I’ve been watching the shows on HGTV a lot lately, especially the Property Virgins show. It’s interesting how editing can make the process look a lot better than it is in reality. I must give the producers credit though, they do mention in the show that the couple being featured may have looked at 20 – 30 homes during the process, even though they only normally show three homes in each episode.
They also at least bring up issues like waiting for answers on offers, especially bank owned or short-sale properties. I guess it wouldn’t be very good TV if you couldn’t compress months into the 30 minute show window. It would be very boring to actually watch months pass while the buyers are waiting for an answer from the bank, as we do all the time in the real world.
I always wonder what role the hostess on that show is really playing in those deals. She can’t be licensed as a Realtor® in the 4-5 states that I’ve seen her show houses in on the program; at least I don’t think so. I suppose they have a licensed Realtor behind the scenes on each deal. It just makes for good TV to have her gong from Miami on one show to Boston on the next and Toronto on the next. It would be great if we Realtors could do that, but we can’t.
They also seem to compress time a little too much some times, such as when they have the couple sit there while she supposedly goes and presents the offer, retuning a short while later with a counter offer or an acceptance. Would that things actually worked like that and worked that quickly.
Still it’s good reality TV and does show quite a bit about the real estate process and the role that the Realtor plays in the process. One aspect of house hunting that turns up on the show quite often is the buyers changing their minds about what they want in the middle of the search. That happens all the time.
Sometimes buyers realize during the hunt that some things on their wish list are just not gong to be possible within their budget constraints. Sometimes it’s because, when they find a house with all of the features they say they wanted; they see that they don’t really like them after all. Sometime they begin to realize the amount of work that might be involved in really buying that fixer-upper that they specified.
For whatever reason, buyers often end up happily buying a home that is completely different than what they described in the beginning of the process. That happens a lot when they start out looking at foreclosed homes and get tired of walking through cold, dark houses that have been badly damaged by irate ex-owners.
I like some of the other shows too. The one on income properties is informative. Some of the remodeling and staging shows also have great ideas and some are a little over the top. Still one can get something from all of these shows and for a Realtor it’s sort of a “busman’s holiday” thing to sit there and watch others do what you also knows how to do.
I sometimes yell at the people on the shows, if they do or say something really stupid, but that’s all part of watching TV for me; which is why my wife doesn’t like to watch with me. All-in-all I’d rater sit there and watch those show that most of the inane comedies and tired old formula cop shows, even if I know going in how each show’s going to end. Just once they should probably have the young couple fire the agent or have the agent tell the young couple that they really aren’t ready to buy and have her fire them as clients. Now that would be good TV.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment