House Hunters has been helping people find their dream home for more than 20 years now, and it's still going strong. Maybe you watch it to learn more about real estate or to get a peek into other people's lives. But if you have aspirations to be on the show yourself, listen up: From sourcing your own listings to filming 30 hours of footage, here's everything you need to know about appearing on House Hunters.
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You have to already own your dream home.
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But don't sell your former home just yet.
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Don't even think about picking up a hammer.
Even though you've likely already closed on your new home, you have to agree to hold off on any home improvement projects until you film the house tour for the show. For the same reason, production insists participants keep the home empty until it's filmed.
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You have to disclose your home's listing price.
Could you imagine House Hunters without listing prices?! The show first started adding them in 2005—after six years on the air. Today, anyone who wants to go on the show must be comfortable with millions of viewers knowing how much their home cost.
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Your budget will be public knowledge too.
Just like with home prices, budgets interest viewers too. All participants must freely discuss their budget on camera.
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But your budget could be inflated for the show.
For years, House Hunters has baffled the internet for depicting couples with seemingly normal jobs searching for homes with astronomical prices. Former participant Kirstin Stone did a Reddit AMA in 2018 and revealed that her budget was inflated: "They mostly made up my budget: I wanted to spend no more than 130k, they used my max qualification (165), and tacked on 15k I had in savings as 'renovation budget,'" Stone wrote.
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You don't have control over your edit.
According to former participant Bobi Jensen, the show changed her storyline. "The producers said they found our (true) story—that we were getting a bigger house and turning our other one into a rental—boring and overdone," Jensen told Hooked on Houses in 2012. "So instead they just wanted to emphasize how our home was too small and we needed a bigger one desperately. It wasn't true, but it was a smaller house than the one we bought so I went with it."
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You have to scout two additional homes to tour.
Purchased your dream home? Great. It's also your responsibility to locate two additional homes to tour in your local area.
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Those homes don't even have to be on the market.
Past participant Bobi Jensen told Hooked on Houses she toured homes of friends "who were nice enough to madly clean for days in preparation for the cameras."
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You have to be good at keeping secrets.
The terms of conditions states that aspects of the show must remain private under a confidentiality agreement.
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Homeowners always see the same number of houses.
It's part of the show's secret sauce. "Showcasing three homes makes it easier for our audience to 'play along' and guess which one the family will select. It's part of the joy of the House Hunters viewing experience," a publicist for House Hunters told Entertainment Weekly.
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Filming is sometimes spaced out over a few months.
Hey, buying a house isn't a quick process. "There are certain filming days where they shoot your old house and your new one and then months later when they do the other choices and you all moved in to your new one," Bobi Jensen told Hooked on Houses.
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The episode may not be filmed in order.
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You don't have control over when filming happens.
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Plan to use plenty of vacation days.
Because filming can take up to a total of 30 hours, buyers may have to take off work to appear on the show.
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You walk away with a home—and a little money.
Contestants put in a lot of time to find their dream home on TV. So what do they get out of it? Prospective buyers are reportedly paid $500 per family to appear on the episode.
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You have to have your own real estate agent.
While you'll be guided through the houses by HGTV-selected realtors, the show requires all prospective contestants provide their realtor's name and contact information when they apply.
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But your onscreen realtor is chosen for you.
Whether HGTV contacts your personal realtor to be on the show or not is unclear. What we do know is production scouts local realtors to give buyers tours. All are volunteers and aren't paid by production.
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You may have to shoot scenes multiple times.
According to Bobi Jensen, production already has an idea of what they want to capture in the tours. Jensen reshot several reactions for production—sometimes as many as five or six times.
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Leave your polka dot and plaid shirts at home.
According to a former realtor on the show, production has a few requirements for what the participants wear. Prints are off limits, so solids are the way to go.
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Pack extra outfits.
Just in case production doesn't like your first pick. "I brought four extra outfits and they were like, 'nope, nope, nope,'" estate agent Leslie Remy told People.
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Brush up on your design knowledge.
Unless you're a huge fan of HGTV—or in real estate yourself—you probably don't know all the home lingo. So why do buyers seem so knowledgeable on the show? Production provides them with documents with this kind of information beforehand.
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Make sure you're ready to talk.
Interviews with the homebuyers provide a lot of insight into what they're looking for in a house, which is why they're required to film interviews before and after buying their house.
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You're not just filmed in the homes.
In addition to getting footage meeting with realtors and touring listings, participants spend hours filming filler footage, like family outings and relaxing at home.
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You may need some acting skills.
The house hunters will occasionally have to show off their acting chops by deliberating between their options, weighing the pros and cons, even after they've already purchased one of the homes.
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The free food is a major perk.
According to one former participant, the director made sure lunch was covered during each day of filming—and even provided on-set snacks for the family.
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You'll be up against some serious competition.
According to Mental Floss, the popular show fields up to 200 applications per week. After submitting an application online, the casting department reaches out to couples they want to proceed with for an audition tape.
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You must live in the United States.
Currently, House Hunters is only scouting couples living in the United States. Live outside of the U.S.? You could apply for the show's spinoff, House Hunters International.
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No teens, please!
While not many super young people buy homes, there is a minimum age requirement, just in case. All participants must be older than 18 years of age.
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It's almost guaranteed your episode will air.
While some reality shows end up scrapping episodes after they've filmed them, that's not the case with House Hunters. The hugely popular television show rarely stops an episode from airing.
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