The Big Picture

Property Virgins educates home-buyers; Wendy Wolfe brings her modern flair.
Wendy advises start small; rent out rooms or buy jointly to afford a home.
Realistic expectations key; Wendy shares personal strategies for successful homeownership.

When Property Virgins premiered in 2006, the housing market was in a very different state. It was a seller’s market, with housing in high demand. New home-buyers were struggling to keep up with the skyrocketing prices of homeownership, and reality television is putting it on display. Cue HGTV to the rescue, where host Sandra Rinomato guided the hopeful home-buyers through the process. At the time, buyer expectations were difficult to meet. People wanted the best, but it was difficult to match those expectations. Homes were also being built at a ridiculously high rate, so not only were buyers struggling with the high prices, but they were also overwhelmed with overpriced options. Because of this, Property Virginswas very informative for both the people featured on the show and also the people watching as well. However, there was also a significant shift in how homes were purchased. The market was so focused on ensuring homeownership was possible that they began giving out loans that were starting to go unpaid. The increase in houses being built led to too many houses going unsold. The bubble burst, homes began to lose value, and the country’s financial recession began.

The good news for home-buyers after the recession was that housing was cheaper than ever. Property Virgins’ success rose as it was a buyer’s market when Egypt Sherrod took the reins in 2012. People who weren’t terribly affected by the recession were excited about becoming homeowners. The show continued through with Egypt’s guidance until 2018. Now, after a brief hiatus, Property Virgins is back, and this time, it’s hosted by Wendy Wolfe on a new strand from A&E called Home.Made.Nation. The reboot is coming at a unique time. It’s a seller’s market again, with prices of homes being higher than ever before. The millennials who entered the workforce during the recession have not been able to own homes the way their parents did, and not eating avocado toast could not fix the problem. With the state of the housing market today, Wendy’s version of Property Virgins may look a bit different, but the mission is still the same. Collider had the opportunity to speak with Wendy about the new season of the show as well as get some tips on how to purchase a home on a tight budget.

‘Property Virgins’ Is an Upgrade From the Original
Image via A&E

When asked about what viewers can look forward to in the new season, Wendy said, “Well, in addition to me [laughs], they can look forward to sort of a more stylized look. It’s very sleek. It’s very– I keep saying the word sexy, which might not be the most appropriate word. It’s really modern and sleek and kind of fancy about it, with a lot of drone shots, a lot of hero shots, and, I think, artistically and visually, it’s quite spectacular.” Wendy has a lot of experience in the real estate industry and joined the series thanks to a recommendation from a former client.

Now, she is looking forward to helping as many hopeful home buyers as she possibly can, and in this current market, help is much needed. She said: “So the real estate market has changed as we know [since] the last time this show was on the air. Things have changed dramatically; interest rates are different, and housing prices have skyrocketed. A lot of families are buying homes together. The stories being told are just different and a reflection of what’s going on today and what the typical couple or family looks like.”

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Wendy was drawn to the series primarily due to her love of helping people. When asked about what she enjoys the most about hosting the show, Wendy said: “I have a television background. [I have] a news background, I have a human resources background– So I’ve sort of always worked in areas where I’m dealing with people. I’ve always been sort of a servant to the public, and what I like most is just the different kinds of people I encounter, whether they’re young, whether they’re old, whether they know a lot about houses or don’t.”

Wendy loves every part of the process, even when her clients’ ideas are not feasible. “I love the unrealistic expectations of people with first-time buyers… it’s just injecting some reality and having fun,” she said. She went on to add: “I love real estate. I love beautiful homes. I love the crappy homes, the crazy homes, the homes that don’t make sense. So for me, overall, the actual process of buying and working with [people] is cooler to me than actually being the host of the show… It’s working with the people. That’s my favorite part.”

Wendy Wolfe Brings Her Unique Style to ‘Property Virgins’
Image via A&E

Becoming a homeowner has not become easier in 2024. The average yearly salary needed to own a home in the United States is roughly $106,500, and the current national salary average is $59,384. This means that most average Americans are nowhere near earning enough to be able to actually afford owning their own home. So, how can the average American ever own a home when they’re earning half what they’d need to do so? Luckily, Wendy has some ideas for the 82% of Americans making under $100k per year.

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Wendy shared: “My suggestion would be: don’t start off with your dream home. Start with something small– a small property that maybe you can either rent out rooms or rent out the basement or the garage or an accessory, that type of thing to build income and to, hopefully, keep your mortgage payments low.” For those who are unable to afford even a small property, Wendy suggests a unique way to cut costs. She said, “Another thing I suggest is if you have really good friends and or family, who you feel confident enough going in together, then five or six people buy a house together. And you each can build up fifty, seventy, a hundred thousand dollars. Over the next five to seven years, and then you can sell that property, hopefully for that kind of a profit, and then branch out and buy your own place.”

Even with this approach to buying a home, Wendy stresses the importance of realistic expectations. She shared, “It’s always about whatever you can do to keep your mortgage payments down. [You’d need] to sacrifice a little bit for the greater good and the long-term goals. Like, when I bought my first house, I rented out my basement for five years. I had a turnstile of people living there only because I wanted to be mortgage-free by a certain time. And then I was able to buy and sell and buy and sell and buy and sell. I did that four times before I was finally mortgage-free.”

These options certainly make homeownership more attainable. To see what other ideas Wendy has for her personal clients, watch Property Virgins on A&E’s Home.Made.Nation. New episodes of Property Virgins air weekly on Saturdays at 12 PM ET, and are available to stream the next day on A&E TV.Watch on A&E