Homeowners, Tell Us About Your Biggest "HGTV Lied To Me" Moments

Even as someone with little hope of ever buying a house, I have to admit: It's extremely fun and very easy for me to get sucked in to an hours-long HGTV wormhole. From couples bickering over high-priced homes to jaw-dropping renovations, shows about homeownership are totally fascinating to me.

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But I'm also very aware that much of what we see on these reality shows is more TV magic than reality. So if you're a homeowner, I want to hear all about the moments that made you say, "Whoa, HGTV lied to me!"

Maybe years of House Hunters binges had you thinking that choosing a home and buying it would be a pretty straightforward process. You just tour a couple of houses and pick your favorite, right? But when you were finally ready to buy in the summer of 2021, the piping hot real estate market gave you a rude awakening. Steep competition and cash buyers offering way above asking made your home search into a stressful nightmare.

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Or perhaps you've watched a ton of renovation shows, and you thought that it would be easy to convert your home to an open floorplan...until you realized that the kitchen wall you wanted desperately to knock out is actually load-bearing. Your contractor suggested some work-arounds, but ultimately you decided to just leave it the way it is.

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Or maybe you hadn't realized how chaotic it can feel to live in a house while renovations are going on. On TV, people usually move out into a hotel or haven't yet moved in while work is being done. Making all your meals on a hotplate in your living room is so much less glamorous than what you might have expected.

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Tell us in the comments about the things that reality shows get wrong about buying or renovating a home, and you could be featured in a BuzzFeed Community post.

And for more stories about life and money, check out the rest of our personal finance posts.