laredhead

I hope they show the Coober Pedy couple in a "Where Are They Now" episode at some point.

Watched the HH Renovation episode about the Baltimore couple and I agree with you about the grating voices of the women on these shows, Bastet. I managed to watch the entire show, but probably should have muted the sound to make it more enjoyable. The square footage of all of those houses was incredibly small and I think I might feel claustrophobic in them. If not for the installation of the glass wall in the kitchen, the first floor would have been like living in a cave. I guess the "charm" of the narrow row houses is lost on me. i want natural light and and lots of windows. I did enjoy seeing the use of different building materials such as the glass wall and concrete counter tops rather than granite and French doors. I wonder where they relocated the washer and dryer? i hope they do a follow up show later when the couple renovates the second floor.

Bellalisa, I agree with you about the HH's who want a new house because they think there is no maintenance involved. What are they going to do in 5 years when the exterior needs painting or other routine maintenance is necessary, or the roof leaks, or something inside goes wonky. At some point they will have to maintain the house. My advice to people who don't like home maintenance is to rent a nice place where things are done for you and the price is included in the rent. If home ownership is a must, then have the names of several reliable repair people on speed dial.

The husband of the Chicago couple last night had the most ridiculous dislike of chandeliers. Easy and fairly cheap to replace. Yes, time for the producers to quit coming up with stuff for HH's to gripe about. I also wondered about the price of the house they chose. Given the generous square footage, as opposed to the one that was less than 800 sf and $200,000, the place they chose was almost too good to be true. Enigma X, your observation about the neighborhood explains the great deal they got. Maybe they should have remembered the old saying, if something seems too good to be true, maybe it is. Hope they can get their money out of it if the neighborhood doesn't improve and they have to move.

We might be seeing the Bentonville couple on a future HH Renovation episode. Obviously they both work at Wal Mart since Bentonville is home base of that company. She was also a fan of brightly colored pants.

I think the Austin, TX couple were also on Buying the Beach or Beachfront Property or something like that. They bought a beach house on the Texas Gulf coast for their son to live in while he was going to college.

Cassaundroll, I agree about the room designations. I went to an open house last weekend and the realtor stated that the house was not staged so that buyers could decide how they wanted to use the spaces. It was a semi-open floorplan with several rooms that could interchangeably be used for dining, a study, a living room or whatever. We both joked that if she got an HH from HGTV in there, she would have to explain to them what the rooms were. She was all too familiar with the HH storyline about buyers being too clueless to realize they can make a room what they want it to be. Having said that, the HH Where Are They Now episodes this week showed the couple who bought an older Tudor style house and remodeled it with some interesting additions to suit their family's needs. Since the original show, she has had 2 more children and they carved out another bedroom to accomodate their growing family. He was the HH who liked to walk barefoot to church which was very odd.

I agree that the wife of the South Carolina to Ansbach, Germany couple did not look or sound happy about moving to Germany. She had never lived anywhere other than her small town in South Carolina and both sets of parents lived there. She was happy with her job, her big house, and private yard and she even said several times she didn't know how she would handle being a stay at home mother. Wonder how that bicycle ride is going to feel in the dead of winter when there's snow or cold rain coming down? Their choices were all pretty nice and the kitchens were very modern looking. Why can't kitchens like that be built in more new houses here in America without being called custom and costing a fortune?

Did not realize that HH Where Are They Now episodes are on all this week at 9:00 or 9:30 p.m. CST. They seem to be new episodes if anyone wants to watch or record them.

"When in Rome" came to mind tonight with the wife of the Phoenix couple tonight. If they liked Tampa so much, they should have stayed there, job notwithstanding. Yes, they should learn to like desert landscaping, SpiritSong. Her comment about not wanting to be told what paint colors she can use on her house was ridiculous if they were choosing to live in a development that has the type of homeowner association that regulates things like that. Go find another house in an area where you can paint your house purple with pink polka dots if you want to. She was a whiner and her voice was like fingernails over a blackboard. Whiny and vocal fry combined - the worst combo.

The realtor in last night's Chicago episode got in on client bashing a bit. She said she was showing them exactly what the wife wanted when she showed them an industrial style loft, and then the wife didn't want it. The realtor said she didn't think the wife knew what "industrial" meant. At least the wife didn't have that vocal fry voice so many women have decided to adopt.

Bastet, love your idea, but I have a feeling the house tours would become silent rather quickly. Stats are a great idea.

Regarding the engaged couple, she absolutely had to have a house with a grand entrance to impress their friends and a huge, perfect, updated kitchen. He had to have a wet bar and his 70" TV. I think he said 70" TV at least 5 or 6 times. They wanted all of this, but also were planning a wedding and wanted to save money on the reno to have a band at the wedding. How about either delay buying a house and having the wedding of their dreams, or scaling back on the wedding to have a house with everything in it. $450,000 was a nice budget for a couple buying their first house. Call me an old fogey, but I just don't get this mentality of young buyers who want it all immediately with no sacrifices involved, and if they can't get what they want, they almost throw a tantrum.

Just watched an episode where the buyers wanted a foreclosure, well the wife did more than the husband, so you know how that worked out. Anyway, they ended up getting the foreclosure along with some huge foundation repair bills. I wanted to strangle that wife because the husband knew it was going to cost a lost of money, and he was willing to be sensible and keep looking for house that needed fewer major repairs. The wife whined about that house until they finally were able to make a deal with the bank, and surprise - there were even more problems than anticipated. They ended up not getting as much floor space as planned in the basement and having to give up some amenities they had planned to have. I would also expect that even though the major foundation repairs had been made, if they ever sell that house, they will take a hit on the sales price because of previous foundation problems. The house has a beautiful view from the back of it, but the front of the house was not that attractive.

Yes, Los Angeles Stephanie's voice was very annoying, but at least they didn't harp on granite and stainless the entire time. That first house was a hot mess. The square footage was small, and the layout was very weird especially the fact that to get the back yard, you had to go out the front door and down a shared narrow driveway. A shared driveway would be a deal breaker for me on a single family house. They can do the renovations over time, and they found out that they can actually prepare food in a kitchen that doesn't have granite counter tops, stainless appliances, dark cherry cabinets or a good layout as opposed to other HH's who have declared they couldn't possible even set foot in a less than perfect kitchen. They seemed happy and ultimately realistic about what they could afford since they wouldn't compromise on location.

The Australian couple to Italy episode was wonderful. I laughed every time each of them walked into a room and said a little paint and some electrical was all it needed. Some the young, entitled American buyers on HH should take note that granite countertops and stainless appliances are not necessities, in a place where a single bare lightbulb hanginf from the ceiling is the "chandelier". They seemed very happy with their choice of houses. I do agree with them that a visit to the bathroom in the winter in a few of the houses would be a bracing experience since you had to walk outside to access it. Not exactly an outhouse situation, but an odd location.

Many areas of the world work on "island time" - it gets done eventually. There was a show that featured Brian Boitano trying to renovate a house long distance and he ran into several delays even though he was working with a local contractor and had inside connections. There probably isn't a local Home Depot of Lowe's within a few miles of most of these properties. The reruns of Where Are They now have been on this past week and it was fun to see the finished products.

The Toledo loft guest bedroom didn't have a door or a floor to ceiling wall. If the couple has a baby, noise will be a problem, especially if they are having one of their beer parties. The 2nd house seemed like a better fit for the future. The HOA fees on the loft were $300+/mo which they could have applied to the mortgage on the 2nd house and lawn maintenance so hubby didn't have to cut grass. I think he said they met in a Zumba class. Is that correct?

I saw the Punta de Mita (?) episode and couldn't believe that the couple would pull up stakes and move to a foreign country using retirement savings to begin a new life when the husband had lost his job. There had to be more to their story than was told in the episode.

Here in south Louisiana, my porch ceiling fan is turned on in April and runs continuously until the first cool spell in late October. In addition to moving the air, it helps keep the mosquitoes away from the door. A screened porch is in my future. Maybe house hunters in cooler climes don't appreciate their value, but in the south a fan is almost a necessity, even with A/C.

The Durham couple were each a piece of work, but she was totally annoying. Ceiling fans make living in the south more comfortable. They were from Oakland where the weather is cooler most of the time. Bellalisa,you are right that she's going to appreciate that fan when she's sitting on the porch, and she's going to appreciate them inside when they are helping to make the house more comfortable in the middle of the summer. She's probably going to be shocked at the summer utility bill because of the necessity of air conditioning. She acted like she was auditioning for a reality show with her dramatic pronouncements about mushroom lights and fans, all of which are easily changed.

Stainless appliances and counter tops have been used in houses for over 50 years. They can be considered "vintage" and that would really burst a few house hunters' bubbles. I have a top of the line, all bells and whistles white range and white dishwasher that some uninformed house hunter would probably dismiss as out of date in favor of a basic appliance that has a stainless finish. Stainless doesn't cook better or wash dishes better or keep food chilled better, but they will gush about a cheap stainless package of appliances as if it were the end all be all in a house.

I figured the family had money when they showed a picture of her mother's house in Australia. Yes, she is being subsidized on yeat another "gap year" in her life. She said that she was in Paris for her gap year and wanted to go back. I love Adrian and her comments about real estate in Paris.

I agree that the exterior style of the house looked sort of like southwest meets Victorian, but I loved the porches. Screening one of them would be a priority for me. Loved the living room with th built ins and the fireplace. Having remodeled 3 houses, I can tell you that the budget is always going to be exceeded because of unforeseen problems or a decision to go ahead and fix something that will be a problem down the road. I would like to know if the furniture is included in the remodel or is it just for staging and reveal purposes.

Enjoyed the episode last night about the young couple buying a house in the Philadelphia area. She wanted vintage and he wanted new. I had to agree with her that the new builds looked very cookie cutter and the vintage house they bought has the potential to be lovely with lots of money and time spent on it's restoration. They got a lot of square footage for their money, and are willing to put the effort into making it a home and be content to live with a less than attractive kitchen for a while. I love the front stairwell in that house and would also love to have a butler's pantry to store china, linens, etc.