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With all of the recent focus on real estate, one show that has stood out is House Hunters, where the host, Suzanne Whang describes the process of a buyer or a family buying a home who are attended around to 3 homes by a agent. After seeing the 3 homes and a regularly placed commercial break the buyer comes to the agent office or works with the agent on the hood of the agents car to fill out a one page contract form. After another strategically placed commercial, viola, the buyer has the home and we get the opportuinty to drop in on them 1-2 months after they have moved into the property they selected. All of this half hour, made for TV house hunting got me to thinking, How authentic is the House Hunter to the actual home buying process?

Don't get me wrong, if House Hunter called today to ask me to be an agent on the show I would jump at the opportunity. I am just pointing out some of the differences between the show version and the real version of buying a home. Over the course of the next few days I will be comparing the House Hunter process with the Actual home buying process while showing some of the glaring and subtle differences along with providing some food for thought for potential home buyers.

This is part one of a nine part series.

House Hunters Question #1, House Hunters shows the home buyers working with an agent, how do home buyers select a real estate agent?

When we are shown the home buyer in the show, they are usually describing how there current situation and living conditions are not working out and what they don't like about their current living arrangements.

Next scene shows the buyers with the Sunday paper spread out in front of them or they are sitting in front of a computer screen randomly selecting properties. These are task that most every home buyer goes through, but there is also plenty of resources that the agent can provide to assist the home buyers.

In todays internet age, it have been reported in multiple surveys that anywhere from 70-80% of potential buyers begin their home search on the internet. The next step that they take is contacting an agent to actually show them homes. This brings up two very important factors that buyers need to consider. 1.) Is the agent that they are contacting for a certain proprty already under contract to represent the best interest of the Seller of the home? 2.) Is the agent that they are contacting familiar with the home or area that they are interested in and are they an active agent or are they not very busy and therefore they are just sitting around waiting and hoping that a buyer will call in on an office listing. You see, the average agent in the US sells 2-3 homes per year. That's right, 2-3. If you take the total number of homes sold divided by the total number of licensed agents, you get a number between 2 and 3. This means that alot of agent are not selling any homes. What does that mean to you? You might end up getting stuck with an agent that will be doing on the job training at your time and expense, vs working with a top producing real estate team.

Next, in HGTV House Hunters, we never see the real estate agent that has been picked taking the time to meet with the prospective buyers in the agents office or the buyers current home to determine exactly what the home buyers are looking for and taking the time to explain the whole buying process.

How it really works: Most home buyers take the time to consult with an agent or agents. The agent will take the time to question the home buyers to find out exactly what they are looking for, explain to them the entire home buying process. While glossed over in the show, this step is vital to setting up a good foundation for the rest of the Northern Virginia home buying process.

Robert Earl - Founder of The Earl of Real Estate Team is a Real Estate Entrepreneur & Real Estate Coach serving the Northern Virginia Real Estate Market. Robert Earl's Site showcases Sterling Condos for Sale - Sterling Condo Communities