"Property Wars"

[Todor S]

I am currently watching "Property Wars" on Discovery Channel.  I have been reading these forums for a while and based on what I read here I cannot help but think that these guys on the show are complete amateurs.  I see them buy houses on auctions paying almost full market price for them.  Their potential profit margin is so small that even I know not to gamble to the extent they do.

Has anybody watched this show?  If yes, what do you think?

[javipa]

These shows are only good for entertainment.  They are horrible, if not dangerous, models to follow.

My guess is that the money they get paid to 'act' like investors, overcomes their gross incompetence. 

They've got to keep the cameras rolling, evidently, so they'll engage in the stupidest, most hilariously stunted (as in dysfunctionally short) negotiations, where the buyers (and sellers) are led down a primrose path by the agents, to what can only be described as a 'self-serving end for the agents themselves,' but nobody else.

[justin0419]

I laugh at the show. I still can't believe the amount of money they risk for the potential profit. At the end of the show they list what they hope to make but there's no guarantee the house will actually sell for that. Some of those flip that house shows used to show at the end how long the people actually took to sell the house and the actual pretax profit. All the other shows are hopeful prices. I don't buy houses I can't see inside first. If I want to gamble I'll go to a casino. I couldn't operate the way they do on property wars. Even on Storage Wars all the other regular people are out of the bidding before the pissing contest ends between the show's people bidding.

[Bluemoon06]

If you notice the only people bidding are the people in the show.  That means that they are paying way higher than any of the other people are willing to go.  This is likely because the show pays the difference.  You and I don’t have a show to pay the difference.  The thing that gets me is the “the pig in a poke” method of buying these houses.  I would guess that it is true but you buy a house that you can’t go in?!?  This sounds like lunacy to me.  It is not investing it is gambling.

I was approached by one of the networks to do a show and they were not interested in what I was doing, they wanted ratings.  They wanted me to get an “employee” that either started fights, or made stupid decisions or made a lot of mistakes.  I told them they could follow me while I found a house valued the house negotiated it and did the rehab.  They could watch me rent it out and collect the money.  And at the end of each day I would let them follow me to my mansion and enjoy my lifestyle.  They said that would be like watching paint dry but they said that would last 1 or 2 episodes and they wanted to fill a season.  I guess getting rich is not sexy and produces no ratings.

You know I would watch javipa or motivatedceo move through their typical day.  But I guess I am easily entertained.

[furnishedowner]

I have been thinking the exact same thing...they are nuts to bid so high without knowing what repairs are needed.

A prudent person would just go over to the next town that doesn't have the feeding frenzy shown on those shows.

A good time to buy anything is during the Super Bowl, very bad weather, or other events that shrink the number of people bidding.  It's much better to be maybe the only buyer.

Furnishedowner

[Estrogen Hostage]

I'm glad that there are shows like this that make people think this is less profitable than it really is.

[Bluemoon06]

Four?

[Kristine]

The show is really entertaining and also very interesting.

[heartlandbuyshouses]

It is an entertaining show and something that is amusing to watch if you don't take it too seriously. There are people on the show that you love and you hate and seeing them succeed and fail is fun, especially if you don't care for them and they lose a ton of money. The interactions between the members of the show and the constant battling between them is also a fun aspect of the show.