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My favorite is when the Buyer agents leaves the Buyer at a coffee shop while she goes to present the offer and they make it look like she's back in 15 minutes with an answer. Thank you HGTV for giving Buyers the ridiculous idea that it comes together that quickly. Also, why would you show anyone a house without telling them the price ahead of time?
What I hate are the prices she attaches to repairs. New kitchen counters can be replaced for $200 but carpet will be thousands. ??? I can understand if parts of the country have lower - or higher prices than where I am - but that's inconsistent to be both.
My brother has a "friend" lets say that is on one of those shows. It is about high end homes in the LA area. My thoughts on reality TV is that they have to get so much information completed in so little time. I am thinking about the process of purchasing our home. We are closing this week. I can't imagine it being a very exciting TV episode. We were one of those couples that checked on the market from this computer screen all the time. We knew what we were looking for, and the location of our city that we wanted to live in, at a specific price range that we were comfortable with. When the time came our visits to homes were limited to 2 on one day and 3 on another. The first day we did find a home and it turned out that we had to get pre-qualified with the bank that was selling the home. We completed that but not before another offer was accepted. The next day we looked at the other 3 homes and the last one we looked at was the home we bought. After that the process was more paperwork than anything else.
Cheryjohns, I agree with the inconsistencies on prices. Currently carpet can be had for a low ball of $.99 to $3.60 a square foot at Home Depot in our area anyway. Most places that I checked out install it for less than $100. We are having a living room and 4 bedrooms recarpeted for a cost of $2.80 a square foot including the basic padding. Our choice to do that was because we could have it in before Christmas and we plan on retiling the home in a couple years. Kitchen counters are sold by the foot as far as I know. Price depends on the product. I guess it would depend on the size of the cabinets in the kitchen. We plan on putting in granite in a couple years and I am sure it will cost us much more than $200 to do it. Then again I did find out that the closer to the source you get a better price. Had a friend that had several people put a bid to do their granite counter tops and then they went to a place that sells granite in very large pieces. That place offered to cut to size the counter top at a 1/3 the price of retail and they found a contrator to install it for them. What I am thinking is price is subjective to the available resources you have in your area.
Most buyers in real estate are not familiar with the practice all is required be successful. Real estate is not taught in high school, college, profession chosen by that person. Most kids dont' grow state I want to be a Realtor. The shows are close HOWEVER don't show "behind the scenes all work involved just to open the door for any client.
I have zero expectation that any of the shows are realistic. I'm just nosy and like to peek into other peoples' homes and closest and snark about how said 15'x15' walk-in closet allegedly cannot possibly be big enough for v. annoying home buyer's shoe collection.
My favorite episodes of those shows tend to be the international ones where I'm left to ponder just why there is a black bear enclosure in a Berlin neighborhood park and why they then needed to put a kid's playground next to it, or find myself charmed by a sweet young Hungarian couple who are on a quest to find an apartment where the walls are not made out of Soviet era industrial plastic.
And oh, yeah Mickey Mouse law school lady in New Orleans. Because she seems perfectly pleasant and reasonable as they're looking around... and then you get to that reveal at the end.
Another favorite theme is they want to downsize from the 4000 house they have - both in space and price - and then complain because the rooms in the new place aren't as large as what they are accustomed to, at 1/3 the price of the old place. Guess they forgot to look up the meaning of "downsize".
I like watching the shows because I love looking at houses but I have a love/hate relationship with the shows. House Hunter International is interesting because it give you a glimpse into what homes look like in other countries. What drive me nuts though is when the story line is about an american moving someplace new and the whole time they whine about how the place is not like what we have in the U.S. Well no..s***! The realtor always looks so patient but you can read their expressions that they think the person is an idiot. The last show I watched was a young couple that moved to Japan. The husband was transferred there for 2 yrs. Only 2 yrs but the wife kept whining how she wanted a place just like their home in Oklahoma. They looked at 3 places, 2 places were somewhat traditional of the country and the 3rd was an americanized type of apartment. The husband really wanted to pick one of the more traditional homes but the wife couldn't handle it. They went for the beige americanized place. Life is short and so is two years. What an amazing experience to live someplace overseas AND have your job foot the bill but you still have to live in a place that reminds you of the U.S. No wonder people hate Americans.
I have zero expectation that any of the shows are realistic. I'm just nosy and like to peek into other peoples' homes and closest and snark about how said 15'x15' walk-in closet allegedly cannot possibly be big enough for v. annoying home buyer's shoe collection.
My favorite episodes of those shows tend to be the international ones where I'm left to ponder just why there is a black bear enclosure in a Berlin neighborhood park and why they then needed to put a kid's playground next to it, or find myself charmed by a sweet young Hungarian couple who are on a quest to find an apartment where the walls are not made out of Soviet era industrial plastic.
And oh, yeah Mickey Mouse law school lady in New Orleans. Because she seems perfectly pleasant and reasonable as they're looking around... and then you get to that reveal at the end.
This is buggin me to death... who's the Mickey Mouse lady & which show?
I love these shows so I can be nosy also, and I love to root for the really nice couples who arent asking for the world. I like that one where the bald headed guy tries to make a seller come down to earth on their prices. Sometimes he can be a tad bossy, but he does seem to know his stuff.
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They looked at 3 places, 2 places were somewhat traditional of the country and the 3rd was an americanized type of apartment. The husband really wanted to pick one of the more traditional homes but the wife couldn't handle it. They went for the beige americanized place. 
