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Community Corner

Local Couple's House Hunt Featured On HGTV

The Hessels appeared on cable's "House Hunters."

As all homeowners know, looking for the perfect house to buy can be an exciting, challenging, and emotional experience. The Home and Garden Television network, or HGTV, has turned that experience into a popular reality show called “House Hunters”. Ballwin residents Jon and Lisa Hessel, fans of the show, decided to share their recent house hunt with the viewing audience. Their episode of “House Hunters” aired on March 6.

Jon Hessel is the former Residential Life Manager at in Creve Coeur. The Hessels lived in an apartment in the boys’ dorm at MBU for five years and started a family there, welcoming their son Kaden.

Last year, the couple was ready to buy a house, and Lisa decided to apply to appear on HGTV. The Hessels had to submit an online application and send in videos of themselves and their realtor. They made the cut, and a camera crew came to film their search last summer.

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The “House Hunters” show follows homebuyers as they look at three prospective properties that fit their general desires and budget. At the end of the show, viewers find out which home the hunters picked. The camera crew spent five days shooting the Hessels looking at three houses and closing on their eventual choice. The 30-40 hours of videotape this produced would be winnowed down to 23 minutes of programming.

The couple enjoyed the filming process, especially getting to know the crew members who came from Los Angeles and Cincinnati. They were down to earth people who had interesting stories to tell about their work, the couple said. There were some behind-the-scenes tricks that were necessary to make good television. The Hessels would have to repeat the same reactions to house features so that they could be shot from different angles, and a few times found themselves “rehashing the same discussions we had already had” for the camera, said Lisa.

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Before the shoot, the Hessels spent three weeks looking at over 70 houses, so they were confident that they would come to a decision for the show. They knew they wanted to live in either the Kirkwood/Webster area or West County, with Lisa preferring the former and Jon the latter. However, they “agreed on all the big stuff,” Jon said. The house not only “had to be somewhere that would let us live but would also house my business,” Lisa, an engagement and wedding photographer, said. The house they ended up with was “perfect for the needs that we had,” she said.

With so much footage to work with, the show’s editors are able to create the pat story they want to make and characterize the house hunters according to type. Lisa thinks she was portrayed somewhat as a “control freak” in the episode, but says she is not ashamed of being clear about what she wanted. The couple’s realtor said he would hire Lisa for her real estate savvy. All in all, “I think they did a good job of representing our house search,” Lisa said.

Since the episode aired, the couple said it has been funny to hear the reactions of family and friends. People that know them well could see some of the minor manipulation behind the show, especially in those repeated conversations. However, the couple’s determination to find a home they would be happy in was very real.

The Hessels say that they watch “House Hunters” differently now that they have been through the process themselves. Asked if they would recommend participating in the show to other homebuyers, they warned that it is a big time commitment and allowed that they were “a lot more worn out” than they thought they would be, said Jon. However, nine months after moving in, they are very happy with their home. Lisa is very interested in real estate and still looks at listings sometimes for fun, but she hasn’t seen anything that made her regret the decision they made.

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