which follows the couple as they find distressed properties and remodel them for resale.
SHOW FEATURES LOCAL FLIPPERS Yorba Linda couple end up with reality TV series about their business – remodeling and selling homes. BY DANIEL LANGHORNE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
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arek and Christina El Moussa felt the sting of the housing bubble’s burst like Realtors across the country. With their business dried up, they traded in their $6,000-a-month mortgage for $700-per-month apartment rent (with a roommate), swapped luxury cars for modest ones and shared Subway sandwiches – all while expecting the birth of their first child. The El Moussas have bounced back – they own a Yorba Linda house – and now the family business is flipping homes, a career move that has landed them a new reality series, “Flip or Flop,” which will premiere April 16 on HGTV. “They liked the fact that we were poor and were trying to make something of ourselves,” said Christina El Moussa, 29. A couple of years ago, the couple, with business partner Pete De Best, bought their first investment house in Santa Ana for $115,000. The El Moussas sold the property and split the $68,000 in profits with De Best – and the trio kept going. Tarek El Moussa has hired three employees and is expandS E E S H O W ● PA G E 3
This dining room, complete with brand new wood flooring, freshly painted walls and new light fixtures, is part of a repaired Fullerton home featured in “Flip or Flop,” a new HGTV reality show featuring Tarek and Christina El Moussa, who find old or damaged homes and repair them to be resold at a profit.
Travis Ranch parking: It’s Little League parents against neighbors near park Traffic Commission will consider limiting access to Dominguez Ranch. BY DANIEL LANGHORNE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
The Yorba Linda Traffic Commission later this month will consider whether to forbid street parking next to Travis Ranch Park after Little League parents complained that the ban would limit access to the ballpark. Parking for the East Yorba Linda Little League has been a raw issue for residents near Travis Ranch Park since the city agreed to open parking on Dominguez Ranch Road five years ago, said Judy Murray, president of Rancho Dom-
inguez Homeowners’ Association. At first, parking was just available on the park side of Dominguez Ranch. But then, she claims the issue spun out of control when parking was allowed on both sides shortly after, she said. Residents want the city to go back to banning parking on one side of the street. Little League representatives said decreased team enrollment should lessen the parking problems. In past years, street parking S E E PA R K I N G ● PA G E 6
Yorba Linda High School hosts fundraiser to buy more books School’s collection is half the size of a typical high school library. BY DANIEL LANGHORNE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
DANIEL LANGHORNE, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Cars are parked on the west side of Dominguez Ranch Road, which runs next to a slope maintained by the Rancho Dominguez Homeowners’ Association.
The Yorba Linda High School Library & Media Center is trying to raise at least $5,000 from the community to expand the size of its book collection, which is less than half the size of an average high school library. The library is turning to private funds because of its limited budget from the district. Typically, a high school library has about 23,000 books. But because Yorba
Linda High opened in 2009, it has acquired about 9,500 books, said Roseann Kosulandich, Yorba Linda High’s librarian. “It’s frustrating,” she said. “We’re trying to grow the collection to support what students ask for and teachers have them come (in) and research.” One problem with library fundraising, compared to athletics or performing arts, is that school libraries typically don’t have booster clubs or sell tickets for events, Kosulandich said.
The library needs to add more history, biography, literary criticism and science books, she said. Fiction books usually cost $20 apiece and nonfiction books run $25 to $35 each. To get students involved, Kosulandich plans to do a raffle in conjunction with National Library Week, which runs April 14 to 20. Students who guess the closest numbers to the library’s circulation will get gift certificates to fast food restaurants. Jim Hom started volunteering in his daughter’s elementary school library S E E L I B R A RY ● PA G E 2