How about Love It or List It? They sink $30,000-$50,000 into their house and then decide to sell it by the end of the episode. Miraculously, the "value" of their home increases by $20,000 more than they spent (usually for finishing the basement).

Maybe things are different in Canada...

Both are filmed in Toronto, which is a very hot market where almost anything will increase value in a home, it seems. I occasionally watch these shows for their entertainment value. As I've mentioned before, the thing that makes no sense with Love It or List It is that selling costs are never factored into the decision to sell. Since these are often expensive homes ($600,000+) the Realtor commission would be a lot!

I haven't seen Property Brothers, but "Love it or List it" is so dumb I can't even watch it for entertainment value. There's willing suspension of disbelief and there's insulting the viewer with ridiculous scenarios.

Also, everyone on LIOLI (designer/realtor/homeowners) really struck me as obnoxious. Which I'm sure is 90% for the cameras but if I wanted to watch awful entitled people, I'd watch "Real Housewives".

I like the idea of Love it or List It because I think that people (like me) are in the middle of those decisions every day. Do I sink money into this house to make it better for my family, or do I just look for a new house that fits us better. But can't stand the formulaic nature of the show. For the "list it" part: house 1 & 2 are horrible; house 3 is practically perfect in every way. For the "love it" part: renovation budget will cover the whole house - oops, now we have to knock out 1/2 our plans for structural issues. Every.single.show. It's tedious and almost unwatchable.

Any of these shows are for entertainment only and not at all representative of the real world in any way.
Just as we know that House Hunters is fake, I would not be surprised in the least to find out that Property Brothers scouts people who have already bought a house to renovate and builds their show backwards.

Again- none of these shows are what they try to appear to be.
Entertainment only.

Property Brothers does scout people who have already bought a fixer, and they provide some free labor and other stuff.

Property Brothers casting call

The closing drama is purely for entertaiment.

Nevertheless I love that show! It is one of my favorites. The latest episodes have been based in Austin Texas. I read an article from one of the shows and learned that the homeowners had a much bigger renovation than what is featured on the show.

I was only able to stomach a handful of these episodes and even less of Love It or List It. PB reminds me of the old show Hidden Potential and here is the question I have about both of them. Where does the renovation money come from? They start out by saying that the couple is approved for, say $500,000, for example, and they have a $40,000 down payment saved. Then they say they they can get the house they want for $440,000 and the reno budget is only $95,000 so they still come out on top by $5,000. But from what little I know, your closing costs and fees need to be paid from your cash and the bank is only going to give you what the house costs, regardless of what you were preapproved for. Am I missing something?

Am I missing something? ... only the fact that it is TV and everything is scripted and nothing is real!!! ;-)

Income Property is an interesting show, but I wonder who actually pays for the renovation?

And some of those houses in Canada seem to be way overpriced and not very attractive from the outside as someone said.

It ain't real, don'tcha know!

Love It or List It and Property Brothers are both shows that originated in Toronto. To the Americans on this site who think the housing stock is unattractive...I apologize for the shabbiness of my hometown, but property prices are through the roof here and there is still no end in sight to rising prices for detached homes in the city's 416 boundaries.

The detached homes in my 'hood go for $850,000 to upwards of $1.2 million. Four of those homes were profiled on Love It or List It. My aesthetician was on the show. She had no intention of moving..she just wanted a new kitchen. She was edited to look like the mean one on the show and she taped two different endings; one list and one to keep. She kept her home but the show chose the list ending.

It is in on TV is is full of unstated things and amounts to entertainment, nothing more.

I hate the drama on LIOLI, and I don't see any value I can take away from the show, so I don't watch it.
Some shows on HGTV can give someone ideas for themselves, I like that.

I don't care that HGTV is scripted, I know it is TV.

Claxx66, it's really not much different in NYC and other large cities. To those of us who live where property is much less expensive, it is just rather shocking. I live in upstate NY, and for $850,000 I could buy a gorgeous mansion on acres of land. I just could never afford it.
Aside from that, just want to say we've vacationed in Toronto several times and we just love it there. It is a great city and although I haven't seen every neighborhood I certainly never noticed any shabbiness. In fact the comments are usually about how the Canadians take better care of their property than the Americans as a whole.

As a Realtor, I have been (and continue to be) in one of the shows mentioned above (non disclosure agreement) and it is a lot of fun. Neither myself or my Clients are given any script on what to say.

I watch Property Brothers, but I don't like their deal. They never fix up the rather out of date or shabby or ugly exterior. They also do not do the whole house, yet they tell the couple and audience that with a fixer that they can have everything they want in a house. You rarely see the bathrooms in these old houses. You only see the master bedroom and bath if they are going to do them. Quite often, they only remodel the living room, dining room and kitchen. Not good enough!

I live in a city that became "big in the window" for Property Brothers. Not just Toronto...The "aftermath" of a couple of their major renos are talked about a lot, here. Yikes- apparently, the paid attention to the things that are great production value- all the "bells and whistles", and yet left homeowners with major issues like foundation cracks (on a fault line) and other things.

I wouldn't do that on a bet.

Not only that, but there is never any discussion as to how much would be over improving the house for the property values in the neighborhood.