Editor's Note: This is the first in a series of blog posts from the hosts of Spike TV's original television series "Flip Men," Doug Clark and Mike Baird. We're thrilled to have Doug and Mike sharing their experiences buying, rehabbing and flipping foreclosures with readers of the Foreclosure Pulse blog.

You may know us as Doug Clark and Mike Baird on Spike TV’s "Flip Men."  We are real estate and foreclosure experts who believe to the core that there is no better investment than real estate.  We flip homes for a living, and hold homes for retirement and want to help teach and engage  many others to do the same.  

We started buying together through non-judicial foreclosure auctions in 2004 and have flipped somewhere approaching 1,000 homes during that time. There are many lessons we have learned and will share over the next several months through our articles on this blog, ForeclosurePulse.com, and RealtyTrac.com. 

People commonly express the sentiment that it is easy to get a good deal in today’s market, but there is a lack of confidence in the ability to sell in the current economic climate. We see this in a very different light; the challenge is always in the front end. The key is understanding value, you make money when you buy in real estate, not when you rehab or sell. If you can truly get to understand value in your chosen market, you will be rewarded financially. Homes featured on our reality show “Flip Men” represent real numbers and actual properties we have purchased.  We rehab  quickly, price right, and they typically move in a week or less. This is part of our formula for success and we will continue to share our tips and philosophies over the next several months.

There have been and always will be ups and downs in the market, but remember that the economy and real estate are cyclical. The key to any investment is buy low and sell high. There has never been a better time to capitalize on this buy low strategy.  It’s our goal to teach the masses what flipping over $60 million in residential properties has taught us.

Tune in to Spike TV’s “Flip Men” each Tuesday night at 10:30 p.m. EST /8:30 p.m. MST and bring any questions back to Realtytrac.com for commentary.   You can also follow us on Spike.com, Facebook, GetGlue, and Twitter @Demo_Doug  and @FlipManMike

We look forward to our new family at RealtyTrac.com and want to see the real estate industry to continue to make more millionaires than any other industry.

Sales of New Homes Up in October, But Prices Fall
By The Associated Press, Nov. 28, 2011

Americans bought slightly more new homes in October, a hopeful sign for the troubled housing market. But the median sales price fell to its lowest level of the year, and the overall sales pace is trailing last year’s — the worst in half a century. New-home sales increased 1.3 percent last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 307,000, the Commerce Department said Monday.

When the Budget Calls for a Move Back Home
By Rachel Louise Ensign, Wall Street Journal, Nov. 27, 2011

The Thanksgiving festivities are over, but three generations of Cindy Ross Vogt's family are still sitting down to dinner together in Shasta Lake, Calif.  That's because Ms. Vogt's 37-year-old stepdaughter and 15-year-old step-grandson moved in with her and her husband in 2010, after the stepdaughter couldn't find a job and went back school to eventually become a nurse.

Mr. Romney on Foreclosures
By New York Times, EDITORIAL, Nov. 26, 2011

Since the housing bubble began to burst six years ago, prices nationwide have fallen by a third. Nearly $7 trillion of home equity has been wiped out. Currently, some 14.7 million homeowners owe $700 billion more on their mortgages than their homes are worth. Going forward, prices are likely to fall further as banks put a backlog of foreclosed properties on the market. As home prices fall and more homeowners sink underwater, there will be more foreclosures and more price declines.

Foreclosure Law Firm That Mocked Victims Closing
By Susanna Kim, ABC News, Nov. 23, 2011

One of the major law firms handling foreclosures in the U.S. is closing its doors after being banned by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac from receiving new work from lenders and servicers. It's the same firm that threw a Halloween party last year where its employees dressed up as foreclosure victims, mocking people who had lost their homes.

Coakley targets foreclosures
By Jennifer B. McKim, The Boston Globe, November 11, 2011

Attorney General Martha Coakley, calling the foreclosure crisis a key challenge to the state’s economic recovery, yesterday urged Massachusetts lawmakers to approve legislation meant to push more lenders into helping financially stressed homeowners save their homes.

Three more mortgage servicers change foreclosures
By Jon Prior, HousingWire, November 10, 2011

Three mortgage servicers agreed with the New York Department of Financial Services to make procedural changes similar to those of the consent orders signed by much larger institutions earlier in the year.

Shadow Inventory Lurks Behind Recent Price Gains
By Krista Franks, DSNews, November 10, 2011

Home prices rose 4 percent during the third quarter, according to the latest IAS360 House Price Index from Integrated Asset Services. The index also posted a 0.4 percent gain from the beginning of the year and a 0.6 percent gain from the third quarter of last year.

Top HUD official touts neighborhood stabilization efforts during visit to Phoenix
By Bob Christie, Associated Press, November 10, 2011

The Obama administration's top housing official touted the government's efforts to stabilize neighborhoods hard hit by foreclosures during a visit to Phoenix neighborhood on Thursday.

Foreclosed Homeowners Could Receive Small Checks Under Big Bank Settlement
By Arthur Delaney, Huffington Post, November 11, 2011

Foreclosed borrowers abused by their lenders won't get their homes back, but they could get a little cash from a settlement under negotiation between state officials, the Obama administration, and the nation's biggest banks.

Merced seeks to protect renters from foreclosures
By Sara Sandrik, KFSN, November 11, 2011

FRESNO, Calif. — A new report shows Merced now ranks ninth in the country for foreclosure activity.

California AG pushes FHFA for principal reductions
By Kerri Panchuk, HousingWire, November 4, 2011

California Attorney General Kamala Harris urged Federal Housing Finance Agency leader Ed DeMarco to grant principal reductions on mortgages tied to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Occupied Oakland Promotes Occupying Vacant Properties
By Krista Franks, DSNews, November 4, 2011

The Occupy Oakland group is starting a new wave of occupations. They intend to occupy vacant properties.

How to fix Fannie and Freddie
By Jill Millstein, Politico, November 6, 2011

Three years and $141 billion of taxpayer money later, the first financial institutions to be rescued by the federal government, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, remain in conservatorship under the Federal Housing Finance Agency. The uncertain resolution of these government-controlled goliaths, which still dominate what is left of the mortgage finance business, is keeping most private sources of capital at bay.

Finding more flaws in HUD’s accounting of HOME program
By Debbie Cenziper, The Washington Post, November 6, 2011

The calls started in mid-May, two weeks before a looming congressional hearing.

Short sales often take a long time, driving some homebuyers away
By Majorie Hernandez, Ventura County Star, November 5, 2011

When Scott and Tracy Miller moved into their dream home in Simi Valley, they planned to spend the rest of their lives in the cozy four-bedroom home on Aristotle Street.

Why a Foreclosure Fraud Settlement is a Ridiculous Idea
By Matt Soller, Naked Capitalism, Nov. 1, 2011

Gretchen Morgenson is ringing alarm bells that a 50 state settlement on the foreclosure fraud issue is on deck, and is spelling out some of the details. There would be some principal write-downs, random cash payouts for those who were foreclosed, and money to buy off nonprofits in the states that work on housing issues (a classic Fannie/Freddie Dem friendly tactic Morgenson and Rosner exposed nicely in their book Reckless Endangerment). The settlement looks vague and stupid, and will probably be executed with the care and competence of HAMP. But let’s put that aside.

Underwater Rescue
By The Economist, Oct. 29, 2011

Sometimes the best stimulus is not the biggest, but the one that’s possible. While Barack Obama has been haranguing Congress, without success, to pass his $447 billion stimulus plan, a more modest effort paid off on October 24th when the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), the regulator of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the two big mortgage-finance companies, made it easier for borrowers to lower the rates they pay on their mortgages.

Home Prices Heading for Triple-Dip
By Les Christie, CNN Money, October 31, 2011

The besieged housing market has even further to fall before home prices really hit rock bottom.
According to Fiserv, a financial analytics company, home values are expected to fall another 3.6% by next June, pushing them to a new low of 35% below the peak reached in early 2006 and marking a triple dip in prices.

Can Foreign Buyers Save the U.S. Housing Market?
By Meg Handley, U.S. News & World Report, Oct. 28, 2011

Ultra-low and declining home prices are a headache for homeowners, but they might also be the key to healing the housing market as foreign investors snap up real estate bargains in the United States. Also, read: “Canadians find refuge in Phoenix.”