The following article was published in the Lowell Ledger on Wednesday, November 15, 2023.
Kim Southwick is a realtor operating out of the Ada office of Five Star Real Estate.
“I work from Lowell to the Lakeshore,” Southwick said, “and I have sold many homes in Lowell, especially in the Eastbrook development, Harvest Meadows, and Whispering Hills areas.”
Does Southwick look familiar? Perhaps it is because of her Instagram presence, or her Facebook page, or maybe it is because she was featured on a recent episode of the HGTV reality real estate series House Hunters.
Airing for the first time on Sunday, November 12 at 10:00pm, “Trying to Downsize in Grand Rapids” is the seventh episode of the 242nd season of House Hunters.
No, House Hunters did not drop the same year as the Articles of Confederation in 1781. Starting with the show’s third season in 2001, HGTV had to shoot multiple seasons per year just to meet viewer demand for real estate shows. As such, the number 242 is more of a measure of interest than tenure.
Though the episode featuring Southwick aired in November, it was shot in July, during the hottest month in human history. Southwick said the cast and crew were melting during the shoot.
“I haven’t seen the show yet,” Southwick said, “but I’m afraid I’m going to look like I’ve just run a marathon.”
Southwick was required to sign a nondisclosure agreement (NDA), so no spoilers, but here is the description of the episode on the HGTV website:
“A Michigander is hoping to downsize from her previous home that had a headache’s heap of upkeep. She’s zeroed in on Grand Rapids for its exciting city life, but she’s also tempted to head out to the suburbs for the familiar lure of space.”
Southwick’s House Hunters journey started when a producer emailed her last January looking for a specific storyline and client profile. At first, she was skeptical of a scam. Why would someone from HGTV reach out to her out of the blue? Ultimately, she set the email aside, because none of her clients met the description of what the producer was looking for.
Months later, Southwick met a client who reminded her of the opportunity. Her client didn’t fit the description, but her story was compelling. She was a recently divorced woman looking to downsize to a smaller home. Moreover, she was young, fun, and cute, and Southwick thought she would make for good TV.
Southwick has no problem performing in front of a camera. She has posted a number of videos to her Instagram account, which is likely where the producer found her in the first place, but she also worked on camera for the News 8 morning show shortly after she graduated from college.
While Southwick’s NDA prevents her from talking about production details, she was able to share some general thoughts.
“I think that people would be surprised as to how much time is put into shooting one half-hour episode,” she said, “because I think there were five days of filming, and they were very long days.”
When she worked for News 8, she performed on live television, which meant that it was a quick shot, and then you were done. Working with HGTV, she spent much more time on-screen, and she was present as the camera crew filmed long establishing shots and everything else as well. In film, there is a concept called the shooting ratio, which compares total hours of footage to the amount of footage in a final product. Visual anthropologist Kerim Friedman broke down the concept of shooting ratio on the London School of Economics and Political Science Blog.
“For a Hollywood film where the scenes are planned in advance, this might be four to one,” Friedman wrote. “That is, shooting four hours of footage for every hour of the final film. The shooting ratio on a documentary film is likely to be more like 60:1, one hour of footage for each minute used in the final film.”
Presumably, with a tight HGTV crew using the tried and true methodology that has produced nearly 2,000 half-hour episodes in the past 25 years, the number is somewhere in-between.
While Southwick could not share addresses or even neighborhoods for the three houses featured on her House Hunters episode, she was able to share that two were in Grand Rapids, and a third was just north of town.
Southwick joins a growing number of Lowell and Lowell-adjacent neighbors who have found themselves on reality TV shows. Most recently, Lowell’s own Lindsey Garcia, a.k.a LVNDR, auditioned on NBC’s The Voice singing the Drake song “Hotline Bling.” In years past, an Alto native named Kim was featured on MTV’s Catfish—with reference to the Ice Cream Caboose, no less—and Ada resident Stephanie Davison’s courtship with Belizean paramour Ryan Carr became public knowledge during the 8th season of 90 Day Fiancé.
Now that Southwick’s episode has aired, she is back in action finding homes for West Michigan clients. While Southwick sells houses throughout West Michigan, she is fond of selling houses in Lowell because of the high quality school system and community-minded neighbors who are always ready to help. If Lowell is not on the radar of a client, she puts Lowell on their radar.
“I love what I do,” Southwick said. “I love helping people on their journey, and I consider it an honor to do so.”The House Hunters episode featuring Kim Southwick first aired Sunday, November 12 at 10:00pm, but those who missed it can catch it on the Discovery Plus app. For those looking to work with Southwick on buying or selling a house, there are a number of ways to reach her—on Instagram at soldwithkim, on her Facebook page Kim Southwick – Realtor, Grand Rapids, on her website www.kimsouthwick.com, via email at kim@kimsouthwick.com, or by phone at 616-309-6121.
Justin R Tiemeyer 
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