Author Topic: HGTV Shows - hilarious/head-scratching moments  (Read 47878 times)

daymare

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Re: HGTV Shows - hilarious/head-scratching moments
« Reply #50 on: July 08, 2015, 03:45:55 PM »
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I like watching the Scott Brothers. They are funny and I love the transformations. One thing I really like is they work with "normal" people, meaning the people that do not have million dollar budgets.

Most of the other shows I don't like too much.   People always want bigger and farther commutes and several times they go over budget based on emotion.
I basically feel the same way - I think it would be wildly awesome if they came to the Boston area for their show in 5-ish years (if they're still doing their show) so I can be on Property Brothers and get their expertise/furniture/design skills. 

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I love HGTV, but it's terrible to watch if you have envyitis or poor mustachian muscles.
Couldn't agree more!  I watch it mostly for entertainment and get some of the 'benefits' of luxe spaces without the cost.  I love HH International for the same reason many have mentioned -- travel/real estate porn, more interesting/varied due to the exotic locations.

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Property Brothers: More realistic budget, good dynamic with the brothers.  Thumbs up.
Buying and Selling: Not quite as good as Property Brothers.
Neither available on Hulu or HGTV :(
I don't know if this is a good or bad thing to tell you ... but Buying & Selling is on hulu (the free version, I don't have a paid h+ account) - the episodes on HGTV you can't watch unless you have a cable package with HGTV, but ULive has a decent number of them, which are listed on the hulu B&S page.  I actually prefer B&S to the Property Brothers show because I feel like I learn more about what make a home not sell, what are the improvements that increase the value the most, plus it's fun to look at pretty houses.  Oh and I was really shocked to find that a ton of Property Brothers episodes are (in full) up on youtube.  Also watched a few episodes of Fixer Upper there too.

I don't really mind that many of the shows are fake - in fact, it makes some of the stuff seem less ridiculous (ie, some of the over-budget homes on HH aren't actually being considered).  I do sometimes feel crazy for enjoying a show that is suuuper formulaic and that is exactly like all the other episodes I've seen, just with different people ... but I really do love these shows.  It's a costless (except I guess, the time-suck of it all) way to indulge in real estate, and I feel like I've definitely learned some things over the years.

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Re: HGTV Shows - hilarious/head-scratching moments
« Reply #51 on: July 08, 2015, 06:20:36 PM »

Oh man, this reminded me of "Bang for your Buck".  It compared 3 renovations of the same room at the same budget, then determined which one had the best ROI.

I think the show should have been renamed "Whose location is best?" 
Because the house in the best neighborhood (if you knew the areas) ALWAYS won.

Ohhh I think it's now "My House is Worth WHAT?!"  There also one where they take an arbitrary amount of money and compare the kinds of homes you can in like SoCal, the Midwest US, and east coast or sometimes the gulf area. Those are pretty interesting.

Holmes on Holmes (make it right, Mike!) and Rehab Addict are probably my favorites now. I grew up in an old Victorian home like the ones often seen on Rehab Addict and I wish I'd known then what the house could have been.

Jack

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Re: HGTV Shows - hilarious/head-scratching moments
« Reply #52 on: July 08, 2015, 06:50:22 PM »
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I like watching the Scott Brothers. They are funny and I love the transformations. One thing I really like is they work with "normal" people, meaning the people that do not have million dollar budgets.

Most of the other shows I don't like too much.   People always want bigger and farther commutes and several times they go over budget based on emotion.
I basically feel the same way - I think it would be wildly awesome if they came to the Boston area for their show in 5-ish years (if they're still doing their show) so I can be on Property Brothers and get their expertise/furniture/design skills. 

Oh, come on! Boston?! You live in the epicenter of the granddaddy of home improvement shows! Screw HGTV; get on This Old House!

CommonCents

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Re: HGTV Shows - hilarious/head-scratching moments
« Reply #53 on: July 08, 2015, 07:56:26 PM »
I don't know if this is a good or bad thing to tell you ... but Buying & Selling is on hulu (the free version, I don't have a paid h+ account) - the episodes on HGTV you can't watch unless you have a cable package with HGTV, but ULive has a decent number of them, which are listed on the hulu B&S page.  I actually prefer B&S to the Property Brothers show

Who knew?!  I just typed "HGTV" into Hulu to see what they had and B&S wasn't listed in the 5-6.  I think I also put in Property Brothers (which they didn't have).  And apparently I also get This Old House too.

Jack

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Re: HGTV Shows - hilarious/head-scratching moments
« Reply #54 on: July 08, 2015, 08:05:17 PM »
And apparently I also get This Old House too.

Everybody gets This Old House; it's on public television (see video.pbs.org).

CommonCents

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Re: HGTV Shows - hilarious/head-scratching moments
« Reply #55 on: July 08, 2015, 09:03:15 PM »
And apparently I also get This Old House too.

Everybody gets This Old House; it's on public television (see video.pbs.org).

Yup, saw. 

surething22

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Re: HGTV Shows - hilarious/head-scratching moments
« Reply #56 on: July 08, 2015, 09:52:37 PM »
Flip or Flop: Ok, just started watching on HGTV.

One of the few HGTV shows we watch pretty regularly. Our only issue with it is that the intro still paints it as if they're struggling to get by- when they've at times mentioned how many houses they are renovating at that particular time- like -EIGHTEEN- of them- and they seem to make an average of $40k or so per house. Even accounting for living in SoCal like they do, with each house taking conservatively 2 months, and assuming they only flip 10 in that time, that's still like $3.6 MILLION per year.

We've rather liked some of the competitive shows like last year's "Flipping the Block" and this year's similar "Beach Flip". Their budgets are kind of unrealistic given it looks like they get all their furniture and such from the sponsoring show for free (SWMBO noted in the commercial for the one this year- Wayfair I think?) that the throw pillow they highlighted was like $90 alone (they showed the website in the commercial).

I watch Flip or Flop and like to see what neighborhoods/cities they're flipping as I live in OC. Definitely agree though, they have to be making out REALLY well, and $3.6M/year conservatively makes sense. Crazy.

As someone alluded to a drinking game above, you can definitely play when Christina mentions "granite", whines about paint colors, or trolls Tarek on the list price.

I'm always impressed how they generally seem to get offers at or above listing, when they list at the very top of comps.

iris lily

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Re: HGTV Shows - hilarious/head-scratching moments
« Reply #57 on: July 08, 2015, 11:25:08 PM »

I love that chick in the Twin cities who renovates old houses and pays careful attention to original features. She is about the only one who actually teaches me something each time I watch.


That's Rehab Addict.

Her show is my favorite too.  Though some parts of it annoy me. I care less about her personal life and would rather just see the renovation.  Of course, I hadn't noticed so much of the personal stuff until I binge watched all the episodes Netflix had.

that's it, yes! Rehab Addict. She is great.

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Re: HGTV Shows - hilarious/head-scratching moments
« Reply #58 on: July 09, 2015, 12:19:49 AM »
I basically watched all of Holmes Inspection that was available Netflix between putting an offer in on my house and doing the inspection. I honestly think it helped me ask better questions and get more out of my inspection.

CommonCents

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Re: HGTV Shows - hilarious/head-scratching moments
« Reply #59 on: July 09, 2015, 07:45:41 AM »
Flip or Flop: Ok, just started watching on HGTV.

One of the few HGTV shows we watch pretty regularly. Our only issue with it is that the intro still paints it as if they're struggling to get by- when they've at times mentioned how many houses they are renovating at that particular time- like -EIGHTEEN- of them- and they seem to make an average of $40k or so per house. Even accounting for living in SoCal like they do, with each house taking conservatively 2 months, and assuming they only flip 10 in that time, that's still like $3.6 MILLION per year.

We've rather liked some of the competitive shows like last year's "Flipping the Block" and this year's similar "Beach Flip". Their budgets are kind of unrealistic given it looks like they get all their furniture and such from the sponsoring show for free (SWMBO noted in the commercial for the one this year- Wayfair I think?) that the throw pillow they highlighted was like $90 alone (they showed the website in the commercial).

I watch Flip or Flop and like to see what neighborhoods/cities they're flipping as I live in OC. Definitely agree though, they have to be making out REALLY well, and $3.6M/year conservatively makes sense. Crazy.

As someone alluded to a drinking game above, you can definitely play when Christina mentions "granite", whines about paint colors, or trolls Tarek on the list price.

I'm always impressed how they generally seem to get offers at or above listing, when they list at the very top of comps.

Yes, I'm always saying, "really?!" to my husband when they list at the top of the comps and there's some problem (busy street the comp doesn't have).  In the case I'm thinking about, they borrowed money to do their all cash offer and paid $200 or so per day on it...then sat ~45 days before having to drop it.  I felt vindicated.  (I also wondered why the borrowed money interest didn't stop when they sold other properties they were flipping and freed up cash...but then that's tv.)

asiljoy

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Re: HGTV Shows - hilarious/head-scratching moments
« Reply #60 on: July 09, 2015, 09:00:03 AM »
And apparently I also get This Old House too.

Everybody gets This Old House; it's on public television (see video.pbs.org).

I didn't realize video.pbs.org was a thing. Nice!

Helvegen

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Re: HGTV Shows - hilarious/head-scratching moments
« Reply #61 on: July 09, 2015, 09:48:23 AM »
Holmes Inspection was my favorite and what got me on the HGTV realty shows in the first place

My husband and I spent two whole weekends binge watching that on Netflix. I think we know at least to never buy a row house in Toronto! :p

I thought it was really eye opening and educational. I would not have even have thought to look for a lot of the things that they found wrong. I recommend watching it to everyone.

As a mostly satisfied renter, HGTV simultaneously makes me want to buy and scared to death to buy.

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Re: HGTV Shows - hilarious/head-scratching moments
« Reply #62 on: July 09, 2015, 10:15:22 AM »

Oh man, this reminded me of "Bang for your Buck".  It compared 3 renovations of the same room at the same budget, then determined which one had the best ROI.

I think the show should have been renamed "Whose location is best?" 
Because the house in the best neighborhood (if you knew the areas) ALWAYS won.

Ohhh I think it's now "My House is Worth WHAT?!"  There also one where they take an arbitrary amount of money and compare the kinds of homes you can in like SoCal, the Midwest US, and east coast or sometimes the gulf area. Those are pretty interesting.


No, that's a different show (but an interesting one, I think).  In Bang for Your Buck, all the houses will be in the same city. So they'll do $30,000 bathroom renovations in Austin, or $50,000 Kitchen renovations in Tampa.  And it always comes down to who has the best neighborhood, though the "experts" will critique the choices they made in the renovation.

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Re: HGTV Shows - hilarious/head-scratching moments
« Reply #63 on: July 09, 2015, 10:17:42 AM »

I forget if it was HGTV or another channel, but there was 'Vacation home for free' show where people looked for and bought (usually fixer-uppers) vacation properties such that the income from renting them out the rest of the year that they weren't actually using the place would cover the cost of the mortgage and upkeep on the place. Always seemed like a pretty neat idea.

I think that was HGTV.  I laughed my ass off when it got to the end and he says to the new homeowner "Now, you can rent this for 12 weeks at $3,000 a week, or 16 weeks at $2,250 a week- which would you rather do?"  As if the owner gets to decide that and not the market!  Why not just rent it for 1 week at $36,000? That seems ideal.


What is the show with the Waco couple who does a house hunt and renovations? Even though they do the same style in almost every house, I find that one to be interesting too.  And because it is Waco, none of the budgets are ever that insane.

Basenji

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Re: HGTV Shows - hilarious/head-scratching moments
« Reply #64 on: July 09, 2015, 11:20:16 AM »
Holmes Inspection is/was (?) so great. But after watching I would become anxious about my entire house and had to stop watching. Mold, electrical, plumbing, oh God, ticking timebombs in the walls!

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Re: HGTV Shows - hilarious/head-scratching moments
« Reply #65 on: July 09, 2015, 11:49:04 AM »

Recently I've caught a couple episodes of the fixer upper show, and if the home owner has a $280K budget, and buys the house for $200K, they just have to use every cent remaining in their budget.  In fact, part of the show is the designer saying "OK, I have 3K left, so do you want to spend it on X, Y or Z?"  As if it would be a crime to leave ANY money available credit on the table.


I call Fixer Upper the "Oh, look at that nice maintenance free brick: Let's paint it" show.  (Seriously: has there ever been an episode where they didn't paint over brick?)  Yes, the concept of this one drives me mad.  Never do they come under budget and reap the reward.  It's always $X more to spend elsewhere.

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Re: HGTV Shows - hilarious/head-scratching moments
« Reply #66 on: July 09, 2015, 11:59:16 AM »

Oh man, this reminded me of "Bang for your Buck".  It compared 3 renovations of the same room at the same budget, then determined which one had the best ROI.

I think the show should have been renamed "Whose location is best?" 
Because the house in the best neighborhood (if you knew the areas) ALWAYS won.

Ohhh I think it's now "My House is Worth WHAT?!"  There also one where they take an arbitrary amount of money and compare the kinds of homes you can in like SoCal, the Midwest US, and east coast or sometimes the gulf area. Those are pretty interesting.


No, that's a different show (but an interesting one, I think).  In Bang for Your Buck, all the houses will be in the same city. So they'll do $30,000 bathroom renovations in Austin, or $50,000 Kitchen renovations in Tampa.  And it always comes down to who has the best neighborhood, though the "experts" will critique the choices they made in the renovation.

My irritation with the comparison between houses in different cities, was that at the end they essentially concluded the cheaper location was automatically the better one, without considering or mentioning other factors (e.g. getting higher salaries in the HCOL area, or maybe jobs that don't exist in the LCOL place, and often the HCOL places also offers more in terms of culture/entertainment etc that may be valuable to someone).  Normally there's more of a balance in the presentation. 

asiljoy

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Re: HGTV Shows - hilarious/head-scratching moments
« Reply #67 on: July 09, 2015, 12:04:52 PM »
I call Fixer Upper the "Oh, look at that nice maintenance free brick: Let's paint it" show.  (Seriously: has there ever been an episode where they didn't paint over brick?)  Yes, the concept of this one drives me mad. 

Ugh. I hate painted brick. All the other townhomes in my association have a pretty red brick fireplace. Someone decided to paint mine white in the mid-90's. It's a nice shade of dirty gray now...

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Re: HGTV Shows - hilarious/head-scratching moments
« Reply #68 on: July 09, 2015, 01:43:11 PM »
I caught a few minutes of a "house hunters" style show last night. They were buying a tiny house. In the 3-4 minutes I watched these fools said "this seems so small", "it's a bit tight", "how can we both fit in the bathroom", "where are we going to fit our king size bed".

WTF. Tiny houses are small? Who knew?

begood

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Re: HGTV Shows - hilarious/head-scratching moments
« Reply #69 on: July 09, 2015, 01:56:57 PM »
As usual, I am late the the party. I have just now started watching these shows. I find them comforting in the same way macaroni & cheese is comforting.

I want to know if they all get to keep that coolass shit the decorators put in - I saw a couch on a show yesterday that almost made me hyperventilate!



Chris22

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Re: HGTV Shows - hilarious/head-scratching moments
« Reply #70 on: July 09, 2015, 02:05:07 PM »
I also always wonder in "love it or list it" where they lay out $50-80k+ in rennos and ALSO are thinking of buying a new house.  There simply can't be that many people who are that cash rich that can lay out that kind of coin AND THEN think of going and buying a new house right away instead.  I always wonder "didn't you just spend all of your downpayment???"

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Re: HGTV Shows - hilarious/head-scratching moments
« Reply #71 on: July 09, 2015, 02:10:38 PM »
I also always wonder in "love it or list it" where they lay out $50-80k+ in rennos and ALSO are thinking of buying a new house.  There simply can't be that many people who are that cash rich that can lay out that kind of coin AND THEN think of going and buying a new house right away instead.  I always wonder "didn't you just spend all of your downpayment???"

Presumably they get it- and more- back when they sell the house they just spruced up.
I think most people get their downpayment from the sale of a previous house.

I know my neighbors were flabbergasted when I moved without selling my old house. They didn't understand how I could have money for a downpayment and didn't think 0% down loans were still around.

horsepoor

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Re: HGTV Shows - hilarious/head-scratching moments
« Reply #72 on: July 09, 2015, 02:12:30 PM »

Oh man, this reminded me of "Bang for your Buck".  It compared 3 renovations of the same room at the same budget, then determined which one had the best ROI.

I think the show should have been renamed "Whose location is best?" 
Because the house in the best neighborhood (if you knew the areas) ALWAYS won.

Ohhh I think it's now "My House is Worth WHAT?!"  There also one where they take an arbitrary amount of money and compare the kinds of homes you can in like SoCal, the Midwest US, and east coast or sometimes the gulf area. Those are pretty interesting.


No, that's a different show (but an interesting one, I think).  In Bang for Your Buck, all the houses will be in the same city. So they'll do $30,000 bathroom renovations in Austin, or $50,000 Kitchen renovations in Tampa.  And it always comes down to who has the best neighborhood, though the "experts" will critique the choices they made in the renovation.

My irritation with the comparison between houses in different cities, was that at the end they essentially concluded the cheaper location was automatically the better one, without considering or mentioning other factors (e.g. getting higher salaries in the HCOL area, or maybe jobs that don't exist in the LCOL place, and often the HCOL places also offers more in terms of culture/entertainment etc that may be valuable to someone).  Normally there's more of a balance in the presentation.

Yeah, I saw one while I was at the gym the other day, where the house closer to work was like $20K more, and they felt they couldn't afford it.  Wouldn't the increase in commuting costs offset the tiny amount that $20K would add to what I can only assume is going to be a 30 year mortgage.  Of course they went for more house, farther out.

Chris22

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Re: HGTV Shows - hilarious/head-scratching moments
« Reply #73 on: July 09, 2015, 02:14:50 PM »
I also always wonder in "love it or list it" where they lay out $50-80k+ in rennos and ALSO are thinking of buying a new house.  There simply can't be that many people who are that cash rich that can lay out that kind of coin AND THEN think of going and buying a new house right away instead.  I always wonder "didn't you just spend all of your downpayment???"

Presumably they get it- and more- back when they sell the house they just spruced up.
I think most people get their downpayment from the sale of a previous house.

I know my neighbors were flabbergasted when I moved without selling my old house. They didn't understand how I could have money for a downpayment and didn't think 0% down loans were still around.

Yeah, that's presumably how it works I know, but in reality in these days where offers contingent on selling your prior place are not accepted, etc, it seems incredibly risky. 

We bought our second house and still own our first which is rented out, and we can't count that rental income as income so we have to float both mortgages against our W2 income for debt:income ratios.  Thank God we make a decent amount of money and didn't want to buy a crazy expensive house, because we've got a VERY high debt:income load now (again, not including the rental income which basically offsets the mortgage on house 1).  Our two mortages together are about 3x gross income.  Yikes. 

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Re: HGTV Shows - hilarious/head-scratching moments
« Reply #74 on: July 09, 2015, 02:16:59 PM »


Yeah, I saw one while I was at the gym the other day, where the house closer to work was like $20K more, and they felt they couldn't afford it.  Wouldn't the increase in commuting costs offset the tiny amount that $20K would add to what I can only assume is going to be a 30 year mortgage.  Of course they went for more house, farther out.

That house might not have been available when they bought. (Or at all...)

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Re: HGTV Shows - hilarious/head-scratching moments
« Reply #75 on: July 09, 2015, 02:19:14 PM »

Yeah, that's presumably how it works I know, but in reality in these days where offers contingent on selling your prior place are not accepted, etc, it seems incredibly risky. 


Yeah- except it is in Canada, and HGTV has clearly taught me I do not understand the Canadian housing market. (They seem to waive inspection to 'win' the house all the time, for instance.)

Besides, since they have a nicely remodeled house, wouldn't they just stay in it until they sell it, and then go find a new house to buy?  (I guess that ruins the premise of the show that they buy the house David shows them... so within the context of the show, okay- the concept makes no sense.  In real life though, the show is a total lie anyway.)

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Re: HGTV Shows - hilarious/head-scratching moments
« Reply #76 on: July 09, 2015, 02:34:59 PM »
I caught a few minutes of a "house hunters" style show last night. They were buying a tiny house. In the 3-4 minutes I watched these fools said "this seems so small", "it's a bit tight", "how can we both fit in the bathroom", "where are we going to fit our king size bed".

WTF. Tiny houses are small? Who knew?

haha, I saw that too.  I thought it seemed to me that they didn't really want a tiny house...  I was shocked they were thinking they needed two people in a bathroom at once.  And I was amazed they kept talking about how the big one was a whole $7k over their budget and blowing it...but then given their woes over that, it seemed ridiculous to consider the one $17k over (and they hardly touched on it).

And my husband commented he thought their kitchen was bigger than ours!

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Re: HGTV Shows - hilarious/head-scratching moments
« Reply #77 on: July 09, 2015, 02:42:53 PM »


Yeah, I saw one while I was at the gym the other day, where the house closer to work was like $20K more, and they felt they couldn't afford it.  Wouldn't the increase in commuting costs offset the tiny amount that $20K would add to what I can only assume is going to be a 30 year mortgage.  Of course they went for more house, farther out.

That house might not have been available when they bought. (Or at all...)

But for sake of pretending that the house is actually on the market as the show represents... they ought to discuss the added cost of the commute vs. difference in the price of the house, rather than pretending that an extra half hour of commuting each day has no monetary cost.

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Re: HGTV Shows - hilarious/head-scratching moments
« Reply #78 on: July 09, 2015, 03:10:56 PM »

But for sake of pretending that the house is actually on the market as the show represents... they ought to discuss the added cost of the commute vs. difference in the price of the house, rather than pretending that an extra half hour of commuting each day has no monetary cost.

But don't most people pretend it doesn't?  I think the notion that commute actually represents a cost is a very MMM realization.

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Re: HGTV Shows - hilarious/head-scratching moments
« Reply #79 on: July 09, 2015, 03:24:07 PM »
Flip or Flop: Ok, just started watching on HGTV.

One of the few HGTV shows we watch pretty regularly. Our only issue with it is that the intro still paints it as if they're struggling to get by- when they've at times mentioned how many houses they are renovating at that particular time- like -EIGHTEEN- of them- and they seem to make an average of $40k or so per house. Even accounting for living in SoCal like they do, with each house taking conservatively 2 months, and assuming they only flip 10 in that time, that's still like $3.6 MILLION per year.

We've rather liked some of the competitive shows like last year's "Flipping the Block" and this year's similar "Beach Flip". Their budgets are kind of unrealistic given it looks like they get all their furniture and such from the sponsoring show for free (SWMBO noted in the commercial for the one this year- Wayfair I think?) that the throw pillow they highlighted was like $90 alone (they showed the website in the commercial).

I watch Flip or Flop and like to see what neighborhoods/cities they're flipping as I live in OC. Definitely agree though, they have to be making out REALLY well, and $3.6M/year conservatively makes sense. Crazy.

As someone alluded to a drinking game above, you can definitely play when Christina mentions "granite", whines about paint colors, or trolls Tarek on the list price.

I'm always impressed how they generally seem to get offers at or above listing, when they list at the very top of comps.

It bothers the hell out of me when they price a house aggressively compared to the comps, and then still get multiple offers driving the price even higher. If you put an offer on a house that's way above the appraisal, your lender will expect you to make up the difference, effectively killing the deal if the buyer has a small down payment. Only once have I seen an episode where an appraiser warned them that the house wouldn't appraise for as much as they wanted to list it at. Are they just lying about the sale price? Are they lying about the comps to create more suspense? WHAT KIND OF TV MAGIC IS AT WORK?!?!?!?

Also, I can't be the only one who watches hoping to see them lose money on their flips, can I? The closest they'll ever get to that is ending the episode with the house still sitting on the market.

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Re: HGTV Shows - hilarious/head-scratching moments
« Reply #80 on: July 09, 2015, 05:00:12 PM »
You guys remember the TLC show a decade ago called - Trading Spaces?  Wasn't that one of the first big ones.

Oh, the craziness.

asiljoy

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Re: HGTV Shows - hilarious/head-scratching moments
« Reply #81 on: July 09, 2015, 05:11:04 PM »
You guys remember the TLC show a decade ago called - Trading Spaces?  Wasn't that one of the first big ones.

Oh, the craziness.

Yes!! I remember watching one where they glued hay to the walls and thinking that couple had to really hate their neighbors.

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Re: HGTV Shows - hilarious/head-scratching moments
« Reply #82 on: July 09, 2015, 06:19:20 PM »
Flip or Flop: Ok, just started watching on HGTV.

One of the few HGTV shows we watch pretty regularly. Our only issue with it is that the intro still paints it as if they're struggling to get by- when they've at times mentioned how many houses they are renovating at that particular time- like -EIGHTEEN- of them- and they seem to make an average of $40k or so per house. Even accounting for living in SoCal like they do, with each house taking conservatively 2 months, and assuming they only flip 10 in that time, that's still like $3.6 MILLION per year.

We've rather liked some of the competitive shows like last year's "Flipping the Block" and this year's similar "Beach Flip". Their budgets are kind of unrealistic given it looks like they get all their furniture and such from the sponsoring show for free (SWMBO noted in the commercial for the one this year- Wayfair I think?) that the throw pillow they highlighted was like $90 alone (they showed the website in the commercial).

I watch Flip or Flop and like to see what neighborhoods/cities they're flipping as I live in OC. Definitely agree though, they have to be making out REALLY well, and $3.6M/year conservatively makes sense. Crazy.

As someone alluded to a drinking game above, you can definitely play when Christina mentions "granite", whines about paint colors, or trolls Tarek on the list price.

I'm always impressed how they generally seem to get offers at or above listing, when they list at the very top of comps.

It bothers the hell out of me when they price a house aggressively compared to the comps, and then still get multiple offers driving the price even higher. If you put an offer on a house that's way above the appraisal, your lender will expect you to make up the difference, effectively killing the deal if the buyer has a small down payment. Only once have I seen an episode where an appraiser warned them that the house wouldn't appraise for as much as they wanted to list it at. Are they just lying about the sale price? Are they lying about the comps to create more suspense? WHAT KIND OF TV MAGIC IS AT WORK?!?!?!?

Also, I can't be the only one who watches hoping to see them lose money on their flips, can I? The closest they'll ever get to that is ending the episode with the house still sitting on the market.

There was one episode where they posted a loss of 3K.  I was shocked to see....I also realize I have probably watched way too much of that show.

I love Fixer Upper mainly because I love her taste and want her to decorate my home and love Chip's wacky sense of humor.  He really cracks me up.

horsepoor

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Re: HGTV Shows - hilarious/head-scratching moments
« Reply #83 on: July 09, 2015, 10:38:10 PM »

But for sake of pretending that the house is actually on the market as the show represents... they ought to discuss the added cost of the commute vs. difference in the price of the house, rather than pretending that an extra half hour of commuting each day has no monetary cost.

But don't most people pretend it doesn't?  I think the notion that commute actually represents a cost is a very MMM realization.

That's kind of my point.  They never discuss the other ongoing costs entailed in buying the various homes - commute and utilities make for boring TV I guess.  The pros and cons of tearing out a "hideous" bathroom they just can't live with (that is, probably plain and serviceable) vs. the house on the noisy street are much more interesting.

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Re: HGTV Shows - hilarious/head-scratching moments
« Reply #84 on: July 10, 2015, 07:34:46 AM »

But for sake of pretending that the house is actually on the market as the show represents... they ought to discuss the added cost of the commute vs. difference in the price of the house, rather than pretending that an extra half hour of commuting each day has no monetary cost.

But don't most people pretend it doesn't?  I think the notion that commute actually represents a cost is a very MMM realization.

That's kind of my point.  They never discuss the other ongoing costs entailed in buying the various homes - commute and utilities make for boring TV I guess.

Well on HH, they do usually discuss if commute TIME is significantly different.  They ignore the cost, because quite frankly, the cost is nowhere near as significant for most people as MMM likes to pretend it is. 

For instance, I'm an extreme example.  I recently traded a 30-mile one-way commute for a 7-mile on.  I am not going to ride my bike, so either way it's by car.  By far the biggest change is in gas, but even that isn't THAT much:

30 miles x 2 trips x 5 days x 52 weeks = 15,600 miles / 25 mpg = 624 gallons x $3 = $1872
7 miles x 2 trips x 5 days x 52 weeks = 3,640 miles / 25 mpg = 146 gallons x $3 = $437.

Difference is $1435/yr or $120/mo. 

Is that nothing?  Obviously not.  Is it what I'm going to make a $XXX,XXX decision based on?  Also no.  Yeah, you can try to justify a bigger change based on the gov't mileage reimbursable rate, but really, most people will just change their lifestyle to accomodate (keep a car longer, for instance) rather than realize a large change in cost. 

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Re: HGTV Shows - hilarious/head-scratching moments
« Reply #85 on: July 13, 2015, 11:20:42 AM »
One of the few HGTV shows we watch pretty regularly. Our only issue with it is that the intro still paints it as if they're struggling to get by- when they've at times mentioned how many houses they are renovating at that particular time- like -EIGHTEEN- of them- and they seem to make an average of $40k or so per house. Even accounting for living in SoCal like they do, with each house taking conservatively 2 months, and assuming they only flip 10 in that time, that's still like $3.6 MILLION per year.

Closet Flip Or Flop fan here.  :)

I read or saw--don't remember which--an interview with Tarek El Moussa somewhere where he said that all their deals are done 50/50 with an investor, so that their actual "take-home" profit from the deals on the show are half the stated value, but that they don't bring this in to the calculations presented because it would make it too cluttered and confusing for the viewer.  I get that, I guess--even though it's a little disingenuous, I'm still a fan of the show and really enjoy learning a thing or two between the lines. 

They do occasionally show an investor that they work with (named Pete); he kind of makes me nervous, and I tend to tune out the episodes where they show him.  I've actually stopped watching some of the other flip shows because of all the yelling and narcissism; I prefer ones like Flip Or Flop and Fixer Upper where people are nice and don't yell at each other and treat their spouses and kids with love and respect.  Plus Chip Gaines is a HOOT.  :)

Sibley

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Re: HGTV Shows - hilarious/head-scratching moments
« Reply #86 on: July 14, 2015, 08:47:16 AM »
I call Fixer Upper the "Oh, look at that nice maintenance free brick: Let's paint it" show.  (Seriously: has there ever been an episode where they didn't paint over brick?)  Yes, the concept of this one drives me mad. 

Ugh. I hate painted brick. All the other townhomes in my association have a pretty red brick fireplace. Someone decided to paint mine white in the mid-90's. It's a nice shade of dirty gray now...

Yeah, and I know of no way to remove paint from the brick that doesn't result in also removing the mortar. If you don't like the brick, why'd you buy the house?

asiljoy

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Re: HGTV Shows - hilarious/head-scratching moments
« Reply #87 on: July 14, 2015, 08:58:44 AM »
I call Fixer Upper the "Oh, look at that nice maintenance free brick: Let's paint it" show.  (Seriously: has there ever been an episode where they didn't paint over brick?)  Yes, the concept of this one drives me mad. 

Ugh. I hate painted brick. All the other townhomes in my association have a pretty red brick fireplace. Someone decided to paint mine white in the mid-90's. It's a nice shade of dirty gray now...

Yeah, and I know of no way to remove paint from the brick that doesn't result in also removing the mortar. If you don't like the brick, why'd you buy the house?

Because I wasn't going to pass up a house that fit my needs and my budget in a great location because I didn't care for some of the design choices of the previous owner. The brick will be fixed/removed/tiled over/something when we get around to it. For now, I'm just going to sigh and move on.

Sibley

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Re: HGTV Shows - hilarious/head-scratching moments
« Reply #88 on: July 14, 2015, 09:12:51 AM »
I call Fixer Upper the "Oh, look at that nice maintenance free brick: Let's paint it" show.  (Seriously: has there ever been an episode where they didn't paint over brick?)  Yes, the concept of this one drives me mad. 

Ugh. I hate painted brick. All the other townhomes in my association have a pretty red brick fireplace. Someone decided to paint mine white in the mid-90's. It's a nice shade of dirty gray now...

Yeah, and I know of no way to remove paint from the brick that doesn't result in also removing the mortar. If you don't like the brick, why'd you buy the house?

Because I wasn't going to pass up a house that fit my needs and my budget in a great location because I didn't care for some of the design choices of the previous owner. The brick will be fixed/removed/tiled over/something when we get around to it. For now, I'm just going to sigh and move on.

Oops, I was actually picking on the people to buy the unpainted brick house then paint it. But sounds like a good plan for your place!

ABC123

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Re: HGTV Shows - hilarious/head-scratching moments
« Reply #89 on: July 14, 2015, 12:34:29 PM »
A co-worker's son and daughter-in-law were just on House Hunters a few weeks ago.  I was not as aware as many of you apparently are, and I naively thought that the people on the show were actually house hunting.  I always thought it was strange how at the end, when they sit down together to discuss the features of the different houses, they are somehow magically always secretly wanting the same house.  But when my co-worker told me they had already bought the house before they ever applied for the show, and then another co-worker said she knew someone else who had been on a while back and they also already owned the house, I admit - I kinda felt like I was finding out that Santa isn't real.  Sigh.  I really like HH, and now I just can't watch it.  What a fraud.  If you're gonna make a reality tv show, seems like it should be at least remotely real. 

Cheddar Stacker

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Re: HGTV Shows - hilarious/head-scratching moments
« Reply #90 on: July 14, 2015, 01:02:35 PM »
I always thought it was strange how at the end, when they sit down together to discuss the features of the different houses, they are somehow magically always secretly wanting the same house. 

I've seen two episodes where they actually couldn't decide between two houses so they purchased both of them. Ridiculous.

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Re: HGTV Shows - hilarious/head-scratching moments
« Reply #91 on: July 14, 2015, 01:06:39 PM »
A co-worker's son and daughter-in-law were just on House Hunters a few weeks ago.  I was not as aware as many of you apparently are, and I naively thought that the people on the show were actually house hunting.  I always thought it was strange how at the end, when they sit down together to discuss the features of the different houses, they are somehow magically always secretly wanting the same house.  But when my co-worker told me they had already bought the house before they ever applied for the show, and then another co-worker said she knew someone else who had been on a while back and they also already owned the house, I admit - I kinda felt like I was finding out that Santa isn't real.  Sigh.  I really like HH, and now I just can't watch it.  What a fraud.  If you're gonna make a reality tv show, seems like it should be at least remotely real.

After watching enough episodes, the fakery becomes apparent -- all episodes come down to choosing among three -- and only three --  houses and there are never lost bidding wars, surprise problems revealed in inspections, problems with securing lending, or other failed contingencies. In real life people have more difficulty with choosing and adopting a puppy versus buying a house in House Hunters world! :)

CommonCents

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Re: HGTV Shows - hilarious/head-scratching moments
« Reply #92 on: July 14, 2015, 01:09:16 PM »
I always thought it was strange how at the end, when they sit down together to discuss the features of the different houses, they are somehow magically always secretly wanting the same house. 

I've seen two episodes where they actually couldn't decide between two houses so they purchased both of them. Ridiculous.

Wahaaaat?

How does that even work?  Live 6 months of the year in one and then switch to the other?  Or are these vacation properties so now they have 3 houses?

Reminds me of when my freshman year roommate said "our New York* house".  Not realizing people actually had multiple houses, I teased her about her funny phrasing...and thus learned her family owned 4 houses.  One was in Utah I remember (skiing likely - she and her brother was exceedingly good).  Yozers.

*or other, I can't remember

frugalnacho

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Re: HGTV Shows - hilarious/head-scratching moments
« Reply #93 on: July 14, 2015, 01:11:35 PM »
I've stated this before, but my biggest pet peeve with house hunters is the HOA fees that are always glossed over and never factored into the equation.  One option is like $1600/mo with no HOA fees and is right at the max budget.  The other option is about $1600/mo plus additional HOA fees of $800/mo.  Those options aren't comparable, and if the first is the max budget then the second shouldn't even be an option.  Drives me insane to see those huge fees that increase the "max" budget by over 50% (and NEVER go away unlike a mortgage which eventually does) and it just gets glossed over like it's no big deal.

frugalnacho

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Re: HGTV Shows - hilarious/head-scratching moments
« Reply #94 on: July 14, 2015, 01:16:13 PM »
My second biggest pet peeve is people nitpicking tiny fixable details, like paint.  You are buying a quarter of a million dollar house, you should be painting the interior before you move in anyway.  The current paint on the walls should not even be a consideration.  Or granite counter tops.  "I really like almost everything about this $300k house...if only it had granite counter tops.  It's not like we could hire a company to come install the new granite counters we desire for a tiny tiny fraction of the total cost of the house though...better keep looking and consider other options with granite already preinstalled"

Cheddar Stacker

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Re: HGTV Shows - hilarious/head-scratching moments
« Reply #95 on: July 14, 2015, 01:16:22 PM »
I always thought it was strange how at the end, when they sit down together to discuss the features of the different houses, they are somehow magically always secretly wanting the same house. 

I've seen two episodes where they actually couldn't decide between two houses so they purchased both of them. Ridiculous.

Wahaaaat?

How does that even work?  Live 6 months of the year in one and then switch to the other?  Or are these vacation properties so now they have 3 houses?

Reminds me of when my freshman year roommate said "our New York* house".  Not realizing people actually had multiple houses, I teased her about her funny phrasing...and thus learned her family owned 4 houses.  One was in Utah I remember (skiing likely - she and her brother was exceedingly good).  Yozers.

*or other, I can't remember

One of the episodes the buyers were in Alaska and I can't remember the reason they bought both, I only caught the end of it as my wife was watching.

The other one though, it was a 60ish gay couple in Mexico/Caribbean. One of them wanted a small house in the hot part of town so they could enjoy the night life. The other wanted the larger, more secluded place a mile from town.

The plan was to stay in the city house for the weekend, then retreat an entire mile to the bigger place to spend their weeks. In their defense, the smaller place was like $80K and the bigger place was like $200K, so these weren't McMansions.

Jack

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Re: HGTV Shows - hilarious/head-scratching moments
« Reply #96 on: July 14, 2015, 02:24:41 PM »
A co-worker's son and daughter-in-law were just on House Hunters a few weeks ago.  I was not as aware as many of you apparently are, and I naively thought that the people on the show were actually house hunting.  I always thought it was strange how at the end, when they sit down together to discuss the features of the different houses, they are somehow magically always secretly wanting the same house.  But when my co-worker told me they had already bought the house before they ever applied for the show, and then another co-worker said she knew someone else who had been on a while back and they also already owned the house, I admit - I kinda felt like I was finding out that Santa isn't real.  Sigh.  I really like HH, and now I just can't watch it.  What a fraud.  If you're gonna make a reality tv show, seems like it should be at least remotely real.

After watching enough episodes, the fakery becomes apparent -- all episodes come down to choosing among three -- and only three --  houses and there are never lost bidding wars, surprise problems revealed in inspections, problems with securing lending, or other failed contingencies. In real life people have more difficulty with choosing and adopting a puppy versus buying a house in House Hunters world! :)

You know, HGTV used to have a show that did include all that kind of stuff. I think it also focused on first-time buyers... maybe "My First Place?"

The other one though, it was a 60ish gay couple in Mexico/Caribbean. One of them wanted a small house in the hot part of town so they could enjoy the night life. The other wanted the larger, more secluded place a mile from town.

The plan was to stay in the city house for the weekend, then retreat an entire mile to the bigger place to spend their weeks. In their defense, the smaller place was like $80K and the bigger place was like $200K, so these weren't McMansions.

You've got to be joking! They were being outrageously stupid, and "but it's not a McMansion" is categorically not even slightly a defense.

CommonCents

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Re: HGTV Shows - hilarious/head-scratching moments
« Reply #97 on: July 14, 2015, 02:44:32 PM »
The other one though, it was a 60ish gay couple in Mexico/Caribbean. One of them wanted a small house in the hot part of town so they could enjoy the night life. The other wanted the larger, more secluded place a mile from town.

The plan was to stay in the city house for the weekend, then retreat an entire mile to the bigger place to spend their weeks. In their defense, the smaller place was like $80K and the bigger place was like $200K, so these weren't McMansions.

You've got to be joking! They were being outrageously stupid, and "but it's not a McMansion" is categorically not even slightly a defense.

Cheaper than a divorce?

Jack

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Re: HGTV Shows - hilarious/head-scratching moments
« Reply #98 on: July 14, 2015, 03:13:46 PM »
The other one though, it was a 60ish gay couple in Mexico/Caribbean. One of them wanted a small house in the hot part of town so they could enjoy the night life. The other wanted the larger, more secluded place a mile from town.

The plan was to stay in the city house for the weekend, then retreat an entire mile to the bigger place to spend their weeks. In their defense, the smaller place was like $80K and the bigger place was like $200K, so these weren't McMansions.

You've got to be joking! They were being outrageously stupid, and "but it's not a McMansion" is categorically not even slightly a defense.

Cheaper than a divorce?

Still not an excuse.

(Also, being a gay couple, there's a decent chance they weren't technically married.)

Cheddar Stacker

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Re: HGTV Shows - hilarious/head-scratching moments
« Reply #99 on: July 14, 2015, 03:24:09 PM »
The other one though, it was a 60ish gay couple in Mexico/Caribbean. One of them wanted a small house in the hot part of town so they could enjoy the night life. The other wanted the larger, more secluded place a mile from town.

The plan was to stay in the city house for the weekend, then retreat an entire mile to the bigger place to spend their weeks. In their defense, the smaller place was like $80K and the bigger place was like $200K, so these weren't McMansions.

You've got to be joking! They were being outrageously stupid, and "but it's not a McMansion" is categorically not even slightly a defense.

Cheaper than a divorce?

Still not an excuse.

(Also, being a gay couple, there's a decent chance they weren't technically married.)

Jack, how about this excuse: They wanted the bigger place so they could entertain their friends from the bars after hours. So they'd party in the city at the bars, then since the city place was so small they couldn't fit enough people, they had to buy the bigger place.

Still not good enough for you?

Yeah, I was shocked when I saw it. Unexpected to say the least.