MIAMI—Flipping. Yes, it's still a trend. The difference is the trend is edging up on the value scale—and Armando Montelongo is smack dab in the middle of the action.

In this exclusive interview, GlobeSt.com caught up with Montelongo, a real estate entrepreneur best known for his role on the A&E reality TV show Flip This House, to get his take on million-dollar flipping. We also asked him about the principles for success and his secret sauce in this luxury sector.

GlobeSt.com: The past few years there has been tremendous focus on all the foreclosures of homes for the lower to middle class, but in addition to those opportunities, you saw another niche in million dollar properties. Why do you contend that the wave of all these new million dollar listings (in line with Bravo's newest show, Million Dollar Listing Miami) are a cracked foundation for what will follow, million dollar flips?

Montelongo: Million dollar flips are really the final frontier in real estate. When I began flipping houses and ultimately did a TV show on it, house flippers were known as bottom of the barrel scavengers. Now, after we made it popular 7 years ago, the secret is out.  However, most people think that million dollar flips would be too tough, too much money.  The reality is that they have the biggest profits, which is what ultimately will make them such a hit.

GlobeSt.com: Are the principles the same when flipping this product and is inventory as prevalent?

Montelongo: The principles of how you buy the properties are the same. This means the purchasing the properties at the same ratios as lower dollar flips as well as financing. What is so different is that the construction is what ultimately makes or breaks the project and also determines whether you can get financing in the first place.

GlobeSt.com: You have been the national leader in the real estate education sector and claim your principles outperformed Blackstone and others who have seen eight to 10 percent returns while you have done 20% consistently in the low- to mid-income flips. What's the secret sauce? And, does it apply to the million-dollar sector?

Montelongo:I have developed a system over the past 12 years that performs at an incredibly high level. It is based on structuring your profits BEFORE you buy the property. I look for certain rates of return on my money when walking into an investment—and the profits percentages will be the same when you structure a million dollar flip as when you do the common three-bedroom, two-bath house. What is so different is that the percentage on a million dollar flip creates much higher actual dollar profits.

Be sure to return to this afternoon's Miami edition for part two of our interview.