Americans are obsessed with consumption.
Television shows chronicle the lives of the rich and famous-for-no-reason, and people continuously watch. On any given episode of The Real Housewives, the same things happen: Rich women buy clothes, yachts and, of course, expensive real estate with their husbands' money.
As people watch these shows, they begin to believe in this televised world of extravagance. Everyone dreams of being a luxaholic. And from that delusion, shows like House Hunters are born.
HGTV's House Hunters has been on the air since 1999. In the decade since its premiere, the American housing market has experienced drastic changes, and the ease with which people purchase their dream home on House Hunters perpetuates this unrealistic fantasy.
And while I wonder why anyone even watches the show, I can see a few benefits from its existence. For someone just about to start the house hunt, watching the show might make the process simpler. Sometimes the people who are shown buying houses ask good questions of their realtors, and learning to ask about home-buyer grants and decoding housing inspectors is valuable information for those looking to buy.
But beyond this basic information, which any good realtor should also tell someone buying a home, the show does more harm than good.
The typical episode of House Hunters opens with a young couple, either newlywed or just about to be married, seeking a house that's probably $100,000 outside of their actual price range.
And no matter what price range they happen to fall in, they all have the same problems.
"Well, this house doesn't have the granite countertops we wanted" (or, even more frustrating, "These granite countertops aren't quite the right shade for our taste").The bedrooms aren't big enough, the pool takes up too much of the yard or they just hate the wall color. As if wall color was permanent.
And the question any viewer is guaranteed to hear at least once during an episode:
"Well…this closet has room for my clothes, but where are you going to put yours, honey?"I would love to invite prospective buyers from the show to visit Stavig Hall, where my whole room is the size of the closet they're deeming too small.
After the couple scrutinizes three nearly identical houses, a decision is made.
This might lead some to believe that they can find their perfect house in three tries, but that's basically impossible. House Hunters skips the stress of waiting for an offer to be accepted or denied. Anyone who doesn't know better might think this is actually how buying a house works – bonus room and garden tub included.
Then new homeowners traipse the camera crew through their newly remodeled, perfectly decorated home. The Martha Stewart-inspired draperies match the freshly painted walls – oh, yes, the designer picked that color out.
House Hunters makes it all look too easy.
In a world in which people expect instant gratification, House Hunters, and its televised consumer counterparts, give people unrealistic ideals about what they really need. I'd like to see the statistics on how many of these houses are currently on the bank's short-sale foreclosure list. I bet they all have granite countertops.
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