Arts & Entertainment

Woodbury Has Its Own 'House Hunters'

Local real estate agents Sara Yocum and Jodi Klepac will be featured in a spring episode of the HGTV reality show.

Fans of HGTV will see a couple of familiar faces next spring when Woodbury real estate agents Sara Yocum and Jodi Klepac will be featured on House Hunters.

The reality-television show's producers had been in contact with Jodi since she had a small role in House Hunters when she was living in Chicago a few years ago. There's one other reason producers chose the duo, who work out of the office on Commons Drive in Woodbury.

"We're twins, living in the Twin Cities," Jodi said.

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House Hunters was in town over the weekend filming the twins (maiden name Joynson) and the young homebuyers who will be featured on the show. For those unfamiliar with the program, HGTV follows real estate agents and prospective buyers through home-buying process. They go to three locations, outlining the plusses and minuses of each, and eventually a home is chosen.

"It's our 15 minutes of fame," Jodi said.

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The 35-year-old twins grew up in Woodbury and attended area schools before heading to high school at Hill-Murray. Both now live in Lake Elmo. They helped producers pick the young couple for the show, Elisha and Justin Robson.

Elisha said she's always enjoyed House Hunters.

"I'm a huge fan of HGTV. I love to watch the show and see the expressions of the homebuyers," she said.

As they were meeting about a new home, Sara said she told the Robsons that they would be on the reality show. Sara said she hadn't given being on TV much thought until a few days before the shoot.

"Do we want to be the super-professional realtor who comes in with a suit on, or the hip realtor who's friends with the client? We do both," Sara said. "I'm hoping to be the hip, trendy realtor."

While the twins acknowledged that producers add some drama, they agreed that House Hunters is fairly realistic.

"It's interesting to see buyers' reactions and what (the real estate agents) do with the clients, because we do this every day," Sara said.

Elisha and Justin had to send HGTV a tape with their story before they were picked. The show's producers liked that the couple was open about the fact that they're upside-down on their condo, Elisha said. Plus, they have diverging views of what makes a good home—Justin likes a newer home and Elisha was looking for something more classic.

"I love the historical features: arched windows, crown molding," she said.

Spoiler alert: They had already chosen their home, and producers hope to come back in spring to see what they've done to the place.

"We weren't looking for the perfect house—we wanted something we could put our mark on," Elisha said.

Jodi said the process has been fun, and it's a good way to promote their business. She, too, is a longtime fan of the program.

"Some stuff (on the show) you hear when you're out with buyers," Jodi said. "The show is kind of addicting, like (Keeping Up With the Kardashians), you'll catch yourself up watching it at one in the morning. … It's my guilty pleasure."


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