# I love hgtv



## I'm Howard (Oct 13, 2010)

I have a satellite that can deliver zillions of channels, but outside of ESPN and BNN, 90% of my viewing is HGTV.

Income Properties, Selling New York, Million Dollar Listing etc, other than Holmes which I hate, they offer programmes of interest.

Property Virgins astounds me, generally two people who after five years have managed to save $25,000 and have a preapproved Morgage of $425,000.

They have $25k saved after years and the bank will lend them $425K, whose on drugs,the Bank or them.?

Rationalise to the cows come home, if your mortgage debt is more than $1,500 a month, fixed five year, you borrowed too much, regardless of your income.

PVR makes watching them all the more enjoyable, FF through all those stupid ads.


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## HaroldCrump (Jun 10, 2009)

#10 Sign of a RE Bubble : when there are TV shows dedicated to flipping houses or taking out obnoxious mortgages.
..
..
#1 Sign of a RE Bubble : when there is an entire TV channel dedicated to such insanity.


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## Four Pillars (Apr 5, 2009)

I love it too. I don't care how cheesy it is.

I also like Till Debt Do Us Part. Most of the "contestants" are moronic wackos, but I can't stop watching it.


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## Echo (Apr 1, 2011)

My wife can't get enough of Property Brothers and Love It or List It.

My only beef is that they air a 'marathon' of these shows but there are only about a dozen episodes made. We've been watching these shows for a month and I've already seen a few of them before.


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## FrugalTrader (Oct 13, 2008)

I think it may be time for us to upgrade from basic cable.


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## andrewf (Mar 1, 2010)

If I'm not mistaken, HGTV is one of the more profitable properties on cable. I think their advertising rates are pretty high, too. PVR works wonders--set it to record new episodes, skip the commercials and if you find you've already seen an episode, just delete it and go to the next thing in the queue.


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## jamesbe (May 8, 2010)

Property Brothers just started, so there are only a handful of episodes, it's a great show.

Love it or List it is good as well, there are a lot of them, I've seen at least 20 different episodes. Good stuff.

The W network (come with basic digital) carries these shows as well.


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## Potato (Apr 3, 2009)

FrugalTrader said:


> I think it may be time for us to upgrade from basic cable.


If you don't mind the quality online streaming, HGTV has many of their shows available on their website (also handy if you're an addict and forget to tape/PVR an episode): http://www.hgtv.ca/video/


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## K-133 (Apr 30, 2010)

FrugalTrader said:


> I think it may be time for us to upgrade from basic cable.


Eff Cable.

This is all streamed for FREE on their website. Spend the money upgrading your Internet service and buy yourself a Boxee Box or something similar.


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## kcowan (Jul 1, 2010)

Although we get this stuf live on Starchoice. we can get whole series downloaded on our Media Centre PC for viewing at leisure. The PVR fills up quickly doing HD recording...


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## Andre112 (Apr 27, 2011)

jamesbe said:


> Property Brothers just started, so there are only a handful of episodes, it's a great show.
> 
> Love it or List it is good as well, there are a lot of them, I've seen at least 20 different episodes. Good stuff.
> 
> The W network (come with basic digital) carries these shows as well.


Good shows but I hate the drama. They always disappoint or even piss off the owners so they have low expectations and then amazed by the end result.


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## jamesbe (May 8, 2010)

This is true.

The other sore spot for me, especially on Property Brothers, is how they show them a house that is double their budget. Then say they can put everything from this house into the other house.

Then when it's all over, they get a Kitchen and a bathroom, but what about the other 80% of the house? It's still crap....


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## Sherlock (Apr 18, 2010)

I prefer the DIY Network... You can actually learn useful things watching it.


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## Jungle (Feb 17, 2010)

We love HGTV too. One of my favs is million dollar listing. Wife likes house hunters. I like the house hunters international; you get to see what's out there in the world. We have VIP package from Robber's and I negotiate the rates every year by bluffing to cancel. I look at the cost as "in home" entertainment. It's worth it for us.

PVR is a GREAT. We love recording our fav shows then watching them in a shorter time. 

Just don't tell Garth Turner, he HATES HGTV.


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## Addy (Mar 12, 2010)

Jungle said:


> Just don't tell Garth Turner, he HATES HGTV.


The feeling is mutual I am sure


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## marina628 (Dec 14, 2010)

I spend my Saturday watching BBC Fantasy homes by the Sea , Homes Under the Hammer ,Build a new life in the country.During the week I watch Property Virgins ,House Hunters etc.RE shows is most of my tv time .Property Virgins is crazy though ,I can see why the US market went tits up now.


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## Jungle (Feb 17, 2010)

What I would like to see out of property virgins is a more closer look at their financial situation. 

SOmetimes to do mention the down payment, but it would be interesting if they had more of an overview. 

Also what I do not understand on income property, is the landlord says they don't have enough money to pay the mortgage anymore, but it's ok to take a $50K home improvement loan and hope they rent the basement for income??


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## crazyjackcsa (Aug 8, 2010)

I have the same problem with income property as well. One thing to remember is the resale value it adds to the home. Not in the sense that an income suite adds, but the resale value "as seen on Income Property" adds. I'd think a large number of people try to flip the house after appearing on the show. Also I'm sure there is some sort of discount for appearing.

I like income property for no other reason than I'm refinishing a basement, and there are some good ideas as to deal with ceiling height and lighting.


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## Jungle (Feb 17, 2010)

They do an A+ job fixing the places up, but I'm just not sure if increasing debt to make income is the best solution. It looks like some of those people bought more house than they could afford. 

Then the host makes it sound so easy when he says this place will bring in $XXX pre month. Sure, but renting out to tenants can be quite ludicrous and risky. There is no guarantee and the laws in Ontario allow tenants to not pay for like 8 months while they wait to be evicted. 

A co worker said he was from Florida and there, the police Sheriff comes in the house with his gun drawn and tells you to get out. I like that.


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## I'm Howard (Oct 13, 2010)

Jungle, it is a little more complicated, but Yes, it is much easier to evict a deadbeat, however then the courts get a hold of it and a few years later?

The Management of our Park in Florida booted out some people who were under 55 and tried to take over their Parent's place, it was easy to boot them out but took vear a year to get rid of the home and to resell it.


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## marina628 (Dec 14, 2010)

My husband has done a few Basements now and we always go with recessed/pot lights in basement.They are not cheap to put in as you do need that fire box and proper wires/insulation around the actual light but they do save on ceiling height.My husband prefers to use tiles over dry wall for the ceilings in case any problems .He boxed in all the duct work and wanted something different so he went to home depot and bought the big shelving pieces of wood that was finished and attached that to each side of the duct work ,The wood on either side of duct work has a 'beam' feel to it.He also builds shelves in to be flush with the walls ,it gives extra room space if dealing with small rooms


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## Andre112 (Apr 27, 2011)

jamesbe said:


> Then when it's all over, they get a Kitchen and a bathroom, but what about the other 80% of the house? It's still crap....


I was always wondering what happened to the rest of the house. They always promised the dream home and got the owners to buy but always end up in a bidding war which eats in the reno budge. When reno comes, there are more problems with the house that takes away reno budget.

After watching these shows I learned that one should always always budget extra for reno 20% or more.

My fav show is Sarah Richardson's. I love her.


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## jamesbe (May 8, 2010)

That's the other problem, they never seem to have a buffer in the budget!


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## Jungle (Feb 17, 2010)

Andre112 said:


> My fav show is Sarah Richardson's. I love her.


She's got the same old style every time. Like a modern country style. Although she's talented and it seems to work with her designs. The results do have a wow factor. 

I'm still not sure exactly what her gay partner contributes to the designs. I guess he is just a companion?


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## Jon_Snow (May 20, 2009)

Garth Turner pretty much nails it when he calls the channel "house porn".

I watch mostly out of a morbid fascination of watching lambs (young couples with minimal down payments) being led to the slaughter (wait till interest rates normalize). Property Virgins is particularly troubling to watch. 

Saw a similar show shot in the U.S. and it is interesting that you can buy a 3000 sq. ft home in Texas for what our 850 sq. ft. Vancouver condo sells for these days. 

Real estate needs a reality check in Canada desperately....


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## I'm Howard (Oct 13, 2010)

Jon, Number two Son just came back from Sottsdale, for $350,000 He gets a beautiful home and pool, or if He stays in T.O He gets a 900 sq,ft condo.

He and his Girl Friend are talking to Immigration Lawyers, One Son in China, One wanting to go to the States, as much as I dislike B.C We may have to move there if we expect to see our kids.


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## Syph007 (May 2, 2011)

FrugalTrader said:


> I think it may be time for us to upgrade from basic cable.


No need... watch it online hgtv.ca I watch all these shows while I eat my lunch at the office :d


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## PoorPablo83 (Feb 8, 2010)

I enjoy watching some of the shows, but as someone in the construction 'biz' I have a love/hate relationship with the Holmes on Homes type shows sometimes. I find the scope of work interesting, but they way it's presented is unrealistic. Houses undergoing complete, drastic renos in like 2 or 3 weeks. I wish they also put a price tag on how much those renos would cost, specifically the cost of some of the high-end things Holmes installs. 99% of those home owners are in dire situations because they hired the cheapest contractor they could find, or just had no idea how much their renovation would realistically cost. I think showing what the home owners paid, what the reno would actually cost, then what the Holmes premium reno cost (accounting for all the things like spray-insulating an entire house, using self levelling concrete in their basement slabs, framing with all engineered "wood" products, plus top of the line appliances/HVAC systems) etc would be very interesting AND helpful in educating people thinking of undergoing a renovation themselves.


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## hystat (Jun 18, 2010)

Love it or List It:

"what's your budget for moving to a new house?" A: $400,000

"what's your renovation budget for your current home?" A: $1500





The post-renovation valuations are hilarious


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## hystat (Jun 18, 2010)

22 minutes spoof of Mike Holmes is pretty funny
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dSO4YD9ce2M


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## ddkay (Nov 20, 2010)

Hah hystat that's great


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## calrest (Apr 13, 2011)

Me too.


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## marina628 (Dec 14, 2010)

love it or list it bugs me as half times they do stuff the home owner does not even way.I wouldnt have my house torn apart to make $15,000 extra


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