HGTV Obsessed

Hi,

Recently, Steph and I have been watching an inordinate amount of Home and Garden Television. Believe me, we both realize that our "Coolness Factor" has just gone through the roof. Seriously who wants to hang with us this weekend? We can go on a run way too early, count calories, and then watch some sweet episodes of Income Property. Yes, we have the life.

Before I go into the myriad of reasons that I love some of the shows, I am going to give a quick shout out to my celebrity love interest Sandra Rinomato. Hi Sandra! You rock!







More on her later...









I am going to break 3 shows down and tell you why you should start watching them immediately.

HOUSE HUNTERS






The Premise: A look at the process of buying a home and the decisions and sacrifices to be made along the way. The show will always have the buyers look at 3 different houses and in the end pick one of the houses that they like the best.

Why I love it: You get to see the buyer's work through what is most important to them in a house. They always start with all these "must have's." As they go through the process they start to realize that if they want the perfect house that doesn't need any remodeling, they will probably have to pay more and/or sacrifice on location of the property. These are all problems that buyers and real estate agents actually deal with. By the end of the show, the buyers really figure out what is most important to them. Also, they always show a clip of "4 months later," so that you get to see what they've done with the house since they've moved in. That is always interesting to me.

Why I don't love it: Viewers might assume that these people only saw 3 houses when in fact there was weeks before where they went through many houses, narrowed it down to 3 and then recorded those trips on camera. I realize that the network needs a formula and this one definitely works but I would prefer that they point out all the work the agent has done to get to the narrowing down phase. I'm an agent though, I am biased.

Other thoughts: I like the fact that they use local agents. It's a chance for the agents to get their name out there and you get to see the different styles that the agents have in their selling.

Ridiculousness factor: PEOPLE ARE BUYING 3 STORY MANSIONS FOR $50,000 in the middle of Nowhere, Midwest America. $50,000 gets you a fencepost in The Bay Area. Every time I watch the show I tell Steph that we are moving.


PROPERTY VIRGINS






The Premise: Sandra Rinomato is a Real Estate agent (who works for Coldwell Banker, Boo Yeah!) in Toronto,ON Canada. She travels all around Canada and the US, helping people buy their first homes.

Why I love it: They also go with the 3 house formula, only on this show, they don't always make it to the third house. This one focuses more on the negotiation aspect and the buyer's realizing what they are getting into. This show is very similar to House Hunters but there is usually a bit more sticker shock to the clients. They want to live right next to downtown and transportation and they want to have a perfect kitchen with granite counter tops and stainless steel appliances. They slowly figure out that they might not be able to have ALL of these things on their first go 'round. I love how she points out locations that aren't what they first wanted, but they come to realize it's actually a great fit.

Why I don't love it: This is a small thing because I really do love this show but...Apparently Sandra knows every single small neighborhood in every city she goes to. AMAZING. Her knowledge of all the neighborhoods is really great and obviously a product of working with local agents in that specific area. I wish she would point out the work she's done with those agents and the benefit of having a a local agent help you buy so that they can point out these small neighborhoods that you might not have known about. Like I said, it's a small thing and something I would prefer to see only because I am an agent, but it's something.

Ridiculousness factor: Sandra Rinomato is awesome. I love the way she does business, I love the advice that she gives to her clients, and she's got "Business Woman Hot" going for her, which is nice.


INCOME PROPERTY






The Premise: Scott McGillivray helps a homeowner or homeowners get ready to lease out a unit that they have within their home.

Why I love it: This show combines fixing up a part of the house with the end result of leasing it out. It shows you a way to lower your mortgage payment just by having a tenant. You get to see awesome before and after shots of the place after they've totally re-designed it and fixed it up.

Why I don't love it: They always start the show talking about how the owners of the home are struggling financially and they really need to fix up this basement apartment so that they can start making money. Then he lays out the options and they are all like $20,000 renovations! Where is the owner getting this money if they are having so much trouble scraping by? Ahh well, the world may never know.

Ridiculousness factor: Steph recorded like 5 episodes yesterday because they had a marathon. I've already watched 4 of them. This is my current favorite and I love it.




Final Thoughts: These reviews are opinion only, but in my opinion you should take them as the most important things you've ever read. Or you could just keep watching "2 and Half Men", "Jersey Shore" or "American Idol." How many people was I able to offend in that last sentence?

Conor