Real Estate is Still Booming. On TV.
There are only a few places not feeling the ill effects of the numerous maladies afflicting the real estate world; The gulf state of Dubai, foreclosure auctioneers and homes for sale on HotPads come to mind. But TV programmers are really going all-in with housing-related projects.
Reality shows centered around home buying, house flipping and home renovation are all the rage on cable and network TV.
In two days, "Flip This House" will enter its fourth season on A&E. That's not be be confused with "Flip That House" on TLC or Bravo's "Flipping Out." In January, Home & Garden's HGTV had its highest prime-time ratings ever. Nine of its
top 10 series are related to the real estate market. And Extreme "Makeover: Home Edition" is still a hit.
Remarkably, no networks have picked up the pilot for "This is HotPads", in which a group of over-caffeinated web jockeys try to radically improve the housing search market with interactive maps. Hilarity ensues.
Too bad these shows give investors a false sense of how easy it is to rehab and flip a home. I hear stories every week about people who were inspired to flip and failed miserably because they thought it would be much easier then it really is.
That said,I can't imagine why "This is Hot Pads" hasn't been picked up yet. ;)
Posted by: Joshua Dorkin @ BiggerPockets | Tuesday, March 18, 2008 at 08:02 PM