Housing Slump Helps the Draw of Fixer-Upper TV

Above, Jay Goldman/HGTV; Top right and bottom right, TLCStill popular are programs like HGTV’s “Designed to Sell,” left, and TLC’s “Flip That House,” top right, and “Date My House,” right.

Highlights:

• Shows hallmarks of the bubble: "“Flip That House” (on TLC) and “Flip This House” (on A&E) — are still around, but have been retooled with less-than-happy endings. The TLC episodes are repeated several times each week and still draw an average of 700,000 viewers a showing."
  

• Last year HGTV doubled their orders: "“House Hunters” and “Designed to Sell,” two shows offering advice on buying and selling decisions."

• "Ashton Crew tuned into HGTV: about a year ago as she tried to sell her home in Ankeny, Iowa. “I thought, in this market, any suggestion could help,” she said. But she was disappointed. “I found myself starting to resent the shows a little, thinking their advice a bit too simplistic,” Ms. Crew said. She recently decided to take her home off the market.""

• Senior Vice President for A&E: "Robert Sharenow, called them the type of shows “that keep on giving.” The ratings for “Flip This House” have remained steady for the last two years, even as house-flipping has grown less reliable, as they tap into a home-improvement vein that the cable networks believe will always exist, no matter how gloomy the market may be."

Comments:

Flip that House "not": The velocity of home sales are slowing down on a year or year basis and the trend is continuing to move in the direction of working with the property you own.

General Population: is experiencing another cyclical understanding that you can lose money in the real estate market. The results are making everyone more cautious going forward as the economic realities of their own situations become apparent.


Jim