Realtor Debra Pitell-Hauge, left, with clients Madeline and Ryan Chase. The Chases were featured on HGTV's "House Hunters." Courtesy photo.
The home-shopping quest of Sarasotans Madeline and Ryan Chase will be chronicled on the HGTV cable network’s “House Hunters” program at 10 o'clock tonight and again on Friday night.
The episode is titled “Looking for a Home Near the Water in Sarasota, Florida.”
The Chases, who met at the University of Florida and married seven years ago, moved to Sarasota from Parrish to be closer to Ryan’s job as assistant principal at McIntosh Middle School.
They actually did look at a house near the water, three houses from the bay in Whitfield Estates. But they ended up buying a four-bedroom house in Colonial Oaks, near Doctors Hospital and about 10 minutes from McIntosh.
“I work for Florida Virtual School, so I can live anywhere,” said Madeline Chase, a teacher. “My family lives in Sarasota. We were sick of making the drive down from Parrish to Sarasota every weekend.” So they decided to move.
“My husband and I have been fans of HGTV,” she said. “Last summer, we were in the process of selling our house and moving to Sarasota, and we decided, on a whim, to apply (for the show) on their website, never thinking we would ever hear anything.
“Then a couple months later, we received an email asking if we were still interested in being on the show. We sent in a video audition, and after that it happened quickly. A week later they told us we were selected for the show, and a week after that we started the filming.”
Besides looking at houses with Realtor Debra Pitell-Hauge of Michael Saunders & Co., the Chases were filmed walking on Sarasota’s Main Street, strolling the Farmer’s Market on Lemon Avenue and shopping at a tile store.
“They wanted to film us doing stuff that we do on a regular basis,” she said. “The producer was from California, and thought we could be filmed fishing, but we don’t fish. They filmed our 3-year-old son, Carter, and one of the scenes was done at Mozzarella Fella” restaurant.
“Growing up here,” Madeline said, “I was pretty familiar with the area. But during the process, my eyes were opened up to areas of Sarasota I had never been to.”
The video will be available online at HGTV.com/shows/house-hunters. It’s Season 100, Episode 12.
