Property television is an increasingly popular form of lifestyle media, but its practical impact on the housing market is mostly unknown. In this analysis, I reveal one way that property television intervenes in the housing process by describing how it is interpreted and deployed as a cultural resource by real estate agents. Drawing on diverse forms of data, I find that while real estate agents are often critical of property television, they strategically use it to establish themselves as market experts; indeed, their criticisms set up a direct comparison between ‘unrealistic’ property television depictions and their own status as reliable and valuable market guides. These findings contribute to research on property and reality television, as well as to research on the role of culture in market exchange, by revealing the tangible role of this salient cultural object within housing interactions.