The Great House Giveaway

uralmaid

Has anyone else been watching this?  When I first started watching I thought it may be a good idea for people to try and get on the property ladder. However, after watching the last few programmes I think it is just another one of those programmes which tries to set people up to fail.  Firstly - two complete strangers have to do a property renovation together, both with little or no skillset.  Then some of the properties they are given to bid on obviously have problems which are too big for a novice to tackle unless they have a large budget.  The latest one was a tiny terrace house which the presenter knew had subsidence.  After 5 weeks of the young novices trying to do something one of the walked away and the other was left to carry on.  When the problems were so much that he too had to walk away the presenter then brings in his "team of specialists" - quite a few of them and they do the work. It then sells for £20k less than the valuation.  He blames this on the couple not being organised and "leaving the property £10k worse than it was when they started.  The fact that they had no experience, were given a choice of 3 houses all with major issues and only a £10k budget seemingly has nothing to do with it. Grrr!

hazyjo

I actually think it's good. Just watched most of them in the last week.

They actually give the selling and fees figures at the end, not like Homes Under The Hammer, and show you never know what you're getting at auction. I might refer our usual visitors there who say "I've watched HUTH and want to buy a property to do up".

(And 'Damon' was one of my first major crushes so I prob have a soft spot.)

wilfred30

I have watched all of the episodes and, with a couple of exceptions, they were all failures!

The bloke in yesterday's episode that you refer to was a builder so should've known better than to ignore the subsidence that they were told about right at the start and the leaking flat roof.  

I think the choice of participants is questionable.  That girl with a kid who went on holiday 3 times during the renovation really annoyed me!

The problem also is that Simon gives the couples advice about what to do and they completely ignore it.  Like the couple who were advised to just 'flip' the house and they went ahead and almost demolished it.

Having said that, I felt sorry for the couple who got the chapel in Wales - they didn't stand a chance.

strawb_shortcake

I've only watched part of an episode as I had to go out, but I found it really frustrating, two women from North Wales that actually knew each other. 
One had a Son and took 3 holidays I think in the 5 months they had to do the house up. Seemed to be be one of the women doing the bulk of the work, missed the end so no idea how it worked out for them both.

AdrianC

We aren't believing stuff on daytime TV again, are we?

eve824

I've seen three so far. The first one, the two girls, did really well. The next one they didn't get as much profit each but still a decent amount. The last one was heartbreaking as they both tried so hard and were left with nothing. I think its an interesting program and will continue to watch it.

Falafels

AdrianC said:

We aren't believing stuff on daytime TV again, are we?

But it's on the telly so it must be true!!!
 

wilfred30

We are, yes 

The difference between this and HUTH is that it is realistic and shows that you are just as likely to fail at property development as succeed, thereby exploding the myth that it's easy money.

Davesnave

Not viewed, but I think I might well seek it out.

Having been (still am!) at the sharp end of renovation, I know it's far from as easy as most TV programmes present it, just like people are far from the paradigms of virtue portrayed in so many so called 'reality' shows.

Car crash TV perhaps, but I've seen the real thing. It isn't pleasant viewing when the partner has obviously upped and gone long ago, the water is dripping through the roof, you have to pass through the non-existent conservatory to go upstairs and you're forced to help the vendor push his car at the end  because he can't afford a new battery! Horrendous, (and he still refused our realistic offer, the Richardhead!)

AdrianC

Davesnave said:

Car crash TV perhaps, but I've seen the real thing. It isn't pleasant viewing when the partner has obviously upped and gone long ago, the water is dripping through the roof, you have to pass through the non-existent conservatory to go upstairs and you're forced to help the vendor push his car at the end  because he can't afford a new battery! Horrendous, (and he still refused our realistic offer, the Richardhead!)

...at that point, did you start to feel your sympathies lying with the ex?

babyblade41

Haven't seen it as I rarely watch tv , I have a small one in the kitchen but that's usually on the radio.

These programmes tend to be like rubber necking an accident when it's right in front of you, if it's on you can't help but watch and then create about it after the event !!  I doubt I'll watch this as even the most straight forward of renovations usually throws up curve balls especially mine.

21 months of upheaval and far too old to be doing another .