My love-hate relationship with HGTV

I hate that I love watching House Hunters, Property Virgins, My First Place, and the like.  I like watching other people as they look for their dream home like we have done, and I get excited when I know they have found "the one."  But, I really cannot stand the fact that HGTV has seemingly lost touch with the realities of today's real estate market, and it has frustrated me to a  point where I hate watching these shows and really don't like HGTV in general very much at all anymore.  Here's why:

 - When you submit an offer on a house and the sellers accept the offer (short sale or otherwise) you have NOT bought that house!  Every single episode of one of these shows portrays the process this way, and it is 1000% unrealistic...yes...one-thousand percent (since we're exaggerating things anyway).  You do not have an offer accepted and then magically move in 30 days later and everything is perfect.  Why not have more follow-up shows?

 - Why not have more shows about short sales and bank-owned properties and the headaches involved?  I've seen a couple shows where the buyers have looked at short sales, submitted offers and walked away due to frustration and loss of patience.  THAT is realistic, but HGTV doesn't show that often enough.  Two shows is a small ratio.

 - Why not show stories of people who stick it out through the process like we have with our short sale?  You should provide tips on resources and how-tos for purchasing short sale properties.  Show people that it does take a very long time to get through the process.

 - The ratio of short sales and bank-owned properties far exceeds traditional sales like those portrayed on your shows.  I'll bet prospective buyers in this market would find those stats interesting.  (And more so about the differences between the two.)

Kudos to you HGTV for trying to spin things into a positive light, but you are giving homebuyers a false impression of the market today.  And I mean first-time buyers as well as people who have bought before.  Recently, I spoke to someone involved in real estate and he said he was dealing with a couple who were buying a second home.  They thought it would be easy because they've done it before.  But, he said he told them that unless they've purchased a home within the last 6 months things have changed dramatically,a nd they have a lot to learn about the market.  Even if you've purchased a home within a year...things have changed! 

HGTV, you have an opportunity to shed light on the new reality of purchasing a home.  I think you should seize the opportunity to educate people.  HGTV...GET REAL!