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Arts & Entertainment

4 things a McKinney realtor learned from filming an episode of HGTV's 'House Hunters'

For someone who loves jewelry, Leslie Remy says she was surprised she wasn't allowed to wear any to accommodate her blue cotton top.

"I couldn't wear a necklace because it would interfere with the mic," she says.

HGTV is featuring Remy (and several McKinney homes) in an upcoming episode of House Hunters. She's owner and broker of McKinney-based real estate firm Astra Realty. Remy heard of the opportunity after a fellow realtor in San Antonio got the gig for her firm, so Remy filled out an application and ended up nailing an opportunity with the network. 

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Filming is happening now, but Remy says she's already looking for her next buyer for another potential episode. It'll be months before this McKinney episode of House Hunters airs on HGTV, but here are a few glimpses inside what it takes to be on a reality TV show.

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Filming for TV takes longer than you think.

Ever wonder how long it takes to film a few minutes of air time for TV?

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"We spent close to eight hours filming one house of the three homes the couple will see," Remy says. "It's a 30-minute show; that'll probably be less than 10 minutes on TV."

She says reason why it takes so long is because the production crew wants to get "the perfect shot," which means having to repeat yourself over and over again. Remy says many of the lines were repeated an average of four times.

"It's not scripted, so the couple is saying how they really feel about it and their opinions on the home," she explains. "To get the perfect shot, they have to continue to repeat their opinion over and over again. There were at least four good shots of each room or of each scene."

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Finding the perfect couple isn't easy.

Each episode of House Hunters is centered around a couple looking for a home. Remy says she had to find candidates that met all of the right criteria: They need to be interested in filming an episode, of course, but they also need to be very specific in their opinions.

The time commitment is what cut out a lot of candidates, Remy tells us. Filming requires three days for the realtor but five days for the couple.

"Scheduling issues and that kind of thing made some of my buyers not a good fit," Remy says, "but this couple was perfect." The couple featured in this episode is Jacob and Anna Bentrude, young newlyweds from Utah who moved to McKinney to be closer to family.

Clothes matter -- a lot. 

To Remy, one of the most surprising parts of filming the episodes was picking outfits. Most TV production crews have clothing requirements, but Remy says she "did not expect clothing to be as big of an issue as it was."

"They told us to wear some solids -- not prints -- and to bring an extra outfit," Remy says. "I brought four extra outfits and they were like, 'nope, nope, nope.'"

Remy says she ended up wearing "something boring": black pants and a solid blue top, no necklace.

Finding a home means finding a home, period.

While aesthetics do matter when buying a home, Remy says she doesn't let the cameras affect the way she finds houses for her clients. Instead of thinking about the camera, she says she treats the Bentrudes like any other buyer who comes into her office.

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"They are buying a home. They're purchasing it, it is theirs," Remy says. "You're spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on it — it has to be something you like."