♪ this is the road to ruin and we're starting at the end say yeah yeah let's be alone together ♪ ♪ we could stay young forever scream it from the top of your lungs ♪ ♪ say yeah yeah let's be alone together we could stay young forever we'll stay young young ♪ ♪ young young young oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh ♪ ♪ oh oh oh oh oh oh my heart is like a stallion

they love it more when it's broke in ♪ ♪ do you wanna feel beautiful do you wanna yeah i'm outside the door ♪ ♪ invite me in so we can go back and play pretend i'm on deck yeah ♪ ♪ i'm up next tonight i'm high as a private jet yeah yeah ♪ ♪ let's be alone together we could stay young forever scream it from the top of your lungs ♪ ♪ say yeah yeah let's be alone together we could stay young forever we'll stay young ♪ ♪ young young young young i don't know where you're going but do you got room ♪ ♪ for one more troubled soul i don't know where i'm going but i don't think i'm coming home ♪ ♪ and i said i'll check in tomorrow oh oh oh oh oh oh if i don't wake up dead ♪ this is the road to ruin and we started at the end ♪

tonight on "nightline" -- would you by this home? for some women, getting into the game is a huge answer, but the answer is still yes. it's the latest game in home making. will they flip or flop? controversial multibillion dollar private army operating at the tip of the u.s. fear. >> did your people ever kill innocent civilians? >> it's entirely possible. >> we asked the man who ran black water is he a war profiteer or the ultimate pariot burned by his own government? and they're back. two of the most notorious men on the continent back in the

headlines tonight. how did george zimmerman land back behind bars. >> he's in my housebreaking all my [ bleep ] because i asked him to leave. >> and why did rob ford knock over this woman? >> keep it right here america,

>> from new york city, this is "nightline" with dan harris. >> and good evening. the risky business of flipping real estate is back. if you were looking for signs that the housing market has rebounded, this is it. tonight you're going to meet women taking big risks, putting their own family's finances on the line to buy hot mess houses, fix them up and sell them, they hope, for a profit. will it work? here is rebecca jarvis for our series, "realty check." >> this is the only bathroom? >> it is the only bathroom. >> it's monday morning and we're in charlotte, north carolina,

following a pair of house flippers. >> do you know anything on the electrical or plumbing? >> i don't think it has been updated. >> two women who have been in real estate for decades looking for their next big score. but this property looks like a homebuyer's nightmare. 1100 square feet of hidden horrors. >> i saw from the exterior the windows would probably have to be replaced. >> there is is a good bit of wood rot. >> wood rot, warped floors, a dated bathroom and a special surprise in the master closet. >> and a surprise in the master closet. >> i don't think this is just kind of put paint on it and fix it up. this is a major redo. >> with the housing market improving since the crash of 2008, home flippers like kim and maria are taking advantage of the turn around. >> taking the house and making it pretty? >> what did you think of this one? >> well, it's a lot of work. >> there are some red flags with this one. >> but it would be a great property to flip. >> flips in north carolina are up 14% in the last year.

with flippers averaging $50,000 gross profit per property. kim and maria say this $175,000 property with the right renovations and additions could sell for as much as $500,000. >> what the [ bleep ]? what happened? the whole wall is falling down. >> but there are no guarantees. >> you're looking at 35, to maybe 40. >> thousand? >> yeah. >> tv shows about flipping are everywhere from flipping vegas to flipping san diego, flip this house and rehab addict. they make it seem like it's an investor's playground if you know what you're doing. across town, lisa, a stay-at-home mom and her friend are first time flippers trying to get into the game. >> a lot of people would say you should never get into business with friends or family. >> we did both. >> and they are hoping there is still money to be made.

>> we definitely missed the heyday of really cheap housing but then we worried we would have trouble reselling it. >> after losing out on six properties in bidding wars, they bought this modest three bedroom for $150,000. >> what did it look like when you pulled up? >> awful. >> it was awful. >> it was a dump. >> the kitchen floor was sinking in. you walked in, singeing in. you were kind of crooked. >> the yard was a jungle. the surveyor still can't figure exactly where the property line is. >> between renovations and real estate fees, they put $60,000 into the project. figuring things out as they went. >> this one might be a standard. this one might be a standard. >> it looks like a standard. >> 13 and a fourth by -- >> we sound like we know what we are talking about. >> what do the husbands and the kids say when you told them we're flipping. >> he was nervous and when we had to take out the mortgage he was more nervous and when we had to put in money he was more nervous. >> armella spent eight years

helping get her husband's physician practice off the ground and raising their daughter. but it was the itch to create her own business that led to this gamble. >> yeah, it scared me. >> i was nervous. >> at first the house looked really bad. >> yeah. >> first rule of real estate. location, location, location. and not every market is as flip friendly as charlotte, making a profit can be tough. >> to make this work as a living, you have be working four, five, to six. >> four, five to six. >> within a year. >> this is already under contract. >> with 12 flips under their belt, kim and maria are scouting this up and coming neighborhood for homes to add to their portfolio. they already have one home going up on this block. >> the people who owned it and lived in it for 40 years were here to watch it go down. >> 313 mcdonald will be no more.

>> this used to be a 1200 square foot home but for $240,000, kim and maria tore it down and are completely rebuilding 3800 square feet and plan on putting it on the market for $899,000. >> the toughest thing right now is finding the deal. two years ago able to find this type of property over and over and over again. >> see how we have the border up there. >> they aim for an average return of 25 to 30% on each rehabbed property. >> it looks easy on tv but it's not easy. most people lose money on flips. >> i know a lot of people that tend to get into some of the deals and they feel they can do a lot of the work themselves then they have to hire other people and they have not factored that cost in. >> the lighting for sure. we need the butcher block. >> and they bargain hunt for everything. lighting, sinks, counter tops and molding.

every dollar saved is another dollar in their pocket. >> i would buy a shirt if it were half off. >> armel, alisa and aleta's flip was finally finished after tearing down a wall, gugt the chimney, enduring four cases of poison ivy and surviving a snake encounter. >> there was a snake, twice. >> two different ones. >> they recently listed the property for $275,000. >> what did you really think of this one? >> i think personally for me, we want something we can grow into. i think it's priced well. >> but after a successful open house they still don't have any offers. >> that leaves the women to seriously assess their finances and how long they can keep the house on the market. >> still okay to hold until january. >> i think we're okay to hold until january. but every time we have to make a mortgage payment. >> if they manage to sell for

the list price of $275,000 they will net $27,000, but if they have to drop the price and make a few thousand dollars they say it's still worth it. >> i think it will be a little like watching your little one go off to college when they're 18. it is dove knit -- it a definitely -- >> i have it sold in my head already. it's sold we're moving on. >> sthaer -- they're hoping the house sells soon. >> never thought i would be out here doing this. >> they will be stuck shoveling snow before too long. i'm rebecca jarvis. in charlotte, north carolina. >> we're rooting for them. thank you to rebecca jarvis and coming up next on "nightline," he ran one of the most controversial companies ever that effectively functioned as a private army and now he is speaking tonight line. >> abc news nightline brought to you by volkswagon. you by volkswagon. "sign then drive" sales event is back. which means it's never been easier to get a new 2014 jetta.

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>> it may very well be one of the most controversial companies in our country's history, black water. the secretive private army that came to rep sent the ugliest face of american power. the map who ran the entire operation has been accused of getting rich off of the war in iraq but he says his critics have it all wrong. here is the interview. >> they were a kind of shadowy army in the war on terror. a privately owned and heavily armed force led by this man.

>> did your people ever kill innocent civilians? >> it's entirely possible. >> eric prince, depending on how you see it he's either a great american pariot used and then dumped by the united states government or one of the biggest war profiteers in the history of armed conflict. in the opening pages of his new book, prince writes that his company became the ultimate tool in the war on terror. it was reportedly here on prince's virginia estate that teams of special operatives were trained for cia led assassination squads that would hunt down suspected terrorists wherever they might be found. >> and you have been on a target list yourself? >> yes. i was informed that i made the okay to hit list. >> today eric prince would like you to disregard most of what you have heard about him and black water. >> there became such a cyclone

of nonsense that would feed off of itself and it built us into a ten foot tall boogey man. >> if you know the name black water you probably remember this. the contractors killed in 2004, their bodies burned and hung from an iraqi bridge in a sickening display. the accusations, three years later, the indiscriminate shootings that led to deaths of civilians and eric prince called before congress for a lashing. if you expected prince to apologize, think again. >> some people will always hate the name black water. they might not like me. i am perfectly comfortable. >> eric grew up in a wealthy

family. after a stint in the navy seals, prince decided to use his inherited fortune to build a private training facility for the military in the swamps of north carolina. >> black water was started to continue the sense of mission. >> then came the bombing of the u.s.s. coal and black water would grow rapidly into a vital security and support contractor for the pentagon, the state department and the cia. >> the guys protected the important people. members of congress and senator obama when he visited there. >> but it all came spiralling down in a hailstorm of negative attention. >> you know you came under negative attention just because of the way you operated there. >> that's partially true because of the rules dick kated by the

state department. you will drive a washed and waxed suburban with lights and sirens on, it's easy for the enemy to play whackamole. >> i have been in the convoys. >> when you can't hide. >> 100 miles an hour. >> when the enemy is coming at you, those are the only tactics you have left. >> you signed the contract. is that the way it should have been done? >>. no we would have preferred to run it the way we wanted to run it. >> how about fighting back and saying this is not the way we should be doing it. >> sure. >> so it's the state department's fault? >> we were at the tail getting whipped. >> do you take any regret? >> my greatest regret is taking the job with the state department. >> its agreement with blackwater required the use of u.s. government furnished vehicles

but the use of sirens was not a contractual requirement. despite about $2 billion, prince bristles at portrayals of him as a war profiteer. >> after the endless lawsuits and fines, it's like 13 lost years. >> abc news cannot verify any of that because it was a private company. the beginning of the end for black water in iraq was september 2007 when several of his contractors were accused of firing into a crowd of citizens in baghdad's square after a car bomb had exploded a mile away. at least 11 people died including a 9-year-old boy. a hand full of black water contractors were charged with manslaughter. one pleaded guilty. the others are contesting the charges. in court papers, the government has alleged the guards opened fire with automatic weapons and

grenade launchers. >> at this point it's a highly political prosecution. >> just political you think at this point? >> it is. the amount of strut to every other incident that was paid to that event. >> it led to blackwater's expulsion from iraq in 2009. but prince says long before the company's reputation began to unravel and for many years after that, black water took on an even larger but less conspicuous role in the global war on terror. he is guarded about discussing details. >> what can you tell us about your relationship with the cia. >> there were all kinds of things the company did and there were things that i did personally. >> teams were reported to be deeply involved in covert activities in pakistan and afghanistan until 2009 including

the highly controversial use of unmanned aircraft to go after suspected terrorists. >> was blackwater involved in the drone program. >> it has been reported that the company was. >> and you would not dispute that? >> the media reports a lot of it and i+bñt won't dispute that o no. >> and prince claims after the cia cut ties, then leon panetta outed prince and blackwater's secret role and it soon leaked to the press. >> what we signed up to do was very serious work. we were asked to help and then to be outed by name to a very leaky congress, that's unprecedented. >> a representative for panetta tells abc news that the former cia director was required to brief congress on former covert programs and he had no control over what happened to the information after that. the cia declined to comment on its association with prince.

>> you talk about president obama in the book and you say your connection to president obama is, quote, closer than he has ever wanted to admit. what do you mean? >> just that there is some of these key programs that he was depending on. >> that he knew you were involved with? >> probably so. >> have you met him? >> no. >> you write i am no hero. the world knows all too well about my mistakes but i was never meant to play the villain. do you feel burned by the people who hired you to work? >> to a certain extent yes. >> so there are regrets? >> oh yeah, seriously regrets. >> wouldn't do it again? >> i'm not so sure that i would. >> i'm martha for nightline in virginia. >> and eric prince's new book, civilian warriors is in bookstores today. what provoked the mayor of toronto to knock over a woman at

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>> how many times can george zimmerman get into trouble? today he was arrested at his girlfriend's home. first she called the police. >> he's at my housebreaking all my [ bleep ] because i asked him to leave. >> and then he did, too. >> i just want everyone to know the truth. >> since zimmerman was acquitted earlier this year of all charges with treyvon martin it has been one incident after another. his then wife filed for divorce to being pulled over multiple times for speeding. >> i stopped you for speeding. >> back in the headlines tonight, the mayor of the moment, toronto's rob ford who recently admitted to smoking crack. ford tried to rush somebody in the audience and knocked this woman over. then he was caught on camera taunting one of his colleagues and finally this thre.