Doug Haver
Most of Doug Haver’s real estate deals don’t involve a film crew.
Then the reality TV world came calling.
Haver, a Richmond real estate agent with Home Choice Realty, appeared Saturday on TLC’s “My First Home.” The show follows agents and first-time homebuyers through the purchasing process.
During the episode, Haver scouted properties in the Fan and Chesterfield County with client Chris Austin. The show aired April 6.
Haver said he has received about two-dozen calls and emails since the premier.
“Time will tell how it’s going to affect my business,” Haver said. “I hope it helps set me apart as someone who has an expertise working with first-time homebuyers.”
Haver said he was surprised when he got an email in July from Authentic Entertainment, a production company based in California.
“I never really followed any of these shows,” Haver said. “If you spend all day involved in real estate, you don’t really want to go home and watch it on TV.”
They asked if he had any interest in working on the show and if he had a client who might make a good fit.
He thought of Austin, a bachelor who wanted to buy a house in the city. Austin’s mother, who hoped he would eventually start a family, wanted him to find a place in the suburbs.
The two submitted a demo tape and went through several rounds of interviews before the company selected them for the episode.
“It wasn’t the cookie cutter show with young couple looking for their first house, and I think that’s why we made it in the end,” Haver said.
TLC’s film crew spent about 60 hours filming Haver and Austin over the course of a week in September.
“I was expecting a bare bones operation with one cameraman,” Haver said. “It wasn’t anything like that. They brought in five cameramen, a production manager, a sound guy. It was very professionally done.”
Haver, who used to work as a chef, was on a few public access cooking shows years ago. He said that he had previously never done anything on TV related to real estate and that he isn’t an avid reality TV fan.
“There was some anxiety, but I think it made me do my job better,” Haver said. “It made me concentrate on all of the little details.”
Richmond business people aren’t strangers to reality television. Two local bakeries, Frostings and Slice of Grace, competed on Food Network’s “Cupcake Wars.” Buz Grossberg of Buz and Ned’s Real Barbecue went head to head with Bobby Flay on “Throwdown,” and Q Barbeque owner Tuffy Stone co-stars in “BBQ Pitmasters.” Clean-up companies Clutter Cleaner and Abundance Organizing made appearances on shows about hoarders.
Spoiler alert: In the end, Austin closed on a house in Chesterfield.
Doug Haver
Most of Doug Haver’s real estate deals don’t involve a film crew.
Then the reality TV world came calling.
Haver, a Richmond real estate agent with Home Choice Realty, appeared Saturday on TLC’s “My First Home.” The show follows agents and first-time homebuyers through the purchasing process.
During the episode, Haver scouted properties in the Fan and Chesterfield County with client Chris Austin. The show aired April 6.
Haver said he has received about two-dozen calls and emails since the premier.
“Time will tell how it’s going to affect my business,” Haver said. “I hope it helps set me apart as someone who has an expertise working with first-time homebuyers.”
Haver said he was surprised when he got an email in July from Authentic Entertainment, a production company based in California.
“I never really followed any of these shows,” Haver said. “If you spend all day involved in real estate, you don’t really want to go home and watch it on TV.”
They asked if he had any interest in working on the show and if he had a client who might make a good fit.
He thought of Austin, a bachelor who wanted to buy a house in the city. Austin’s mother, who hoped he would eventually start a family, wanted him to find a place in the suburbs.
The two submitted a demo tape and went through several rounds of interviews before the company selected them for the episode.
“It wasn’t the cookie cutter show with young couple looking for their first house, and I think that’s why we made it in the end,” Haver said.
TLC’s film crew spent about 60 hours filming Haver and Austin over the course of a week in September.
“I was expecting a bare bones operation with one cameraman,” Haver said. “It wasn’t anything like that. They brought in five cameramen, a production manager, a sound guy. It was very professionally done.”
Haver, who used to work as a chef, was on a few public access cooking shows years ago. He said that he had previously never done anything on TV related to real estate and that he isn’t an avid reality TV fan.
“There was some anxiety, but I think it made me do my job better,” Haver said. “It made me concentrate on all of the little details.”
Richmond business people aren’t strangers to reality television. Two local bakeries, Frostings and Slice of Grace, competed on Food Network’s “Cupcake Wars.” Buz Grossberg of Buz and Ned’s Real Barbecue went head to head with Bobby Flay on “Throwdown,” and Q Barbeque owner Tuffy Stone co-stars in “BBQ Pitmasters.” Clean-up companies Clutter Cleaner and Abundance Organizing made appearances on shows about hoarders.
Spoiler alert: In the end, Austin closed on a house in Chesterfield.
And HGTV brought their Property Virgins show with Sandra Rinomato to my neighborhood in the West End near Short Pump that has aired numerous times since then.
YAY! Very cool Doug – now you can add TV star to your resume 🙂
Actually not the first (or second) time Richmond has been on TV for Real Estate. There is also an episode of House Hunters where a young family bought a house in Westover Hills. After also looking in the burbs I might add.