Transcribed from the radio and the Hellickson website:

“Hi, it’s Glenn Beck. You probably know how I feel about real estate. I have too many family and friends who have lost their savings, college fund, retirement money, even their own home. But here’s the thing. It doesn’t have to end that way, because not all Realtors are created equal. There are some who put a sign in some yard, put your home on some endless list and then cross their fingers.

But then there are others that go another way. I’m talking about real estate agents like Michael Hellickson.”

You can hear the entire transcript of the Glenn Beck ad on the Hellickson website.

What kind of a company is Hellickson?

I would love to tell you, but I’ve been censored by the Northwest Multiple Listing Service. I noted the rule-breaking and fines that this company has received over the last few years and received a request that I remove this information from my website.

We got the saddest news over the weekend, Seattle’s oldest newspaper, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, is being put up for sale by the Hearst Corporation. If no buyer is found in 60 days, they can close it down.

This is just the tip of the iceberg for other papers, of course, and many, if not most of our newspapers are in the same situation. With readership down, many businesses don’t want to advertise, and classifieds are practically dead.

It will be a challenge to make papers relevant and provide information that one can’t get elsewhere, keeping subscriptions up, to lure advertisers.

Several features still seem to be popular. In Sunday’s paper, the advertising circulars there are unrivaled. Even with online coupons, the ad circulars remain popular. Cars. The car section is still huge. And real estate open house schedules. There is still no other comprehensive online equivalent.

As many have noted, the separation of the advertising and editorial departments have often lead to journalists digging their own grave. Yet what is the alternative? You often see book reviewers referring to some book on Amazon instead of a neighborhood bookstores website, a neighborhood bookstore that might actually buy advertising.

Our local newspaper real estate section is constantly referring to Zillow and Redfin and Trulia, calling up their executives for a quote, instead of calling the CEO’s of the local traditional real estate firms, the ones who actually buy ads every single week.

John Cook, who has a new tech site called Tech Flash, spent a good part of his career at the Seattle PI and writes about his take on the potential PI sale and says “It’s a sad day for us here at TechFlash.”

In his tech column John continually championed Redfin and Zillow, promoting, fawning, citing, quoting. Yet I can’t remember a single ad they ever bought in the Seattle PI. He’s continuing his romance at the Puget Sound Business Journal, granting column space to Redfin’s CEO to wax melodic about whatever flavor of the day catches his fancy. It’s one thing to report, it’s quite another to promote and pimp.

Of course, we don’t want our journalists to check the list of advertisers before they set pen to paper or fingers to the keyboard. But selective reporting, ommissions and failure to check facts has the same result and is just as bad as being openly biased.

It’s easy to see how the same thing that’s happening at the PI could happen to the Business Journal, though the PSBJ has something that some folks want in the form of detailed residential and commercial property sales, permits, liens and bids, so they will probably be able to keep a good portion of their subscription base. But if that can be found easily online sometime in the future, maybe not. Puget Sound Business Journal prints most of their current stories online and TechFlash almost totally online (except for a once-a-week page), has very few ads, and is a stand-alone website. They have 3 writers listed. How are they paying them and can they continue to do so? I would think they’re living on borrowed time there, while they search for a successful way to monetize their site.

Just today, the New York Times had a story, “You Talkin’ to Me? New York’s Brash, Boisterous Blogosphere”

For the past few years, blog comments sections, acting as virtual town squares, have offered residents around the country a forum in which to weigh in — and vent — on a wide spectrum of local issues. But given New York’s size and diversity, not to mention its fabled brashness, political energy and high emotion, its blogosphere is taking a particularly striking shape

The world’s best newspaper is discussing the movement of discourse from the “Letters to the Editor” section to the “comments” section of neighborhood blogs.

How sad. We’re gaining so much, but losing so much more in the process. When a newspaper’s editorial staff disappears, it is a serious loss to society and a blow to democracy. I don’t have an answer, but I do know that we can’t afford to lose serious professional journalists. Though it may be impossible to be totally neutral and impartial on certain topics and stories, at least that was the professional journalists directive, and they often succeeded. If the only watchdogs of our government and corporations are bloggers, heaven help us.

(Note: I have two blogs on the Seattle PI website, Seattle Real Estate Professionals and the Capitol Hill blog. My grandmother worked for years for the Seattle Times, yet we all knew that the PI was a better paper, and we had a “secret” subscription for all those years. Now I can subscribe openly but if this paper closes, our city will be so much the worse for it.)

.

A woman in Sheboygan, WI is suing the city because the city’s attorney used legal threats to get her to remove a link to the local police department website — the city apparently believes you need permission to communicate the URLs of its pages:

The city went further, the lawsuit claims, launching a criminal investigation of Reisinger for linking to the department on one of her sites.

Many agents offer community links for home shoppers, including links to their local police departments, city offices and neighborhood resources.

Sheboygan women files landmark case over Web links

Having trouble paying your rent?

How about turning it into a sex club and having members “donate” to use the facilities.

That’s what one enterprising couple did in Des Moines, a suburb South of Seattle.

The house, on the 1200 block of South 232nd Street, rented for $2,200 a month. It seemed perfect: It’s a big house on a suburban street, set back from the road and shrouded in foliage, with 6 bedrooms and a huge swimming pool and hot tub.

The perfect place for an erotic sex club, right? Unless the neighbors complain.

Cathy Sorbo weighs in on the wisdom of having a sex club in your rental property.

The Hardwood Cabin’s website’s been suspended, but the Seatac Blog found excerpts from their website.

Insanity ruled the evening as bloggers from around the country made their way to the Inman Connect Bloggers ‘n’ Beer shindig this evening at the Thirsty Bear. Shunning actual real food products, I challenged myself to try each of the 7 organic ales brewed at the pub, comforting myself in the knowledge that Guinness is still given to nursing mothers in Ireland and brown ale to mothers in Belgium and it’s apparently still made available to blood donors and stomach and intestinal post-operative patients in those parts, but I digress……

The crowd eventually made its way to the John Collins to collect Trulia schwag of custom T-shirts emblazoned with “I’m too old for My Space, come visit me on Trulia Voices” and drink cocktails with the free drink tickets Trulia was so kind as to hand me on the way in. The room was groaning with real estate mafia, everyone selling something to someone, or at least trying to…..the place was so packed, I was surprised the fire marshall didn’t come and close the party down. Apparently Trulia is hiring and a flurried exchange of business cards was taking place over tiny finger sandwiches and cocktails in the corner.

As I staggered back to the hotel in the wee hours, I was disappointed that Soup Freak was closed, but hope to visit tomorrow in the light of day. Hope Crab Bisque is on the menu……

I’ll be speaking tomorrow on the subject “Finding Your Voice”, however, I’ve temporarily lost mine sending shout-outs to my various cohorts across the crowded bars. But if I find it in time, expect a lovely panel discussion. More to come!

connectsf

Tickets went on sale this weekend for the White Stripes concert Sept. 26th & 27th at the Paramount Theater in Seattle. Members of Facebook can stream The White Stripes new album “Icky Thump” in its entirety tomorrow, June 19th. You can add the app by going here.

Matt Carter at Inman did a post a few months ago called The White Stripes are unZillowable, about lead man Jack White, who put his house on the market for $930K but Zillow had the Zestimate at $256,947.

Jack and Meg White / White Stripes

(Even if you’re not familiar with The White Stripes music, you may remember Jack and Meg White’s personal history. In early interviews, the pair presented themselves as siblings, two of ten. However, the Detroit Free Press famously produced copies of not only their marriage license, but divorce certificate, confirming their history as a married couple.)

Maureen Francis, of SKBK Sotheby’s, had several articles about this home, as I guess it created quite a buzz in Detroit. From what I understand, the particular district of Indian Village, where Jack’s home was located, is a beautifully preserved neighborhood, a historical oasis in a sea of crime and decay, and very few homes in Detroit proper ever get close to the $1M mark. The city itself has been steadily losing population since the 1970’s and many beautiful and historic buildings have been abandoned.

(As a side note, Seattle has been lucky enough to stem the flow of “white flight“, even though we had the same court-mandated forced bussing program for integration that Detroit did. Now, the Seattle Public Schools are some of the best in the country, Garfield High School, an inner-city school, has more National Merit Scholars than tony Lakeside School, Bill Gates Alma Mater, and the suburbs have more gang activity than any inner-city neighborhood. The city of Seattle has higher property values than many suburbs, and the suburbs, if not crime-ridden and full of functionally obsolescent homes and bland architecture (think Kent, Auburn, Lynnwood, Crossroads) are culturally a wasteland with nary a professional theater, orchestra or fine art museum to be found. Redmond, home of Microsoft and a nearby suburb of Seattle, doesn’t have a lot of crime, but it doesn’t have anything else either, except for a mall with a couple of movie theaters. Bellevue, with a population of over 100K and a vibrant economy, has no professional theater, orchestra nor ballet and the only fine arts museum closed and re-opened as an arts & crafts venue with no permanent collection to call its own.)

So, in the Inman blog post, Matt had noted that the Zestimate for Jack White’s house was $256,947, with a value range of $156,738-$706,604. But now the Zestimate is $26,944.

I realize that Michigan does not allow official publication of sales information from their public records, so Zillow can be very ineffective in this situation. But that’s a pretty wide range of value there. Especially since Maureen just told me it sold and closed for $590,000.

I happen to live in a state that allows public viewing of this information and can only imagine how my hands would be tied if not allowed to know what the last sales price was. But, at the same time, it seems like a pretty big invasion of privacy for everyone to know what one paid for ones house. There’s your transparency for ya.

Long Gone John

One of the White Stripes first albums was released by Long Gone John and Sympathy for the Record Label. In the seventeen years SFTRL has been in existence, John has released over 750 records and helped launch the careers of several other well known, controversial and talented artists, including Courtney Love and her band Hole and The Donnas first incarnation, The Electrocutes. Some of John’s less famous but yet still very notable Sympathy acts over the years have been The Muffs, The Von Bondies, Rocket From the Crypt, The Mumps, April March, The (International) Noise Conspiracy, The Dwarves, Buck, Suicide, The Gun Club, Billy Childish, Turbonegro, Man or Astro-man?, Scarling, Inger Lorre and Motel Shootout, and Redd Kross.

Long Gone John is moving himself, having sold his mid-sized Spanish-style home in Long Beach CA, to a mini-mansion on the shores of Puget Sound in Pierce County (where, for the same price as a mid-century rambler in Southern California, he bought himself a waterfront dream home).

John has had a film made about him, “The Treasures of Long Gone John“, about his music business, his impact on music and culture and his fabulous art collection.

Now the same film director, Gregg Gibbs, is making a new film about the MOVE of Long Gone John called “The Gone World“. Apparently, John has so many possessions, items, art, furnuriture, collectables, ephemera, souvineers, object d’art, crap and crapola that it’s been taking months to pack it and Greg is documenting the packing and subsequent move.

(We visited his home last year and documented a bit of his super-fab art collection.)

Apparently it’s taking months longer than planned and more than one moving van. Too bad he didn’t use one of those real estate agents in Southern California who advertise a free moving truck.

The White Stripes (as interpreted by uber-cool Seattle artist Sara Lanzilotta.)

Jack White’s Michigan crib under contract

Jack White Slept Here…and Recorded Here…and Ate Over There…

Jack White’s house sold on Modern Age (with photos)

I love juxtapositions and reciprocity and capillaries of connections. I like to look for patterns and order and the weave, web and wiring between people and events. Relationships, correlations and networking connect the people, places and things in our lives.

If you’re a Seattleite, you may know Walt Crowley, founder of HistoryLink.org, a journalist, a social services director, a policy planner for the City of Seattle and the Municipal League of King County, a television news commentator, a freelance writer, communications consultant and networker extraordinaire.

In a sad twist of fate, this former radio and television commentator, lobbyist and public speaker was diagnosed with laryngeal cancer on July 15, 2005. He began treatment at Group Health Cooperative in August, but chemo and radiation therapy ultimately failed to kill the disease, necessitating removal of his larynx on February 9, 2007. Luckily, word is he did well and is now in recovery. He’s not seeing guests quite yet (not even recent visitor Mayor Greg Nickels), but he’s making good progress. Slowly, he will learn to use one of those hand-held voiceboxes and will communicate with his multi-layered network of friends, political cronies, writers, artists and other assorted ne’er’-do-well’s in that way.

In the weeks before he went in for the surgery, he recorded his words so his wife, friends, family and, more importantly, he himself, would not forget how his own voice sounded.

In a degree of bravery I have rarely witnessed, the evening before his surgery he invited some of the friends, cohorts, sidekicks, well-wishers, patrons, advocates, supporters, politicians, ex-hippies and rabble-rousers he’s known, to come by one last time to hear him speak and for a going-away party for his voicebox.

There were several past mayors in attendance, including former Seattle Mayors Wes Uhlman and Norm Rice. Here is a photo of Walt, ex-Mayor Norm Rice and current City Councilmember Jean Godden.

There were also many City Council members there, including President Nick Licata, Peter Steinbrueck and ex-Port of Seattle Commissioner Henry Aronson.

The place was packed. Writers such as Paul Dorpat. Artists such as David Kane (having his own battle with Hugo). Other writers like Milo Johnstone (The Magic Decade) and singer/songwriter Danny O’Keefe.

Walt is also the author of several historical tomes about Seattle University, my alma mater. He wrote “William J. Sullivan, S.J” , a celebration of Seattle University’s renaissance during 20 years under its 20th president and “Seattle University, A Century of Jesuit Education”.

Also in attendance was Ken Bunting, associate publisher of the PI, Tracy Rowland, Maura Donahue, Kurt Geissell, owner of our favorite brunch spot, Cafe Racer, and Quintard Taylor, Dr. Hubert Locke, Professor of Public Affairs, Dean Emeritus, and Marguerite Corbally Professor of Public Service and author of Learning from History: A Black Christian’s Perspective on the Holocaust and Searching for God in Godforsaken Times and Places: Reflections on the Holocaust, Racism, and Death

Walt used to have a show on KIRO-TV called “Point/CounterPoint” with John Carlson, who is still a talk show host on conservative talk-radio, KVI. The show consisted of exchanges between the conservative organizer John and left-wing writer Walt. The mini-debates aired two or three times a week and covered a wide range of political and social topics.

John stopped by for one last verbal spar with Walt, the night before the surgery.

One of Walt’s great successes was the founding of History Link, a fabulous State of Washington history website, with over 100,000 visitors a day.

So what does any of this have to do with real estate?

The seed money for HistoryLink.org came from a $100,000.00 grant from Paul Allen, owner of Vulcan Real Estate, the builder of 1000’s of condo’s in the Seattle area and also owner of Vulcan Capital, the main funder of Redfin.

Also, the Seattle-King County Association of Realtors created the First Citizen’s Award in 1939 to honor outstanding community and civic leaders who’ve made a contribution to improve the region where we live. (The Gates Family were recipients in 1995, Jeff Brotman, founder of Costco in 2005, the McCaw’s in 2004. Dale Chihuly was a recipient in 2006. (Read “Glass Artist = Realtor?”).

The Association of Realtors created a relationship with Walt’s organization, HistoryLink.org, to memorialize the 1st Citizen Award event and most importantly, the contributions of the past recipients. Walt helped write the biographies to provide a new, authoritative, and easily accessible historical reference. HistoryLink.org created 1,500 word biographies for each past recipient.

This past week, Crowley took his voice on a farewell tour, appearing on public radio and local TV news stations:

Cancer claims radio host’s voice on NPR

Historian’s voice still fighting to be heard

NPR (KUOW) radio interview with Walt Crowley

Seattle historian loses voice (KOMO-TV)

A voice of Seattle faces a challenge (Seattle Times)

To send get-well wishes and to check up on Walt’s progress, you can visit Driving Mr. Walt.

Bring back the good times with this “Pimp Your Cubicle” kit that contains everything you need to pimpify a bland and uninspired real estate office: a dollar-sign paperweight, gold push-pins, leopard print fringe to run around the edge of your cubicle, a disco ball, and “Bling” mousepad. But, if that doesn’t quench your thirst for individuality, check out the accompanying book for more design Pimp My Cubicle schemes. From a beach front theme to the Taj Mahacubicle, you’re sure to find something that appeals to your inner pimp. See Newsweek Periscope’s Style: Very Niche Marketing

Wanna Pimp Your Crib on a budget? Try J.C.Penney’s Cribs Decor

Pimp is not just another word for Your Baby’s Daddy. For a list of All Things Pimpin’ see That Fat Bastard or Blender Magazine’s Guide to the Best Bling Ever.

The Real Estate Rap Song

Real estate bling for Realtors, real estate agents and all the real estate playa’s.

HOUSE BLING!!!

Sell real estate in style

Some folks are likening Realtwhores to pimps and prostitutes. Perhaps it’s time for Realtors to take that word and make it their own.

Pimp My Roll

Pimp my 4-door American land yacht Real Estate Ride

Gay Ghetto

Ghetto Real Estate Goldmine

Ghetto Fabulous Real Estate Co.

Jack a Crib

Pimp your Real Estate Blog

Marc Davison’s excellent article on Inman “Time for Elvis to pass the torch” caught my attention because how often can a writer include Elvis and real estate in one sentence? I got a contact high just scanning his commentary.

His article was about Inman’s Connect technology conference. He starts with relating a story about an old-timey broker calling him, but he just couldn’t drop the doobie and take the call.

“His point of view was irrelevant now. His words are bubble gum music and I’d just seen Hendrix. I turned my cell off, opened the window and let the wind cry Mary.”

He was hung over. His head throbbed. His body ached. “Conjure up the day after Woodstock.” So he opens up the newspaper.

“…. Page after page I searched for signs of the award-winning brands, innovators and progressive people I partied with for three days inside the Inmansphere. Something that would deliver me a new and exciting experience. With each turn of the page my post-conference high diminished. Midway through I imagined an announcement over the Starbucks speaker system: “Attention. Testing one, two, three. Hey man, don’t eat the brown acid. It’s bad! I repeat the brown acid is bad, man.”

I ignored the warning. My page turning pace increased as if I had lost something and was frantic to find it. Things like virtual tours, videos, mapping, digital signatures, online estimates, neighborhood data – ideas and services witnessed during the Worlds Fair of real estate. My bad trip included giant agent heads dwarfing tiny shots of homes that all looked exactly alike and carried the same message. One ad freaked me out completely: The Realtor in the picture claimed she “IS the changing face of real estate. She IS the eyes in my community. She IS the ears listening to my needs. She WILL sell my home.” With what? I thought. There IS no link to a Web site, there IS no e-mail address.

Was Connect real or did I hallucinate it? Didn’t I brush up against innovators? Had I not held meetings with the rock stars of our business? If so, how did I end up back here at home surrounded by personalities rather than a real estate reality that doesn’t include Redfin, Trulia, HomePoint, digital signatures, paperless processes, Neighborhood data, TMS, or an Oodle of LocaModa – services as opposed to individuals. It’s wrong, it’s antiquated and it’s whole-heartedly unfair to consumers.”

The Rock Stars of real estate? Man, them are pretty powerful words. They brought me back to earth. I was trippin’ but I crashed and came back from my own contact high.

So who is this Marc Davison who writes so eloquently, and the only other guy who can write about real estate and Elvis in the same article?

His point was that it was time to pass the torch from the traditional ways of doing real estate to this new way envisioned by the CEO’s, venture capitalists and technical writers.

“Two thousand Beatles appeared at Inman’s event last week. These people – the attendees, speakers, vendors and visionaries- are the most important people in this business.

It’s a new era now. The old real estate business, with its million-plus Elvises might be able to find some work in Vegas but as of now, the torch has been passed. There’s no going back”

So, I’ve been thinking about this more and more. Are real estate agents outdated and obsolete? Will they be replaced by the mash-ups and data sites and the do-it-yourself searches and the electronic signatures? Is it just a business of software writers and venture capitalists now?

Marc Davison is vice president of OnBoard, a real estate data provider based in New York. Davison previously served as vice president of VREO, a provider of electronic signature and Web site software for the real estate industry. OnBoard supplies data to companies such as Coldwell Banker and J.L. Scott.

So, I’m thinking…… if he’s one of the rock stars of real estate, are the agents just lounge singers?

His attitude is similar to many other CEO’s of technical and software companies who supply a product to an industry, but this one just happens to be real estate. They seem to get confused about who actually does the work. Rather than seeing themselves as a useful business tool or partner, these guys lose sight of who their client is and what role they perform. Just like coke gives those with low self-esteem delusions of grandeur, the software designer’s high he gets from creating the business’s webpage or supplying some data somehow makes them think that they now are more powerful than the business they were hired to make the webpage for…..

So many CEO’s of these brave new software companies are frustrated that business, not just real estate, remain in what they consider the stone age. They get inpatient with the fact that many people still depend on print advertising as a major source of revenue. From reading interviews with these guys, I get the feeling that they’re frustrated with agents and brokers for continuing to advertise and for buyers and sellers continuing to read that damn newspaper!

“Don’t you see? We’re the wave of the future! We software designers, CEO’s, venture capitalists, technical writers and paperless signature processors, WE are the true rock stars of real estate and all you real estate salespeople are just the, uh…. groupies.” Or something. Not sure. Oh, maybe we’re just supposed to be their clients and pay them to create products they design to “disintermediate” us…. Again, not sure. Many things remain unsaid by these guys.

One thing I do know is that if agents and brokers quit doing what we do, then many guys like Marc Davison and his company OnBoard, could lose much of their client base. If traditional agents and brokers are forced out of the business, then who will be left to purchase his product?

Picture yourself in a boat on a river. With tangerine trees and marmalade skies. Somebody calls you, you answer quite slowly, A girl with kaleidoscope eyes…..

I had written earlier that the Hendersonville, Tennessee home of Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash, where the country music legends lived for 35 years and played host to a long list of musicians, movie stars and other celebrities, had been put up for sale by the late couple’s family. The asking price of the home on Old Hickory Lake was $2.9 million dollars. One of the most interesting angles about this story was that his brother, Tommy Cash, was the real estate listing agent for the property.

Well, as reported by The Real Estate Bloggers, the house has sold to singer-songwriter Barry Gibb of the Bee Gees. Barry and his wife, Linda, paid $2.3 million for the property, and, according to The Real Estate Bloggers, it’s the end of the world as we know it.

House put on the market (The Tennessean)

House sold (Wall Street Journal)

House of Cash (fan page)

Tommy also, apparently, performs a Johnny Cash Tribute Show.

The Daily Mirror has reported American Idol judge Simon Cowell has bought Jennifer Lopez’s old house in Los Angeles. Cowell is said to have paid £6 million for the property, and is apparently going to knock the whole thing down and spend another £3 million rebuilding it. Apparently he didin’t like the decor. Cowell already owns properties in London, Dubai, Spain and another house in Los Angeles.

Why do I care about this stuff?

According to The Walk-Through, Katie Couric bought an $8 million 5-bedroom house in Southampton; Denzel Washington supposedly passes on an apartment in a former church; Developer Harry Macklowe is said to be buying multiple apartments at the Plaza Hotel for a total of nearly $35 million. Pamela Anderson lists Malibu house for $6.5 million; she paid $1.8 million for in 2001; Ethan Suplee, an actor in the NBC sitcom “My Name Is Earl,” buys a house in Studio City that Jane Fonda used to own.

What’s wrong with me?

From Zillow, Uri Geller, a psychic who has achieved fame for his spoon-bending abilities and other paranormal activities — along with two other business partners — have made the winning eBay bid for a home where Elvis Presley lived for a price of $905,100.

Why do I find this so fascinating?

From Celebrity Spider, separated Jessica Simpson and Nick Lachey are reportedly fighting over who will get ownership of their luxury $1.5 million condominium in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Am I sick or what?

Britney buys house for husband’s ex-girlfriend….

Shut up!

Brad Pitt buys an island home in the Dominican Republic…..

Stop it!

Extreme Makeover: Prince Edition
Landlord sued singer over purple alterations to Hollywood mansion

Yikes!

UPDATE: Someone just sent me this cool slideshow of Celebrity Homes!

These were my fingers before I started selling real estate and biting my nails. Lovely Fingernail Art.

Open Nail Art Championship

Forum for Men who have long fingernails.

Long fingernails might spread infections.

Guinness Book of World Records for the longest fingernails in the world.

There are several TV opportunities filming in Seattle this summer. If you have an interesting home or cool project, you should contact them. For unusual homes, artists homes, artists or collectors, please send me photos too, so I can feature you on Seattle Dream Homes.

1. Offbeat America, produced by High Noon Entertainment.

Synopsis: Offbeat America takes a head-turning look at the lives and creations of some of our nation’s most awe-inspiring individuals, whose creations will leave you scratching your head and saying, “how’d they do that?” Think “unconventional, unusual and infamous,” including a gigantic dinosaur sculptures crafted from discarded farm machinery, people who live in trees, giant shoes and gingerbread houses. Find out what makes these “Offbeat Americans” tick on an armchair road trip across the U.S. and into the minds of the country’s most fascinating and intriguing creators.

Contact:
Marisa Hill
HGTV’s “Offbeat America”
High Noon Entertainment
4100 E. Dry Creek Rd.
Centennial, CO 80122
(303) 712 3272 phone
(303) 486-3881 fax
Mhill@highnoonentertainment.com

Send photos to me too for Seattle Dream Homes “Unusual Homes” section

2. Look What I Did!

Does your house have a WOW FACTOR that you created yourself? If youre a
creative, out of the box do-it-yourselfer who has completed a unique home
project &

HGTV is looking for you!

HGTV (Home and Garden Television) and Weller/Grossman Productions are
looking for unique, cool and creative projects designed and done by real
people without the help of contractors or experts. We’re searching for
individuals across the country that would like to share their fun stories
and incredible results.

This fun and inspirational new program chronicles everyday people and their
amazing did it myself design endeavors. From unbelievable room
re-inventions, to cool outdoor creations, innovative kids rooms, wild wall
treatments, playful pet projects, and more & we’re looking for ideas that
break the design mold and make people say wow!

So, if you’ve transformed your garage into a wine room, built Fido his own
futuristic pad, designed the most fabulous fireplace ever, recreated your
kids room and built a headboard out of hockey sticks — or done something
else spectacular and uniquely special to your home, HGTV is looking for you!

Contact:
dschmidt@wellergrossman.com AND
dettre@eightminutesmovie.com

Dettre Schmidt
Field Producer

Look What I Did!
(818) 755-4800 x149
(310) 497-2348 Cell

Address:
5200 Lankershim Blvd. 5th Fl.
North Hollywood, CA 91601

Alternate email: dettre@eightminutesmovie.com

Also send photos to me for Unusual Homes

3. REZONED

HGTV’s new show “reZONED,” which is currently airing on Sunday nights, is looking for homeowners that had the vision and creativity to convert a non-residence into a residence. ONLY HOMEOWNERS THAT WERE INVOLVED IN THE ORIGINAL CONVERSION WILL BE CONSIDERED. Previous episodes have featured homes that were once boathouses, firehouses, banks, drug stores, silos or anything else you can imagine.

Have you seen, heard of or know someone or some property that might be a good candidate for our show? Let us know! Our research team would greatly appreciate any leads or contacts you may have.

Ideal candidates will include the following:

* Remarkable Transformations: We’re looking for interesting and inspiring transformations that are COMPLETE or nearly completed. It is important that some elements from the original purpose remain or are incorporated. For example, one show featured a church that was transformed into a single family home complete with furniture constructed from the original pews.

* Enthusiastic Homeowners: Homeowners should be passionate about their home and the possibility of sharing it with our audience. We focus on their PERSONAL stories of design, renovation and life in the new home.

* Before Photos, Videos or Documents: Because the renovations we feature are complete, we would like to show the building before and hopefully during the transformation. Home videos, archival photos, simple snap shots and supporting documents are all welcome.

Our goal for this series it to tell the story of the building, the renovation, the homeowner and how they are all related.

Please take a look at the show online at: Rezoned

Contact:
Heidi Clark
“reZONED”
Home & Garden Television
office: 303-712-3170
fax: 303-484-6198
hclark@highnoonentertainment.com
Rezoned

4. Small Space, Big Style

The new HGTV series showcases some of the smallest and most stylish homes across the US and Canada. If you or someone you know has a fabulous pad with lots of ingenuity, multifunctional ideas or just great color and design, we’d love to hear about it.

We’re looking for ANY type of living space—homes, apartments, condos, lofts, bungalows, yurts, yachts, dorm rooms and houseboats—but they must be under 1,000 square feet! The living spaces must have a unique and/or interesting design style and should creatively make the most of the limited space. The space must be within a one-hour drive of a major metropolitan area.

*Note: This is NOT a makeover show. All spaces must be small, stylish and complete.

To learn more about Small Space, Big Style and how you and your home could be featured in an episode, please visit Small Space to sign up.

Contact:
Lauren at BrainBox Productions: Lauren@brainbox.tv.