One of the more popular shows on HGTV is House Hunters, where the host, Suzanne Whang takes you behind the scenes of the process of a home buyer or a couple buying a condo who are guided around to 3 homes by a Realtor. After seeing the 3 homes and a regularly placed commercial break the home buyer comes to the Realtor office to fill out a one page contract form. After another strategically placed break, viola, the buyer has the home and we get the opportuinty to drop in on them 1-2 months after they have moved into the property they selected. All of this half hour, made for TV house hunting got me to thinking, How realistic is House Hunter as compared to what I do as an agent every day?

Over the course of the next few days I will be reviewing and comparing the House Hunter process with the Actual home buying process while showing some of the glaring and subtle differences along with providing some food for thought for potential home buyers.

Part One of a Nine Part Series

House Hunters Question #1, How does the home buyer end up finding and selecting an agent?

When we are introduced to the home buyer in the show, they are usually describing how there current living conditions are not working out and what they dislike about their current living arrangements. The ideal, overused "plot" is the husband or wife that has a hobby or painting or writing or music and how they are currently forced to use part of the living room as there studio.

Next scene shows the family with the Sunday paper spread out in front of them or they are sitting in front of an internet browser randomly selecting properties. While both of these activities do occur, the show eliminates some of the steps that will ultimately end up saving the home buyer lots of time and stress.

How it works in the real world, removed from TV Land. In todays internet age, it have been reported in multiple surveys that anywhere from 70-80% of potential home buyers begin their home search online. The next step that they take is contacting and selecting an agent to actually show them homes. This brings up two very important factors that home buyers need to consider. 1.) Is the agent that they are contacting for a certain proprty already under contract to represent the best interest of the Seller of the home? 2.) Is the agent that they are contacting familiar with the home or area that they are interested in and are they an active agent or are they not very busy and therefore they are just sitting around waiting and hoping that a buyer will call in on an office listing. You see, the average agent in the US sells 2-3 homes per year. That's right, 2-3. If you take the total number of homes sold divided by the total number of licensed agents, you get a number between 2 and 3. This means that alot of agent are not selling any homes. What does that mean to you? You might end up getting stuck with an agent that will be doing on the job training at your time and expense, vs working with a top producing real estate team.

Next, in HGTV House Hunters, we never see the real estate agent that has been selected taking the time to meet with the prospective buyers in the the agents office to find out exactly what the buyers are looking for and taking the time to explain the entire process. It is assumed that the agent knows what the buyers are looking for, but my experience has shown that the buyers translate this into a myth that every agent will just run out to the property and show them the property without taking the time to explain the entire process and finding out exactly what they are looking for. This meeting also serves as an interview of the agent by the buyers. This is glossed over because all of the step that are required are not shown, therefore the role of the agent is minimized.

How it really works: Most home buyers make the time to interview an agent or agents. The agent will take the time to question the home buyers to find out exactly what they are looking for, explain to them the entire home buying process. While glossed over in the show, this step is vital to setting up a good foundation for the rest of the Northern Virginia home buying process.