Judging A Generation Of Home Buyers Based On TV Shows like ‘House Hunters’

I was reading a post over at Lenpenzo.com last week about his kitchen remodel, and I especially enjoyed it for two reasons:

We recently remodeled our kitchen ourselves, so I could identify with his experiences. Len confessed that he wasn’t really paying attention to his wife when she requested the remodel expand into the bathroom based on some leftover granite they had from the kitchen. Part of the reason for the distraction? Len was watching the show ‘House Hunters’ on TV. He literally paid the price for not listening! I really appreciated his honesty here; not only did he admit to not paying attention to his wife, but he admitted it was over a tv show.

I am a big fan of shows like House Hunters and Property Virgins. (Although I hate that name by the way. The host has to obnoxiously scream ‘VIRGIN’ at least 5 times each episode.) For those who don’t know the premise of these home shows, a real estate agent shows three properties to a prospective home buyer. At the end of the show, the buyer usually picks one of the three homes, the deal always go through, and everyone claps and is happy. Oh, and the house is always perfectly decorated 2 months later when the crew comes back to check to see how everything is going.

Usually, the people looking for a home on these shows are young and recently out of college. Often times, their expectations are completely unrealistic. One woman in her early 20s wanted to live on the ocean in California for $220,000. Shockingly, she couldn’t find a home that fit her budget – go figure. So, she was forced to look at condos that were about 30 minutes away from the beach. (Waaah!)

I laugh when I watch these programs. Many of these home buyers are so clueless, I just crack up. One episode I watched recently showed a house that was 2400 square feet, but the paint colors weren’t right, and the buyer was whining about this and that. Guess what? 2400 square feet of house is too much for anyone just out of college! My gosh, we had to live in an apartment for 2 years to save up money for a down payment on our little 1,000 sq ft ranch that only had one bathroom. (Gasp!)

So where do these ‘kids’ get these expectations from? Were they raised in a house worthy of Teen Cribs? How do they have all this money? Where did these high standards come from? The attitude of some of these people makes me want to smack them through the tv. I guess I was raised more modestly, which is a good thing because I am generally happy with whatever my surroundings are.

I know the home buyers on these shows are a small slice of people that are actually in the housing market. However, based on the people portrayed, most young people can afford a house over $300,000 that is move-in ready. I always think of friends and family from previous generations that lived in a 1200 sq. ft house their whole lives and had only one bathroom. Now, these young’uns must have a master suite with a walk in closet. How come what was good enough for generations previous isn’t good enough for young people today? Are kids getting more and more indulged with each generation? I can just hear my grandma saying “why do they need all that space. That is just a waste”, and I agree.

Have you ever watched these shows and thought “What are these kids thinking?” Or “I must have chosen the wrong career?”