New Favorite Real Estate TV Show: Holmes on Homes

This new HGTV program "Holmes on Homes" puts ABC's Extreme Makeover: Home Edition to shame. While Extreme Makeover often seems to help deserving homeowners' with new, extravagant, mansions and makeovers, this often results in extravagant homes in poorer neighborhoods and leaves their owner's with increased property tax bills they can ill afford.

Like HGTV's program, "Homes on Homes" targets deserving homeowners. The tilt they use, however, is the Canadian general contractor, Mike Holmes. At first, Mike seems the arrogant construction worker gone wild, but he grows on you quickly. His work is informative and persuasive. He's a great aid to the Realtor/broker industry by reminding us how little we know and, to the home buyer, by helping them to realize that every professional on their side is an asset.

Of course, he's quick to remind us that there's no replacement for a good home inspection and that most of these homeowners issues could have been avoided by having an advocate who knows real estate and the laws that govern it.

If you haven't seen the program before, you'll want to watch it now. If you pride yourself on continuing education, this will be your next favorite place to stop. Granted, agents are not inspectors, but knowledge is power and having just a fraction of the expertise that Mike Holmes has will be an asset to those we serve.