By Sara Huebener
Ah....the days of being on maternity leave throughout two Minnesota winters. Even though these happened years ago, and I worked through much of my leave, I had ample time to catch up with a channel that is ranked somewhere in the top five of nearly every woman's channel choices - HGTV.
Some shows were addicting. Their unique ideas, abilities to see a "vision" and transform a room from BLAH to WOW, all for under $1,000, were fantastic programs that made sense in the real world.
In this market, there is no doubt that a buyer with a vision saves more money than a buyer without one. Short sales are still out there, and if a buyer can see beyond the purple paint and the hole in the living room wall (and if they are willing to wait four months to get into the house) they can save a ton.
I've often seen people walk in and comment on the lovely decor and fall in love with a home. Representing a seller, the lovely decor helps them sell the house, and that is exactly what we want to happen. Representing a buyer, we need to remind them that they are not buying the lovely decor. They are buying the space. The walls. The floors. How this turns out really depends on the buyer.
The queen of HGTV is no doubt Candice Olson. If any of us could have our house on HGTV, Divine Design would be the one, followed perhaps by Kenneth Brown's reDESIGN. Not much is said about the homeowners's budgets for these decorating programs, but we know that the designers do a fabulous job and, if nothing else, give us the ability to dream a little bit.
In the real world, few of us have $20,000 to throw at a master bedroom design (which I think the most I have seen budgeted for a bedroom). So while Designer's Challenge is fun to watch and produces some nice ideas, every penny is used, and I have not seen much budgetary control there.
In the real world, none of us wants to (or can) spend $8,000 on a sofa, and so we can emulate the look to a degree, or opt for the ideas of shows like Design on a Dime, Color Splash, or Decorating Cents, where creativity plays a big role. Pick your favorite style and copy it all you can.
Designing for the Sexes is great becuase we all know that when our hockey-loving husbands want to hang sports memoribila in the sunroom, well...it just does not work! (I am being facetious here.) As a REALTOR, I have walked into plenty homes with clashing his-and-hers design styles, and this show presents some neat ideas to tie them together for one cohesive look.
Being a REALTOR, there were other programs I wished I never watched, much less anyone else, because in the end, they simply confuse the consumer.
Where I have an issue with HGTV is when they lead consumers to believe that a tremendous amount of value is added to their home for certain renovations. In our current real estate environment, this can really derail a seller. One day on My House is Worth What? I saw an entryway coat closet transformed into a wine cellar, where they told the homeowner their house increased in value by something to the effect of $100,000. It was an obscene number for something that someone living a suburban two-story would never realize, no matter what part of the country you lived in.
House Hunters is another one. The buyer looks at three houses, picks one, writes on offer, it is accepted, and they have a wonderful new home. The fairy tale of real estate. As homeowners, we all know that does not happen. What they do not tell you is that the buyer on the show has already bought the home (has an accepted purchase agreement) before the show airs. For a first time buyer, this is a confusing concept.
Designed to Sell is perhaps one of the most confusing. In one breath, the brutal honesty regarding what is needed to stage the home is refreshing, and the show presents some fabulous ideas to create an inviting look for buyers. In another breath, the house sells during the first open house/showing every time. Reality in this market? Absolutely not.
On a regular basis, we hear people talk about what they saw on HGTV. Trying to dispel some of these misconceptions in the real world of real estate is often a challenge, because for many, TV is gospel. In this market, it is unrealistic to expect to get dollar-for-dollar back on home improvements (unless you do all the labor yourself), much less any added value. In a declining market, none of it may be recognized at all. It may help the home sell faster, but the price simply has to be in line with the market.
Finally, people should remember that HGTV is just that....TV. The channel is ceratinly not going to air a show about a property that is sitting on the market for two years, which might very well be the REALITY of our current market. The shows that "WOW", and leave the viewer with the impression of "I want that to be me" are the ones that get on TV.
Oh....and the REALTOR is always a pretty one.
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