10 Things You Didn’t Know About HGTV’s House Hunters

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9. Slow Start

Similar to many other shows, it took a while for House Hunters to catch on, but once it did it had a snowball effect. It’s now one of HGTV’s biggest series with several spin-offs. They went from producing 13 to 26 episodes per year to up to 200 (that’s not including all the spin-offs)! Also back in 1998 reality TV was still a relatively new concept and they had to convince real estate agents to allow them to film their properties for five days for a 30-minute show. Today that’s never a problem because according to Sandler, people want to be on the show. They receive hundreds of applicants every week.

HGTV

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8. Pay Day

People who participate in the show receive a payment of $500, but those who appear on House Hunters International will make $1,500.

Source: TheThings.com

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7. Behind the Scenes

Since the show is filmed as “reality-TV” their crew is small. There are only three people behind the scenes during filming — a camera person, an audio engineer and a director. On Pie Town Productions website they admit that while they film events as they happen, many things are staged in order to create the best production. For example, touring a house in 15 minutes might take several hours in order for them to get the best quality shots. Participants might have to re-shoot scenes several times or answer specifically designed questions in order to get the answer they want.

Source: Housely

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6. Time Frame

The time needed to shoot one episode usually takes up to five days, the buyers only have to be present for two of the five days. What’s interesting is although it’s a “reality show” they don’t necessarily need to film five days in a row. Different parts of the episodes can be filmed on different days, and sometimes even weeks apart!

Source: Housely/HGTV

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5. Most Episodes Make it to Air

Almost every episode that is taped goes to air, although there have been some circumstances where the episode is scrapped. According to Housely, of the hundreds of episodes that are produced, there are only a handful of episodes that never went to air due circumstances like divorce, death or even natural disasters like Hurricane Katrina.

Source: Housely/HGTV

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4. Episode Costs

Each episode costs about $45,000 to $50,000 to make which is a huge difference from the $28,000 it used to be back in 1998. The total includes labor costs, equipment, permits, food, salaries and the $500 payout to buyers who participate in the show. According to Housely, the local realtors who work with the show to offer their properties are not paid, but rather work on a volunteer basis under the basis that they’ll receive commission on the sale of whatever house the buyers choose to purchase. It’s also free publicity for their company.

Source: Housely/HGTV

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3. Participants Must Have Already Chosen a House

There’s been a lot of talk about House Hunters being a staged show because in order for a home buyer to be eligible to come on the show, they must have already chosen a house. This means when they are touring around looking at different options the buyers already know which house they’ve chosen, when in fact they’ve probably already bought the house! Viewers have argued that this makes the show fake, but in their defense, HGTV released a statement that read: “We’re making a television show, so we manage certain production and time constraints, while honoring the home buying process. To maximize production time, we seek out families who are pretty far along in the process…” Basically because buying a home is typically a lengthy process, they have to skip (or stage) a few steps in order to create the show in a reasonable time frame.

HGTV

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2. Biggest Show on HGTV

The original House Hunters films up to 200 episodes per year, but when counting all the spin-offs there’s a staggering 447 brand new episodes each year which is an average of 1.22 new episodes every day! This is because the show runs continuously throughout the year without any mid or post season breaks. To ensure diversity there’s 25 international film crews filming simultaneously around the world.

HGTV

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1. Hard to Get on the Show

Due to their enormous success, it’s become increasingly hard to get on the show. The production team receives hundreds of applicants per week and producers are looking for the quirkiest people they can find who are looking for something unique in their home in order to make their show interesting. The process to apply is to first fill out an online application. Then the casting director will follow-up with a phone call or email, then a phone interview with the producer. After that there is lots of paperwork and a 10-minute audition video. If selected, the applicant will receive a call.

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Katherine G

Katherine is the Managing Editor for Health and Parenting, but she has a soft spot for entertainment. She loves binging shows on Netflix, reality TV is a guilty pleasure, and country music is her go-to playlist. When she's not writing, she's spending time outdoors, especially with her puppy Zoey!