DW got a call from House Hunters once, they wanted to use one of her listings as one of the other two properties. They were shocked, SHOCKED, that she already knew the show is fake.
They didn’t offer any payment, and it would have been a bit of a hassle, so the owners turned them down.
Some of the reasons the prospective homeowners give for rejecting a house crack me up though. “I don’t like the blue color of the walls”. Seriously? You never heard of paint? 
The few times I’ve seen House Hunters–only at the gym-- I’m always amazed at how expensive the houses are vs my estimation of the probable income of the buyers. And how many siblings really want to buy houses together, or extended families with 3 or 4 adult children, all working, want a house together? Very strange.
Also, the ridiculous compromises and choices they make. I, too, have wanted to say, “Keep looking!!”
^^^yes, yes, yes on the price of the house vs. income. It has always struck me that many of these going to the very hairy edge (and beyond) of what they could afford. I would not want to be that house poor.
OTOH, if we had bought something further up the food chain in 1998 when we bought this house, we might be able to downsize now without having to pay more than we would get for our house!
LALALALALA I refuse to hear this HGTV slander.
I know House Hunters is fake, but I still really like watching and seeing what you can get for your money in other areas of the country/world. There was an article in our local paper, quite a few months ago, that during last season’s Flip or Flop a nurse was watching and noticed a lump on Tarek’s neck. She contacted the production company suggesting he get it checked out. Sure enough he had thyroid cancer. This season if you watch carefully he has a scar on his neck.
He has a scar on his neck even if you don’t watch carefully. :))
Haha, I watch House Hunters and think just the opposite! OMG, they can buy that huge house with big yard for only $250,000??? It always amazes me how inexpensive it is in other parts of the country. Food for retirement thought. I really like House Hunters International to see what things cost in other parts of the world.
I can’t believe they don’t pay for using the houses for the show, however I understand that agents would want to do it for publicity. Surely they have to be paying the buyers some compensation for making them schlep all over the place
Same here. We used the same realtor for both purchases and drove him bonkers because we looked at close to 50 houses but eventually came back to and chose pretty much the first house we looked at - both times. 
CB, the HH shows in Atlanta reflect how hard the housing market has tanked in recent years. In our area, our lot is worth about $60k more than the house!
And then there is Love It or List It and Property Brothers - homes in Canada are mighty expensive!
So while I was folding laundry today, I had Buying and Selling (with Jonathan and Drew Scott) on the TV. The couple had a budget of $675K. Drew showed them a house where the listing price was $684K. They were all atwitter – “It’s over budget! I’m nervous about the budget!” Haven’t these people ever heard of negotiating??
We need a new thread to discuss all of these shows, including Scott and Amie Yancy’s Flipping Vegas (they always seem mad at each other).
I read that Tarek and Christina are paid $10,000 per episode. In 2013 or 2014 they flipped 80 houses (not all were filmed). They seem like a nice couple who trust each other’s decisions.
I didn’t like her in the beginning – I thought she was too Barbie Doll – but she’s grown on me. I like their show.
@coralbrook, I think all of the House Hunter episodes I’ve seen have been set in California. 
You’d have a brother and sister in their 20s buying a $675K+ house.
But how could you possibly conclude their income was insufficient for them to afford the house? On a $675k house, they’d need a downpayment of $135k or so, leaving a mortgage of about $540k. With low interest rates, their joint payment would likely be in the neighborhood of $3,000 a month, maybe $3600 including insurance and taxes. So $1800 each, which is certainly a reasonable amount for someone to expect to pay in rent. Plus they’d get the interest deduction. It just seems weird on the basis of the evidence presented on the show to conclude that they couldn’t afford the house. The show doesn’t disclose the buyer’s income.
Most of the buyers on HH don’t have a 20% down payment, though.
What the heck ever happened to 2.5 times gross income as the upper limit for buying a house? I just ran numbers through Zillow and it calculated that we could go to 4.5x income. That payment would be 60% of our take-home and a debt ratio of 36%.
Update on #13 - no word back from Listing Agent about whether Sellers will drop their price due to serious foundation issues. Not surprised because agent said he was going to have to discuss with lawyers. It may come down to a Court Order forcing sale to settle divorce.
Hope you are enjoying your vacation, cb:)
Property #16 still no word from bank on my offer
Saw 2 promising little properties come up in La Mesa. My agent is following up with listing agents today because I am still out of town
Cb, you are supposed to relax and have fun!!