Reality Reno show. Know anyone who has done it.

Really? I know it's 'fake" but outright lying, not liking that.

It always annoyed me that the houses were so sloppy looking. In real life if a TVshow was coming to your house, you'd clean the shit out of it, not portray to the whole world that you live in a pigsty.

And it's not just love it or list it either. I've seen the same thing on the property brothers too.

It's annoying.

Cindy

Whaaaaaaat, something on TV was all scripted? Surely you jest.

Love it or List it drives me crazy. It's always the exact same premise - one wants to stay and one wants to move. They hate all the houses they're shown, then something goes wrong at their house and they fight with the designer, then they fight with each other, then the designer fights with the contractor, then all of a sudden the people love the last house they're shown and the reno turns out beautiful. I wish they would just mix it up a bit every once in a while.

And yeah, what's with the messy, messy houses? I clean up the clutter when my grandkids come over, for heaven's sake, never mind a TV crew!

I heard this same type story years ago...friend of a friend type thing had someone doing one of the earlier shows - house hunters type thing. They said the same type of thing, that the family choose something other than what was portrayed.

I think most of these shows have elements that aren't quite real/true.

I heard that too.

Same here. Most of the time when I watch that show I can't believe average people normally live with that much junk heaped up helter shelter in their basements and play rooms floor to ceiling like that, so I'm honestly not all that surprised to know it's probably not real.

I've been in plenty of messy or cluttered houses before (and I lived in a really small house with a ton of stuff in it for over 20 years) but usually people at least have their stuff stacked up in some logical manner or on shelves so they can get at the things they need from time to time.

This doesn't surprise me either. The thing that drives me bonkers about the show is that more often than not the couple will give the realtor a bigger budget than the remodeler. Say their existing house is worth $500K. They're willing to go up to $575 for a move to a new house, but will only offer $40-50K for the remodel but they want two entire floors of their house reworked including kitchen and bathrooms. 

Then they complain to high heaven when the whole remodel can't be done on the skimpy budget given (or, something "major" is discovered that needs fixing which kills the original budget) and the plan has to be cut back and they lose important deal breaker things on their list. Meanwhile, the realtor shows them a house they looooove that's over their stated budget at $590K but it has "absolutely EVERYTHING on your list! So-and-so isn't giving you THAT in your old house!" And they go for that when they could just dump another $20-40K in their existing house remodel and could get everything they wanted without moving and their whole house was already ripped up? That just doesn't make sense! 

If a show is going to even try to show a realistic apples to apples comparison, I would think both avenues should be given the same resources in order to be totally fair. Both the realtor and the remodeler should get the same exact budget. Of course you're not going to get the same amenities when one person is given a boatload more money!

On a related note, now I can tell my DH that he's probably not actually wrong as many times as he thinks he is when he guesses that they're going to go one way and the show says they make the opposite choice! 

I think Love it or List it is a good premise and a lot of people are in the same boat. However, the show is too scripted and predictable. Don't make it dramatic, make it real, not fake. I quit warching because it was so fake and dramatic.

In my experience when kids are little (under 4ish) a play room is necessary. I didn't feel comfortable letting them be outside on their own completely and I needed to get stuff done (like dinner) inside. My kids are older now and that isn't an issue but we still have a play room that gets used a ton. We did a big remodel when our kids were 2&4 and having that dedicated space made such a difference in the toy clutter in other areas of the house.

our neighbours two doors up were on the show a couple of years ago. they ended up "loving" (which was agreed upon ahead of time) but have since listed... well, sold.

the home owners had to have multiple outfits ready so they could film and make it look like different days. it was agreed that he was gonna wanna list it and she wouldn't want to move.

the houses that they looked at with David to purchase were all over the city (not in their "desired neighbourhood") and the prices were just made up for the show.

not a whole lot of realty going there. but it serves a purpose, I suppose. their Reno was lovely.

I am not going to tell my boyfriend any of what you guys just wrote- he LOVES this show, and was really disappointed to find out about Tarek and Christina. No way am I going to ruin Love it or List It for him, too! lol!! (even though we both know most of this type of show are scripted / fake.)

I hate seeing all the clutter, too-- and I always wonder where all that clutter actually GOES- especially if they have to make two extra bedrooms and a bathroom out of the available space. All the clutter is in the unfinished basement, but when they renovate the house (typically reducing the storage space in the process) there is NO clutter at all!!