Discover Where HGTV’s ‘Love It or List It’ Is Filmed

Are you a fan of HGTV’s ‘Love It or List It’? This exciting reality show features Hilary Farr and David Visentin as they help families redesign their homes and find new homes for them to purchase. At the end of each episode, the family or couple must decide if they love their newly designed home or want to list it. This very popular show has run for 18 seasons as of 2023. Because of its popularity, there have also been several successful spin-offs. Every week, viewers watch stunned by the beauty of the homes and the area, which prompts many to ask, where is this show filmed? Follow along to find out!

Where is HGTV’s ‘Love It or List It’ Filmed?

For the first six years, this show was filmed in the Toronto, Ontario area. Fun fact, both Hilary Farr and David Visentin are from Toronto! By 2014, the show pivoted to the United States in North Carolina, specifically in and near the Raleigh–Durham area. Although the original ‘Love It or List It’ TV show is now filmed in North Carolina, there are five spin-offs with varying locations including Vancouver, Australia, the UK, British Columbia, and Quebec. For the sake of this article though, we’re only diving into the filming locations of the original reality show.

Tornoto, Ontario, Canada

The first filming location we’re learning about is Toronto, Ontario. Toronto is a major city in Canada and the capital of the province of Ontario. It’s also the most populous city in the country. The city is rather large, with a surface area of around 240 square miles. The city is also home to nearly 2.8 million residents in numerous neighborhoods, like Old Toronto, Crescent Town, Upper Beaches, Thorncliffe Park, and Armour Heights.

Toronto is a lovely place to visit. It’s very diverse, and home to delicious restaurants, fun experiences, and great nightlife. Although English is the most prominent language in Toronto, French, Mandarin, and Vietnamese are also spoken.

This lovely and vibrant city has a hot summer humid continental climate and experiences four distinct seasons. Winters are very cold with heavy snow and temperatures below 14 °F are common. Summers are also warm, with daytime highs around 86 °F or higher. Generally, July is the hottest month, while January is the coldest month.

Best Time to Visit

Toronto is an excellent city to visit all year round. The best time to visit though depends on what you’re looking to do while in this large city. If you’d like to enjoy warm, but not unbearable summers, you can visit in the summer and stick to outdoor activities. However, you can also visit in early fall from September through October to witness fall foliage. Since winters can be cold and brutal, the low-travel season is from December to January. Still, you can visit, bundle up in warm clothes, and enjoy what the city has to offer, even if you stay inside!

Things to do in Toronto

So, what is there to do in Toronto? Honestly, it’s hard to explore this large city in just one week, let alone one day. You can visit indoor museums, delicious restaurants, and gorgeous parks and still have a long list left to do. For history and museum lovers, Toronto is home to the Royal Ontario Museum, Art Gallery of Ontario, Hockey Hall of Fame, and Textile Museum of Canada. If you visit in the spring or summer, you can also take a trip to the Toronto Zoo, the largest of its kind in Canada.

You can also take a stroll in one of the many parks that Toronto offers. These lovely nature trails and excellent to walk in spring and fall to watch how the seasons change. Popular parks in Toronto are High Park, Trinity Bellwoods Park, St. James Park, and Sunnybrook Park. You don’t have to travel far from the city to enjoy a green space and peace.

Many people also recommend adding the CN Tower, Casa Loma, St. Lawrence Market, and the Distillery District to your itinerary. Toronto is also heaven to food lovers as the city is home to many large groups of immigrants who blend cultures to create scrumptious dishes. In Toronto, you can find Mediterranean, French, Korean, Nicaraguan, Thai, Middle Eastern, and South East Asian Food.

Wildlife in Toronto

Although Toronto isn’t in the middle of Canadian forests, it’s still home to thousands of animal and plant species. According to the City of Toronto, the city is home to over 400 species of birds, 38 mammals, 100 species of fish, and about 24 species of amphibians and reptiles. Toronto is an excellent place to go bird-watching. Some of the best bird-watching trails in Toronto are the Martin Goodman Waterfront Trail, High Park, and Brickworks Trail. Common birds in Toronto include bluejays, house finches, mourning doves, barn swallows, and scarlet tanagers.

Raleigh, North Carolina, United States

Another city you can identify in HGTV’s ‘Love It or List It’ is Raleigh, in North Carolina. Raleigh is the capital city of North Carolina. It’s also the second-most populous city in the state. This large southern city was chartered on December 31, 1794, and is named after Walter Raleigh, an English statesman. The surface area of Raleigh is 149.6 square miles. It’s home to about 469,000 residents. 

This capital city is in the northeast central region of North Carolina. It’s known for its beautiful rivers, creeks, and hills. The majority of people in Raleigh speak English, although about 8.6% of the population speaks Spanish and nearly 1% speaks a Chinese language at home like Mandarin or Cantonese.

Raleigh has a humid subtropical climate. You can witness all four changing seasons in this city. Winters are cold, but mild, while summers are hot and humid, with temperatures reaching above 90 °F for at least 48 days in the year. The hottest month in Raleigh is July, while the coldest month is January. Although snowfall does happen in Raleigh, heavy snowfall is rare.

Best Time to Visit

This lovely southern city is a great place to visit because of its wonderful museums, excellent nightlife, and fun experiences. It’s also a driving distance away from gorgeous hiking trails, mountains, and parks, perfect for outdoor lovers. The best time to visit Raleigh depends on your interests. Summers, although busy, can be very hot and unbearable. You might want to visit in early spring or through fall if you’re looking for cool weather and outdoor time. September though can still be very warm.

Things to do in Raleigh

It’s a lot easier to ask yourself what isn’t there to do in Raleigh. One day or one weekend isn’t enough time to explore this historical North Carolina city. This capital city is especially known for its excellent museums like the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences, North Carolina Museum of Art, North Carolina Museum of History, and the Marbles Kids Museum. 

If you’re trying to get away from museums, you can visit stunning parks. A popular park in this state capital is the William B. Umstead State Park. This massive state park is in Raleigh, Cary, and Durham, North Carolina. While here, you can see incredible fall foliage, bird watching, hiking, kayaking, fishing, and biking. Other popular parks in Raleigh are the Historic Yates Mill County Park, Mordecai Historic Park, and Pullen Park. 

Apart from local parks and museums, visitors can also enjoy the North Carolina State Farmers Public Market, which is open seven days a week.

Wildlife in Raleigh

Raleigh has no shortage of wildlife. While visiting this colorful city, you can admire different reptiles, birds, fish, mammals, and insects. Some of the most common animals you can encounter in this large city are eastern gray squirrels, northern cardinals, green anoles, eastern tiger swallowtails, eastern bluebirds, Canadian geese, common box turtles, and red foxes.

You can also spend your time learning about North Carolina native plants in the JC Raulston Arboretum, a 10-acre arboretum and botanical garden. It’s open daily and is free. Plants you may find in Raleigh are eastern redbuds, American trumpet vines, white oaks, purple passionflowers, and southern magnolias. 

Durham, North Carolina, United States

The last filming location of HGTV’s ‘Love It or List It’ is Durham, the fourth-most populated city in North Carolina. This city is only about 25 miles away from Raleigh, meaning only a thirty-minute drive away. Durham was incorporated on April 10, 1869, and is in Durham, Wake, and Orange County. The surface area of this southern city is 116.19 square miles and the city is home to nearly 300,000 residents.

This great city is in the east-central part of the Piedmont region. Most of Durham is flat, except for a few rolling hills. Within this city are the Eno River and several creeks. Like Raleigh, the most prominent language in Durham is English. However, about 11% of the city’s population are native Spanish speakers.

Durham isn’t far from Raleigh, so unsurprisingly, it also has a humid subtropical climate. While here, you can experience hot and humid summers, cool winters, and warm to mild springs and autumns. Although winters are cool, the city receives 4 to 6 inches of snow, sometimes even less.

Best Time to Visit

If you’re looking to visit this lovely city and see the gorgeous views in HGTV’s ‘Love It or List It’, it’s best to visit in the fall and spring, when temperatures are cooler. This way, walking is a breeze. Summers can get very intense, making it difficult to enjoy the many outdoor activities Durham offers. If you’d like to see fall foliage, it peaks around the second or third week of October, although you can start seeing bright-colored leaves in late September.

Things to do in Durham

You won’t grow bored when exploring all there is to do and see in Durham, North Carolina. Some of the most popular attractions in this city are the Sarah P. Duke Gardens, Museum of Life and Science, Bennett Place, Nasher Museum of Art, and the Streets at Southpoint. However, you can also catch an event or show at the Durham Performing Arts Center.

Also in Durham are multiple hiking trails, perfect for admiring color-changing leaves in the fall and flowering trees in spring. A popular hiking trail in this city is the Cox Mountain Trail Loop in the Eno River State Park. It’s a four-mile loop that is relatively flat and considered easy. The wobbling bridge on this trail is a favorite for many people!

Wildlife in Durham

There are plenty of parks, nature trails, and gardens you can visit in Durham to view wildlife. Bird watching is a popular activity. Commonly spotted birds in Durham are Carolina wrens, downy woodpeckers, American robins, northern flickers, great egrets, and cedar waxwings. You can also see mammals in the city like eastern moles, common raccoons, eastern cottontails, white-footed mice, and big brown bats.

The photo featured at the top of this post is © Reidgreg / CC BY-SA 4.0 – License / Original