Emma Barth, House Hunter

By Lester Davis
Hopkins nurse find her dream home on reality TV

Emma Barth, RN, spent two years touring dozens of houses in the search for her dream home. She’d still not had success when producers from HGTV’s House Hunters approached her real estate agent about appearing on the reality show.

“We thought it would be a fun experience,” said Barth, a nurse clinician at The Johns Hopkins Hospital.

Newly married and renting in Baltimore’s Charles Village neighborhood, Barth cast her house-hunting net on the Canton area. Shooting for the program began in late May, and Barth and her real estate agent visited up to a dozen houses in a single day.

Almost immediately, Barth realized she had agreed to more than she bargained for. “It was a painstaking process,” she said, adding that the show’s producers had her focus on the more peripheral aspects of each house she visited, like paint color or the molding around stairs.

Being on the show, said Barth, “was a total eye-opener to the ways of reality television. I don’t think I would do it over again now that I know what the process is like.”

After several days of shooting and missed time at work–Barth found the perfect two-bedroom, 1,300 square-foot row house in Canton. The house, says Barth, fit her checklist of must-haves: open design, new appliances, and spacious backyard. She and her husband moved in June 1, 2009.

The segment is scheduled to air around March 2010. If you miss the show on TV, you can watch it online at www.hgtv.com/house-hunters/show/index.html.