HGTV Shows - hilarious/head-scratching moments

[candygirl]

Mike Holmes is a very good presenter (well spoken and engaging),and I was lucky enough to get a chance to hear a 45 min presentation last year.  Even though he was strongly pitching 3M furnace filters, he made some very valid points.  As a business man he is very smart marketing his brand. He spoke about how there are currently works in place for developing "Holmes approved Homes" to reassure people they are buying homes built to his standards.  He was also talking about higher standard tradespeople education that is also currently under way, where they would run with the moniker that their training and work is up to his standards and expectations. While I would love to buy one of those homes, I'm also scared of how hefty the price tag would be for the associated name.

[Sylly]

Speaking of Mike Holmes, I came across this Home Free show on Fox the other day. Recorded it, haven't watched it yet, so don't know yet how good it is. May be an option for a home show fix off cable.

[crispy]

HGTV is showing a marathon of people buying islands today....because who doesn't need their own island?

[Khaetra]

If you have Ion Life (usually a sub-channel of Ion itself available over-the-air) they air Home To Go, which is an older show from HGTV that has a lot of DIY projects that look to be pretty mustachian. 

[thurston howell iv]

Only thing good about hgtv is some of the ideas you can get or by seeing how "projects" have turned out. I've actually learned a few things from a few of the tips and tricks on some of the shows.

However,  I think it's all fake and totally overboard with regard to costs.... $10-30k to remodel a kitchen? (I know people spend that or even more but really?!?)
How do they find all these people with 2-3mm "budgets" to buy islands???  Or an extra $300+k for a weekend or summer home near the water? Its insane.

[Chris22]

However,  I think it's all fake and totally overboard with regard to costs.... $10-30k to remodel a kitchen? (I know people spend that or even more but really?!?)

I bought appliances, pretty middle of the road (whirlpool brand, nothing super special) for about $4500.  $1700 fridge, $1100 oven, $300 microwave, $700 dishwasher, $500 delivery/setup, plus tax.   That's half the $10k budget and it doesn't touch ANYTHING else in the kitchen.  (the only other things I did in the kitchen was new cabinet pulls for ~$100, new outlets/switches/fixtures/plates for maybe $150 (white/white to grey/stainless, makes a HUGE difference) and a steam clean/regrout of the tiles ($250 or so).  Touch cabinets/countertops/backsplash and you're at that $10k number EASY.  $30k+ is harder, that's either going real high-end on the cabinets, appliances, and countertops, or making structural changes to walls and such.

How do they find all these people with 2-3mm "budgets" to buy islands???  Or an extra $300+k for a weekend or summer home near the water? Its insane.

Islands is somewhat silly, but I know plenty of people who bought vacation homes in various places, and basically all it costs them is the downpayment.  Lay out 20%, and then rental income can often easily cover the mortgage/taxes/insurance/upkeep if you buy correctly.  It's actually a pretty saavy way to fund your retirement home.  I know a guy who got pretty substantial employer stock grants and bonuses, and wasn't happy with the direction of the company, so he would cash it all out and buy up property.  He's got over $1M of vacation property that rented just a few weeks a year is self-sustaining (taxes, insurance, and upkeep), and the stock he sold to buy it would be nearly worthless today. 

[CommonCents]

However,  I think it's all fake and totally overboard with regard to costs.... $10-30k to remodel a kitchen? (I know people spend that or even more but really?!?)

I bought appliances, pretty middle of the road (whirlpool brand, nothing super special) for about $4500.  $1700 fridge, $1100 oven, $300 microwave, $700 dishwasher, $500 delivery/setup, plus tax.   That's half the $10k budget and it doesn't touch ANYTHING else in the kitchen.  (the only other things I did in the kitchen was new cabinet pulls for ~$100, new outlets/switches/fixtures/plates for maybe $150 (white/white to grey/stainless, makes a HUGE difference) and a steam clean/regrout of the tiles ($250 or so).  Touch cabinets/countertops/backsplash and you're at that $10k number EASY.  $30k+ is harder, that's either going real high-end on the cabinets, appliances, and countertops, or making structural changes to walls and such.

How do they find all these people with 2-3mm "budgets" to buy islands???  Or an extra $300+k for a weekend or summer home near the water? Its insane.

Yep - $10-30k pretty easily.  At our old condo we did a ~$25k gut renovation on a small kitchen.  $7500 to fixing plumbing issues, take out the wall heater that was inside the cabinets and put in a proper baseboard heater instead.  $7500 for stock cabinets.  $2500 for one slab of granite.  Took down a small wall, had to pay $1k for a stamp on a paper proving it wasn't load bearing.  We took the kitchen down to the studs, so the rest was removal of the old kitchen, adding framing (it was a kitchen in an old building w/o 2 by 4s on that wall), tiling, painting, etc.  Fridge (stainless steel but under $1k), dishwasher (bosh stainless steel, maybe $500), stove, tiles (we got cheap ones) were separate.