Love it or List It

Where in the world is this show filmed? The house prices are astronomical, AND it is the only place on earth I have heard of where the owners get >100% added value to their house from their renos.

AND, DH and I get so annoyed that David is always allowed to go over budget, but poor Hilary has to get stuck with the measly $ that she is given even though she always uncovers extrordiarily costly structural problems!

But I still love the show and have to keep watching!

Re: Love it or List It

I'm pretty sure it's filmed in Canada. I always thought the same thing!

Re: Love it or List It

I agree.

Although I love House Hunters International. Wish I had a spare mil lying around to live abroad or on an island somewhere and not have to really work.



I think a lot of these shows are also super staged.


DH has actually had some of his work featured on some former HGTV shows, but none of them are on anymore

I remember how stressed he was throughout the process of filming though.

And the person on the show also tends to take credit for the work.

They also make it look like it happens in 24 hours.

In reality, it's WEEKS.

Re: Love it or List It

It's definitely Canada. I think usually within Toronto, which is a lot more expensive (being a city).

Re: Love it or List It

David looks like such a tool. Hilary always ends up with the short end of the stick. I find that most of the couples have already checked out and want a new home, no matter what she does in terms of renovations!

Re: Love it or List It

It is in Canada - and half the time they are showing another house that they redid for love it or list it too. I noticed that when they had a marathon of the shows. I am sure they do this over months rather than the few days they say it takes on the show. I agree that the way they expand their house hunting budget is super annoying.

Re: Love it or List It

Im addicted to this show! I love when hillary gets bitchy to the homeowners.. So fake!! Lol

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Re: Love it or List It

This show annoys the crap out of me. It is always the same thing....Hillary gets her Reno budget, she plans out something nice, a catastrophe ensues, it eats up her budget, she goes all bitchy on the homeowners, one couple wants to stay, one wants to move, they get bitchy with David and Hillary. Ugh

Re: Love it or List It

It is definitely so staged, because I feel like they always encounter an issue with the renovations at the last minute. Like they want to build an extension and then find out that local codes prohibit it or something. You would definitely research that beforehand! Or they start demo-ing a wall only to discover critical support beams that will need to be accounted for, blowing up the budget.

In 2007, before DH and I bought our house, we were offered the opportunity to be on this show "Hidden Potential" that used to be on HGTV. It actually filmed a lot in the tri-state area, which is rare for an HGTV show. It was the one where the couple has a set budget and wants certain features that won't fit into their budget. So the hosts show them 3 homes in a lower price point that are in horrible shape (if the budget is $350K, they show them mid-$200Ks homes), and the extra cost is used to renovate the home. They never actually did the renovations on the show, but a designer and architect would work together to create a 3D rendering on a laptop of what the renovated home would look like, and then the buyer would select one of the 3 fixer uppers. You never saw the finished product! And also - most people who can get a mortgage for $400K, don't have an extra $100K in cash lying around to put toward a renovation if they only spend $300K on the house (unless they get a 203(k) loan or similar rehab/reno loan where the cost of the reno is rolled in).

Anyway, a friend of a friend was a designer on the show, and I met her at a baby shower, and we were talking about house hunting, so she offered to have us on the show. But we weren't really ready to buy at that point and didn't need to go the fixer upper route anyway. But it was interesting to hear about how these shows are actually made (a lot of the inane comments the buyers make are dictated by producers, for example).

But all that being said, staged or not, I still love watching HGTV! And "Love It Or List It" is pretty true to life in that most often, the conflict arises out of the fact that the homeowners want more in their current house and future house than they can really afford in the area they want to live in. So as a real estate agent, it's a big challenge to get people to see, these are the tradeoffs you need to make to live in this neighborhood, but if you go to this other neighborhood, you can get more. Usually something has to give - price, location, or home criteria/condition... no matter where you are and what the budget!

Re: Love it or List It

I'm close to where they film - ALL homes in this area are ridiculously overpriced!

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It's Toronto and the surrounding area. Toronto was never hit with the real estate issues we have been hit with here. It's always a sellers market and prices are ridiculous across the city.

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LOL, I always say to my DH even though this show is obviously staged, that woman has probably single handedly ruined her design career after the show is over.

I would NEVER hire her after her desperately poor budgeting skills (whether staged or not). Could you imagine you hire her and then she's all, sorry, I can't do 3/4 of the things we discussed bc I didn't do any research first on how much things costs and any underlying costs, LOL.

Love it or List It

I love these shows, but they annoy the crap out of me! The ridiculous upgrades (heated floors in the bathroom, mechanical blinds, giant tvs and 1,000 throw pillows) are not worth it in my opinion. It makes me mad that Hillary can never do anything within budget...I would NEVER hire her. I understand that most people go over budget, but if she were good at her job, she'd know what walls needed to stay up, etc!