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The flip shows on TV are almost always foreclosures (lower price point), being picked up at "auctions". These are people who have great discount deals with manufacturers for best prices. The homes that aren't a positive ROI rarely make it to the screen. I sometimes wonder about some of the homes on "Love It Or List It" -- what the actual sales prices of the homes are when they decide to "List it" (of course, every episode of "Love It Or List It" is filmed with two endings -- the "Love it" ending and the "List it" ending, and the producers decide which one to use, regardless of what actually happens, so it's probably a moot point. :-) )
Wrong. We had a bunch of those shows filmed in the Triangle, and Realtors involved posted on our local CD board. The decision to Love it or List it is made prior to any work on their home and prior to filming. The List It homes did, in fact, get listed.
Sort of goes without saying, but I'll say it anyhow...
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Originally Posted by Jkgourmet
Wrong. We had a bunch of those shows filmed in the Triangle, and Realtors involved posted on our local CD board. The decision to Love it or List it is made prior to any work on their home and prior to filming. The List It homes did, in fact, get listed.
HGTV does NOT call itself a "documentary" channel. They are NOT portraying actual events as they happen; they do try to create a dramatic representation that is similar to what homeowners go through when deciding to make changes to their home / where they live.
The majority of the homes selected for "Love It or List It" are similar to MOST existing homes -- they rarely have a place that is completely "hacked apart" (those end up shows like Mike Holmes...) but often homes with typical challenges of some deferred maintenance / poor space utilization / general need of updating. When the contractors assess the condition of things / likelihood of hidden problems in real life you can be assured that they don't do so without regard to timeline and such -- anybody that has done any kind of remodeling understands why things often get more complicated once demo begins, but good contractors explain this UPFRONT and build it into the budget so there are rarely "disappointed home owners giving up dream master bath to repair rotten structure". Any contractor or designer that consistently operated like that would not survive, while firms that, in the planning stage, emphasize the honest trade-offs that drive all decisions, are well respected and thrive, boring though it may be "come down to earth" before home owners get their hearts set on "spa baths"...
It is similarly NOT realistic for designers or contractors to knowingly go along with homeowners who aren't sure "if they stay or go" -- good people involved in remodeling from either the design or construction end are going to have different price points for folks who are trying to get "maximum bang for the buck" prior to a sale vs "cost no object" for folks planning to never move. This is a perhaps the single most unrealistic aspect of Love It or List It as it is presented on TV but I suspect that JKgourmet is correct that the whole production crew and the homeowner must have many discussions prior to work commencing that helps to deal with this reality. It is entirely possible for the same "crews" of contractors and designers to responsibly work on a budget constrained by likely selling price post-renovation and act on camera like they don't know what the decision will be but that is part of the "drama".
Perhaps the second most unlikely aspect of the show is how rarely they mention any sort of calendar. The producers certainly try to pick families that have pressing issues like an expected baby birth to amp up the drama, in real life any honest contractor would tell such a homeowner that they truly need a contingency plan as it would be nuts to expect renovations to finish just in time for a trip back from the hospital with a newborn. The producers similarly do not share anything on-screen about when the "List It" home went on the market / how quickly it sold -- my gut is that more than a few episodes are VERY MUCH out of sequence and the family almost certainly moved into the alternative house the real estate agent co-host found well before the existing home was fully renovated ...
A big aspect of Love It or List It is showcasing the design skills of the designer co-host -- the choices that are made are often less generic than would be wise if one is truly just staging a home for resale. Whatever "budget" the homeowners have for the renovation almost certainly DOES NOT INCLUDE all the furniture that is part of the reveal, and my gut says that is big enticement for folks in areas where staging services might be quite pricey -- having a designer with access to who-knows-how-many manufacturers that want to donate items to be "showcased" will make even the most generic / tired home stand out! Even in the spin-off that is located in the super-heated Vancouver real estate market and tends towards the pricier homes, it is NOT prudent to spend significant sums on costly upgrades that might not have broad appeal, but if you can get a TV show to make your home look like something from a magazine you get exposure that is very valuable!
It only makes sense that the producers find families that can believably portray the dilemma of when it makes sense to move / sell. If you watch closely you can get insights about how likely a family is to "love" the renovation by spending money on items that are not going to be transferred to new buyers -- that ranges from costly custom appliance selection, unique A/V systems and built-in cabinetry to somewhat less costly but more specialized things that support the specific needs of kids sports / home offices with dedicated computer hook-ups / studio space for music or art. In contrast, when the reveal has more "generic" layout of where one MIGHT place their own TV or merely suggests a spare room that COULD serve as any of those uses because it does not have built-ins that often hints that everyone involved understands "great TV need not be completely truthful"...
Actually, the furniture came from local furniture stores who were allowed to put up signs in their stores that read "As seen on TV's Love It Or List It." I don't know who paid for or got to keep the furniture.
Actually, the furniture came from local furniture stores who were allowed to put up signs in their stores that read "As seen on TV's Love It Or List It." I don't know who paid for or got to keep the furniture.
The "promotional opportunity" certainly goes both ways -- the local furniture store gets some value out of it and the Love It or List It show gets value too from new furniture even only for the reveal -- they don't have to truck around their props!
Heck studies into the psychology of real estate buyers has shown that the majority of buyers are positively impacted by a well staged home and that probably helps to justify the often very high "new estimate" that the family could list the home at. Of course those sorts of estimates are NOT what a grizzled old appraiser might assign to the "updates" and there are plenty of shoppers that prefer looking at empty homes so the 'actual selling price' might not fit in with the upbeat way that LIOLI always ends...
OP, many get upgrades mixed up with deferred maintenance. There's an expectation for basic updates and upkeep. It's important to be able to distinguish the two, because maintence is expected and has no return. Rule of thumb (outside of kitchen upgrades, not maintenance), adding square footage to living area returns more bang for the buck.
Hi there, my husband and I are considering purchasing a home (not a specific home) in an older neighborhood. Not super old, but old enough where everything is going to be outdated - built around the 1960's - 1980's. I'm not seeing many upgrades in the houses that are currently listed. I'm willing to renovate, but I am concerned about wasting money. Is there some kind of a rule of thumb that I can keep in mind when it comes to money invested in home upgrades? For example, if we invest $10k in the kitchen, what might we expect in return value on that? What about minor upgrades like trim and lighting fixtures (these add up)? Is there anything that I should know that might help us? This is a pretty desirable neighborhood, so I'm betting that these houses will be selling whether they are upgraded or not. Thank you!
Really a hard question to answer without knowing more information about the trends in the specific market you are looking in. Regional reports on ROIs combine these micromarkets and skew the numbers so in my opinion they are basically useless, you need someone experienced in that specific area to advice you on what is a solid investment and what is going to be over improvement.
For example, in my area there are several very desirable neighborhoods that the majority of homes that go up for sale are not updated as buyers are actively looking for those type of properties to reno themselves and will see an immediate return on their investment. You see homes sell in a range of prices based on work needed or renovations already completed and the market can bear some pretty high prices. Some of the homes actually get razed and new homes built that are triple the value of what was previously there.
On the flip side, we have other neighborhoods that I would NOT recommend buying in and putting an extensive amount of money/renovations into. That is not what the demand is there and purchasing and chunking a large amount of money into it would be massively over improving the property for the area.
Again, find an agent that knows that market inside and out and what has traditionally sold and what is over improving and that will help you determine if the investment is solid.
OP, many get upgrades mixed up with deferred maintenance. There's an expectation for basic updates and upkeep. It's important to be able to distinguish the two, because maintence is expected and has no return. Rule of thumb (outside of kitchen upgrades, not maintenance), adding square footage to living area returns more bang for the buck.
...the fact is homes that show nearly signs of lack of maintenance will likely suffer a reduced value in the marketplace. The sorts of things that the OP called out are certainly "walking the line" of update vs lack of maintenance --
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Originally Posted by lady katie
Hi there, my husband and I are considering purchasing a home (not a specific home) in an older neighborhood. Not super old, but old enough where everything is going to be outdated - built around the 1960's - 1980's. I'm not seeing many upgrades in the houses that are currently listed. I'm willing to renovate, but I am concerned about wasting money. Is there some kind of a rule of thumb that I can keep in mind when it comes to money invested in home upgrades? For example, if we invest $10k in the kitchen, what might we expect in return value on that? What about minor upgrades like trim and lighting fixtures (these add up)? Is there anything that I should know that might help us? This is a pretty desirable neighborhood, so I'm betting that these houses will be selling whether they are upgraded or not. Thank you!
The thing is when I've seen just about any home that was built 3 or 4 decades ago it is very unusual for the seller, even if they were original owners with meticulous attention to ensuring things were in tip-top shape, would have made the choices that resonate with current buyers. Unless the home is truly "museum quality" like something from a well regarded architect, Richard Neutra: Designing the Modern West Coast Aesthetic, the selling price will likely be depressed because of lack of updates. Making the right choices to improve not just the functional aspects of the home (things like inefficient fridges / ranges that are up to modern standards) but also aesthetic choices that serve the same function as "facelift" to de-age the property likely will have a positive effect on value.
Of course the "staying power" of the changes is a factor too -- if the OP chooses things that are currently "trendy" but will show their age when the home is listed for sale in a decade or more likely won't hold their value nearly as well as more timeless choices that will likely still remain if not "fresh" than at least not "dated". One example that I find sort of illustrative is the kitchen in the home in the original movie The Exorcist . The movie was shot in 1973. The range is a large commercial Garland that is in all ways identical to a BlueStar one could purchase today. There is a large stainless steel hood, a butcher block island and even a nice KitchenAid mixer on the counter -- TheExorcist-directorscutBDRip1080pENG-ITA-FRA-JPN-SPA-AC3Multisubx264bluray1973mkv_snapshot_001731_20121 113_150030.png Photo by sofia_123 | Photobucket Those elements are timeless and though they might be a bit more pricey than other options the fact that they'd look right at home in any kitchen more than 40 years later says volumes about the value!
Wrong. We had a bunch of those shows filmed in the Triangle, and Realtors involved posted on our local CD board. The decision to Love it or List it is made prior to any work on their home and prior to filming. The List It homes did, in fact, get listed.
Yes, we've had them here in Atlanta, too. In fact, our team worked with one of them ("Property Virgins") and another agent in our office worked with "The Property Brothers". Not all of the flip shows are foreclosures, but a percentage of them are (foreclosure, pre-foreclosure, short sale, etc.) For "Love It Or List It", the producers DO film two endings -- one keeping it, and one selling it. Several blogs have addressed the fact that sometimes, homeowners are just looking for a high-profile renovation at 50% off, and go through the hoops to get on the show, with no intent to list it -- and no subsequent listing.
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Sort of goes without saying, but I'll say it anyhow...
