It’s 8am on a Friday morning and a TV crew from the US has just turned up at our rented house on Sydney’s Northern Beaches. They are here to record our every move over the next three days as we go in search for a new home in this harbour city. We have a particular budget in mind, a good sense of the ‘must haves’ and ‘do not wants’, and a decent enough understanding of the local house market. By the end of the scheduled filming, we should also have a new house, which we’ll be sharing with a possible US television audience of about 20 million people.
Our adventure in ‘TV land’ began simply enough after I received an email asking if we would consider appearing on a US reality television show known as House Hunters International, a half-hour weekly programme watched across the US, Canada and Europe.
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The TV crew in action in the kitchen. |
This hugely popular lifestyle show, a spin-off of the domestic House Hunters version, follows individuals, couples, or families searching for a new home with the assistance of a real estate agent. Each broadcast features three properties, one of which is selected by the prospective buyer, whose offer generally is accepted by the seller. In the final moments of the show, the new owner provides a tour of the house, revealing what changes and/or improvements, if any, were made after moving in. The show focuses on properties around the world, particularly in Europe, the Caribbean, Central America, Japan and South America.
I had attracted the attention of the show’s producers through this expat blog, which follows my move from the UK to Canada and on to Australia. The producers were keen to highlight the challenges in moving from one country to another, and were intrigued by our relocation from Canada to Australia, given the obvious similarities between Vancouver and Sydney, and the resultant difficult decisions we faced in opting to make such a move.
My wife’s desire to return to her Australian homeland had played a key part in that decision, as had our desire for lots of sun, sea and sand, combined with an improved economic outlook Down Under. The House Hunters team jumped on our story and, before we knew it, casting videos and lengthy questionnaires were the order of the day before we were told we would be appearing in Season 25 of the series to be shown in late June/early July 2011 on America’s HGTV channel (further details can be found at http://www.hgtv.com/house-hunters-international/settling-down-on-the-northern-beaches-of-sydney-australia/index.html).
Within a matter of weeks, we flew out to Vancouver to film the back story to our eventual move – why we wanted to leave Canada, what was driving us to become expats for the second time, and what we would be leaving behind. The Canadian film crew toured Vancouver’s downtown hub, interviewed our relatives located in the city, and recreated some of those tough decision moments that every expat will ultimately experience.
In Sydney, we filmed over a long weekend, capturing a selection of experiences that make our life on the Northern Beaches so special. We kayaked on one of the many saltwater lagoons, strolled along the ocean boardwalks, rode pillion on a Harley Davidson trike along the length of the Beaches, and enjoyed a selection of delicious seafood with friends at a favourite local restaurant of ours.
More importantly, the search for a new home was filmed for the television show. Our real estate agent showed us three comparable properties that we had indicated could each be a potential home for us. In front of the cameras, we assessed the pros and cons of each property, from the suburb to the garden size to the proximity to the beach. Faced with a tough final choice between two of the three properties, we walked the length of a local beach and agreed upon the house of our dreams. The cameras kept rolling as we directed our real estate agent over the telephone to make the purchase and finally achieved our goal of buying and owning property on Sydney’s Northern Beaches.
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Taking direction. |
Our episode will air sometime in late June/early July 2011 and who knows how the audience will react to our desire to leave one of the most desirable cities in the world only to settle down in an equally desirable city. I can only hope that the show will prove to be interesting and insightful, revealing the reality of making an expat move to a new country and the challenges of purchasing property in a place you will come to call home.
My expat journey over the past eight years has thrown up untold opportunities and unusual experiences. Filming my search for a life less ordinary on US television will surely rank as one of the more intriguing episodes of this continually unfolding adventure.
More pictures of us filming the Sydney episode of House Hunters International can be found at this blog’s Facebook fan page at www.facebook.com/insearchofalifelessordinary.
In your new expat life, have you had any unusual experiences or opportunities come your way? Would filming your journey for an American audience appeal to you or is it something you’d much rather pass up?
This appeared in The Telegraph’s Expat Property section on 24 June 2011 – http://www.telegraph.co.uk/property/expatproperty/8589719/Filming-our-expat-search-for-a-life-less-ordinary.html
Congrats on your episode! I think my episode will be later in the summer, but your filming experience sounds so different from mine! They filmed you actually looking at real properties you were interested in buying and you actually bought one that they showed you? My “storyline” was completely constructed, should be interesting to compare 😉
@Kirstin – Thanks and congrats to you too! I think our filming experiences were more similar than you realise but I’ve erred on the side of caution when writing this post 🙂
Interesting to read the behind the scenes story of your International House Hunters episode. We’ve been contacted a couple of times as well, but decided to make another job related move to Moldova and rent for a few years before making a more permanent move to either Italy or S. America.
Will find your episode online.
Good luck!
@Miss Footloose – Interesting move! I’m sure Moldova will be a fantastic experience and quite different from the norm.
The HHI experience was extremely fun but a lot of hard work and a fair bit of ‘acting’ on our part so enter into it with a good understanding of what will be expected of you 🙂
Our episode air date was rescheduled but hopefully it will still air in June/early July.
Thanks for visiting!
Interesting to hear how it all happens Russ. Make sure you put it on youtube so we can all see it, won’t you?!
@Liv – Hi Liv. Am also interested to see what it ends up looking like 🙂 I will be sure to put it on YouTube if they make it available and once I am over the cringeworthy factor of seeing myself on the television!
Househunters International approached me a couple of months ago about doing a show about our move from Oslo to KL. I was tempted by the chance to return to Oslo for a trip but realised that my 4-yr-old, who was still traumatised by the move, wouldn’t be able to cope with seeing other people living in the house he still considered home. I’ve watched a few shows to check it out and found them very convincing; they didn’t look like re-enactment, though they were.
Glad it was a positive experience for you.
@Irish Nomad – Hi and thanks for your comments. To be honest, the offer of a trip back to Vancouver was what clinched it in the end and then we were hooked… but I can completely understand how it could be traumatic for a little one to return to their former home! It was a great opportunity but not well suited to everyone’s situation given the amount of effort required.
I hope the show comes across as convincing, even taking into account my poor acting skills 🙂
I was contacted by them through my expat blog as well, but had to decline because we’re renting our house here in South Africa with no plans to buy. I have to say I was a bit suspicious, so it’s great to see that they’re for real!
By the way, Miss Footloose, great to run into you again! It’s a small expat blogger world after all, I guess…
@Sine – Shame you had to decline the show, I’m sure you would have had a lot of fun but, yes, it seems they want you to be a buyer and not a renter 🙁
I always enter these things with a slightly suspicious state of mind. If you get to see the show, you’ll have to tell me if it comes across!