Do you enjoy watching house-hunting shows? These reality shows have been around for years and continue to captivate our imagination with the beautiful homes they showcase. They’re pretty entertaining and quite addictive, really, with all the drama and gorgeous properties they feature. If you like looking at homes, even if you’re not buying one just yet, you’ll surely get hooked on these programs.
If you’re planning on buying a property soon and are already checking out new real estate listings in Montreal, these shows may seem like a good reference to help you familiarize yourself with the process. As you’ll most likely find yourself in the same situation as the show contestants, it may feel like seeing how they got through it all will teach you a thing or two.
While you might be able to learn a few things from these reality programs, experts still advise against relying on them when making such a huge financial decision. Why? Here are two reasons that should dissuade you from taking down notes from these shows:
1. These shows won’t help you out with the financial part of the purchase
The actual viewing of the properties and consideration of what should and shouldn’t be there are actually the easiest parts of buying a house. It can even feel leisurely for some folks. Unfortunately, most shows only highlight this part of the house hunting process. They won’t give you the lowdown on filling up forms and gathering all the documents you need to apply for a loan. They won’t teach you how to calculate the loan amount you can apply for or give you a good idea about the financing terms these loans come with.
Then there’s also the fact that it doesn’t show the contestants even trying to negotiate the price. If you completely rely on these shows to help you buy a property, you might miss out on a house that’s priced slightly higher than your budget because you won’t know that you can actually haggle and strike special deals. They won’t tell you that real estate agents can take cuts on their commissions on certain occasions just to make a sale and that can easily cost you your dream home.
These are the trickiest and most tedious parts of the whole house hunting process. By not including the grimier parts of the house shopping process to be more entertaining, these shows are actually quite unhelpful if you’re serious about your quest to purchase your own home. They’re mostly created to entertain, not educate, which is also why they shouldn’t be your only resource for house shopping.
2. It might encourage you to set deal breakers that aren’t really necessary
While you should always have a list of non-negotiables for the property you want to buy, you need to be practical about what you can and can’t live without. The people in these shows tend to be easily put off by choices of paint colors, the owners’ flooring choice, or even the lack of granite countertops – all of which are easily remedied with some minor work. If you’ll do exactly what the people in these programs do, you’ll most likely take forever to find a property that will meet exactly what you have in mind.
Many of the deal breakers for the people in these shows are not deal breakers at all, so if you will be more open to the possibilities that the properties have to offer, you’ll surely find a good house that has everything you want and need that’s also well within your budget.
So if you need help in buying your first home, stay away from house hunting shows or at least recognize the fact that they’re not tutorials for purchasing a property.
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