What drives you crazy about HGTV shows?

[Bruce Woodruff]

Here's one of my pet peeves......watching a House Hunters show right now and this couple doesn't like a perfectly beautiful house because of the paint colors in one of the bedrooms.......really?

[Theresa Harris]

I like some of the shows, but the picky people (like you described), people changing things that are fine just to change them, and the staged drama (you know there is always a 'problem' that pops up) in some is too much.  The Love it or List it is one I can't watch (too staged/fake).  

Unsellable Houses (based out of Washington state) is a good one and such a great idea.

[Bruce Woodruff]

I know a lot of it is staged, but some of these people are just plain stupid......

[Karl B.]

Most of those shows bore the hell out of me - especially the 'high-class' reno ones. 

The flipping shows are the ones I tend to like. I enjoy Zombie House Flippers (they got rid of the one super serious guy I didn't like and now have the two original guys and a lady on there which is good - it's a fast-paced show, it's interesting, and holds my attention despite it clearly being sometimes staged for effect). I think I Iike it because they're dealing with a lot of crappy homes and I enjoy seeing the reno along with the reno numbers.

I also liked Flipping Vegas (which was on way back in the day) despite the main guy and his wife being super bougie (I think I enjoyed seeing how they worked through all the problems; that and the guy was doing it after the crash which I admit, was appealing to watch as he was buying the homes cheap).

I like Property Brothers as well, but can only take small doses of it as it's like the same episode over and over. 

Most of these HGTV shows just bore me too much. I think it's because a lot of them deal too much with things I deem boring and frivolous like their personal life or too much about how they drove to some barn, reclaimed wood and blah blah blah. 

I buy and fix up crappy properties and like to learn new ways of doing things. These shows need to teach me some tricks. 

[Joe S.]

One of the title companies we used many times plays that show in their lobby. I can assure you  posers and make believe is what you will see. One particular dentist office plays that garbage too. It sure beats all the political talking heads though.

[Eliott Elias]

Their budget is so ridiculously high it serves no benefit to investors watching. They don't show contractors not showing up, keeping deposits, hard money payments. 

[Chris Seveney]

@Bruce Woodruff

Besides it being fake, I would rather watch cartoons with my kids

[Kenneth Garrett]

Those shows are based on entertainment not reality.  I think the average flipper doesn’t make 100K or more per flip and of course the market went up while they are working on their project.  If I had to pick a show I prefer to see ones with small profit amounts it‘s much more realistic.  Good Bones shows very little profits for the most part, but they are in Indianapolis.

Let’s face it flipping houses is boring.  They have to create drama, which of course in the real world, there is no lack of drama when you work on projects.  I also like battle of the beaches where there are 3 or 4 teams competing on different same home layouts.  That’s good for different designs ideas of course it’s generally beach related.

[Bruce Woodruff]

Of course they're real...that one lady Christina (?) drives a Bentley. Don't all flippers ;-)

[Kenneth Garrett]

My Bentley’s in the shop otherwise, I would be driving it to all my rehabs.  It’s a little tight to load up 2x4, 2x6, 2x8, 2x10, etc., but that’s life as a rehabber.

[Bud Gaffney]

That they're not realistic and more reality TV.

[Chris Mason]

Husband: lizard breeder

Wife: volunteer yoga instructor 

Budget: $2,500,000

[Justus Kasunic]

The show is entirely scripted! I have a friend whose property was featured on HGTV Beach bargain hunt. Their daughter (who doesn’t even own the property) was “house hunting” around Carolina beach to try to find her perfect vacation home. She looked at three properties in the show and the one that they chose was the one that her parents owned. HGTV made them take her parents dog, Her brothers’ car, and a fake story about them just getting married with her husband wanting the canal views and her wanting an ocean view. At the end of the episode they were like “Let's bring the dog out on the beach for the first time.” That dog takes walks on the beach every day! I could not believe how fake this show is.

[Bob Stevens]

Quote from @Bruce Woodruff:

Here's one of my pet peeves......watching a House Hunters show right now and this couple doesn't like a perfectly beautiful house because of the paint colors in one of the bedrooms.......really?

 The " fake " numbers, PP 100k, reno 100k, sold for 250k, 50k profit, NO its not! CC CC, and realtor fee 

[Leo R.]

Quote from @Bruce Woodruff:

Here's one of my pet peeves......watching a House Hunters show right now and this couple doesn't like a perfectly beautiful house because of the paint colors in one of the bedrooms.......really?

That's a real thing--my agent has stories about people walking on properties because they didn't like the paint color!

The thing that drives me crazy about HGTV shows is that they make rehab look WAY simpler than it is in reality...in the HGTV world, EVERY house can be easily made open concept--it's just as simple as knocking down a wall!  (never mind re-routing plumbing, electrical, or HVAC duct, or engineering new structural support--in HGTV world, load-bearing walls simply don't exist!)   ...if only rehab were so simple...

Also, the unreal occupations and budgets of the guests--which have been turned into memes:  "I'm an organic, artisan ant farmer, and my wife is a professional interpretive alphornist...our budget is $5 mil."          :)

[James Clark]

Like house hunters , I Know a real estate investor and he said they came to him asking if they can have his house on the show but they are not going to buy it they already have the house they want it’s all just for show

[Jay Thomas]

I agree that it can be really annoying when people change things just for the sake of changing them, and when there's unnecessary drama and story lines in a show. I think Love It or List It is particularly guilty of this, as it often feels quite scripted and contrived. The whole premise of the show is already set up for conflict - someone always has to lose! It's no wonder it can be hard to watch. Still, I have to admit that some of those shows have created some truly amazing transformations - even if they are overly dramatic at times. Maybe one day they'll find a way to make more believable home renovation reality TV shows. Until then, we just have to deal with the artificial drama!

[Mark F.]

I like the ones that are educational. This Old House (not on HGTV)is great and my wife and I enjoy Home Inspector Joe, I think that one is on HGTV. I like the inspections and knowledge he gives out, she likes the reno part. Only one season so far but it got picked up for another.

[Marcus Auerbach]

The BP crowd is too educated to fall for most of it, but the general population seems to take it more for real. 

I see first time home buyers overbid on a gut rehab house (of course represented by an agent who fits the cliché as well) because they think a little paint and help from their uncle on a weekend will do. Thanks HGTV.

[Jaron Walling]

@Justus Kasunic Hahahaha that's amazing. Consider it a doggo vacation. Don't be jealous that dog is famous. 

[Michael Kinsella]

I don't really watch them, but from the few I've seen, they kind of gloss over the financing side of things.

They'll often articulate the project costs in brief, e.g.,

Purchase price: $100K

Renovation costs: $50K

ARV: $220K

Profit: $70K!

That's just not realistically how the numbers work out.

Many investors get financing for their projects, and there are often significant costs associated with renovation loans.

Also, it seems like they often exclude carrying costs if the investor isn't able to sell the property immediately.

My perception has been they try to smooth everything out to make it more palatable for the viewership, but they lose some of the reality in the process.

[Kenneth Garrett]

I listened to a couple podcast with Justin Stamper (Zombie House Flipping) on the A&E network and also Ken Corsini (Flip or Flop Atlanta) on HGTV.  They both acknowledge that when they put up the cost numbers; purchase, rehab and profit they are told to leave out the cost of money.  If they borrowed Hard Money or used Private Money or other costs those are not in the numbers.   

I don’t like the unrealistic portion of the numbers and length of time.  Sometimes you can figure the length of time when they show a beautiful sunny day on day 1 and a winters day on the open house day.  They did agree it’s a show and for the most part rehabbing is boring so they have to create drama to make it interesting for the average viewer.  I remember a Zombie show where they had all these snakes in the house that came in overnight.  Of course the window is left open or the alligator snapping turtle.  They need to create drama for the cameras.  Those of us who actually flip know the difference and it can be annoying. Lets face it, it’s the unreality of reality TV.

[Bruce Woodruff]

@Kenneth Garrett All true, I'm sure! But I enjoy watching anyway, just to see how they deal with some issues (rightfully or wrongfully :-)....and so I can yell at the TV when they screw up...

[Bob Floss II]

Three main things annoy the crap out of me:

1. They ALWAYS knock down a wall and put a giant header beam on the first floor. The contractor will casually come in and say it'll add maybe $500 to the budget. Now everyone thinks putting in a header beam is easy and cheap.

2. They either don't show closing costs or the closing costs are a joke.

3. When the house makes money, they are quick to show it at the end. If you start to notice, every show has a handful of episodes where they only show the list price or somehow run out of time and end the episode quickly. My theory is they never show the houses that lost money.

FYI, I've also seen some interesting articles from people that bought these HGTV show houses. Many have complained the houses needed work to fix all the issues left behind by contractors rushing to finish. 

[Lisa Wright]

I just wish they would really show us how to do the repairs.  Walk me through it.  

[Mose Gebremeskel]

I feel the same way. We watch House Hunters International and for some reason, they constantly pick the house that makes the least sense lol.