laredhead

GaT, until I realized I could set my DVR to end shows up to an hour after the scheduled end time, I used to miss the endings of some episodes as well. Check your DVR settings for that feature. I'm glad Eric won. He managed to include all of the required elements, and the cake looked like a birthday cake for the USA. Eric looks like the type of baker who would be happy making a child's birthday cake, or a sophisticated wedding cake. I thought I would be happy if any of the 3 had won, but after they announced Eric was the winner, I realized I had really wanted him to win all along.

I enjoyed seeing the Cuernevaca, Mexico episode. It looks like a beautiful city from the scenes that were shown. I like to see more of Mexico and central America other than the beach resort communities, that HHI has shown on so many episodes. I thought for sure that the buyer was going to buy the 2nd house, but he went with the ultra modern one which was lovely. I loved seeing the drone footage of the houses, and that revealed how densely built those areas were. Courtyards would be important to bring the outside in. I kept wondering what was behind the tarp in the courtyard area of the 3rd house. Maybe that's where they hid the patio and inside furniture during the tour of the "empty house" - lol. The buyer had lead an interesting life being born in Switzerland, living in L.A. and now planning to eventually live in Mexico.

I laughed when they pulled into the driveway of the first house and the husband said well we hate the driveway, let's go see the house. A house located at the bottom on a hill is something to be concerned about, but when the realtor said that the owners had installed French drains and gutters, that is a red flag that there were/are drainage issues. Water runs downhill, and probably had gotten into that house at some point in the past. He was pretty laid back, but the girlfriend was a bit picky, but certainly not the worst we've seen on HH by a long shot. I did agree with her about the "big box store" look on the remodels. I call them flash and dash flips. Install some run of the mill SS appliance package, a couple of light fixtures that are the flavor of the months, some white subway tile or glass back splash and put it up for sale. The farmhouse looked OK, and I guess she must have cleaned up her studio area for the reveal, or she has not cluttered it up yet.

Topanga, the houses I am talking about are 4,000+ square feet. There are some people here who have some serious $$ evidently. I would say 99% of the newly constructed houses have the master bedrooms on the main floor and the other bedrooms are on the second floor. Two story houses weren't a "thing" here until about 20 years ago because land was affordable. As lot sizes have decreased with the price of land going up, more 2 story houses are being built, and they are double the size of the older one-story houses in many cases. I guess the thinking was put in 2 laundry rooms, and have the kids take care of their clothes on the 2nd floor where their bedrooms are. Probably not adding a lot of extra expense to the cost of a $800,000+ house. Scorpio, many of these same houses have a coffee/wine bar with sink and refrigerator and microwave in the master suite. There's your midnight foraging kitchen. Now, about the St. Louis guys with the opposite desires in a house - big surprise. The 3rd house which they described as MCM was too small. I liked the house they chose, but it will need work. Being on the low end of the stated budget, they should be able to recoup their investment and some after the improvements they plan to make. It looked like it was in a very desirable area. I usually am not a fan of "blowing out walls", but the kitchen and adjoining sitting area could be made more functional by removing the dividing wall and renovating that area. The taller one is going to have to remember to duck in a couple of places in that house.

In my area, many new 2 story houses that are in the high 6 figure price range are being built with a laundry room on both the ground floor and the 2nd floor. I was blown away when I saw the first couple of those.

I enjoyed the Atlanta episode last night. The mother offered some good advice, and I thought the realtor was more informative too than some we have seen. The mom is right about the dog's nails scratching those beautiful floors. I'm not a fan of laminate floor, but I have both hardwood and laminate in my house, and the laminate holds up to pet nails and Hot Wheels much better than the hardwood. When the Hot Wheels phase is over, the laminate will be replaced with hardwood. The bathroom in the house he chose was small compared to some of the gianormous ones we have seen, but I think the complaint was that is was very narrow between the entrance door and the vanity, and it did look like a narrow space when they mentioned it. Did it also have the stacked washer/dryer closet? I agreed with him about not liking that. Did anyone hear what he did for a living? I erased it before I realized I had not heard that. The dog was obviously very important to him, and the realtor mentioned that she had gotten the owner's permissions to let the dog in the houses.

Wow, the Montana couple did not seem suited to each other at all. All of that drama about having to find their "forever" house could have been avoided if they had just rented an apartment for a few months while looking for a house to buy. If it's to be a forever house, you don't want to have to be pushed into making a rushed decision, but I guess that was the contrived drama assigned to this episode. They certainly weren't homeless, as the wife so dramatically put it. I understand that people make important decisions in different ways, and I think the husband was more introverted, and deliberative in his decision making than the wife who looked for different things. I don't think that should have been a negative when they toured the houses and went separate ways at first. I can understand the husband wanting a separate space for himself, especially with the type of job he has. Most people benefit from a place to have some time/space for themselves. The wife probably has one too, but either won't admit it, or it's not as important to her. She admitted they made decisions differently, and she admitted that she acts more quickly. She also said she was trying to be more inclusive of his opinion in buying the house, but I think she needed to work on that last one a bit more. One of the houses they toured had a very odd narrow storage room, with customized shelving in the basement. Looked like a place where you could store tons of food. I was thinking maybe the former owners had built it in preparation for some catastrophe. I love it when a house has some quirk like that.

I can't imagine living w/o A/C anymore, but I live in south Louisiana. Grew up w/o it, but that was many years ago before everyplace had A/C. Guess I won't be moving to Seattle. I got a chuckle out of the husband miscounting the children at the beginning, and then saying he was thinking about the number of dogs instead. Also liked it when he would jump up and down on what I assumed was a concrete slab floor and declare the house sturdy. His reasoning was good though, since he was from a country where earthquakes are not uncommon. Wonder what company he works for?

Regarding the couple who had to leave the show early, was it ever said where their business is located? I don't like the naked cake look either. It always looks to me like the baker didn't make enough icing, and had to make do with what they had. I did like the story that their cake told though. I would like to see more time allowed for the show stopper cakes. I think that would really determine who the better bakers are.

Posting this here because I lost the House Hunter's forum and can't find it in a search of all shows on this site. Anyone else have that problem?

I thought that the Walden, NY guy probably bought that house because of all that family surrounding his house. He must have been reared in a close family environment and wanted the same situation after he moved out of his parents' house. At any rate, I do understand wanting to have some distance between your house and all of the in-laws. The husband referenced that having some privacy might get the couple closer again, so maybe the in-law situation was an interference in their marriage. The realtor seemed to be very frank about the couple's arguing too. The wife didn't smile much, and I do hope that moving helps all of them. Of course, this is fictional reality, so we really don't know what is going on there. I liked the settings of all of those places. You really get a lot of land in Walden, and it looks like a lovely place. Wonder what taxes and utility bills are like there?

Kohola3, in my town, people are buying $500,000+ houses, tearing them down and building custom houses to get into a desired location. Very few vacant lots are available, and when they are, the prices are almost as much as those with houses on them. Perhaps there were no available houses w/in their price range in their desired location that could be torn down and a new one constructed for what they were willing to spend.

Pickles, I totally agree with everything you said. The wife wasn't going to shut up about anything that wasn't her "style", and clearly if she didn't design it, it wasn't going to be her style. Everything from the front door to the cabinet hardware was subject to criticism. The husband must have the patience of Job to listen to her all day. I'm sure she's 100% in charge of that renovation, because is something gets moved 1" w/o her approval it's not going to be her style. Maybe we'll get to see the house on a future episode of HHWATN. Time for HGTV to film a few of those because it's been a couple of years since we've seen any.

When I had my kitchen remodeled a couple of years ago, I told the kitchen planner I wanted as many cabinets as possible and they complied with that request. There is a small corner that was wasted space, and the designer suggested some floating shelves for that space. I wasn't sure about it, but went along with the suggestion and now I'm glad that I did. I would never use the shelves to store things I use all the time because things do get dusty. I clean these items every couple of months.

While I enjoyed seeing vacation houses in the California mountains, two of those places would not be what I would want. I agreed with the buyer in wanting some privacy, and a view. Who wants to step outside and be surrounded by houses on all sizes on postage stamp size lots. Might as well buy a condo that has the amenities you want. I liked the house he chose, and hope he can upgrade it to his style. It does have a nice view, if you ignore the road just below it. The wife of the St. Petersburg couple certainly was Debbie Downer/Nancy Negative. Someone said she reminded them of Lilith from Frasier. Yes!!! That's exactly who I was trying to figure out she reminded me of every time she opened her mouth. I think by the end of the episode the husband might have really been asking himself why he married her. I bet if he had said he loved the sky being blue, she would have had a negative comment about it. I think the house they bought met all of their needs, well, his anyway. I didn't care whether she got anything she wanted by that point. The first house they looked at was totally boring, IMO, and I like contemporary style. Too gray and cold for my taste. Yeah, that would have appealed to her.