I’m standing in front of the iconic Brady Bunch house in Studio City, a neighborhood in Los Angeles. The story of this famous house is a metaphor for the importance of home inspections.
First, a quick review.
The exterior of this house was used for the iconic television show The Brady Bunch, but the interior scenes were filmed on a soundstage elsewhere. After the show ended, a family continued to live in the actual house for decades.
Then, in 2019, HGTV famously purchased the house and spent nearly $2 million renovating it so the interior would replicate what viewers saw on television. HGTV even altered the structure of the house to accommodate the famous second story that didn’t actually exist in the original home.
In 2023, HGTV sold the house to its current owner
And here’s where the story gets interesting from a home inspector’s perspective.
The Current owner has said that some items in the house don’t actually work. In an interview with People Magazine, the current owner said:
“None of the appliances work,” she laughs, mentioning a decorative vintage fridge.
“The range doesn’t work, the stove doesn’t work, the oven doesn’t work. There’s literally nothing.”
“No one’s making pork chops and applesauce because nothing works! Nothing is functioning. It’s all decorative. “
Of course, you’re laughing, thinking, well, that’s funny, but it was just for TV.
It’s television, not reality.
Except we see versions of the same thing in real houses all the time.
A Brady Bunch Renovation Is About What You Can See
Here’s a story, of a house that looked absolutely perfect.
All across Los Angeles, homes are regularly purchased, renovated and resold, a process commonly known as flipping.
HGTV has numerous entire television shows built around the process of buying, renovating and re-selling homes. In nearly every show, the discussions are about cabinets, countertops, tile, flooring, paint colors and finishes.
The shows almost never talk about about electrical panels. If they are safe for Greg’s stereo system.
No one mentions the drain lines. Where does the water go after Marcia takes a shower?
Or whether the heating and air-conditioning systems are functioning properly. Do the kids need to huddle up when it’s cold?
While these issues often to not make it to the TV screen, they matter quite a bit when you’re actually going to live in a house with YOUR family.
As home inspectors, when we inspect recently renovated homes, we often find the real-world equivalent of the Brady Bunch kitchen.
Form over function
The house looks beautiful, but that doesn’t necessarily mean everything works—or that everything was done correctly.
It is common to find homes with a new kitchen but an old and rusted air conditioning unit. We have seen pipes, ducts, and other essential components never connected.
And we’ve found plenty of work that simply wasn’t done correctly. You can read our Top 10 Things Missed on a Home Renovation here.
This does not mean all renovations are bad or that every flipped house has extensive problems. But they are about as common as Jan having an issue with being the middle child.
A homebuyer’s problem is that you can’t determine what kind of renovation you’re looking at based on beautiful countertops and fresh paint.
Pretty Isn’t the Same as Functional
That’s what makes the Brady Bunch house such a great metaphor.
It may be an extreme example, but HGTV had a specific objective: recreate what people saw on television. Functionality wasn’t necessarily the priority.
When you’re buying a home, your priorities are very different.
You need the plumbing to work. You need the electrical system to be safe. You need the HVAC system to operate. You need the roof to keep water out. You need all of the parts of a house that aren’t particularly exciting during a showing to perform after you move in.
A beautifully renovated house can absolutely be a great house.
Just don’t assume that because someone spent a lot of money making a house beautiful, they spent the same amount of time and attention making everything functional.
Just like the Brady Bunch house was renovated to recreate a television show, many homes are renovated just to look appealing.
Your house needs to be a home.
Whether the house you’re buying is famous, iconic, has appeared on television, or is simply the house down the street, the moral of the story is to have it professionally inspected before you buy.
Because our job isn’t to tell you whether the house is pretty.
Our job is to help you understand if it is safe and functional.
To book your home inspection, call 818-298-3405 or book online here.