Is HGTV feeling our addiction & creating housing bubble

[WanderingWinoZ]

www.vulture.com/2017/09/the-ugliness-behind-hgtv-never-ending-fantasy-loop.html

There's a lot to unpack  here...

-consumers addicted to real estate, over-spending, trying to recover from mortgage crises
-reinforcement of all the gendered stereotypes on all the shows
-lots of little details, tidbits, and gossip in the backstory on some of the shows

[bex]

All those shows are so formulaic. On the renovation ones, the man walks around with a tool belt, while the wife is like, "I really think we need some white paint here" and then talks about her "vision" for the house.

House hunters is basically not watchable anymore for me. I do like the international ones because I like seeing what you can get in other houses, but even that is usually contrived in that the people moving almost always are doing so because their work is relocating them, so their budgets are inflated.

[eddy]

I know when I watch HGTV on the regular it makes me feel unsettled/unhappy/itching to move or do something. So I buy into it a bit. We live in a very affordable house and will not be moving even though the house is 1.5 times our income. We told ourselves after we both got big promotions that we were not going to fall for the "buy bigger" mentality that goes with growing income. I DO want to open up my kitchen to my dining room someday though so I haven't totally escaped the cliches of HGTV culture lol.

This was a fantastic article.

[bex]

Sept 21, 2017 6:31:19 GMT -5 eddy said:

I know when I watch HGTV on the regular it makes me feel unsettled/unhappy/itching to move or do something. So I buy into it a bit. We live in a very affordable house and will not be moving even though the house is 1.5 times our income. We told ourselves after we both got big promotions that we were not going to fall for the "buy bigger" mentality that goes with growing income. I DO want to open up my kitchen to my dining room someday though so I haven't totally escaped the cliches of HGTV culture lol.

This was a fantastic article.

This is where H and I are too. We can easily afford our mortgage. We could probably afford a bit more (and certainly will be able to when my SLs are forgiven in 3 years.) But I'm not sure if I want to upgrade my house and mortgage just because my income has increased.

I would like a nicer kitchen or bigger bathrooms, but when I look at houses in our area that have what I want, they are about 3 times the cost of our house. So, I don't want a nicer kitchen that badly, lol.

but sometimes these shows do get into my head.

[eclaires]

In some respects I definitely think this article is spot on. For me personally, though, I don't watch a ton of hgtv and when I do watch here and there, I like about 10% of what I see and about 90% of the formulaic show and personalities drives me up a wall and I watch to make fun of it.

That said, my housing and decorating inadequate feelings are fed much more by the fact that I grew up in a home that could be on hgtv every day so it's not like I'm immune to those feelings. They just aren't related to HGTV.

[underwaterrhymes]

This sentence right here made me simultaneously cackle and feel like a terrible person:

"Jonathan wanted to be a magician with a big, David Copperfield type of show until someone stole all his props and he had to file for bankruptcy."

It sounds like an episode of Arrested Development. This would totally happen to Gob.

[bowies]

I find HGTV horrifically boring because it's essentially one 46-minute show on repeat. I see why it became popular but I still don't know how it keeps an audience. Though with the line about it being a nighttime ritual for many families maybe they're falling asleep to it lol.

I enjoyed the tea about the Scott brothers. The magician thing somehow makes perfect sense.

Chip and Joanna Gaines have always felt like "acceptable" versions of Paula Deen to me. Wasn't there some controversy recently with them being bigots?

[underwaterrhymes]

Sept 21, 2017 6:49:35 GMT -5 bowies said:

I find HGTV horrifically boring because it's essentially one 46-minute show on repeat. I see why it became popular but I still don't know how it keeps an audience. Though with the line about it being a nighttime ritual for many families maybe they're falling asleep to it lol.

I enjoyed the tea about the Scott brothers. The magician thing somehow makes perfect sense.

Chip and Joanna Gaines have always felt like "acceptable" versions of Paula Deen to me. Wasn't there some controversy recently with them being bigots?

I watched only one episode of their show and found Chip and Joanna to be intolerable. I know many people love them, but I thought they were annoying and fake long before anything came out about their bigotry.

When it did, I was not one bit surprised. They are gross.

[eddy]

My weird ass kids love to watch House Hunters lol. We regularly pull up an episode in Friday night to watch together. But we spend most of the time yelling at the couple for making terrible choices.

[twilightmv]

Yeah, I used to watch it a lot as easy viewing when I was multi tasking, but now I don't even watch it for that purpose. All the episodes are too similar. Especially the renovation shows. It's all looked the same for the past 10 years.

[bowies]

Going back to something the article was trying to say - that HGTV is selling the social conservative family life as the ultimate in happiness - is providing me with a bit of an a-ha moment. Even thinking through the people in my own life who are addicted to HGTV, they are the ones who seem somewhat lost. That they'll be happy as soon as the environment is pretty. Pinterest and blogging/curating an aspirational life are also huge culprits in this.

[iammalcolmx]

I am going to answer without reading this, and that would be a NO. All watching these house flipping shows did was solidify the fact that I DID NOT want to ever flip houses. Also someone here wrote an article/blog about trying to get permits, for stuff like this, in the City of Atlanta and it was TERRIBLE.
I say that as someone who is about to start a commercial build-out.

[jeaniebueller]

Sept 21, 2017 6:49:35 GMT -5 bowies said:

I find HGTV horrifically boring because it's essentially one 46-minute show on repeat. I see why it became popular but I still don't know how it keeps an audience. Though with the line about it being a nighttime ritual for many families maybe they're falling asleep to it lol.

I enjoyed the tea about the Scott brothers. The magician thing somehow makes perfect sense.

Chip and Joanna Gaines have always felt like "acceptable" versions of Paula Deen to me. Wasn't there some controversy recently with them being bigots?

YES. I used to like watching House Hunters and House Hunters International, but its old now. Everyone in america wants their stupid granite countertops and stainless steel appliances and every american on HHI is shocked at how small everything is. I'm sick of it. Chip and Joanna bug.

[raangoli]

It normalizes the notion of keeping up with the Joneses in a way. I have stopped watching because like someone mentioned, it's very formulaic and I got tired of it fast. However, it is a "neutral" channel for me to watch when my mom is staying over, so I tend to watch bits then.

[Deleted]

I've seen several articles about the Gaines' marriage and how in love they are so I'm just expecting a cheating or divorce story at some point.

I don't watch these shows much. I used to want a bigger house until I had kids and realized how much more cleaning I'd have to do in a big house. lol Someday I'd like to upgrade SLIGHTLY but probably by the time that happens my kids will be grown and Dh and I won't need anything bigger.

[pantsparty]

I hate HGTV. I leave the room when my H has it on.

ETA: I think living on the west coast has made it even less watchable, when I see what people can buy in other markets, it just pisses me off. LOL.

Also I find the Property Brothers creepy. GET YOUR OWN LIVES ALREADY.

[bowies]

I'm also completely over the Texas farmhouse look now. I used to love it, but I associate it so strongly with the Gaineses that it annoys me. We recently moved into a neighborhood that is right up the HGTV alley (so joke's on me I guess) and the houses can get really cookie-cutter. I'm feeling a need to rebel.

There's a house down the street that installed the sliding barn doors on closets. It looks OK now, but when that fad passes it's going to be hell getting rid of those things.

[memenee]

Loved this article.

I, too, tired of HGTV when everything started looking the same. Every house The property brothers or Tarek and Christina did was the same - open concept kitchens with "good sight lines". They NEVER veer from that formula. Every house is the same. The only HGTV show that seemed to stray from this was Hometown - they renovated old homes that still looked like old homes. But I don't think that show is on anymore.

And Chip and Joanna are just too much. I loved this from the article:

"It’s too full of Chip and Joanna’s radiant good cheer and their careful understanding of what each family most wants: “You had said you wanted a place for Caleb to do his homework while you’re making dinner — so we’ve built in this desk next to the island.”

Caleb’s not going to do his homework at that stupid desk; on some level, we all know that. But the dream of a boy sitting happily in his mother’s kitchen, filling out his worksheets while she sips a big bubble glass of chilled Chardonnay and cooks — what? Quickie quesadillas? Three-step lasagna? — In her fantastically overbuilt kitchen is a powerful one, and for a few happy Act Three minutes, we dream that little dream, too"

So very true and yeah, she probably is just making 'quickie quesadillas' on her 12 burner professional range stove!

[Deleted]

We used to watch quite a few shows on HGTV, now we just record a couple flipping shows where they buy historical homes and try to restore them, they are few and far between. All of the big name shows pretty much suck.

I watched an episode of Property Brothers years ago and they tore out some gorgeous hardwood floors, cabinets, and trim, threw it all in a dumpster, and replaced it with some cheap shit. As someone who's trying to find a home, I sincerely hate all these flippers who Joanna up a place with some white cabinets and gray paint and sell their extremely basic shit for a premium price, and people eat it up.

Not to mention all these house hunters who have a absolute max budget, but don't bother sticking to it because they put their emotions before their finances.

It's all just consumerism and materialism at it's absolute finest.

[turnipthebeet]

Sept 21, 2017 7:21:00 GMT -5 iammalcolmx said:

I am going to answer without reading this, and that would be a NO. All watching these house flipping shows did was solidify the fact that I DID NOT want to ever flip houses. Also someone here wrote an article/blog about trying to get permits, for stuff like this, in the City of Atlanta and it was TERRIBLE.
I say that as someone who is about to start a commercial build-out.

Also didn't read the article. Also have no desire to buy a fixer upper after watching these shows.

[tamarindy]

My SIL is obsessed with Chip and Joanna, so much so that she and her girlfriends took a trip to Waco to visit the silos - barf.

Anytime I have watched it, my H chimes in with how utterly unrealistic their renos are based on the budgets they give. I understand that Waco is LCOL I guess, but he says they would have to be paying their laborers total shit to do these houses for the prices they indicate.

I think they were in the press for their church's stance on homosexuality, and they are huge Baylor fans. That's enough for me to loathe them.

[tamarindy]

I will say that I like Tiny House Hunters in theory, but when everyone was agog at the small spaces I was like, "Duh, it's a fucking tiny house."

I watched an episode where a sound-healer woman ended up choosing a yurt and lived on the edge of the woods. I liked that HGTV showed something counter-culture and interesting for a half an hour at least.

[candreco]

The whole channel is so bland- same houses, same families, same script. The only one I'll occasionally watch is the original Love It or List It, I feel like the renovations on that one are sliiightly more realistic in terms of people's wishlists vs. what gets done based on what they can actually afford, and the families they work with seem more diverse than the other shows (same-sex couples, large extended families, single parents, etc. rather than the typical mom, dad, and 2.5 kids).

But yeah, the overwhelming sameness of it all definitely contributes to people's sense of what's "normal," both in terms of houses and families. It's a super whitewashed picture of the American dream, and not particularly realistic.

[simpsongal]

I'm a pretty avid DIYer and I don't watch much HGTV anymore. So many designs just make things look pretty and are not terribly functional. I do enjoy Fixer Upper though.

"This Old House" is great if you really want to learn something about renovating, latest home technology, small projects, money saving tips, etc.

[eddy]

Sept 21, 2017 8:19:06 GMT -5 tamarindy said:

My SIL is obsessed with Chip and Joanna, so much so that she and her girlfriends took a trip to Waco to visit the silos - barf.

I am amazed (not really) at how many people do this. I have had 5 different FB friends travel down there JUST to go to the silos. Like how much more fucking basic can you get? We live in Iowa. They made a trip to Waco to shop for shit that you can find literally anywhere.

And they were all "Sqee best day of my life." Seriously?

[bowies]

Chip and Joanna are getting a Target line too. I mean, I have to give it up to them for being savvy business people. Capitalize while you can.

Sometimes I wonder if those bloggers from Richmond (Sherry I want to say her name was) get frustrated watching the Gaineses take their playbook and do it better.

[eclaires]

Sept 21, 2017 8:50:37 GMT -5 bowies said:

Chip and Joanna are getting a Target line too. I mean, I have to give it up to them for being savvy business people. Capitalize while you can.

Sometimes I wonder if those bloggers from Richmond (Sherry I want to say her name was) get frustrated watching the Gaineses take their playbook and do it better.

I think Chip and Joanna are way better at what they do than YHL ever was. Mostly because I think regardless of what I think of them, they have more relevant knowledge and have an actual, specific style and don't stray from it that much. YHL never was my thing but they did a lot more stuff based solely on budget and had really weird design choices that didn't seem to work together. I also don't think they knew much at all about real estate or construction or even design. They just kind of fell into it because they were good at selling themselves and had fairly basic taste that appealed and their blog took off. I think that's why Chip and Joanna are much more successful long term plus they also have way more business in general (their silos, furniture, etc. - YHL never could have developed those types of partnerships or businesses imo).

[rupertpenny]

These shows are definitely all selling a very specific (boring, basic) lifestyle.

I will say that HGTV is one thing I miss living abroad. I was in the US for a conference a few months ago and was so excited about zoning out with HGTV at my airbnb. But it turned out my host didn't have cable and watching it on Netflix isn't the same

I'm also still annoyed that they didn't cast my family for HHI! American audiences missed out on seeing some of the real gems available in our very low price range when we first moved.

[janegold]

Sept 21, 2017 8:19:06 GMT -5 tamarindy said:

Anytime I have watched it, my H chimes in with how utterly unrealistic their renos are based on the budgets they give. I understand that Waco is LCOL I guess, but he says they would have to be paying their laborers total shit to do these houses for the prices they indicate.

This kills me with HGTV.  How the hell do they renovate an entire house on the same amount it cost me to build two walls and replace my counters and cabinets?  (I assume the show must pay for part of the labor but it's just so unrealistic and kind of disingenuous.)

[lust2hart]

Sept 21, 2017 8:36:22 GMT -5 simpsongal said:

I'm a pretty avid DIYer and I don't watch much HGTV anymore. So many designs just make things look pretty and are not terribly functional. I do enjoy Fixer Upper though.

"This Old House" is great if you really want to learn something about renovating, latest home technology, small projects, money saving tips, etc.

Yes. I wish there were more actual DIY shows. Show me how to install hardwood floors or how to install another outlet in my bathroom. 

ETA: Although I suppose that's what youtube's for. Maybe the shows that had this premise weren't doing so well once blogs and youtube became popular.