I, too, like watching this show and it helped me out when my husband and I purchased out first home (we just closed a week and a half ago).
We actually planned on buying last year. We started out without an agent, visiting new home communites to see what was selling at different price points. We had no idea what we could get approved for, but we kept things reasonable (under $200k). I found two neighborhoods I liked built by the same builder, so my dream was to either buy a new or resale home from this builder, however, I knew once we got an agent an older home would have some trade-offs that a newer/new homes wouldn't (such as new homes today have tiny bedrooms compared ot older homes).
So we waited, things came up and we didn't buy last year.
Then in April we got serious again (well we thought about just renting, but for what we could pay in rent in the area we are moving too, we could buy), so we started looking. I found an agent, and told her my specs. The house we purchased was the second one we looked at, but to be fair and sure we looked another day.
I'm sorry, but you couldn;t beat what we were getting for the price ($139,000) -- 4 beds/2 bath. 2100+ sq feet. In a neighborhood, built by the builder I liked. It was a resale, built in 2003, under short sale. It was orignally listed for $159,000, then dropped to $149,000 by the time we looked at it. We were approved for $150,000, but I never planned on buying that high because I knew one could make offers. We had another contendor in the $129,000 range but it had less space. So because of circumstances, we were able to buy a bit more house than we need, but at a price we could afford.
Now as for house hunter buyers.....they would HATE this house. The colors are all wrong, no stainless steel. Filthy, filty, FILTY (I've been cleaning/painting for the past week). When I first walked in, I was disappointed because of the vast amount of cosmetic work to be done (we even changed the toilet seats because they WOULD NOT come clean), but as we looked at other homes, it grew on me, and at the most, to move in, it just needed cleaning, painting, and new carpet. I saw that it had good bones, and knew that the systems were in good order (but I did do a home inspection just to be sure). We are almost done with cleaning and painting and are movign in this weekend. I can see already it is coming out beautifully.
And the best part? The neighborhood is STILL under construction with NEW homes that are listed and sell for $169,000-$180,000. Some are smaller, some are bigger. Once we get it cleaned up, new paint, new carpet it is once again compareable to what others in GREAT condiiton are selling for in the neighborhood. However, if I had been like one of the typical buyers on HH, i never would have given it a chance. In fact, while viewing it for the second time, my husband and I joked with each other "Oh, we don;t like the paint! What, no granite? This place is too dirty." A little sweat equity and we have our dream first home.
Oh, I shoudl emntion that we aren't your typical young, newly married, first time buyers. We are in our mid thirties, made mistakes with money int he past, and learned our lessons well about how to spend/save money. I will mention that I did receive an inheritance from my granfather when he passed and we used PART of that for the downpayment. I was goign to put moe down on the DP, but we got an FHA loan at 4.75 interest and only paid 3% down at closing to have a bit of change for new carpet/paint, and a new piece of furniture or two. Our plan for next year is to make extra payments every so often.
I could have chosen a new home, pick out everything, but been house poor. The years of whatching HH helped me to recognize a good deal when I saw it.
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Oh I do have to say it irks me on Property Virgins when the host asks the couple what's your budget and how much do you have to put down and then says they can have a house at budget + DP. Like their budget is $350,000 and they have a $40,000 DP so the host will say "Okay we'll look at homes for $390,000" That's when I scream "Nooooooo. Stay under $350,000" Luckily our agent did not do that. I would have shot her. She maxed her searches out at $150,000 and nothing over (not even $151,000).
And someone always says "there's a lot of light". As soon as DH sees me watching this show he just says " I bet there's a lot of light i that house!" 
Or am I just jealous?
It's not worth that much anymore, but it's still way too high for my tastes. Even though the housing market has come down to the $300 - $400K range, most houses are still $500K up to over $1 million. 
