HGTV 's 'Hot Properties: San Diego' as real as it gets

In the first episode of HGTV's new "Hot Properties: San Diego"series, which debuted on Sunday, the show's stars Realtor Seth O'Byrne, real estate agent Mia Tidwell and contractor Andrew White - were up to their eyeballs in wall-towall drama.

The $2.6 million house in Del Mar needed to be remodeled on a ridiculously tight time frame, and there were cabinets in the yard. Also a challenging master-bath situation. And that 11,800-square-foot estate in Rancho Santa Fe? The one with its own 2,000-square-foot saloon? It needed a very particular kind of buyer with a particularly large wallet.

Could White make the Del Mar house's $70,000 worth of renovations happen in two weeks? Could Tidwell and O'Byrne throw that kind of open house that would bring in high-rollers with a soft spot for animal-skul decor? And perhaps most importantly, can three friend make the art of selling million-dollar houses in sunny San Diego Country look like the real life adventure that is really is? Quips Included?

The answer to the first two questions was yes. The answerr to third question is, "Heck yes." "People ask us all the time how much of the show is scripted and how much is real. It is 100 percent real," said O'Byrne, a licensed Realtor with Pacific Sotheby's International Realty who has worked with White and Tidwell for years. "I came to the table with a proconceived notion of realty TV being made up and that all of these shows are scripted, and I wanted this show to be real, I didn't want to be fed lines."