Why It Matters that House Hunters Is Fake

[ttt]

www.slate.com/blogs/xx_factor/2012/06/14/house_hunters_is_fake_here_s_why_it_matters.html

From bait-and-switch marriage proposals to wig-pulling, cocktail-tossing catfights, it’s safe to say we’ve grown accustomed to absurd contrivance and scripting in "reality" television. But who would expect such dramatic puppet-mastering on HGTV?

Apparently we all should have. Earlier this week on the website Hooked on Houses, former House Hunters participant Bobi Jensen called the show a sham. Jensen writes that the HGTV producers found her family’s plan to turn their current home into a rental property “boring and overdone,” and therefore crafted a narrative about their desperation for more square footage. What’s more, producers only agreed to feature Jensen’s family after they had bought their new house, forcing them to “tour” friends’ houses that weren’t even for sale to accommodate the trope of “Which one will they choose?”

This does not sound like the network ethic that HGTV general manager Kathleen Finch told Slate's June Thomas about in a February interview, during which she defended HGTV as “a network of journalistic storytelling, not dramatic storytelling,” claiming that producers are “very conscious of not allowing any kind of fake drama.” That was then. On Tuesday HGTV issued a classic hedging statement, telling Entertainment Weekly that, yes, producers recruit families who have already done most of the house-hunting legwork to accommodate production time constraints, but that “because the stakes in real estate are so high, these homeowners always find themselves RIGHT back in the moment, experiencing the same emotions and reactions to these properties."

Surely any one of us could feign disappointment on takes 10, 11, or 12 when encountering laminate rather than hardwood floors, but HGTV's qualification doesn’t begin to address Jensen's claim that the show films house tours of homes that are not even for sale.

So what's the problem? By now, the onus is on the viewer to consume all “reality television” with a chuckle and a grain of salt. The genre's underlying appeal is often rooted in its escapist, aspirational qualities (or, at other end of the spectrum, its indulgence of our basest schadenfreude). But House Hunters was always much more about showing us an attainable reality than a fantasy. The show (and its many iterations), in which people just like us (juggling budgets, worried about school districts, pulled between city and suburb), go shopping for the best home their money can buy, not only glorifies the dream of home ownership, but makes it seem achievable. (If that IT guy and his elementary school teacher wife can successfully get out of their dingy apartment and into a new home with the requisite granite countertops, “marriage-saving” double vanities, and bedroom-sized walk-in closets, so can I!) This plays right into our inexplicably unwavering attachment to home ownership: Despite the collapse of the housing market, polling continues to demonstrate that we regard owning a home as the cornerstone of the American Dream—a perception that undoubtedly played a role in the home-buying craze prior to the bubble’s burst.

Showing houses that aren't even for sale at prices divined by its producers, House Hunters is presenting dangerous misinformation about the home-buying process and deleting all of the accompanying complications and consequences. It's turned what is actually a messy, frustrating, often dead-end process into a seamless (and perhaps necessary) path toward fulfillment. What's more, it seems likely that viewers use the prices, locations, and home criteria discussed on the show as barometers for their own house hunts because the information is presented as fact. No, House Hunters does not explicitly condone selling one’s soul for a white picket fence, and other HGTV shows like My First Place and Property Virgins do delve into money and home-inspection woes from time to time. But doesn’t HGTV have some obligation to portray the housing market as it is, or, at the very least, offer a pronounced disclaimer about the producers’ creative and logistical liberties?

Maybe they could fix this whole mess and wipe the slate clean with a good old fashioned "where are they now" episode, showing us the truth after those mortgage payments start taking a toll.

[Deleted]

oh, for pete's sake.

[iammalcolmx]

I want to ask why the damn Food Network has Restaurant Steakout and Secret Diner on. That shit is fake as hell and they aren't even discreet about it!!

[pixy0stix]

Dangerous misinformation?

DANGEROUS?!

Someone drank a hot cup of hyperbole when they wrote this.

[marie427]

I guess if these shows were actually real, they'd be boring as hell to watch.

[cookiemdough]

Whatever, I still like House Hunters no matter how fake it is.

[ECB]

Oh good grief. If anyone is actually using House Hunters as a basis for their house buying process, then that's on them.

To me it's kind of like a game show "which one will they pick?". It is interesting to get an idea of prices in different parts of the country, so even if they are made up, they are going to be based on real data.

If I were actually moving to that area, though, I wouldn't be using House Hunters as my source of info on the housing market!

I don't know that House Hunters ever promoted itself to being any kind of guide or authority on buying houses.

[Deleted]

Jun 19, 2012 14:09:15 GMT -5 cookiemdough said:

Whatever, I still like House Hunters no matter how fake it is.

i watch it for the voyeruism. and because i get really smug when A) i guess which house they'll pick; B) they pick a lamer house than i preferred because it confirms my badassness.

i don't even believe them when they tell us what city the house is allegedly "near" because that's always a lie. i watched an episode where they looked at house in my parents' neighborhood and characterized it as "25 minutes outside DC." it takes my dad over 2 hours to get to and from work. like i'm going to believe them about prices.

[JLN]

I don't think it's HGTV's problem if people really take "reality" tv seriously. If people are judging the housing market and their purchasing decisions by a tv show then they have bigger problems.

[ringstrue]

If you want dangerous misinformation, checkout A Baby Story.

[msmerymac]

Jun 19, 2012 14:01:43 GMT -5 ttt said:

No, House Hunters does not explicitly condone selling one’s soul for a white picket fence, and other HGTV shows like My First Place and Property Virgins do delve into money and home-inspection woes from time to time. But doesn’t HGTV have some obligation to portray the housing market as it is, or, at the very least, offer a pronounced disclaimer about the producers’ creative and logistical liberties?

No.

Jun 19, 2012 14:01:43 GMT -5 ttt said:

Maybe they could fix this whole mess and wipe the slate clean with a good old fashioned "where are they now" episode, showing us the truth after those mortgage payments start taking a toll.

I've seen at least 2 episodes with people who have been on the show before and are looking to purchase another house, so obviously, their lives didn't crumble.

[marie427]

Jun 19, 2012 14:11:55 GMT -5 JLN said:

I don't think it's HGTV's problem if people really take "reality" tv seriously. If people are judging the housing market and their purchasing decisions by a tv show then they have bigger problems.

I know. I wonder if there are actual house hunters who let out bloodcurdling screams when they see that the bathrooms don't have double sinks.

[Deleted]

Jun 19, 2012 14:12:00 GMT -5 ringstrue said:

If you want dangerous misinformation, checkout A Baby Story.

sooooooooo true

[msmerymac]

Oh, and HGTV has really, really concentrated on diversity. And you can tell. And I think that's a good thing. I've seen people with $100k budgets in Mississippi and $2 million budgets in Napa. I've seen people in HCOL cities with both high and low budgets. Same with LCOL areas. They have parents, newlyweds, divorcees, retirees, interracial couples, immigrant couples, asian couples, black couples, gay and lesbian couples, etc.

The only thing not diverse is what people want in their kitchens - stainless steel and granite.

But anyway, I do give them credit for that.

And really, I just looking at all the houses.

[fluff]

I read a blog written by someone who was on HH. She did reveal that most of it was fake and that she wasn't happy with the editing.

tressainnorway.blogspot.com/

[caden]

The show (and its many iterations), in which people just like us (juggling budgets, worried about school districts, pulled between city and suburb), go shopping for the best home their money can buy, not only glorifies the dream of home ownership, but makes it seem achievable.

The couples on the show end up with the house they actually bought, right? If so, then the show makes "it" seem achievable b/c it IS achievable for those couples. They already did it. Who cares if the comparable homes aren't actually for sale? There are surely comparable homes for sale for every level in the market. It really doesn't matter to me if they pick unavailable ones.

[pixy0stix]

Jun 19, 2012 14:18:31 GMT -5 msmerymac said:

Oh, and HGTV has really, really concentrated on diversity. And you can tell.

Agreed. If they wanted a show where all they looked at was McMansions then they'd film in TX all the time.

I like when they look at apartments, because that's not an area I'm familiar with at all.

[iammalcolmx]

Fuck yall I love my double sinks.

[fluff]

tressainnorway.blogspot.com/2011/01/inside-scoop-house-hunters-int.html

tressainnorway.blogspot.com/2011/01/ouch-15-min-can-be-pretty-painful.html

Those are two posts where she talks about her experience.

[marie427]

Jun 19, 2012 14:20:47 GMT -5 pixy0stix said:

I like when they look at apartments, because that's not an area I'm familiar with at all.

I need to start watching more because I don't think I've ever seen them shop for apartments and I'd love to see that, as someone who's only ever lived in an apartment.

[msmerymac]

Jun 19, 2012 14:18:58 GMT -5 fluff said:

I read a blog written by someone who was on HH. She did reveal that most of it was fake and that she wasn't happy with the editing.

tressainnorway.blogspot.com/

Was she the one who decided to just build a house because she couldn't find one that was American enough or had air conditioning... IN NORWAY?!

[fluff]

Jun 19, 2012 14:24:04 GMT -5 msmerymac said:

Jun 19, 2012 14:18:58 GMT -5 fluff said:

I read a blog written by someone who was on HH. She did reveal that most of it was fake and that she wasn't happy with the editing.

tressainnorway.blogspot.com/

Was she the one who decided to just build a house because she couldn't find one that was American enough or had air conditioning... IN NORWAY?!

Yes. That one.

[pixy0stix]

Jun 19, 2012 14:24:04 GMT -5 msmerymac said:

Jun 19, 2012 14:18:58 GMT -5 fluff said:

I read a blog written by someone who was on HH. She did reveal that most of it was fake and that she wasn't happy with the editing.

tressainnorway.blogspot.com/

Was she the one who decided to just build a house because she couldn't find one that was American enough or had air conditioning... IN NORWAY?!

YES! She got lambasted by the press and people who found her through her blog. She claims that HGTV misrepresented her... but the house she had built was almost exactly like the American house they had left, with all the American amenities. It was really weird.

[wawa]

Actually...I know it's a stupid pet peeve, but I get pretty irate at some of these DIY network/HGTV reality shows for the misinformation they put out there about real estate. Is this exaggerated? Yes.

But pretty much all of these shows CONSTANTLY reinforce the idea that average homeowners buying homes for 2-8 year timespans are totes making money because they put in a little sweat equity and retiled a bathroom! They have these bullshit comparisons where purchase price+renovation dollars-sales price = PROFIT!! and that kind of oversimplifciation is fucking infuriating. And ok, reality shows =/= reality, but people really do believe that kind of BS and I'm not sure where else they're fucking getting it. That kind of bullshit certainly doesn't help dispell the real estate is ALWAYS a good investment! Renting is a waste! Everybody should buy! bubble nonsense.

But that really has nothing to do with House Hunters. So I'll just step off my soabbox and sit down over here.

[Deleted]

Jun 19, 2012 14:22:59 GMT -5 marie427 said:

Jun 19, 2012 14:20:47 GMT -5 pixy0stix said:

I like when they look at apartments, because that's not an area I'm familiar with at all.

I need to start watching more because I don't think I've ever seen them shop for apartments and I'd love to see that, as someone who's only ever lived in an apartment.

I think Chicago and Seattle are the places I've most often seen them looking at condos.

[iammalcolmx]

Jun 19, 2012 14:21:36 GMT -5 fluff said:

tressainnorway.blogspot.com/2011/01/inside-scoop-house-hunters-int.html

tressainnorway.blogspot.com/2011/01/ouch-15-min-can-be-pretty-painful.html

Those are two posts where she talks about her experience.

These posts make her seem cray cray and really do not help her cause.

[druidp]

Frankly I'd like to thank Reality TV in as much as reinforces to people why they shouldn't, in fact, live their lives based on what the TV says. Perhaps go out and learn about something via other methods that aren't so blatantly edited and spun with a specific agenda that isn't wholly truth-based.

I HATE reality television almost as much as I despise soap operas.

[pixy0stix]

Jun 19, 2012 14:26:06 GMT -5 wawa said:

But pretty much all of these shows CONSTANTLY reinforce the idea that average homeowners buying homes for 2-8 year timespans are totes making money because they put in a little sweat equity and retiled a bathroom! They have these bullshit comparisons where purchase price+renovation dollars-sales price = PROFIT!! and that kind of oversimplifciation is fucking infuriating.

Have you watched the show where the homeowners do a reno, and then people come in and appraise their work? As in, a contractor/building inspector comes in and guesses at the cost of the work, and whether they hired it out. The homeowners are paid the difference between the estimated cost and the actual cost.

The contractor is almost always spot on in finding what the homeowners did themselves. Most people only made ~$1-2k on the show. I don't think it got good reviews because it's not on air anymore I don't think. It was too real.

Also, I get really super annoyed at the make-over shows that cheap out on the make-over stuff. Because you know the piping hot glued to the wall is going to come off 30 min after filming.

[Deleted]

Am I the only one who doesn't believe people when they cry about how bad reality tv made them look?

I'm willing to bed they weren't as cray cray as they appeared but I seriously doubt reality tv can create that level of cray cray where there is none at all.

See Bridezillas.

[wawa]

Jun 19, 2012 14:32:17 GMT -5 pixy0stix said:

Jun 19, 2012 14:26:06 GMT -5 wawa said:

But pretty much all of these shows CONSTANTLY reinforce the idea that average homeowners buying homes for 2-8 year timespans are totes making money because they put in a little sweat equity and retiled a bathroom! They have these bullshit comparisons where purchase price+renovation dollars-sales price = PROFIT!! and that kind of oversimplifciation is fucking infuriating.

Have you watched the show where the homeowners do a reno, and then people come in and appraise their work? As in, a contractor/building inspector comes in and guesses at the cost of the work, and whether they hired it out. The homeowners are paid the difference between the estimated cost and the actual cost.

The contractor is almost always spot on in finding what the homeowners did themselves. Most people only made ~$1-2k on the show. I don't think it got good reviews because it's not on air anymore I don't think. It was too real.

Also, I get really super annoyed at the make-over shows that cheap out on the make-over stuff. Because you know the piping hot glued to the wall is going to come off 30 min after filming.

Yep, I saw that show. If it's a house renovation show, I've seen it. We're a little obsessed. Even if we do spend half the show yelling a the TV. (see also: Renovation Realities. I love that one) I don't think I saw a single room get done on that show that wouldn't make me roll my eyes and talk about how it'd all have to be redone if I found that house hunting. And they had help! They had whatisface come n and tell them what they were doing wrong.

I used to love Trading Spaces, but that kind of cheaped out bullshit was rampant there. At least one of the carpenters from that show got her start in stage carpentry. So she knew how to build something that looked good from the front row. Not real furniture. There is a difference.