"We had a Skype interview and the next day she said, 'Congratulations.' In three weeks, we went from applying to filming," White said. "It happened really fast."

"House Hunters" producer Circus Dog Productions Inc., dba Pie Town Productions, sent a crew to Detroit in December and again in January to record the story across four days, White said. The Los Angeles-based production house also makes reality shows for Lifetime, Food Network and A&E networks, among others.

A Pie Town Productions spokeswoman confirmed the company taped the episode in Detroit, but officials did not return calls to provide additional comment. The company worked with the Detroit Film Office to find locations around the city, Linda Vinyard of the Detroit Film Office, told Crain's.

"House Hunters" requires each episode's cast to be pending on a house before its production throws a monkey wrench into those plans. Pie Town Productions found and presented two more homes to the couple who then had to contemplate the three options, White said.

"We had located a house already, but we didn't know what houses they pick," she said. "It was a surprise for us. We didn't know until the morning of taping."

The couple, who will be wed in September, considered historic and modern styles. They ended up buying the house they originally chose.

They met as college students at Youngstown State University in Ohio and have been together for seven years. Hake, who works in Quicken Loans Inc.'s purchasing department, was 26 at the time of taping. White was 24 and worked at Medical Diagnostics Laboratory at the time of taping before taking on full-time mommy duties.

The millennial buyers ran into the same troubles in today's seller's market that have put many other metro Detroit homebuyers into a budget crunch. Prior to taping the show, they searched for about six months before successfully bidding on an Atkinson Street home that abuts the Boston-Edison neighborhood.

The couple closed on their new home on Dec. 14 for $180,000. Built in 1917, the 1,950-square-foot Craftsman-style house has four bedrooms.

"The market is crazy, but we put our bid in for the house and signed a purchase agreement," White said. The first-time buyers had to come up with an additional $1,000 to win the bid. "The next day the Realtor had seven other offers come in. The market around the city, especially close to downtown, is real fast. If something checks off everything on your list, you have to go get it right away."

The episode will air for the first time on HGTV at 10 p.m. Monday. Scenes were shot at various locations around the city including Belle Isle, the Detroit RiverWalk, the Motown Museum and other iconic Detroit sites, Vinyard said.

"We helped them get permission to shoot at these locations," she said. "There was no financial commitment, our services are free. We make sure it will present Detroit in a positive light."