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House Hunters. Us?

March 17, 2011

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What’s more fun than buying a house?  Buying a house on TV.  Or at least we think so.  Last year, when this whole house-hunting process was getting started, we applied to be on House Hunters.  Appropriate, no?  We got an email back a couple days later saying, YES!  We would love to have you on the show! Fill this out… and make this application video…yada yada yada.  The kicker came when Amy, that was who the e-mail was from (I hate when people blurt out names like I am supposed to know who that is), said something like and then after you find the house we’ll come out and film you.  Did I just ruin some magic for you?  Sorry. It’s true.  House Hunters is all an act, which is even more intimidating to Chris and I considering we have never ventured in on the ol’ acting scene let alone the TV scene.  Here’s how it all breaks down:

Taping typically takes a total of five days.


Day 1: an interview at your current residence along with footage of you doing activities around the house, showing how important it is to find another home. 
We’re thinking showing Greta trying to run around the gravel patio that is our backyard. Maybe we’ll all try to brush our teeth in our teeny bathroom at the same time. A shot of Chris on the elliptical, while I am trying to sleep.  Or maybe even us throwing endless amounts of money out of the window symbolic of the rent we pay each month.
Day 2: you and your agent will tour the first of 3 houses. We will often do an interview with your realtor this day as well. 
Day 3: you and your agent will tour the second of 3 houses. Often times we will combine our “making the offer” shoot on this day. 

Cue Chris and I making those what-should-we-offer faces. You know, half smiles with angry eyebrows. 
Day 4: you and your agent will tour the third home. We will more than likely do our interview with you discussing what you liked and didn’t like about each house, ultimately choosing one of the 3. 
Which, in reality, is just a reveal of the one that we are about to move into. The “what we didn’t like about each house” should flow pretty easy. Completely cracked foundation. An entire house that is tiled. It was a meth-house. It was infested with termites. It was 100 miles away from where Chris worked…slight exaggeration, but we ARE acting here. 
Day 5: we will return a little while later for a follow-up interview done after you’ve moved into your new home (this will not be done on the same trip as days 1-4). These days may be consecutive or they may be shot a few weeks or months apart depending on everyone’s availability.


Now you know all the behind-the-scenes.  A big part of being on the show is having a personality which we’d like to think we have, and getting your realtor to agree to do the show with you.  As of this morning, she is a go.  (woot!)  However, with a closing date of March 31st–just two weeks away–we aren’t sure if that gives anyone enough time to travel and film us for 4 days.  Who knows at this point if it happens or not.  We are thrilled with just the idea of being on House Hunters.  Heck, we are happy just WATCHING House Hunters.  In case you’re curious as to what kind of questions they ask–here are just a few of the most recent questions a long with our answers.

What is the style of your current home (modern, spanish, traditional, etc.)? Please explain what that style means for you (traditional can mean a LOT of different home styles, so give as many details as you can).

We live in a basement apartment, so our current style is…basement-ish.  Although there are lots of big windows and we have done our best to decorate with lots of DIY art adding a more cozy, eclectic-modern feel, nothing cuts into that more than hearing footsteps upstairs.  I (the wifey) studied art in college, so we are definitely leaving this apartment better than we found it.  New Benjamin Moore paint on the walls (Whitestone) and a better idea of how future tenants can arrange their furniture in possibly the weirdest layout known to man.

Are there any special features about your current home?


We are the special features.  I think that is true of anyone’s home.  There may be something really old or vintage that gives a home a lot of character, but ultimately (and we know this first hand after looking at 90+ houses) the people in it, and the care that they give the house is what makes it special and a home.

Who is in your household?

Chris (aka Chris-baby, hubby, daddy), Julia (aka Jules-a-bug, babe, mommy), Greta (aka Greta-the great, the cutest one year old)

Why do you want to move?

We are quickly running out of room and we are ready to buy.  We have totally enjoyed living in this apartment for the last year and a half, but since then we have had a baby, thrown a lot of money in rent out the window, and our baby turned one.  There is no grassy back yard for her to run around in and we are definitely ready for our elliptical and desk to find their OWN ROOM!!!

When do you plan to move?


March 31st we close.  Eeeeekkss.  Hope that’s not too soon.  The seller wanted a quick closing and after looking at over 90 houses in 8 months–we are READY to be done and settled in a home.

Description of the type home you would like to buy:

Throughout this whole process we have been looking for a fixer-upper.  We are DIYers!  We love to paint, and repurpose and add our own ideas and flare to things.  However, “fixer-upper” can be interpreted lots of different ways and we have seen them all (bleh!).  We were NOT looking for something that needed completely gutted and possibly burned down and rebuilt from the ground up.  On the other hand, we knew we didn’t want something brand new with every upgrade there is (although we saw those, too and they were tempting).  We found a multi-level, 1995 home with yellow and green and white and beige paint.  One room even has black paint splattered all over the wall! Some rooms have maroon carpet and the old school chandelier in the dining room is worth mentioning, too.  We fell in love.   It’s exactly what we were looking for the entire time.

How did you find this web page (which search engine or website, from the show credits, etc.)?

Good ol’ HGTV.com

The golden application picture
Hopefully, we’ll be breaking legs in no time (I have no idea if I used that phrase correctly), but if not,  no big.  We bought a house! Two weeks can’t come soon enough!!

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What do you think?

  1. Amanda T says:

    OH WOW! Thats soo cool! Thanks for sharing that. I’d definitely tune in!

    I am a new follower. :)

    Amanda T
    http://ratsandmore.com

  2. Meagan says:

    Over Christmas after we skyped when you guys told us about House Hunters, I told my dad. He seriously almost started crying. HAHAHAHAAA!! He was like NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO…..lol I told him, well, I’m sure they do it different for HH-International. LOL Ooooops.

    I WILL watch that episode of you guys OVEr and OVEr and OVER again. HOORAY. Keep us posted :-)

  3. Rachel says:

    thanks for the behind the scenes, i love figuring out how shows work. they could totally do a series on tv all about behind the scenes and i’d be SUPER happy.

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