I just got done watching the tv show Property Virgins on HGTV.  This show takes place in Canada near Toronto with what I believe are canadian couples and real estate agent.  The premise of the show is that a real estate agent shows First-time home buyers around and shows them many properties within their price range and area.  She’ll always ask them to guess the price after they look at the house.   Usually the buyers look at a lot of houses before they know what price and ammenities they are looking for.  The episode I watched today was a couple in the $600,000 price range.  That’s actually high for first-time home buyers on this show. Usually I see couples closer to the $320’s range.  This is a 30 minute show, please check your local cable tv guide.  In this episode this couple were in a multiple offer situation.  The house was available at $575,000, but to win the offer the agent suggested $650,000.  This show must have taken place a couple of years ago when their were multiple offers.  They had to hurry and were given 2 hours to compete against a bully offer.  So the agent made them go up $75,000 with her opinion based on the limited time.  So a $75,000 increase in merely 20 seconds, that’s a quick decision.  Then even $650,000 wasn’t good enough so they went up to $660,000 and then finally won the offer.  The market mindset sure has changed in the last couple of years. The couple was very happy though.  This show is on very often on this channel.  Every show I have seen has had the same agent, they just have new buyers every time.  Please email me with any real estate tv shows you recommend.

Open House TV show on HN-Headline News Channel

I was just watching the show on HN-Headline News Channel on my local cable company.  I have seen this show many times weekly. Today’s topic was on no fee mortgage, and how you should shop with a couple of loan companies to get a full apples to apples comparison, as no mortgage is free of fees, it’s just how they package it.   They showed a rehab lady who was giving away a free car while selling her house.  They said this lady would take a $60,000 loss, after a couple of other successful attempts on a couple of other real estate flips.  The topic they also covered on this show today is sky high fuel prices.  This Open House show likes to talk about low airfare.  Being that this show often talks about low airfare, and fuel prices, and last week about credit card fees, maybe Open House isn’t the best name for this TV show. The airfare expert said that Monday and Tuesday are the best deals to buy tickets and airfare.  He said that Tuesday, Wednesday, and Saturday are the best days to actually travel due to low traffic and congestion.  There are other days later in the week where ticket prices may go up.  The more I watch this show I wonder why they named the show Open House because after the break they were going to talk about a comic book convention coming up.  Maybe they are stretching for stories.  There is no shortage of real estate and economy stories right now, maybe they feel like they just keep covering the same aspect of each of these stories, just in a different way.   I will say the show does talk about real estate and the economy, maybe more so in the first 10 minutes of the show, but I am not sure of that. This show is 30 minutes long.  Please email me if you have any economic and real estate shows to recommend for the readers.

On my local cable TV network I saw that flip that house was on channel TLC from 2:30 to 7pm tonight.  That’s 9 shows in a row.  I think it started before 2:30, that’s just when I tuned in.   This show often will show first time flippers who purchase their first house.  They come up with a budget and often go over on money and deadlines.  You will see many personal arguments on this show among partners.  Their are husband/wife partners and business partners often as two people.  These partners quickly get over their heads, and are in for far more work than they anticipated.  The show will show step by step as they put each part of the house together and as they make the tough decisions along the way.  What I do like about this show is it shows a lot of different personalities, skill levels, and different parts of the country. I find that I learn about the business from different angles as everyone has a different approach and the approach changes with different prices points, hot and cold markets, experience levels and what part of the country it’s in.  I think some people put too much into the property, some people take too long to get the property repaired.  I do think most people on the show think they have the business figured out, but it takes years to get very efficient at the process.  Just because someone knows how to install cabinets, floors, roofs, siding, etc. doesn’t mean they understand the full scope of the entire business.  Timelines, holding costs, closing costs, bank financing, showings are all a very big part of the business.  Just knowing how to repair the house is just a small part of the business.  You can easily lack in many areas and not be well balanced and just plain lose money.

For any of those looking to get into the rehab business, you should check out some other postings on this blog that talk about various rehab tv shows, and dvd collections that you can buy of these tv shows so that you can watch them on your own time.   There is so much available out there to learn from with this particular topic, and most of all unlimited ways to make mistakes.  Stay tuned to this blog for reviews on similar shows and channels that show this DIY type stuff 24 hours per day sometimes.

This show discusses the economy and a wide array of topics such as oil, money, and real estate. This show is on at 2pm central time in my market on CNN.   Today’s topics on the show were about fighting foreclosure. This show is one hour long.  The show focuses on a panel discussion on news issues and business as described by my local cable company guide.  The show talks about the current state of the market. They showed neighborhoods in Boston that were all boarded up, which surprised me.  They are offering many programs in the city to incentivise local people to rehab properties and then live in them or rent them out.  Other topics included in this show are an increase in minimum wage nationally.  They talked briefly about how the rich are getting richer and how much of every dollar in the economy they own. They then got into how little of that amount was paid in taxes.   As you’ll notice this show maybe covers 25 stories in 60 minutes, which is a great broad overview of the whole U.S. economy in this country.  They will bring in guest speakers on the panel on the various topics to get an expert’s opinion.  The show brought up inflation and the lack of spending power over the last 8 years for the average employee.  At this moment they are talking about how 20 states are in trouble with their budget, and how the housing market has a big part to do with that.  I am going to go finish the rest of the show, I may write future topics on this show.

Real Estate Television

With so many great shows on tv’s these days for investing, flipping homes, real estate, etc. I have found some that I found available for you to preview. I have seen so many great shows on A&E, HGTV, and DIY type of channels. These shows are 30 minutes and 60 minutes shows and most are a series. Some of the better ones are the flip the home shows, because you learn about a lot of pitfalls. There are a lot of first time home buyer shows, as well as how to save money with a house budget. There are space and design type of shows, and curb appeal and landscape shows. How to get the most out of your money for your home is a common theme. I think some of the networks I just mentioned are the best to watch. Most of those networks show these series 24 hours per day. Each flip show is unique because he rehabber is unique, his/her crew and especially their approach and which market and price point they choose. They show all of the mistakes that others make and hopefully every viewer can learn from others mistakes.