Back to Berlin on House Hunters International

When we received an e-mail about being on House Hunters International, we thought it was spam. That's kind of a big deal and how would they have found our little blog among so many wonderful expats? But they did and yes, YES, we did want to be on it. And so we were.

Our Berlin Apartment Priorities 

• Price - I am tough about our budget. When we first moved to Berlin in 2007, we generally found studio sublets (aka 1 room in Berlin) for around 400 euro warm (meaning total costs including electricity/water & in our case, internet and TV). We had now upped the budget to below 600 warm.
  
• Neighborhood - We prefer Friedrichshain and the former east, but fierce competition had us searching further afield. In addition, Ian works at a kita in Pankow so somewhere close to the school was a plus.
• Transportation - Berlin is big so a U-Bahn or S-Bahn station close to the house was mandatory.
• Length of sublet - We're straight up tired of moving so the longer the better.
• Internet & Amenities - We aren't fancy, but we need that internet.
• Light & Airy - We like places that are light & bright and we don't have to look into our neighbors window. Balconies are my drug of choice.
• Accepts pets - At this point we are packing a bunny and a cat. I'd be happy to turn our home into an animal farm. Ian is resisting.
  

Unfortunately the video of our episode on the show got pulled (boo!), but it still frequently on re-runs. Here is a promo (with video) for the show.

If you did catch our episode - were you surprised? Think we missed out on the other places? Hate our place? None of that matters because which place we will live in is a forgone conclusion before we even sign the releases to be on the show.

I wrote a bit about how the show is shot on EasyExpat. We had already found and moved into our apartment, and the show recreates the search in an attempt to show people what it's like to move abroad in different parts of the world. Shooting was Amazing. We had a great time with a fabulous crew, and it provided the opportunity for us to visit Seattle for the first time since we left for Berlin the second time. 

However, there were some inaccuracies and some recent huff about the show being fake. So here is exactly how it went down for us, and a couple of clarifications.

Shooting our Episode of House Hunters International

We had just moved into our apartment on February 1st after many sublets and a one week temporary home. We loved our place, but felt like it was hardly ready to have people over - let alone film it. We had only been in it for 2.5 weeks! No matter - after pressure to confirm dates with the production company and a flurry of papers, the crew was on their way to our little flat. 

Agent

We had heard the production company's real estate agent had trouble finding comparable apartments (they had even asked if we had any friends that wanted to use their flats). This was strange, as Berlin's real estate market is suffering from an influx of tons of people like us, but there are many apartments in our price range (it's just hard to actually land one). Luckily, the agent was able to locate 2 flats the day before.

The reason this was a problem became clear the moment we met our agent. A character, he's an Englishman that moved to Berlin to make money in real estate. His company deals in high-end properties in the districts of Mitte and Prenzlauerberg. They seem to cater to businessmen that are setting up in the city temporarily and want something more economical than a hotel. We were not his kind of people.

Location 

Like Seattle (and many cities), Berlin is made up of distinct neighborhoods (kiez) and we prefer the areas with an alternative vibe like Friedrichshain and Kreuzberg. In all of our moves, we have never even considered the center of the city, Mitte. I am sure it has positives like being close to attractions, but it is simply too full of stag party hordes, over-priced shops, and lacking in day-today necessities like grocery stores and Spätis. We've actually lived in gentrified Prenzlauerberg and Ian's arms are just not up to the constant helping with strollers that is required there. As I said, the agent's demographic and some of the voice over of the show was just wrong here.

(The Nile Guide has a helpful listing of neighborhoods to help you understand the different areas of the city. )

Price Range

Our agent had found places, but they were well out of our price range even if we had liked them. To make the show work, they raised the price of our apartment. They said it was $1,000 euro a month, which is much higher than what we actually pay. This was my only real problem with the "fakeness" of the show.

Clothes

Realizing we usually look like we rolled out of bed without even glancing in a mirror, we immeaditly recognized styling was going to be an issue. We looked at out closet forlornly and picked at pieces that weren't too tragic.

What do you think of this shirt? They said no white.
Does my belly hang over too bad in this?
What the hell do I do with my hair/mustache/face?

It's not that we don't try to look good. We just aren't very good at it. And a penchant for clothes with "character"on both our parts has us looking like we're straight outta crazy town frequently.

This was further complicated by it being literally freezing everyday in Berlin. I had also not anticipated the mic. I had to leave off my trademark necklace and my choice of scarf made hiding the mic a delicate process. I tried to not touch it so poor Noel, the sound guy, didn't have to adjust every take and failed miserably. This resulted in some crazy looking scarf hair looks throughout the show.

Lessons:

• Don't wear a scarf or noisy jangly jewellery
• Go ahead and use hair spray. It's going to be a long day.
• Plan your outfits! We were given detailed schedules with outfit 1, out 2 and outfit 3 and had to change a few times in one day.

Um...Berlin is the Biggest City in Germany

I have no idea how this got in, but the voice over says "Berlin is  the second biggest city in Germany".

German Cities by population:

1. Berlin 3,471,756
2. Hamburg 1,770,629
3. Munich 1,321,818 
4. Cologne 1,007,119
5. Frankfurt am Main 664,838
   

This is such a bizarre error, I can only refer to the expat guide to Berlin.

Stairs

They made a huge deal about the stairs in the apartment. 111 is definitely a lot of climbing. But we had never even considered it a problem. We could always afford a little exercise, and I am a sucker for the top floor. I assume they made it a big issue because there really isn't that much we don't like about our place. I did LOVE the title "111 Steps to Everything".

Shooting Schedule of House Hunters International

True to form, I've already posted a bunch of pictures of the shooting, but left a few of the "behind the scenes" until now.  Here they are, with a run down of our days.

Ian prepares for his close up

Night Before the Shoot

The night before the shoot we were frantically cleaning and preparing. Trying to make the place looked lived in when we had just moved in was a challenge.

Exhausted after cleaning

 First Day

A camera man, (Eng) sound guy (Eng), director (Scott), and a fixer (German) all trooped up our kagillion stairs and breathlessly introduced themselves at 8:00 on a Friday. They quickly took stock of the place and began to prepare.  Profis! They were going to shoot the final scenes first - where we have moved into the apartment.

House Hunters International Shoot

We just tried to stay out of the way.

After interviews and awkward attempts to look comfortable, we went to lunch and movers removed all of our personal effects. That afternoon we shot the walk through of our place, as if we were looking at it for the first time.

All of our belongings in the stairway

Our Empty Flat

Day 2

The second day we looked at the "comparables". As discussed above, they were not exactly similar. We were fascinated by the process of shooting and spent a lot of time being excited about the rain shower and dishwasher, opening toilets and cabinets, and then long stretches of just being quiet while they filmed.

Apartment #2

Apartment #2 Berlin

Apartment #3

This location for apartment 3 was ideal, but still basically under construction. A lively area, there were girls in the balcony across the way watching us with binoculars.

Day 3

We shot B reel this day, which included some of our favorite Berlin places. We really liked our crew and enjoyed rolling around with them, chatting, and seeing our beautiful city from an outsider's eyes. Crazy how much of the shooting doesn't make the show. They estimated we had shot at least 9 hours just in Berlin... all to get cut down to a 22 minute show. And no, we can't have the extra film. We asked.

We wrapped up with a shot with friends at Tiergarten Quelle. They had to ask silly questions like "How many balconies does your apartment have?" It was fun. And sad. Shooting was practically over and we were heading back to real life. We gave our team a hug and thanked them profusely. They had made this once-in-a-lifetime experience extra magical.  

(In an odd twist, we flew to the States via London the next day and flew with 2 of them, and so we said good-bye twice.)

Seattle HHI Backstory Shoot

One of the wonderful things about this opportunity was a $1,500 honorarium that was to be used to fly us home for the back story. We did just that with the money, returning home for the first time in a year in a half (plus a trip to NYC). 

 Another wonderful team of Americans shot us here. They had actually shot an episode with a Seattle couple studying abroad in Australia recently.

Our first full day back, we re-created a going away party where we saw some of our best friends for the first time. Hello, good-bye indeed! We went to some of our favorite spots like the Ballard Locks, Bottleworks, and Pike Place Market. We found out our Seattle team had a star - the sound man had actually been on Three Sheets and appeared on screen frequently.

Like I said, the whole thing was magic. We are so lucky to have had this opportunity, and will be watching our episode until our grandkids are tired of the story. A special thanks for friends and family who participated, our producer Melissa, and the fabulous crew.

Berlin crew: Noel (sound), Matt (camera) & Chris (director)

Seattle crew: Eric (sound), Nick (director), Matt (cameraman)

 We would love to hear what you thought of the show and answer any questions you may have, so please post in the comments. AND if you are interested in being on the show, they are casting now.