Tarek El Moussa Reveals He Used to Live in Mom’s Garage Before Finding TV Success: ‘I Started at Zero’

Tarek El Moussa is an HGTV star now, but he recently gave a glimpse at his humble beginnings.

Sharing a video via Instagram, the 42-year-old gave followers a look at the small space he used to occupy in his mother Dominique El Moussa-Arnould’s home in Long Beach, California.

During the video, Tarek — who wed Selling Sunset’s Heather Rae El Moussa in 2021 — looks around the garage and jokes with his mom about her “housing him there.”

“Mom’s getting mad right now, because this is where she used to house me. I wasn’t a good enough son to live in the house, so she put me in the garage,” he says with a smile.

“I didn’t even have a room for you,” Tarek’s mom interjects, adding that she “had to [take in] renters to survive.”

The pair then look at some of the “remnants” of Tarek’s occupancy, including instruments and video game posters.

“This is my old clothing closet right here,” he says. “We got the posters up, look at that! Mom, is that my saxophone from a million years ago? Where’s my guitar?”

But pointing out that creature comforts were few and far between, the father of three adds, “No air conditioning!”

El Moussa — who was married to HGTV star Christina Hall before tying the knot with Heather, 35 — then tries to inspire his followers that they too can follow his career trajectory and become successful.

“This is where it all started,” he says. “I started at zero from this garage and I became the person that I am today by learning to pick up the phone and talk to people.”

The HGTV host then goes on to mention Homeschooled by Tarek, the real estate investing mentorship company that he runs.

He added the following caption: “I was so broke at 20 that I had no other choice but to live in my mom’s garage! I knew that that wasn’t the life for me and that I was meant to do more. So that’s when I started taking real estate serious and decided to work harder then ever before for 90 days straight….90 days later I made around $130,000 in commission selling houses and never looked back.”

However business isn’t the only thing keeping El Moussa occupied at the moment. He and his wife recently shared that his son Brayden is starting second grade at a new school.

“I can’t believe my big boy is 8 years old and in second grade,” he captioned a selfie with Heather and Brayden. Tarek shares Braydon and daughter Taylor, 12, with Hall.

El Moussa added: “He was really nervous because he started a new school this year so we worked last night on fun stories for him to share at school and tips on creating new friendships.”

His real estate star wife also praised her stepson for facing the challenge with a good attitude, writing on her own Instagram, “Bray’s first day of second grade at a new school !!!”

“He was so excited but super nervous this morning. Can’t believe it’s already back to school time for the kids, I’m going to blink and baby Tristan will be in school 🥺,” she continued, referring to her 7-month-old son with Tarek.