The Problem with TV Home Shows

 Ever since the creators of "Flip This House" chose to ignore my requests to disclose finance or carrying costs, real estate commissions, and escrow fees on their break down of house flipping "profitability", I have stayed away from HGTV, A&E and all other television "reality" shows involving real estate.  No "reality show" truly depicts "reality", but it's easier for me to watch "Jersey Shore" than any tv series rooted in my industry.

This week, however, my famous Jack Russell Terrorist stepped on the remote control and almost subliminally, the cable box landed on "Sell This House".  As selling houses was already on my mind, I felt compelled to tune in. 

"Sell This House" is a home staging show that actually shows home sellers some great inexpensive things to do to give their property greater curb appeal.  In the four or five episodes I caught, I found the design principles and advice to be excellent, but there remains an element to that show that still got under my skin.  In the before and after "open houses" that the show tapes in order to give the homeowner feedback, they flood the house with fake buyers who walk around making comments about every single room.  While this is a great thing to do to prove the point of the show, I hope that real home sellers understand that most public open houses do not provide this type of feedback.  I also hope home sellers realize that most open houses don't have that much traffic.

If you are selling your home, keep these things in mind:

- Most buyers will not provide honest feedback.  They will say short and sweet comments, such as "didn't like", "needs updating", "smells like cat", or "priced too high".  Don't get frustrated when you aren't hearing comments about every single room.  When real buyers go through your house they will be experiencing "feelings" that are hard to qualify, and they are not being paid to help you out.  When looking for advice about staging and decorating, home sellers should trust their REALTOR or home stager.  

- In this market you will not see the type of traffic go through your home that you are lead to believe exists on tv.  If you are getting any lookers, the price is probably too high.  And if the price is too high, you can move the furniture around all you want but the home probably still won't sell.

 - TV shows almost always get the cost of things wrong.  Let's face it, usually the materials they use are donated by advertisers and prices tend to be different when a film crew is following the purchaser around.  Real home staging usually costs more than a few hundred dollars.  Don't get fooled by tv economics!

 For more information about selling your home, please visit https://www.shoreline-properties.com