Property Brothers :

A Diamond in the Rough

 The Property Brothers provide the audience with a perspective of the real estate world which goes beyond the dullness of meetings and numbers. While business negotiation plays a key role in each episode, the Brothers never fail to entertain and leave the viewers with a new sense of knowledge as well as important life skills.  The Scott brothers help couples find their dream home behind a fixer upper. Johnathon and Drew take their clients to a ready to move in home that meets and surpasses all of the couples expectations in a dream house, only to show the couple that the home is out of their affordable price range. In doing so the brothers persuade their clients to become less reluctant in the idea of a fixer upper. The show continues with various home tours where the couples view potential homes that meet the price range they have set as well as their ideal location. Once the clients decide on a home that has all the elements the remodeling stage begins. Johnathon Scott races to complete the remodeling in time as he deals with unexpected problems that arise in the home and various requests from the couple which he tries to fit into their budget. The episodes always end with The Scott brothers meeting the couple's standards just in time.

 The Property Brothers demonstrate for their audience many significant real world skills, one of which is budgeting. Couples that come into the show present their budget to the Scott brothers and from there they tour fixer upper houses that will best fit within their budget limit. This is seen in the episode "Putting the Om' in Home" where the family looking to buy a home sets their budget limit at $905,000. Seeing the couples struggle to find homes within their budget allows for a realistic view on how difficult budgeting for a fixer upper home really is. Viewers are also exposed to various conflicts during the remodeling process when unexpected problems with the house are discovered. We see in episode "Putting the Om' in Home" that the family is faced with squeaky floors and instead of replacing the entire flooring they decide to continue the project without doing so. Seeing how the new home owners have to assess the situation and find a solution that best fits the budget is another example where the show teaches you the reality of having to anticipate expensive problems and preparing for them according to your budget. Along with this we see this unpredictability that audiences desire to see (Lewis and Weaver, 65). There is more to that goes into the decisions concerning the budget that isn't presented in the show because even though it is filmed not all of what is filmed is aired. This is something that is referred to as the 300:1 ratio, where there are many hours of film but only a small portion is what is actually put into an episode. However the show still manages to give the audience enough of an insight to be able to understand how stressful and complex budgeting for a home can be. Budgeting is an essential component to purchasing a home, because of all the unexpected problems that can come along with a fixer upper home which is clearly shown in this episode.

 Another skill that is presented in the show is outside of the box thinking. This reality television show is constructed based on the idea of thinking outside of the box. During the tours of the fixer upper homes, the Scott brothers persuade their clients to use their imagination to see the bigger picture in terms of remodeling and potential of the home.The Scott brothers also use computer generated images to show their clients what the unappealing fixer upper home would look like after the remodeling process. These computer generated images allow the audience to take note on Johnathon's creativity as a means to thinking outside of the box. These computer generated images help bring out the creativity in real estate that normally is not present. The show can influence the audience's attention by providing insight into outside of the box thinking.

Example of an computer generated image used in the show

 There is no doubt that along with purchasing a fixer upper home you need patience and The Property Brothers demonstrates just that. It is seen within many episodes that Drew has demonstrated patience while he dealt with his clients picky demands in location, flooring plan and price. In the episode "Putting the Om' in Home" Drew Scott demonstrated patience in finding the family their dream home that fell within their budget and a location close to the kids school and the couple's job. This episode demonstrated patience as he worked alongside the family, booking house tours and bargaining for the best deals that match his client's budget. This characteristic in Drew is one that the audience can keep in mind as it is a skill that is needed not only in the purchasing of a home but also in a job for example. Not only does Drew demonstrate patience but Johnathon the contractor also demonstrates patience when dealing with the big and small request his clients insist in having in their home. Drew demonstrates patience in the episode "Putting the Om' in Home" as he accommodated to both of his clients different home styles. This episode reinforces how patience is an important role in every task, whether its big or small.

 Lastly, another reason to watch The Property Brothers is because the show is family oriented. To start off  the hosts of the reality television show are brothers. They demonstrate to the audience in multiple scenes that they're playful by teasing one another exposing their brotherly love as they embrace which is appealing to the audience. An example would be during an interview when Johnathon teases his brother saying he never thought he'd amount to anything (Hod). They are a dynamic duo, that work well together and are seen doing so as they divide and conquer the task of buying and remodeling houses.

Michelle and her daughter posing with the Scott brothers after the successful remodeling

Not only do you see the Scott brothers working together, but you also see the couples and family work together as well. In the episode "Putting the Om' in Home" mother Michelle and daughter Felicia work together when they tour fixer upper homes, and then you get to see the family as a whole work together during the remodeling of the home. These are family oriented moment in the show that appeal to the emotion's of the viewers (Reiss and Wiltz, 365).

 The Property Brothers is a show about more than just negotiations and numbers. The Scott brothers teach us about patience a characteristic that is important in life, and in any job and career you pursue. They teach us to think outside of the box and be creative. As well as having the ability to see beyond what is presented to you and knowing that everything requires hard work and it will pay off. You learn about problem solving skills, there are various examples of times couples had to find the best solution to a problem that arose so that it would best fit  their budget. The Property Brothers demonstrate the concept of family working best as team when they are seen working well together and always joking around with one another. Their episodes go beyond the mundane business of real estate, they encourage us to be our best selves and work together as a team to accomplish a greater goal.

Works Cited

Hod, Itay. "The Property Brothers' Are Reality Television Crack Cocaine." The Daily Beast, 08 Sept.  2013, http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/09/08/the-property-brothers-are-reality- television-s-crack-cocaine.html

Lewis, Nicky and Weaver, Andrew J. "Emotional responses to Social comparisons in reality televison programming." Journal of Media Psychology: Theories, Methods, and Applications, vol. 28, no.2, 2015 pp. 65-77. PsycARTICLES , doi:http://dx.doi.org.proxy-bloomu.klnpa.org/10.1027/1864-1105/a000151 

Reiss, Steven and Wiltz, James. "Why People Watch Reality TV." Media Psychology, vol. 6, no. 4,     pp. 363-379. Community Source http://eds.b.ebscohost.com.proxy-bloomu.klnpa.org/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=36071888-c90e-43fd-b8142717f2ca0f7f%40sessionmgr4006&vid=11&hid=121.