House Hunters, please Buy Me: real estate shows

[Mugsy]

These sorts of shows seem to be really big right now - I read somewhere that Buy Me is HGTV's number one show.

I know that HGTV is different in the US and Canada, and while they show the same eps of the same shows, it's not necessarily at the same time. However, I saw an ep of Buy Me yesterday that boggled my mind.

An older lady had spent years custom building a 6000-square-foot house, and had spent $800,000 doing it. It had all sorts of styles and she was a self-confessed hoarder. While the main living area was nicely decorated and tidy, storage areas were crammed to the rafters with stuff.

She had a closet the size of a small house; it just went on and on, with those circular racks of clothes like in a store. She wondered why no one would buy her house, but it was so over the top. In the end, she didn't sell.

House Hunters is another favourite. It gives my voyeuristic tendencies a nice little workout. I love looking at other people's houses. At TWOP they have all sorts of conspiracy theories about the show; the chosen house is already picked and the three walk-throughs are all for show, whatever. Who cares?

There are also a number of shows that help hapless homeowners redo or dress their houses so they'll sell better. Take This House and Sell It has some rather snotty designers who walk through the house, expressing horror at the most inane things. They usually spend about $3,000 to help sell the house, although furniture is always purchased. I wonder - what do they do with it? Why not rent furniture?

And I guess I don't understand why buyers can't see beyond a big puffy leather couch. Why do they always have to replace them, and remove the TV to make the rooms look nicer?

Other fans?

[Deleted]

Ever since we bought our condo last year I can't get enough of these shows.

I think my personal favorite of this genre is Hidden Potential. I like the idea of people taking a look at the shitty old houses out there and figuring out how they can make it their own for less money than if they'd build a house from the ground up.

Although, I will say that sometimes when the designer is just redoing the kitchen and bathrooms and maybe knocking down a wall, the cost seems more realistic than the times when he completely redoes the entire house on a very tight budget. If just one tiny thing went wrong your budget would go to hell.

And I guess I don't understand why buyers can't see beyond a big puffy leather couch. Why do they always have to replace them, and remove the TV to make the rooms look nicer?

I find the removal of the TV to be really annoying. I mean hell, it can take months to sell a house and if I'm the seller I'm supposed to pack the TV in storage that whole time? I don't think so.

When we looked at condos I could see past personal taste for the most part. Although I will agree that it does do some things to you. For example, in Chicago we were looking at 2 bedroom condos. A lot of the previously owned ones (not the new gut rehabs) were being sold because the couple living there had a baby and needed more space. Which is understandable. But you'd look at the second bedroom and they'd have: a guest bed, a crib, a changing table, a desk with computer and a book shelf in almost all of them. You'd stand there and go "This room is really small and cramped" and we wouldn't want to buy it.

So I do agree that you should try to make the rooms look as uncramped as possible and pick a theme and go with it. Like I wish the people had packed up the office stuff and put the spare bed in storage to make a baby room so you aren't so turned off by how little space it appears that the condo has.

[grumpygirl]

We LOVE House Hunters, especially when they have HH International. Who doesn't want to see houses in Florence or Paris? Mr. G has a drinking game where he takes a swig of beverage everytime one of the house hunters describes a room as "It's a little small." You'd be amazed how often it happens in a show. My dad counts how many times they say that they're going to "entertain" in their new space as in "This room would be great for entertaining."

Mr. G LURVES Hidden Potential because of the software that they use. I'd like it more if they did the "six months later" thing so that we could see if they did all the changes.

Buy Me annoys me because the people seem to be stupider and more stubborn. At least on Designed to Sell they have to do what the designer tells them to do.

I also like "What's Your House Worth" when you find out if people have done really stupid things to increase the value of their property.

[Mugsy]

Ah yes, the "we love to entertain" never fails. Then they show them three months later, entertaining six relatives. Wow.

House Hunters HOs are a whole different breed. They've had young couples with one newborn who "have" to find a new house because they're cramped for space in their three-bedroom, two bath house. What. Ever. Or couples will wak into a large master bedroom and say snottily, "Well, I don't know if all our furniture will fit in here." (It always does) I don't care if everyone buys 40-room mansions, but just say you want a big house, not that you "need" it. The whole need vs. want has generated pages of discussion at TWOP.

On Buy Me, there's a pistol of an agent called Tatiana, with head full of blond curls and an attitude. While she's a great agent in general, it ticked me off when she told one set of HOs that they really devalued their home by putting in laminate flooring. Excuse me? Not everyone wants the upkeep of hardwood, and laminate is rather nice.

[Deleted]

The International House Hunters kills me. They recently had an oriental couple who paid $300,000 (not sure if it was dollars or euros), for a 400 square foot apartment in Paris. WTF?

They also had a really obnoxious couple from Las Vegas. The guy was all, "has to have a pool, has to have a pool". What did they buy? A big ass ugly house with a tiny backyard and no pool. Morons.

[csmolko]

The people looking for houses on these types of shows is what really annoys me. My fiance and I are into real estate. We just purchased our 2nd house which will be used as a rental property for grad students. It needs a bit of work - kitchen reno, fresh coats of paint in every room and glass block on the basement windows. But we can see the potential. Yes, we CAN do things that some people can't/won't do like electrical, plumbing, drywalling, that sort of thing...but I HATE when people look at really cool, full-of-awesome-potential homes and go, "Oh, the walls in this room are GREEN. I hate green." Then they fail to point out everything else about the house that actually matters like good plumbing, good foundation, hardwood floors, etc.....guess what? You can, you know...PAINT that room where you don't like the green. It's not ALL the time but whenever I see these shows, that's what I remember because it ticks me off and sticks in my mind. Plus....the show where they only look at 3 houses, and then pick from those? Is that really how people do it? We have looked at over 150 properties in the Buffalo area in the past 2 years. And we're only on the 2nd one. Am I just totally jaded by the amount of research/time/etc we have put in? Or does paint color on the walls really sway that many people?

[grumpygirl]

That's why Designed to Sell is always painting everything neutral colors and depersonaizing everything, because people are too stupid to see beyond the cosmetic stuff.

When we were looking I just wanted a good location for commuting but some people had the MESSIEST, DIRTIEST houses! What were they thinking?

The only thing that turned us off about our house when we first saw it is that it had really horrid carpet everywhere and we didn't know what was underneath. So we came back a while later and they'd torn up the carpet and had a FRIEND redo the floors. They were almost worse. Anyhow, a condition of buying was them having the floors redone professionally. This was when it was a buyers market in the late 90s. I'm glad that we did that because when it came time to redo the upstairs we had to rent a POD, move all the furniture into it, strip up the carpet and have the floors redone while living in the house. What a MISTAKE. We had to live in a hotel for a while. It was a very expensive remodel. Sigh.

Oh, topic, Lisa LaPorta is my favorite designer on Designed to Sell. The Chicago one doesn't have a very interesting personality and the DC one just bugs me. I think that she's trying to be Lisa but just can't get it right, plus she has a squeaky voice.

AND tonight I was watching House Hunters and it was in NYC with Star Jones Reynolds who makes me cringe. Anyhow, the woman was finding apartments under $500,000 in Manhattan but in Washington Heights. Isn't that near The Cloisters? How's that neighborhood? She ended up with a marvelous 1-BR prewar that was HUGE but also had a ginormous maintenance fee (over $800 a month) because she was in a doorman building and all utilities were included. But man, $800 a month? When I was in a condo with all utilities included, a pool, and a 24-hour desk attendant (DC's version of a doorman) it had a $300 a month fee and that covered EVERYTHING. Geesh.

[Deleted]

My favorite house-selling/house-buying shows are the British ones that HGTV runs. I watch "Selling Houses" with Andrew Winter (mostly known as "The Prat" in our house) to make fun of him and "Location, Location, Location" and "Relocation, Relocation" with Phil and Kirsty because I flove those two. So entertaining. And with cute accents!

[grumpygirl]

spordelia said:

My favorite house-selling/house-buying shows are the British ones that HGTV runs. I watch "Selling Houses" with Andrew Winter (mostly known as "The Prat" in our house) to make fun of him and "Location, Location, Location" and "Relocation, Relocation" with Phil and Kirsty because I flove those two. So entertaining. And with cute accents!

I watch "Location, Location, Location" when it's on BBC America and love it, but I hate that they only have a weekend to help. I also like the show where they help people sell but can't remember what it's called. It's not Selling Houses, it's something else, and the people don't listen to the experts. Sigh. I'll remember some day.

[Deleted]

God, I love that jerk on Selling Houses.

Plus....the show where they only look at 3 houses, and then pick from those? Is that really how people do it? We have looked at over 150 properties in the Buffalo area in the past 2 years. And we're only on the 2nd one. Am I just totally jaded by the amount of research/time/etc we have put in? Or does paint color on the walls really sway that many people?

House Hunters is faked. The people are already under contract to buy one of the three homes, the other 2 are selected for them to look at by the show. Which is sometimes why they look at a house that would clearly be perfect for them and then reject it in favour of something else. Also why sometimes in the house they are supposedly looking at you can already see some of their furniture.