Why Don't We See More Nova Homes on House Hunters? (Arlington: houses, neighborhoods)

[normie]

You guys are really making my day! So they do have Nova episodes--woohoo! I'm popping up the popcorn 'cause I guess I just need to keep watching. I really am curious to see how the neighborhoods I know come across on tv.

For any of you people buying homes this year... would you want to be on a show like this? It would be fun to see a show featuring one of our forum regulars. C'mon Margery, you know you want to be a realtor on House Hunters

[South Jersey Styx]

I'll tell you which show I'd love to see from our area: Has anyone seen Bang for Your Buck? The one where they pick a room (i.e., kitchen, bath, outdoor space) and three homeowners and critique their renovations and calculate the % of return on their investment? The designers walk through the rooms and the homeowners (watching off-site) get really defensive when they hear the critique. I would like to see design projects from NoVA-DC homeowners, especially because the show spotlights designs that are different than the norm.

[michgc]

They once had a couple looking at townhouses in Fairfax. I think they were getting married, too? Several years ago there was a request on Craigslist for people in the DC area who wanted to fix up an area or room. I cannot remember what show it was for. They posted on CL several times. I know we thought about it, but you had to give them a specific budget, and at the time we really weren't ready to commit. But it would have been fun! I just saw an article about House Hunters - hmm... maybe it was on C-D about how they film the show and what goes on with the houses behind the scenes. Let me see if I can find it...

[michgc]

I cannot find it, and I read it just days ago! Ugh. Anyway, the gist of the article was that some of the house that the prospective buyers look at are already under contract but they show it on the show anyway so we can see a third house even though the prospective buyers cannot buy it. Also, the couple/person/family has to show their financials to prove that they WILL be buying a house very soon. And the realtors like the exposure they get from the show.

Thinking back, I can think of one show that was in Alexandria - two homes in Alexandria and one in Arlington that a family looked at. And there was another in Alexandria that a couple who had just gotten married were looking at. There's one in Fairfax that was townhouses. There was one in DC in DuPont Circle or that area that a single person was looking at. There was one in DC and PG county (Greenbelt) that was a young couple. There definitely are a handful from this area.

[TrippingJay]

House Hunters does feature DC in some of it's episodes, but not as much as it does for other cities. However; the DC metro area is featured on several HGTV shows: Real Estate Intervention, Get it Sold, Designed to Sell, Property Virgins and Curb Appeal. All of these have featured homes around VA, MD and DC fairly well.

Some of the shows don't spell out their exact location but its not hard to decipher the location, especially when they show familiar streets and landmarks. For instance, on Get it Sold they featured many stores along Rockville Pike when showing the general neighborhood and on Curb Appeal, they consulted Campell and Ferrara in Annandale for landscaping.

[car54]

My favorite home type show is "Holmes on Homes", on DIY....this guy, Holmes, redos home improvement projects that contractors have screwed up...and does it right.

It's a Canadian production though, so we won't see any houses around here on that show...

[normie]

I did see an episode of Trading Spaces that was filmed in Ashburn. But I like House Hunters much better than the decorating shows because they show glimpses of the neighborhoods, discuss issues like the need to be near the metro, etc., and they show what typical homes really look like.

[normie]

Originally Posted by michgc

Anyway, the gist of the article was that some of the house that the prospective buyers look at are already under contract but they show it on the show anyway so we can see a third house even though the prospective buyers cannot buy it.

LOL, now that you mention it that could be a real challenge for filming homes in the DC area. Inventory's a lot lower here than it is in other parts of the country. Homeowners are a lot less likely to agree to having their home shown on tv if it's already under contract or they don't feel they need the extra marketing. I know HGTV is careful about security issues and not filming parts of a house that could make it a target, but if my house was already under contract I probably wouldn't want to take the risk.

[DC Oldtimer]

Mike Aubrey's show always features local homes because his agency is in Gaithersburg. Sabrina Soto is also local, so any of her editions of Design to Sell will be local.

[e2ksj3]

I think NoVa & DC area in general get covered fairly well by house hunters, compared to other cities, like Charlotte, Pittsburgh, or Baltimore that hardly get airtime. I remember watching a few episodes where they showed various couples looking in Alexandria & Arlington. Plus there is always "Designed to Sell", where I think their design team is actually based out of DC.

It couldn't hurt to cover more of the area, especially with their love affair with Seattle. I swear HGTV has an episode there almost every week, lol.