Honestly I think I knew or at least suspected this. It always appears "staged" to me and the dialogue is so stilted. I find the show quite boring most times. I stopped watching it awhile ago, except for some of the international ones because I like to see the interiors of foreign homes.

I agree with Marita... some of the ridiculous comments by the" house hunters" subjects were really pathetic.
Couldn't stand it anymore so I stopped watching.I like the International House Hunters , even if it is staged for the same reason..it's an eyeopener to see what the interior of homes in other parts of the world are like.
We are very blessed in this country I would say..

June

An episode of House Hunters was shot in our town and the young couple who were 'house hunting' are friends of my son. They more or less verified the 'staged' aspect of the show. I can't say that this is how is works for all the episodes but our friends said that before their episode was actually filmed they had already picked their house and placed a bid on it.

The show filmed them walking through all three houses as if it was the first visit.

I never thought of it as a reality show - I enjoyed seeing the different houses and prices in different cities. I always assumed that the decisions had been made long before the show aired or maybe was even filmed. Today, I usually just watch the international ones because of the locales and differences.

The show is boring.....same old "expressions", "oh look at the ceiling fan! That has to go!" As if anyone comments on a ceiling fan when they are buying.

I like looking at the pricing of houses around the US, and the locations. The people "buying" drive me crazy.

Like marita, I already knew that.
The awkwardness of it all is the tip-off!

The expressions that seem most repeated: "I like it: it is BIG" and "ohh, granite countertops!" It is also amazing how most people say: "I hate the paint color" as if this is a deal breaker. "Well, you can easily change that" says the realtor in return. I swear these expressions make up 99% of the dialogue in each episode. So boring! And what's with the fact that they are always signing purchase agreements in restaurants or outdoors on car tops? Who in the world does that?

As if anyone comments on a ceiling fan when they are buying.

They DO! I had a friend that recently sold her home. It was a beautiful, well maintained, exquisitely clean home.

She finally had to hire a stager to make the house look like some of these "home" shows on HGTV. People would come in and complain about how they didn't like the lamps - they were HER lamps, they weren't staying in the house. She said her real estate agent said it was getting more and more like that. People were expecting show homes with all new accessories right out of a design magazine when they looked at houses.

I can't wait for the trend to change and start hearing "ewww granite" LOL! It WILL happen!

How could anyone believe any of it was REAL? The comments SCREAM there is an agenda. The point is to convince viewers their home is out dated. They are SELLING SS appliances, granite counter tops, custom cabinets. It is obvious HGTV is on its way out. This show is all they have left. I quit watching months ago. There are no more GARDEN shows. There are no more fun make over shows. They abandoned what made them popular.

I've always known that the buyers already had bought a house before the show was taped. I still enjoy it because I like to see the different houses in an area and what you get for your money. It would be awfully hard to produce a show based on an actual purchase, considering all that can go wrong.

I especially enjoy HH International.

"Oh wow!", "Look at the view!", "SS appliances - I like that", "Like the wood floors", "Oh, wow!", "This bedroom is really small", "I prefer an open floor plan" (this usually in a charming or even 100yr.old international home or apartment), "We'll knock this wall out" (again- in a 100yr.old home or classic Parisian apartment), "Oh, wow!"

I will still watch this show if nothing else is on. I enjoy seeing how other people decorate. And I'm well aware paint and lamps and furniture are temporary. From personal experience, when MIL died and we had to sell her house, the best thing to do is simply REMOVE all furniture from the house. People want a clean, well-maintained home. DH paid to get his Mom's dishwasher fixed, and he had the basement treated for termites.( Even tho no one ever saw a bug in her house, teehee.) She kept it scrupulously clean, in fact she had had replaced the carpets just a week before she died. The house was on the market for only one day. It sold the first day, to a young married couple who were living up the block with the bride's parents. Apparently they liked the neighborhood. And didn't want to live with the parents.

It's sad to learn that it is fake, but I still enjoy seeing the homes and comparing the markets in different areas.

Waving to Dorothy - good to see you here and I hope life is treating you well. Hugs!

I have to admit House Hunters is my secret indulgence. I really like looking at houses. Guess I should've gone into real estate. Sure it's staged. You can tell from certain terms you'll hear in every show. "spacious" and "en suite" come to mind. Those are this years buzz words. Now I don't know a man who would walk into a house and say, "Wow, it's so spacious". Most would either say it's big or roomy. Also en suite used to be called master bath. But you are sure to hear "spacious" in every episode.

Iowagirl is right--it won't be long before people scorn the SS appliances as being "dated" and "have to go". It ticks me off sometimes that people want instant gratification with everything perfect. I wonder if realtors have to put up with those selfish comments in real life?

But I watch anyway because I love seeing the different areas of the country and Canada and the prices are very interesting. If those people want a bargain they should move to Florida :-)

If you ever read the casting requirements for being on the show, it clearly states that you have to be in escrow, so it's easy to see that the show is scripted. I don't know how in the world they could film it otherwise considering that most people don't look at three houses in a day and pick one.

I do enjoy House Hunters International especially when the homes are in major cities because I love seeing examples of housing outside of North America.

I'm with you arcy. Way too much H and not enough G on HGTV. I used to love the Gardener's Diary and Journal.

I only watch the International variety of HH as I love to imagine what I would do if I had to find a place to live in a foreign country. I don't care if it is faked as I enjoy seeing how others live.

The U.S. HH is laughable and so obviously faked. I'm tired of feeling inferior because my kitchen and bathroom would seem dated to so many people. I like 'em!

I watch because I too like looking at houses and like seeing how people decorate. I always assumed the house they were buying was already picked out otherwise the filming crew might have to follow buyers around for months. Not very many people look at just 3 houses and then pick one of those to buy.

I had heard before it was scripted. I still watch coz I like to see all the different houses.

The buzz words that I despise? "it's really tight" "Feels tight in here" "This is tight, will our furniture fit". Gag me.

I agree also with the instant gratification. 20 somethings still in training pants want a 4 bed/4 bath, 3 car gargage, finished basement, fenced in backyard with water feature, hardwoods throughout, updated kitchen and baths, stainless, granite, custom, yada, yada, yada.

Ha, but I still like the show.

I have watched it for a long time and do enjoy looking at the different houses, but I have always wondered how they picked the couples. The young women are so bratty and sometimes downright nasty. No young couple that I know could start out in a $400,000. home and then complain about the smallest details. As Marita 40 said, there is always some comment about the paint...????? Have they never heard of Lowes, Sherwin Williams or whatever?

I don't like the show anyway. boring! I'd rather watch
the fixer upper shows! lol

what I want to know, is how much do they get PAID for
being on these shows? lol

Of course it's fake. Everything is fake. Ten years ago my dtr's best friend's gorgeous home was featured on the cover of Better Homes and Gardens Mag. Extremely exciting, yes? By the time the photo stylists got done with the place, they didn't recognize it. The photos in the mag were entirely different from the real house. The stylists brought in everything from pillows, books, chairs, tables, curtains, flowers, slip covers, art on the walls. In a truck! The family lived for three days in a hotel while this was going on.

I don't believe a thing I see on TV or in magazines any more. Sorry to see that some of you are disappointed, though.

It seemed faked at times, especially when it's time to decide on which house. I'll still watch because decorating/remodeling are a passion of mine and I like to see before and afters. Also I'm a bit nosy and like to see how others live.

I watched one episode where a woman was obsessed with the house having the right pulls and knobs on kitchen cabinets. It was her deal breaker. Crazy!!

Very few real shows are truly real so I am not surprised, they have to be able to have the production set up, so it has to be. It is no small task to get all the camera crews, sound crews, light crews, and all the rest of the production crews crammed into the house and rooms as they walk through. It just has to be set up.
I still enjoy the show, I have always liked viewing homes, I loved that part of buying a home, and I love staging them.
I do prefer the International HH, especially if there's a beach involved.

I watched the episode of dog the bounty hunter last week that was abot how they film the show and all of the crew got to tell about the risk they have to take when rushing into houses and locations where someone could be waiting with a gun in hand and start shooting. They have often been in the line of fire when tear gas and pepper spray was used and have to try to continue filming while they are fighting the effects of the dousing. It was a good show, gave a different perspective to help understand all that goes into the making of this kind of reality s

Someone told me about a local home that was on HH. They said the buyers are supposed to be very critical of the homes. The buzz word that bothers me is "cramped" and also "I am not a fan of ...". You can tell it is scripted but I still enjoy watching. I am fascinated by the International HH to see what interiors look like in foreign countries.

I watch the show and at times the dialogue seems so stilted. I was surprised that the house was already purchased though. Sometimes I want to slap some sense in the 20 something that picks some feature which could be corrected with $100 in a day. This is a deal breaker? I also love the ones who pick a house strictly if it will suit their dog. I love my dogs but they would be the last consideration. They need better actors as buyers. Some of the latest ones have stunk.

My daughter has an acquaintance who was on the show. She told me that they had already bought the house when they selected to be on the show and found 2 other houses for them to appear to consider. They were told to make comments about the houses. But I still enjoy watching it infrequently if I have nothing else to watch.

Fun2BeHere said it for me! Who can look at only three houses in one day and make a decision? It certainly didn't work that way when I was house hunting.

I have yet to see a "reality" show that wasn't scripted.

I am wondering now if any of the people actually liked one of the other houses better than the one they already have in escrow. lol Too late now! haha

I get sick of the people who MUST have granite,stainless,etc etc...I like to watch the international ones just to see the country,not the dwellings.Have known for ages it was staged just because of the stupid dialog..."oh its so spacious".."oh look,crown molding" and everything needs upgraded blah blah blah.....

Come, come, folks!

"Fake" ... is out ... haven't you heard?

It's "Faux" - now!

(Except, maybe, in certain examples of women's underwear ...

... does anyone still refer to them as "Falsies"?

o j

I never thought it was a "real" show just liked to see the choices they had. a little unrealistic for this dayof a bafd economy. I agree nothing much on HGTV anymore they took off all their homemaking and craft/sewing shows.

HH International is the inspiration for our soon to be completed backyard reno. They have gone to countries where much of the living area is actually outside, a continuation of the inside. I love that look and tried, in my own pathetic way, to mimic it. :-)

Our house is small, how we raised two kids in it, I'll never know. Maybe I was just happy I didn't have far to chase them. LOL

Anyhow, I feel terribly cramped in the house now that the kids are gone, so I put together a design where you walk right out onto a deck even with the house and approx the same color as the house wood floors. We did it also in the atrium off our dining room and master bedroom. We had all new doors and windows installed and replaced the master bedroom window with a French door to the atrium. Added water features to both areas for that zen feel. Again, all with HH Int'l shows in mind. I would have never come up with the ideas on my own, and we still be looking at a patch of dirt where our ficus trees lifted the concrete slab requiring us to gut the backyard.

Jodi-

Jodi, that sounds nice!!! How wonderful that you live in the part of the country where you can use those ideas.

(I've heard that San Diego is the perfect part of the country.... it doesn't get too hot.) I thought SF was the only cool part of CA.

It's funny how now that the kids are grown, the house is too small for you! LOL

Well, that's to bad, although it doesn't surprise me. I do like that show at times and I don't know why because I'm not looking for a house. LOL I guess it's the snoop factor, just like to see how everyone else is living? LOL

When we were house hunting for real, we looked at about 30 houses. I blocked my mind to the furniture, personal style, wall colors. Remember when you buy a house the main thing is "location". You want a safe neighborhood, good schools, and neighbors with homes larger and fancier than yours. Zip codes are important! And I still hate HGTV for cancelling Paul James, Gardeners Journal and Gardeners Diary.

I meant to mention in my previous post that DH and I figured out long ago that the show had to be staged, but that didn't spoil it for us.

Jasdip, San Diego is indeed a great moderate climate and at a little under 100 miles away from us, it's a nice get-away weekend trip. Lots to see and do there. San Francisco is nice too, but can get downright chilly, especially at night. brrrr. Once we drove up there to attend my brother's August wedding which was 45 miles from SF. We decided to spend one night in SF to show the kids around. We packed for a hot, August day and ended up having to buy the entire family sweatshirts that evening just to go outside.

Jodi-

Funniest remark I ever heard on HouseHunters. A couple walk into a kitchen with their real estate agent. The wife says, "This kitchen doesn't have a convenient work triangle." And the agent actually replies, "Oh, a work triangle. That's very eighties, just so dated..."

I like HH. The fact that the buyers already have their homes has been known for a long time. I still enjoy looking at the homes and deciding which one I'd choose. But I LOVE HouseHunters International, and the more unusual the better. Favorites: the British guy who moved to Mongolia to start an English language school, the young French guy who bought a farm high in the mountains of Nepal so that he could raise goats and make goat cheese (and he did it!), an American couple who moved to Deshanbe (capital of Tajikistan, just north of Afghanistan) to learn the culture while designing appropriate websites for local businesses. HHI takes you into a world that is changing faster than many of us realize!

Jodi: Your experience with San Francisco's weather is so apropos of a Mark Twain quote I heard on TV yesterday while watching the U.S. Open from SF. Twain supposedly said, "The coldest winter I ever spent was summer in San Francisco."

Well, I definitely have to agree with Mr. Twain Tobygirl.:-)

I suspected that, but it doesn't matter to me, although I am happy to know these people are not as shallow as they appear. I record most of the episodes, and then can flash through and see what interests me. All of the decorating type shows seem the same, and I got real tired of these 20 somethings, without life experiences, critisize so rudely what people have in their homes.

everytime we've house hunted, we've looked at dozens of properties....what always has gotten to me are the empty homes...in 42 years of marriage, with the exception of our new construction condo, we never have seen one empty house (and have shopped in 3 states) and it's always the been the last one we looked at, duh!

"man cave" ugg that drives me crazy!

I agree, Kacee. And when I hear that "en suite" term mentioned above I want to barf! How freaking pretentious. I would fire my realtor if they call the master bath the en suite.

I will still watch it as I love snooping in other peoples houses. I remember shopping for my last house. Saw so many that they all blended together. We didn't have internet at that time in the 70's. The house I'm in now was found by me driving by and seeing the sign and thinking..I always loved that old house. Easy peasy

Oh I enjoy it.. but have always known that it was scripted.. We just sit a laugh about these kids looking at a 'starter' home for over 400K... What I'd really like to know is what are their jobs that they can afford these places... I really do like the International version - just to see the interiors and lifestyles.. My sister & BIL lived in off-base housing while stationed in England... ..

Last night's very young couple were getting married in a few months and $400,000 was their budget. I must be showing my age. My first house, and I was only 22 too, cost $15,000 and it was cute two story with a stone fireplace in the LR.

Last night's very young couple were getting married in a few months and $400,000 was their budget. I must be showing my age. My first house, and I was only 22 too, cost $15,000 and it was cute two story with a stone fireplace in the LR.

It has always seemed odd to me that they do not talk about the quality of the neighborhood schools or the quality of the neighborhood as they evaluate the purchase. I also like the Property Brothers, but again, no talk of schools and no discussion of whether all these upgrades will make their house too expensive for the neighborhood.

Such an insult to human intelligence, that show is.

I should HOPE it's fake. If it wasn't, I'd be worried.