As Seen On TV? Not Exactly

PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY KRISTIN LENZ -- THE WASHINGTON POST; IMAGES BY HGTV, TLC, BIGSTOCKPHOTO

Still, Rudland, the recent buyer, said that the shows sometimes paint a too-rosy picture of buying and selling.

"Amazingly, the Realtors on the shows are always able to meet their clients in a sunny park under a beautiful tree, and there's only one paper to sign, as opposed to the hour or more spent in an office signing a mountain of papers that typically happens," she said. "They don't usually show the work that is involved in selling -- having to keep the house clean, needing to vacate for showings, wondering why no one is making an offer on your 'beautiful' home -- either."

Laura Reese, marketing manager for the Creig Northrop Team, a group of Long & Foster agents in suburban Maryland, said she is a fan of the home shows, as are several of her colleagues.

The shows do a good job, she said, of letting sellers know they have to strip many of their personal items out of a home when selling. It once was a challenge for real estate agents to tell owners that they had to store much of their personal photos and family memorabilia. Sellers have now "heard it a thousand times" on TV, so they don't flinch when their agents tell them to hide the family portrait that's hanging above the stairwell, Reese said.

But while the shows often portray families who renovate their kitchens or bathrooms before putting their homes on the market, they don't do an accurate job of explaining just how expensive the work can be, Reese said.

"They don't factor in the cost of the labor involved in such projects," she said. "Painting and remodeling a kitchen, ripping out cabinets: That all requires expensive labor. The shows may quote what people paid for the appliances and new cabinets, but they don't cover the cost of the labor involved in it. People could be misled on what it costs to remodel a kitchen or bathroom."

Add Terry Brown as another voice wishing that home shows would be a touch more realistic. Brown, an agent with Re/Max Allegiance in the District, said that the home shows should do a better job of explaining just how time-consuming, frustrating and stressful home-renovation projects can be.

"Some of the renovation shows make it all look really easy," he said. "In reality, though, renovation is a lot more than just picking up a hammer and swinging it."

Television never shows the struggles that homeowners go through just to obtain the proper construction permits from city and county agencies, Brown said. And you rarely see municipal inspectors demanding that work be done a certain way or not at all.

"People see the shows and think they can be renovators, too," Brown said. "But a lot goes into it. It's more than just saying you want to do something. It's real work."

Elaine Koehl, an agent with Re/Max 100 in Frederick, added that she would like to see the programs do a better job of showing viewers that buying or selling a home is a lengthy, complicated process.

Too often, television makes the experience seem simple and quick. But selling a home wasn't a quick and simple process even when the residential real estate market was booming, from 2001 through 2006, Koehl said.