People who've seemed on House Hunters provide an explanation for what it's like to be on the show and proportion their secrets and techniques.
It might be everyone's favourite responsible excitement, but it's been well-reported that HGTV's House Hunters is, effectively, a little fake. People who appear on the show in most cases already have a house purchased after which view faux houses to recreate the revel in of house hunting. It's very odd, especially because the individuals aren't actors. So what's it like to agree to fake-look at properties on national TV? Below, a few former House Hunters members describe the nitty gritty main points of this bizarre but a laugh enjoy.
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1. They inflate the budget.
The beginning of each House Hunters episode begins with a couple introducing themselves and explaining what their budget is for a new house. The web has always mocked this a part of the show as a result of, infrequently, the finances seems somewhat improbable, especially if the couple doesn't have high-paying jobs. How can a trainer have a $1 million finances?
Turns out there's a reason why the ones budgets appearance a little far-fetched. According to Kirstin Stone who did a Reddit AMA about her revel in being on the show, manufacturers made up her price range. "I wanted to spend no more than 130k, " she wrote. "They used my max qualification (165), and tacked on 15k I had in savings as 'renovation budget.'"
Fortunately, a $180,000 budget infrequently seems unreasonable.
2. You're compelled to act like a jerk.
Probably the greatest gripe about the show is how obnoxious couples are when taking a look at houses, from being overly obsessed with granite counter tops to having a whole meltdown over carpet. Although the show is not scripted and members give their honest evaluations about the homes, manufacturers do urge folks to exaggerate their dislikes. And in case you are a person who just considered a house that used to be perfect from most sensible to backside, then you are sadly pressured to nitpick over wall colour and look like an idiot on TV.
"I'm generally a pretty positive person," Kirstin mentioned in her AMA. "Even [when] I think negative things about a house, I wouldn't SAY them. They made sure I did. And I bought the 'fixer' of the three, so the other two were beautiful houses. In real life, I wouldn't have a single complaint with either."
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3. You'll have to get dressed slightly basic.
There's a reason why you will have by no means seen any individual wearing a graphic tee on the show. Production stipulates a strict dress code that forbids loud patterns, graphics, or slogans.
"They told us to wear some solids -- not prints -- and to bring an extra outfit," realtor Leslie Remy told Guidelive. "I brought four extra outfits and they were like, 'Nope, nope, nope.'" Not even jewelry is allowed. "I couldn't wear a necklace because it would interfere with the mic," she mentioned.
And no matter uninteresting, forged outfit you pick must be one you truly like as a result of you'll be able to be wearing it every day for four days.
"The morning of the first day of shooting in the DR, we were informed we had to wear the same outfits for the next three days as they wanted it to appear as if it had all taken place in one day," a trip blogger wrote about her revel in. "As a female that had my wardrobe changes planned for each day….well, let’s just say I wasn’t impressed."
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4. The other two house options sometimes don't seem to be even on the market.
As you realize, the people on House Hunters have already purchased their house sooner than they start filming. But the other two houses that they view now and again don't seem to be even on the marketplace. Several former participants stated the properties they considered had been either already offered, had folks already dwelling in them, or were even Airbnbs.
"We sold our house a few years ago and was approached to be one of the properties they were looking for," a reddit consumer wrote. "We'd already sold it to someone else but they said they'd just fake it for the cameras and say it was still for sale."
Another redditor chimed in with a equivalent story, "My cousin was on House Hunters International. It's all staged. The apartments they were looking at were already occupied, and the one they eventually chose was the apartment they were already living in."
However, house homeowners who permit their houses to be filmed are most often offered a $50 gift card for their trouble.
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5. The "follow up" pictures are filmed at the identical time as the whole lot else.
At the end of each episode, the show jumps two or 3 months into the long term to take a look at in on the couple and see how they experience their new home. However, as a result of it's costly to fly a manufacturing group out twice, the show data the "update" in most cases right through the similar week (every so often even the same day) as the house-hunt scenes.
"They film all the after shots at the house we chose first thing," author Dr. Nate Lambert wrote in an essay about his enjoy being on House Hunters International. "Then, they had a moving crew come pack up all our furniture and decorations and put everything in a moving van that parked down the road. Now, our house was bare and looked the way it did four months previous. We then came to our house and pretended it was the first time we’d ever seen it as we did the house hunter scenes. Once that was done, the crew came back and moved all our stuff back in."
This was true for former participant Tina Paul, too, who wrote about it on her blog. "We did the House Hunters International filming at the apartment we live in now on day two [of filming]," she wrote. "Our apartment needed to be empty or close to empty so that we could re-create how it looked before we moved in. At 7 a.m, movers arrived and started packing and moving anything that was not in a cupboard or closet. [...] Stressful does not begin to describe that day."
However, those that gave the impression on the common House Hunters stated the follow-up scenes had been shot per week after the house-hunt shoots. "They do [follow up], but it was like a week and a half later," Kirstin wrote. "So I got to paint like....every day after work for that span lol"
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6. You'll have to take off a whole week from work, and you can simplest be paid $500.
Being paid to fake-look at houses on TV isn't a profitable profession move either. Participants are simplest paid $500 for his or her hassle. For those that appear in the world version, they're paid $1,500.
"And you miss five days of work, so basically it cost me money to be on the show," Kirstin wrote. "I imagine it was good for my agent. But mostly, it's just kind of a strange experience that not everyone gets to have, so it was worth it."
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7. Realtors, on the different hand, don't seem to be paid.
Realtors are pretty much volunteers, they usually seem on the show most commonly for advertising/publicity functions. However, it's not simple. It's generally the realtor's process to locate the other two houses, which is able to be time-consuming. They also have to clear their schedule to be able to fake-show shoppers houses for 4 full days.
"The realtors are the unsung heroes of this show," Kirstin wrote. "They spend a LOT of time finding the right houses for production, and they are not compensated. Not shocking: most people don't want the liability of a camera crew and strangers in their house, that they're not allowed to be in all day, for no benefit."
Talk a few commitment. But the plus side is that, at the finish of the day, the realtor can brag on their ConnectedIn profile that they have been on House Hunters once.
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8. But howdy, no less than your foods will be paid for.
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9. You'll be steered to be particular on house style.
On the show, it's common to pay attention any person request a "colonial-style" home or a "craftman's style" house, which aren't words standard individuals who are not realtors normally use. Turns out manufacturers instruct contributors to specify which taste they want.
"They give you a document with descriptions and photos of styles, so you can be 'strongly opinionated' about them," Kirstin wrote. "In my case, my friend wanted me to have a craftsman (good luck in West Tennessee/North Mississippi), and I wanted a brick farmhouse."
Those individuals who bizarrely call for an "open-concept Victorian with hard wood floors and granite countertops" make a lot more sense.
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10. Expect filming to take all day.
Although the show is only 22 mins long, it takes hours to film, usually round 3 to 5 days. If you might be wondering how lengthy does it take to movie two folks griping about stainless steel appliances, it takes longer than you think. The production team simplest has one cameraman, so scenes generally have to be shot a number of instances to seize different angles.
"We only shot three or four times if the ambient sound was quiet because besides a cameraman wanting his shots there is a sound man who wanted clear audio," Tina wrote. "Some of the city shots required us to do them many times because before we finished our lines, a car came along, a horn honked or someone walked into the scene. They also shot multiple camera angles such as when we looked through an apartment and walked into a room, the first shot was always with the camera following us. Then we would repeat the scene, but this time the camera man was set up inside the room to catch us as we entered. Now you can understand why it can take 40 to 50 hours of footage to make a 22-minute show."
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11. Disagreements are dramatized.
Couples are all the time bickering on House Hunters, from other halves demanding one thing "quirky" to husbands not easy guy caves. Unsurprisingly, but these disagreements are exaggerated for our leisure.
"Naturally, this is a TV show and it would be boring if it were devoid of any drama, so the producer may choose a real conflict and blow it up," Dr. Nate wrote. "I felt like they made it look like [my wife] was obsessed with having a modern kitchen and I was obsessed with my ocean views."
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12. The software process is intense, and most of the people are turned down.
Considering how a lot work is going into showing on House Hunters, you'll think producers would be begging other folks to seem on the show. But since the series has this type of vast and faithful fan base, they're all the time receiving programs. The entire procedure is not easy either. Applicants have to answer a ton of essay questions about their house seek, do a telephone interview over Skype, after which put up a video audition. Even after doing all that unfastened unpaid exertions, some couples are nonetheless became down for now not having an enchanting storyline.
"I went through the written online application, phone interview, and video audition for House Hunters before ultimately not being selected," reddit person mlecscbs wrote. "[It was] because they had 'done my story' too many times recently (single woman in big city buying first home)."
Although you might wonder why folks put themselves via all the fakeness and the chaos, people who gave the impression on the show don't have anything but excellent things to say about their enjoy.
"We had an awesome time hanging out with the crew and then when the day was over and they left…..I was sad for it to end," one blogger wrote. "Nothing makes a girl feel more special than having an entourage with cameras and sound equipment following you around so that people on the street stop and stare wondering who you are."
However, for others, it wasn't the quarter-hour of popularity they had been after however something extra.
"It was an incredible experience and an honor for my family to be on an episode of House Hunters International," Dr. Nate wrote. "Although there were some made-up elements to our televised story, it was overall a pretty accurate depiction of our experience. We like a good clean story with a nice ending, and for that reason, I think that HGTV does this the right way. Just think of it as, 'Based on a True Story.'"
Indeed.
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