ABOUT THE NETWORK
After having seen all episodes of Selling New York and Selling L.A. I noticed the staggering amount of Jewish and gay persons involved. I have learned that both the real estate business and the entertainment industry is dominated by this group in those two cities. It looks like HGTV is actively disproportionally seeking them out to appear on the show. It's really odd and I wonder why they do that.
FORMAT
The concept of the four-season T.V. series is that of a docu-soap. With each episode we follow two real estate agents facing a different challenge. This T.V. series clearly is a platform for the involved real estate agents.
REPETITION
The show has recurring themes – it wasn't even funny anymore, that much recurrence was involved. The buyers always want too much considering their budget, the sellers want to overprice their property, and homes need to be staged we are taught continuously. The agents are always under pressure to perform, we are reminded every now and then. Let me quote one potential buyer for the fun of it: "I have a three million Dollar budget, but I have a ten million Dollar taste.".
It would be easier if the buyer had a million Dollar more to spare is another popular expression. Agents were also scaring the clients to make rapid decisions because the home could be gone tomorrow. Even if the home was on the market for a very long time, it could be gone any moment we are supposed to believe. Such methods degrade the reliability of the agents quite a bit, yet on their respective websites reliability is an obsession. Gosh I wonder why.
Finally we regularly have to hear that the market is currently thin. For one or two-million Dollar homes I can imagine (in West L.A. a million is peanuts), but when the buyer has a seven million Dollar budget such a comment becomes laughable, yet we were actually told the same thing again.
I haven't learned anything useful other than that realtors cannot be trusted. Even if you never bought a home, you probably won't learn anything significant from this show.
ANNOYANCES
The most subtle recurrence were the fake motivations from many buyers and sellers. Many buyers and sellers were just in it to flip homes. They betrayed themselves often in the same episode. It's insulting to the viewer.
The biggest annoyance, and let me tell you, it's infinitely annoying once you notice it, are the staggering amounts of cut-scenes in e v e r y single episode. Entire dialogs in every scene are constructed by cut-scenes glued together! Many sentences simply didn't make sense at all. It's an attempt to build drama but it only resulted in countless non-sequiturs.
Also the reactions of the actors didn't make sense, which made many conversations odd. Again, it's because of the cut-scenes; the people on camera weren't reacting to what has been said. That part was cut away so the viewer doesn't know what the person-in-focus was reacting to originally. Think of out-of-place shrugs, unnecessarily smiles to non-existing jokes, weird shakes with the head, and so forth.
CLOWNESQUE
This show displays so much weirdness. Chris Holified, owner of Elite Aviation who tries to sell a thirty-million-Dollar home, but the renters of the property won't allow showings. I kid you not. Then there's a seller who dresses like a pirate, and on a different occasion makes funny faces behind the backs of agents who may represent future buyers. We have a Russian agent (Elise Worboroff) who likes to flaunt with her body and we have another agent who likes to flaunt with her cleavage (Rebekah Schwartz). We have a fake German Baron (Karsten Faerber as Baron von Wittenstein) who pretends to have a twenty million Dollar budget and is in need of a big home for his opulent lifestyle, just like a Baron is used to. Or so we are told.
There's 'The Fitzgerald Group'. Mamasan Fitzgerald - she truly acts like a mamasan - hires only women. She engaged them all to sell that thirty-million-Dollar home, notifying the seller, Chris Holifield, that they are all beautiful girls. Then there's Bobby Shah, an irresponsible childish realtor who's always too late for appointments because he's living his life in a tattoo shop.
Finally, everybody hugs everybody. Well, almost that is. But really, clients and agents who supposedly never met before hug immediately at the door, or where ever. It's in every episode too. If you're going to buy a home, you'll notice this is not the standard at all. Just a free tip from my end.
CONCLUSION
I rated four stars. Especially the amount of cut-scenes set me off. The presented false motivations of many buyers and sellers were a thorn in my eye too. The lack of educational value didn't help either, and the scripted wackiness was simply respect-less to the viewer. Still four out of ten stars because I like the idea of this show and it has tons of potential. Real estate addicts should watch it. Expect a reality-ish soap, and that's it.
After having seen all episodes of Selling New York and Selling L.A. I noticed the staggering amount of Jewish and gay persons involved. I have learned that both the real estate business and the entertainment industry is dominated by this group in those two cities. It looks like HGTV is actively disproportionally seeking them out to appear on the show. It's really odd and I wonder why they do that.
FORMAT
The concept of the four-season T.V. series is that of a docu-soap. With each episode we follow two real estate agents facing a different challenge. This T.V. series clearly is a platform for the involved real estate agents.
REPETITION
The show has recurring themes – it wasn't even funny anymore, that much recurrence was involved. The buyers always want too much considering their budget, the sellers want to overprice their property, and homes need to be staged we are taught continuously. The agents are always under pressure to perform, we are reminded every now and then. Let me quote one potential buyer for the fun of it: "I have a three million Dollar budget, but I have a ten million Dollar taste.".
It would be easier if the buyer had a million Dollar more to spare is another popular expression. Agents were also scaring the clients to make rapid decisions because the home could be gone tomorrow. Even if the home was on the market for a very long time, it could be gone any moment we are supposed to believe. Such methods degrade the reliability of the agents quite a bit, yet on their respective websites reliability is an obsession. Gosh I wonder why.
Finally we regularly have to hear that the market is currently thin. For one or two-million Dollar homes I can imagine (in West L.A. a million is peanuts), but when the buyer has a seven million Dollar budget such a comment becomes laughable, yet we were actually told the same thing again.
I haven't learned anything useful other than that realtors cannot be trusted. Even if you never bought a home, you probably won't learn anything significant from this show.
ANNOYANCES
The most subtle recurrence were the fake motivations from many buyers and sellers. Many buyers and sellers were just in it to flip homes. They betrayed themselves often in the same episode. It's insulting to the viewer.
The biggest annoyance, and let me tell you, it's infinitely annoying once you notice it, are the staggering amounts of cut-scenes in e v e r y single episode. Entire dialogs in every scene are constructed by cut-scenes glued together! Many sentences simply didn't make sense at all. It's an attempt to build drama but it only resulted in countless non-sequiturs.
Also the reactions of the actors didn't make sense, which made many conversations odd. Again, it's because of the cut-scenes; the people on camera weren't reacting to what has been said. That part was cut away so the viewer doesn't know what the person-in-focus was reacting to originally. Think of out-of-place shrugs, unnecessarily smiles to non-existing jokes, weird shakes with the head, and so forth.
CLOWNESQUE
This show displays so much weirdness. Chris Holified, owner of Elite Aviation who tries to sell a thirty-million-Dollar home, but the renters of the property won't allow showings. I kid you not. Then there's a seller who dresses like a pirate, and on a different occasion makes funny faces behind the backs of agents who may represent future buyers. We have a Russian agent (Elise Worboroff) who likes to flaunt with her body and we have another agent who likes to flaunt with her cleavage (Rebekah Schwartz). We have a fake German Baron (Karsten Faerber as Baron von Wittenstein) who pretends to have a twenty million Dollar budget and is in need of a big home for his opulent lifestyle, just like a Baron is used to. Or so we are told.
There's 'The Fitzgerald Group'. Mamasan Fitzgerald - she truly acts like a mamasan - hires only women. She engaged them all to sell that thirty-million-Dollar home, notifying the seller, Chris Holifield, that they are all beautiful girls. Then there's Bobby Shah, an irresponsible childish realtor who's always too late for appointments because he's living his life in a tattoo shop.
Finally, everybody hugs everybody. Well, almost that is. But really, clients and agents who supposedly never met before hug immediately at the door, or where ever. It's in every episode too. If you're going to buy a home, you'll notice this is not the standard at all. Just a free tip from my end.
CONCLUSION
I rated four stars. Especially the amount of cut-scenes set me off. The presented false motivations of many buyers and sellers were a thorn in my eye too. The lack of educational value didn't help either, and the scripted wackiness was simply respect-less to the viewer. Still four out of ten stars because I like the idea of this show and it has tons of potential. Real estate addicts should watch it. Expect a reality-ish soap, and that's it.
