[Alty]

Does anyone watch the show "Love it or List it"? It's a home renovation show. Here are the basics. Home owners that aren't happy with their home give Hilary (a designer) a budget, and a "must have" list to convince them to stay. They also give David (a realtor) a budget to find them a new home. Both Hilary and David do their best, and at the end of the show the family decides whether to love the home Hilary created for them using their budget, or list their home and go with the one that David found them (which 9 times out of ten is far above their budget).

Here's my issue. Every single episode, the couple is upset because Hilary can't give them everything on their must have list. Every single time they want way more than their budget can afford, and, true to reality TV, every single time Hilary runs into issues (the plumbing is shoddy, the roof needs to be replaced, etc), that eats up most of the budget the couple gave her.

What I wonder is how any of these people think they're going to get a new kitchen, add a bathroom, have their basement completely done (from scratch), add another bedroom when there's no room, all for a $15,000 budget (just an example)? Are they really that stupid? Because they seem to be.

A kitchen alone will cost you upwards of $10,000, and that's if you don't do anything fancy, and don't change the basic layout. If you're moving stuff, it will cost a lot more. Re-plumbing alone may eat up your budget.

Any thoughts? It's ticking me off. If you have asbestos, and ripping down the walls that needed to be ripped down to do the renos you wanted done, exposes that asbestos, then duh, they have to deal with it. They can't just leave it. That means that part of your meager budget will have to deal with the asbestos.

Most normal people would realize that. These people, it's all about "What? You found asbestos, you have to take care of it, and now you can't redo our kitchen, basement, master bedroom, and build a new bathroom? But we gave you $5000! Why can't you do it? We have a must have list, we must have it!".

Do they not realize that their must have list doesn't meet their budget?

Before you post, yes, I realize it's a reality TV show, and reality doesn't always enter into it, but I just saw an episode where the couple really ticked me off, so I just want to vent.

If you want to vent, or just post, I'm listening. :)

[joypulv]

I think I saw one episode! I agree about the people who expect too much. They didn't all just land on that show. I think it's rampant to be clueless about costs.
Maybe the show needs to make the people watch an hour of video outlining all the hidden things that can be wrong in a house.
There's a show on HGTV about converting parts of single family houses into rental units with a guy named Scott. He often finds hidden problems and presents them to the homeowners with a new price tag. They always take it, because they always rent out the new space immediately for good rents, and he shows them what their ROI will be.

[Fr_Chuck]

Same as with some of the other shows, like Property Virgins and some other shows, where they think their 5 bedroom home with pool and tennis court and full chief kitchen would be 100,000 dollars and they see that the house of their dreams cost 1 million or something.

I mean I am looking at just painting trim on the outside of my house right now, ** not the house it is brick** and everyone is wanting more than 1000 dollars.

I guess part of the issue I have, some of these Problems are so common why do the not investigate or inspect closer before saying what they can do for the money.

But the funniest one to me was the lady who wanted bigger kitchen and dinning but did not want to give up a bedroom or give up any space anywhere else, I guess they were to use that house strecher.

[JudyKayTee]

I will use my famous line when people quote Judge Judy (or Judge Alex) - it's bad law. It's GREAT TV - which is what the sponsors are trying to sell.

If any of these shows made sense no one would watch.

My favorite (and I saw part of it once while captive at a friend's house, waiting for her to put her baby to bed) is people bidding on storage units - I don't know what it's called. People yelling at each other, someone won a dresser and wow! BIG diamond ring in the dresser drawer. What are the chances? Next person wins a suitcase - with CASH in it! Wow! What are the chances?

And so forth.

[DoulaLC]

My favorite (and I saw part of it once while captive at a friend's house, waiting for her to put her baby to bed) is people bidding on storage units - I don't know what it's called. People yelling at each other, someone won a dresser and wow! BIG diamond ring in the dresser drawer. What are the chances? Next person wins a suitcase - with CASH in it! Wow! What are the chances?

And so forth.

Ah, yes, "Storage Wars". As you said, Alty, they are "reality" with not a whole lot of "real" in them. They have to be fairly dramatic, at least once in awhile, or no one would watch, as you said, Judy.

I talk about the labor and delivery shows the same way in my classes. If you saw what most births are like, it wouldn't have the same appeal as most births require little or no interventions in true reality. They want the drama so that it will be more entertaining.

Here's one example: we had a family in our local area who participated in the show Wife Swap... (ugh). Later the mother talked about how things were written in for them to say and they were instructed in ways to act to make the show more dramatic.

If you have someone to cheer for, or someone who makes you just want to reach in and give them a slap, then the programs have succeeded in their aim. Even more so if you get hooked to keep watching!

[Alty]

I completely agree, and I do know that reality shows aren't at all real. Let's face it, if everything went well, no issues, no one at each others throats, then no one would watch.

But, I have to say that it's sad that a huge portion of our society wants to watch the drama, because let's face it, if people weren't watching, reality shows would die. Instead we get more and more of them every single year. So obviously this is what the world wants to see.

I prefer Little House on the Prairie. Now that's good TV! Yes, things happen, but for the most part they're a wonderful family, that goes through hard times but always sticks together. I love that show. I still watch it to this day. It's on every weekday at 7pm. Syd watches it with me, and loves it. :)

[Fr_Chuck]

It reminds of a couple of times,

One our son Nate was suppose to be the surprise called guest for a local Radio talk show where they call up a kid to do some "stunt" in the home to get their parents reactions. Well the surprise call happened about a week before the real call, and they arranged the stunt, had assistant come with a script and more. Now Nate got a great prize of course a full paid week at a very impressive summer camp. But to anyone listening, they think he did all of the things from a radio phone call.

The worst was for a show of "COPS" I was at one of the "arrests" and the show I saw on TV was nothing like what I saw on TV.

[ChiDem]

These "professionals" know the age of the home and the condition (nothing done to it in XX years). This is not their first rodeo; they've done similarly aged homes and known or should have known the potential problems: asbestos, plumbing, wet basements, electrical etc. I've just seen an episode where the couple spends 120k and only get a main floor, and a few bathrooms completed. It's unconscionable! A professional would've known houses built during this period have asbestos wrapped pipes and should've budgeted for it, same for plumbing and basements. A real professional would've performed an assessment of the home: exploring which way the joists go in the ceiling to see if it could be easily transformed into an "open concept." The engineer would have known you need a footer in the basement here when he drew up the architectural drawings needed to get your permits for structure, electrical, plumbing and insulation inspections.
BTW, after they get your money who cares whether you love it or not. The deeds done, and, apparently the homeowners have no recourse.