How House Hunters (HGTV Show) really works

[mdsoccermom]

I love the young couples on HH who budget less than $200k then complain that the kitchen isn't granite, with stainless appliances and an island. The garage is only single-car and too short for the SUV (which car payment will impact negatively on their ability to get a mortgage). The master bath only has a shower and one sink. And the master isn't half the size of the entire house. Oh, and the backyard is perfect for them and their dog, but it isn't fenced along the back. Deal breaker!

Don't like to hear the phrase "Open Floor Plan"? I'm also sick of hearing "Open Concept." As if a '50s Cape or Ranch had any sort of concept except "sell cheap new housing to returning WWII vets who have VA loan guarantees and expectant wives."

Some of those people would die if they saw the house DH and I bought when we were first married. Laminate counter with faux brick backsplash. Pepto pink walls in the living room. Teeny tiny master bath.

Oh, we also waited a few months after the wedding before buying. I never understand the couples that have to have a house before they were married. Then they gripe that they my have to dip into the wedding budget. How about getting married, renting a little bit and saving some more?

 

[sasywtch]

Is it a regional thing to say "window treatments"? To me it's curtains, blinds. I see kid's bedrooms the size of my kids and on the show, OMG they are so small. The walkin's get me. Look honey, enough for me, where are you putting your clothes?

I use to love all the flipping shows but those have gone to the wayside. Guess those guys aren't doing too well now. One was in my area (way away from me). They boasted how they got the house for a steal and were going to fix it up and live there. Well, yeah they got it for a steal because it's in one of the very worst neighborhoods in this area. TV Guy, if you are reading this, it was Del Paso Heights. It was a nice structure type, 1940's stucco with arches however, just wrong neighborhood.

 

[punkin]

Is it a regional thing to say "window treatments"? To me it's curtains, blinds. I see kid's bedrooms the size of my kids and on the show, OMG they are so small. The walkin's get me. Look honey, enough for me, where are you putting your clothes?

I use to love all the flipping shows but those have gone to the wayside. Guess those guys aren't doing too well now. One was in my area (way away from me). They boasted how they got the house for a steal and were going to fix it up and live there. Well, yeah they got it for a steal because it's in one of the very worst neighborhoods in this area. TV Guy, if you are reading this, it was Del Paso Heights. It was a nice structure type, 1940's stucco with arches however, just wrong neighborhood.

I really think "window treatments" get installed in McMansions. I personally hung curtains in my split-level mid-century house.

 

[cornflake]

Window treatments is the generic. If you only want curtains, you might say curtains.

If you want blinds - roman, venetian, whatever, shades, valences, curtains, sheers, swags, etc., etc. depening on the window, you're shopping for/need window treatments, you know?

 

[JVL1018]

don't forget

"This would be great for entertaining"

Like everyone hosts weekly dinner parties

LOL! My husband and I watch HH and when they walk into the kitchen/family room/back patio, I say wait for it, wait for it...aaaand there's the entertaining comment.
I say are we the only two people left in the world that dont like people??

I kid, kid, we socialize a lot, but we only have a bunch of people over maybe 5 times a year.

Maybe because I live in a 1950s era house and we don't have the entertaining type kitchen..
We don't even have a master bath, actually we don't even have a second bath, period. <gasp>the horror!

 

[Philagoofy]

LOL! My husband and I watch HH and when they walk into the kitchen/family room/back patio, I say wait for it, wait for it...aaaand there's the entertaining comment.
I say are we the only two people left in the world that dont like people??

I kid, kid, we socialize a lot, but we only have a bunch of people over maybe 5 times a year.

Maybe because I live in a 1950s era house and we don't have the entertaining type kitchen..
We don't even have a master bath, actually we don't even have a second bath, period. <gasp>the horror!

Eww, you mean you don't have an ensuite (I had to look up how to spell that). I'll bet the bathroom you have doesn't have 2 sinks. How in the world do you both get ready for work? Oh, a 1950's house? Then it definitely doesn't have an open floor plan so why even bother having those 5 couples over at all?

 

[focusondisney]

LOL! My husband and I watch HH and when they walk into the kitchen/family room/back patio, I say wait for it, wait for it...aaaand there's the entertaining comment.
I say are we the only two people left in the world that dont like people??

I kid, kid, we socialize a lot, but we only have a bunch of people over maybe 5 times a year.

Maybe because I live in a 1950s era house and we don't have the entertaining type kitchen..
We don't even have a master bath, actually we don't even have a second bath, period. <gasp>the horror!

I was just going to post the same thing! We don't have a master bath either. Our 1 full bath only has only 1 sink. And after 28 years in a 1600 sq foot house, still no granite, hard wood floors or stainless steel apliances. And somehow DH & I ahve managed to share a closet all these years!

 

[LBIJim]

Yes I was on the show 2 times in the 5-min. segment (I wasn't the person they "showcased").

That's exactly how we felt - "dumb" - the CEO HAD to know we knew it was him (in a very bad disguise). I was on break eating in the back room when he was back there on a break as well, and he was chatting with me about his failed restaraunt (the story of why he was there - his restaurant filed & he was trying out retail instead). I was like 'Um, I know this is all made up, can we just not talk to each other right now?!?!"

Thanks for confirming what's I've always suspected. Even on Episode 1 Season 1 I figured it was all a big set-up.

Why weren't you featured? Don't have a big enough sob story??

Jim

 

[LBIJim]

don't forget

"This would be great for entertaining"

Like everyone hosts weekly dinner parties

Especially when the man says it. Like that's a phrase a guy would use. Likewise, I can't imagine any man in real life using the phrase "plenty of natural light."

Jim

 

[DisneyAngel83]

It doesn't surprise me its so scripted. DH is a video production guy and I see what he has to go through to make videos. Even spontaneous looking things are planned out and re-shot a lot. We always hate when people or companies want to hire him and just want him to come get video of whatever they are doing while they normally do it. He just has to say no, I have to be in control of the shoot and we will have to do multiple takes. It really is quite a process. Lighting, sound, camera has to be on the right settings etc.

 

[CdnCarrie]

I've known for a few years that it's scripted. I just don't understand how they show it with different paint colours when visiting and afterwards. Is it filmed after they bought it but before they take possesion?

Also with HHI - I have seen some properties totally gutted and redone so they must not have moved in yet when it shows them looking at it in the beginning.

 

[cornflake]

I've known for a few years that it's scripted. I just don't understand how they show it with different paint colours when visiting and afterwards. Is it filmed after they bought it but before they take possesion?

Also with HHI - I have seen some properties totally gutted and redone so they must not have moved in yet when it shows them looking at it in the beginning.

It depends; you're meant to be in escrow at least. Hence some people are moving in, but some who've owned for a while probably just take the opportunity to paint because they have to move stuff out/around for the shoot.

 

[Coconut36]

It depends; you're meant to be in escrow at least. Hence some people are moving in, but some who've owned for a while probably just take the opportunity to paint because they have to move stuff out/around for the shoot.

I figured that was likely the case..also the people are probably going to want to do what they can to "stage" the home or make it look it's best..a new coat of paint is an easy way to liven things up.

 

[maxiesmom]

Have any of you seen the new show Buying and Selling, with the twins? Watched it last night, and I can't believe how stupid they have the home owners act! They are supposedly desperate to move to a new school district, yet every house they are shown they pick apart. Yard is too small, ceilings are too low, granite is too dark.

And while Jonathan tells them ahead of time what he intends to do to fix up their current house so it will sell, all they do is crab and complain the whole time. The husband wants to put the cheapest stuff possible back into their home, and Jonathan keeps telling him it won't sell looking cheap! And the wife states at one point that she didn't trust him to make the house look good. If you don't trust these guys, why would you agree to be on the show?

I wanted to grab that couple and shake them.

 

[TaraPA]

Thanks for confirming what's I've always suspected. Even on Episode 1 Season 1 I figured it was all a big set-up.

Why weren't you featured? Don't have a big enough sob story??

Jim

No, I didn't! That's when I knew it was Undercover Boss, when they called trying to pull a sob story out of me. "Do you have any finacial problems right now, taking care of sick children, death of a loved one, etc. etc." We actually talked abut Disney on that call. Yeah throw me a pity party, I go to Disney 3-4 times a year! I told them to call the person that was featured on our episode, he was a good kid whose dad had just died & he was going to have to quit college to work full time to support the rest of his family. Ding ding ding winner!!!!!

 

[Becky2005]

i was thinking the same thing!

at our old house, my laundry room was literally in the hallway between the garage and the rest of the house. it wasn't separated by doors--just right there. when we were looking at new houses, one thing i did pay attention to was laundry area because i wanted it to be in a room (and not a hallway).

That's funny because once you have lived in a house -- at least for me, the first house...yes I had ideas of what I wanted but our 2nd one I REALLY had ideas of what I wanted and to most people it would sound stupid. For me...I wanted a REAL driveway & REAL mailbox...our first house had all the garages in the back with an alley that they plowed 1 time per winter unless it was super bad and the mailbox was a group one so if you got anything bigger than a standard sized envelope it was a pain (plus you couldn't put mail IN it to mail out). Lots of icy times walking across that alleyway to get the mail (not fun with an infant)! I'm sure it would sound totally off for "we need X bedrooms and it MUST be a real mailbox & driveway....everything else I'm flexible". LOL!

 

[lovin'fl]

There was a House Hunters episode on a couple of weeks ago, not sure if it was a rerun or new but the couple was looking at a house built in 2003 and they said it was dated. The kitchen would have to be ripped out. 2003 is dated??? Yea, wow, it's 9 years old, oh my.

There never seems to be a house that they really love everything about, there's always something wrong, which is totally understandable. And you wonder how they are going to pick one when there are so many things wrong with all three. Then after they choose, they say that as soon as they walked in, they knew it was their dream house and they love everything about it. Uh, ok, that's not what you said earlier.

I saw an episode where they bought a house with a brand new kitchen with granite counters but it was not to her liking so they ripped it out and re-modeled it right after they bought the house. CRAZY!!! How about living with it for a while?


Oh and the house we're in now is our 5th house (since 1998) and I know exactly what I want in a home (updated kitchen and baths...walk in pantry would be nice and 1st floor master and laundry). We plan to sell this one when our youngest (twins) graduate high school in 2017 and buy a condo/villa in the south. And I know all the features I will want...DH just wants cheap and big, but this house we're in now was a fixer and I WON'T do that again.

 

[SaraJayne]

Have any of you seen the new show Buying and Selling, with the twins? Watched it last night, and I can't believe how stupid they have the home owners act! They are supposedly desperate to move to a new school district, yet every house they are shown they pick apart. Yard is too small, ceilings are too low, granite is too dark.

And while Jonathan tells them ahead of time what he intends to do to fix up their current house so it will sell, all they do is crab and complain the whole time. The husband wants to put the cheapest stuff possible back into their home, and Jonathan keeps telling him it won't sell looking cheap! And the wife states at one point that she didn't trust him to make the house look good. If you don't trust these guys, why would you agree to be on the show?

I wanted to grab that couple and shake them.

One thing that drives me nuts about the show (and Property Brothers) is how the homeowner always, without fail, says how much work it's going to be to fix up the house.

YOU AREN'T GOING TO BE DOING ANY OF IT, YOU IDIOT!!!! Ugh, that just really annoys me.

 

[mickeysgal]

don't forget

"This would be great for entertaining"

Like everyone hosts weekly dinner parties

The new buzzword is "open concept". I think they get paid more for each time they can work the phrase 'open concept' and 'stainless steel appliances'
into a sentence.

As far as the entertaining comment, it makes me nuts when I watch HHI and here there are in some far-flung corner of the world, away from all their family and friends, and they're worried about having enough entertaining space.

Just recently watched a HHI episode where a space a couple was considering was $400 a month OVER their budget. They were worried that if and when they had family and friends come to stay that they would feel guilty making them stay on a pull-out sofa so they needed guest space. Yeah, that's the reason to blow your budget each and every month...just in case you have a guest come to visit. That $400 you're overspending each month could go to a real nice hotel room for your guest. How stupid is that? I mean, they're all scripted comments, I get that, but at least TRY to make it believable.

Property brothers? First off, I'd like to find a real carpenter that can do those kind of gut jobs for as little as some of these "budgets" are. They look at the whole house and focus on one or two of the rooms to remodel. In the end, those one or two rooms may look good, but the rest of the house behind the cameras look like a condemmed building. It would take tens of thousands of dollars to restore the rest of these "bargain" houses. And the couples are already at their max budget.

 

[lovin'fl]

The new buzzword is "open concept". I think they get paid more for each time they can work the phrase 'open concept' and 'stainless steel appliances'
into a sentence.

As far as the entertaining comment, it makes me nuts when I watch HHI and here there are in some far-flung corner of the world, away from all their family and friends, and they're worried about having enough entertaining space.

Just recently watched a HHI episode where a space a couple was considering was $400 a month OVER their budget. They were worried that if and when they had family and friends come to stay that they would feel guilty making them stay on a pull-out sofa so they needed guest space. Yeah, that's the reason to blow your budget each and every month...just in case you have a guest come to visit. That $400 you're overspending each month could go to a real nice hotel room for your guest. How stupid is that? I mean, they're all scripted comments, I get that, but at least TRY to make it believable.

Property brothers? First off, I'd like to find a real carpenter that can do those kind of gut jobs for as little as some of these "budgets" are. They look at the whole house and focus on one or two of the rooms to remodel. In the end, those one or two rooms may look good, but the rest of the house behind the cameras look like a condemmed building. It would take tens of thousands of dollars to restore the rest of these "bargain" houses. And the couples are already at their max budget.

So true. And I recently saw a HHI episode where this couple were going to rent, someplace really expensive to live (I think they said #4 most expensive) and their budget was $3000/month. The realtor showed them 3 places for $5000-6000 per month. And the couple was still complaining about the size and the look of the places (he was from England and wanted a house "fit for a king" or some crap like that and the American wife snapped him back to reality). At least, in the end, the chose a $5000/month place...I though for sure they'd go with the $6000.