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House Hunters International Wants to Make You a Star

Popular TV Series is Looking for Agents and Buyers to Participate in New Season

By Ted Edwards
International Property Journal

For the producers of House Hunters International, the program that helped make shopping for an overseas home a TV phenomenon in the U.S., the search for agents and buyers to participate in the show is a never-ending process.

Ideal candidates must speak English, feel comfortable with a camera recording their every move and, more than anything, have patience.

“The biggest misconception is that it will be 10 minutes,” said Holly Schwartz, producer for Los Angeles-based Pie Town Productions, which produces the show for HGTV. “As much fun as it is, it does take time.”

Pie Town is currently searching for agents and buyers for the next season. Although they are open to locations, the “wish list” includes Croatia, Fiji, French Polynesia, Holland, Hungary, Indonesia, Malta, Morocco, Spain, Sweden and “anywhere in the Caribbean,” Schwartz says.

“A lot of it is based on what we think would be appealing to our viewers,” Schwartz said.

Around the world, House Hunters International is one of several shows documenting people’s adventures in overseas home buying, based on the simple premise that it is fun to watch other people shop for second homes. In the U.K., A Place in the Sun and its brethren are staples of the TV dial, key drivers for the industry.

But House Hunters International and its domestic version, House Hunters, brought the concept into U.S. homes. Now 10 years old, the shows are HGTV’s top-rated programs; more than 200 shows have been produced and the programs reach 97 million viewers around the world, Schwartz says.

The success of the show has made it easier to find agents, she said. “It definitely helps to have name recognition.” The producers look for “lively” and “personable” agents, who understand the TV process. It’s also up to the agent to find the homes to tour and obtain clearances to videotape inside the homes.

In addition, it’s the agent’s responsibility to find the buyers to participate, which can be a challenge. Buyers don’t have to be American, but they do have to speak English. And the producers prefer people who have a passion for finding new home overseas, not investors.

House hunter Kieron Murphy with agent Catherine Bianchi in Barcelona

“We want people with an emotional connection to the property,” Schwartz said. “We definitely want people with a good story to tell who can keep viewers rooting for them.”

Not only do the buyers need to be comfortable putting their lives on TV, they must be willing to spend endless time setting up camera shots of them walking into a house or commenting on the pros and cons of a property’s toilet. The show usually tapes for five days with a buyer, including three full days of shooting houses in the morning and interviews in the afternoon.

“This is a ‘reality-style’ television, which means that although we aim to remain true to events as they happen, there are times we may need to direct the action,” the program’s Web site explains. “For instance, we may ask you to re-do some things, so that we get a better shot or a different camera angle, or ask you to repeat certain answers in order to tell your story in a succinct way.”

Although Schwartz didn’t talk details, it’s clear to any viewer that buyers must be either very, very close to making a purchase or already have made a selection before the cameras arrive. After all, the final purchase is the required money shot for any program. (Schwartz would only say the buyers must be “firmly committed to buying.”)

Both the agent and buyers are paid, but Schwartz declined to discuss specifics. “It’s not a get rich kind of thing,” said. According to the show’s Web site, the agent and clients each receive a $1,500 “honorarium,” after shooting has been completed.

The producers are not picky when it comes to the homes. As viewers can attest, the goal may be a tiny urban apartment or spacious ocean view villa.

“We’re very open on price range,” Schwartz said. “For us, it’s just as interesting to see a really expensive property versus a very inexpensive home.”

In new shows the producers hope to expand on the show’s basic format to include more detail about the overseas home-buying experience. “We’re making more of an effort to help people understand the process,” Schwartz said.

They are also trying to focus more on the buyers, their stories and their genuine reactions to the adventure of buying in a foreign country. More time is spent on the follow-up, the segment which shows the buyers once they’re ensconced in their new home.

“We’re trying to show more of the lifestyle they enjoy when they are there,” Schwartz.

The producers recognize the essence of the show is the voyeuristic pleasures of watching other people live their dreams.

“It’s fun to see how people live in different countries,” Schwartz said.

Agents interested in participating can contact Holly Schwartz at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

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