Nov. 23, 2020

Jason and Lacy Steinberg will share their search for a first home with a national television audience this week.

The owners of 605 Ninja are featured on the next episode of HGTV’s “House Hunters,” which chronicles homebuyers looking for their next place to live.

The Steinbergs had just started working with Realtor Aaron Rietsema of Hegg Realtors when he got an email from the show’s producers asking for prospective clients to feature.

“I laughed,” Lacy Steinberg said. “Like I’m not busy enough.”

The Steinbergs have two kids and work with about 350 students weekly in their obstacle training academy, which is in the Western Mall and teaches “the sport of Ninja Warrior.”

“It was a huge commitment, five days, and it turned into six days of filming,” she said. “I never imagined our first-time homebuyer experience would be on TV. I’m a pretty quiet person about that kind of stuff, so to put that on-air is really putting myself out there.”

And finding a first-time home in Sioux Falls – or Tea, where the Steinbergs also looked – isn’t easy, though it likely makes for good reality TV.

“Real life, this market is here today, gone tomorrow,” Rietsema said.

“Anybody that sits and sleeps on a house, it’s not there tomorrow. All buyers have to be able to make decisions on the fly. We really encourage our buyers to look at their needs, wants and wish lists, and if you have a list of 10 things and the house has eight of them, we think that’s a house we really should pursue.”

He and other clients have been featured on “House Hunters” before and said the show does a good job of portraying the process of finding a home. He has thought about participating again, but “it takes a special buyer to make it one I’d be excited about,” he said.

He said he found that in the Steinbergs. The episode airs at 9 p.m. Wednesday.

“Jason and Lacy had unbelievable energy. They were a ton of fun. This can be kind of a grind, but I looked forward to it. I had a blast,” Rietsema said. “I am so excited to watch this episode.”