msmarjoribanks

As someone else said, I think they were play bickering for the show, but it didn't come across well. Those houses went right out of my head, except I think I wanted them to take the one the husband seemed to like best. They went with the one with the two-story ceiling and then at the end showed him trying to figure out how to wash the top windows, which was funny. I had a condo for years that had the front room in that style -- the second floor was basically just a family room and it looked down on the front room over a railing, so was similar. It looked nice and I really liked it when I bought it, but practically it was a pain, as you couldn't reach the windows or the ceiling fan and there was a light in the ceiling fan that eventually burned out and there was no easy way to change it. Before I sold I replaced the fan with light for one without. But anyway, probably for that reason I am always underwhelmed by that particular 2-floor style now. And it is likely more expensive to heat, especially in a big house rather than a condo (I was on the top floor and so of course had neighbors below, which would have mitigated that). The wife supposedly loved Victorians, but then said something about where are all the big impressive rooms Victorians are supposed to have. Victorians have lots of small closed off rooms, that was the style. And folk Victorians, the kinds build by non rich people all over the US, of course have smaller rooms than the fancy super expensive ones. And yes, they also tend to have smaller closets than people today want and often no master bath (unless you reno to add it). I love Victorians too, but those things are all true.

They said no pool, but it didn't matter because of the beach. They mentioned a hot tub at the end. I was glad they picked that place, because that ocean front was just amazing. I'd love to see it at the end of the reno. I thought maybe she was saying they would be visible on the white counter, but that's better (seeing them, and getting rid of them) than having dead flies lying around in the kitchen, ugh!

I live in a Chicago neighborhood primarily made up of early 1900s cottages, and originally they were all built in one story with unfinished basement and attic style. Many of them now have been expanded and had the attics/basements finished and the attics dormered out -- mine is a 3 bed, with no bedrooms on the first floor anymore -- but some are still in the traditional style. My neighbors who raised kids here in the '80s had 3 sons and 2 parents with 2 beds, one bath, and did not die. Another nearby family who recently moved had 3 beds, one bath, 2 parents and 4 daughters. Both of these baths have -- gasp! -- a single sink. A friend and I were just talking about this, since in my prior neighborhood, which had a similar housing stock originally but is now really well-off, developers snap up the remaining old houses, knock them down, and then build ridiculous monstrosities with 7 beds, 6 baths or the like. We were saying it's funny that back when 6 or more kids was common the houses had 2-3 beds, and now that most families have 1-3 at most, you get these houses with 7 beds.

I remember the discussion from before, but never saw it until today. Wow, that woman was awful. I was so mad that they took that stupid over budget house that was $929K when he only wanted to spend $600K. They got it for $850K, but still, and I'm sure she will demand more and more. The second one (actually close to his budget) was perfectly fine, and she was going on about all the renovations they'd have to do. The kitchen was a gut job because of horrible dark granite, you know. Also, expecting 2 kitchens (on the same floor) and 2 laundry rooms and also refusing to do ANY renovations (which she said) is so absurd. Setting aside the expectations that there'd be wet/dry kitchen houses in Cape Giradeau, MO (or most places in the US), her reasoning for wanting 2 laundry rooms didn't really make sense.

Yeah, Bay in Seal Beach. There are some articles about it. I was glad they picked it instead of that ridiculous house; it's an interesting and worthwhile project.

Yeah, they did say they were trying to do it for $25K at the end, and also that they were 3-4 weeks out from having the main stuff done, and the wife seemed to be doing most of it. Maybe it's because they were saving money for the pool or did not have a reno-based loan. But at the beginning they said their budget was $250K (I double checked) and when they looked at the $225K one they mentioned $25K, so I wonder if there's more to it, like $25K is for the first round of essential stuff. Who knows! Would have been cool if they were on the HH Reno show so we could see the final after reno house.

I think the budget was a lot more for that one. It would have been $25K for the second house, and this was was $65K less. Of course, that assumes they have a loan for mortgage+reno+DP totaling $250K, as it's not always that easy. Loved the doggie and his ears. I didn't know you could get a place in Palm Springs for that little, and the realtor's comments on how to do it were interesting. I thought they should go with the second place since the wife wanted the pool so much. None of the fixes in either of the second two were urgent/necessary. (Notice they said the third place was 2006 and the husband still insisted the appliances NEEDED to be replaced immediately, despite working fine, according to the realtor. I'm sure because they were white, the horror!)

I had the same feeling. Apparently her explanation for all her cash is that she flipped a house last year (that's what I assumed from what she said, and then I found her on linkedin, but she would have needed cash to do that). It's possible he just had a high paying tech job. The two of them were pretty much up there with the most annoying HHers for me. I do love Richard.

Based on the three houses they saw, I knew they'd pick the first townhouse in Denver, but I really loved the exteriors of the other two, too. I love vintage, but for them, and given the drawbacks/cost of the other places, it did make sense to go with the townhouse, and I'm glad the guy who was the vintage lover gets to live in a cool place in a neighborhood with a lot of nice old houses to look at.

It just seems like a safety thing, and you can't plan on every guest parking in the back. But I agree they'll certainly be using the back entrance! I skipped the Beach Hunters repackaged since I don't like those and watched one in Melbourne, Florida, with a pilot and his incredibly annoying girlfriend (moving from Michigan) looking for a house with water (they hinted at a plot about her fear that it would have gators, but didn't make that much of it), a pool, and her desire for a "Kardashian closet," an office, 4 bedrooms, and the world's biggest master suite, plus an impressive entrance. They got ridiculously excited about -- no kidding -- a dual (pointless) staircase. I think she bugged me more than Knoxville woman, in that anyone who wants to emulate the Kardashians loses any goodwill I might have, and whining about needing a closet the size of a normal bedroom and master bath the size of a large bedroom are two of my least favorite things. She also was needling the bf (who wanted a guy room, sigh) with not being a man, having to hire a real man to drive a boat (again, he was a pilot), and doing the "no, it's mine, I always get my way" thing. I'm not mad on his behalf, he was boring and apparently fine with it, but it was just icky. Edit: oh, good, I see it wasn't just me.

So much this. I liked all the houses, however, although I hope they found out the deal on the water issue (that basement seemed mostly above ground too) and got comfort it would not be a continuing problem. I thought the first one was adorable and would have liked it, and the third seemed like the best fit, but whatever. The wife's basement phobia was such a ridiculous HH shtick but she made herself seem super unpleasant with her refusal to go down into the first place's basement. The soccer in the hallway thing was so so very annoying (and unrealistic or just a super self-indulgent thing to fixate on -- that hallway looked like where I used to play fetch with my cat, heh, but it/the area wasn't really big enough to have the kids running in it, certainly once they are a year or two older). Also, play soccer outside, or, here's a thought, in the basement! The outside part of the place they got was great, so I see the attraction, but it seemed a bad fit given the options even before the new baby announcement. Agree the daughters were really cute, and the husband seemed pleasant enough.

It's so dumb. I think they act as if white or black appliances must be old because they assume they aren't made anymore (which obviously is not true) or some such. Although also some snooty people seem to think anything less than the fanciest appliances (SubZero and Wolf and what not) are intolerable. Probably people who use their kitchen to show off, and I don't mean by their cooking.

Watched the rerun of this one too, the central conflict (such as it was, they seemed to get along fine) was that the wife wanted a starter home (they had a toddler and baby on the way, she wanted a smaller place and to move after 5 years). The husband, on the other hand, wanted to just get the forever home. Not knowing who was right about their budget, if they could swing the almost $300K the husband wanted to and they ended up spending, I think that's really a better plan. The bubble and bust where lots of people got burned on plans to hold for only a few years seems to have changed many people's minds away from the whole "starter home for just a few years," and given transaction costs, I don't think that's a bad thing (although in this case the wife was a real estate agent so that would have saved some). Plus moving is just a hassle. Anyway, I really loved the place they got and figured they could fix it up (cosmetic stuff) over time. I did not anticipate they'd use the cave room for the master, and thought that was great.

Yeah, given that she had her heart set on a townhouse, it was the best fit. I don't usually like the high rise thing, but actually kind of did like the first one, but I think it was over budget with all the costs. Continues to be a HHers weekend for me (I really need to get some stuff today, yesterday I went to look at some rentals with my sister, so that complemented the HHers). I watched the young Pittsburgh couple who wanted a place under $200K, seemed nervous about some aspects of home ownership, husband cooked, wife wanted a separate kitchen due to noise issues -- for once, no open concept! They didn't bother me at all, can't recall any particular quirks being played up. They looked at a house way out with a huge yard that I figured wasn't really a possibility due to location, a very cute row house that seemed to be in the city? (I wish they'd be more clear on location) that was overbudget and needed work (and the husband didn't want a row house), and then a 1930 house in the Brookline neighborhood (which from how it looked and was described seemed like a perfect location for them, but I don't know Pittsburgh). The third was in budget and didn't need immediate work and had way more space than the second place, so even with concerns about closet space and a scary-looking set of front stairs, it seemed the obvious choice. Wife claimed to be nervous about it being "too much house" but on the whole it seemed less work than the second one. I'd hire a snow service to deal with the stairs over Pittsburgh winters, personally.

Still catching up on the Halloween episodes -- "world traveler" in Atlanta whose shtick was she needed a full sized room for a walk-in closet and space for her obsession with Halloween decorations. Wanted a townhouse because a condo wouldn't allow proper display of the decorations (and mentioned in passing wanting a bit more privacy/space/outdoors, which I hope was the real reason). Said she wanted Buckhead, saw a condo building with lots of amenities that I suspect was over her budget with assessments, a supposedly nearby (I don't know Atlanta) townhouse in a less walkable area that had closet space she loved but she thought was ugly on the outside, and a place in Marietta that she liked the outside of, but was too far away. Third was the cheapest but the second was also in budget. She went with the second.

I loved that show. The restorations were so interesting. I also hate when renos of places have no sensitivity to its historical period or what makes it interesting, and just makes it look like every other place -- following all the trends -- on the inside. On another (local) housing blog I follow someone was talking about some of the Alison Victoria renos, which are apparently going to be on the Chicago Flipper show. The one the person linked was pretty much all the HGTV trends, and they made it look ridiculous for the area/what it was on the outside too. They also are trying to jump the price ridiculously -- took a place that had been around $400K (and probably needed repairs/reno), but which was already reno'd and sold for over $700K in 2017 and then did what they did and now were trying to sell it for $1.4m. I'm going to watch just because I'm curious how they will justify all that.

Anyone watch Mt Clemens, MI? That's in my general zone of interest, so I did, and predicted they'd go with the first. Some hilarious grey paint stuff and for once pulling up the carpet apparently (and realistically) did not lead to usable hard wood, but I did like the place.

I wondered about that too. Seemed obvious they would pick the first one because of location. I do think it was the cheapest one, maybe $225K? Hilarious about the paint color being basically the same, and I also thought the new light fixtures were terrible. I did generally like the place they got, nice yard.

Cool, thanks! (Top floor is normally larger so I suspect that's just a misleading sq ft estimate)

I think a roof deck is usually worth about $100K in a place like that. If there are no differences beyond that, nuts. Do you have a link to redfin (or the like) for either place?

Re Chicago, paying $715K for a new construction 2/2 in Lakeview is nuts IMO. HOA is $110 now (so at least that was okay), but just wait, lots of new construction is poor quality, I bet that will go up. I would have gone with the first (well, maybe not because of parking), or more likely one of the other 56 places he allegedly saw. As for the first, the idea of turning a 3/2 into a 1/2 from the realtor was totally crazy from a financial perspective -- although I guess it would save on property taxes if you aren't planning to resell. You can get a much better place for $600K in Lakeview than the places they saw. What I would have done with place 1 was turn the "office" into the guest bedroom and then had 2 beds and an office upstairs. You are with one other person, who cares if there's a master bathroom? Even if you have a kid (hypothetically, assuming they stay together and marry), it's not that big a thing to share with a baby. As someone who lived in a 4th floor walkup (with a roof deck, near the 2nd place they bought) for years, the complaints about elevators were lame and not realistic to the area. Like the buyer I prefer vintage, and non white cabinets, but the focus on the stairs being a showstopper when shopping for a condo was a bit eye rolling. If a coffered ceiling is some big thing, they can be installed.

Agreed. I liked the place they got, with the acre of land, but wow that price -- market out there is crazy. Despite the third place being on the freeway, I would have been tempted by the view. First place was the worst so was glad they went with one of the others -- the thought of that place being $1 m was just insane.

I missed the "city girl" one. Watched the rerun from last year with the Atlanta "cool girl" and British guy (Pat) couple. I predicted they'd take the third place (the semi cool semi MCM ranch in suburbia) while preferring the second place (craftsman in or near the city). The loft cool girl thought was cool was just impractical.

I think they also noted the park next door, which does mitigate the lack of yard. Problem with the roof deck is that it is not private. Chicago code on decks is pretty strict, so I suspect there's no chance of a toddler slipping through the slats. Just watched the new Boston episode, and enjoyed the couple, but I coveted the third place, although I would have done some work. Figured they'd pick the first, but kind of wanted to see them pick the third. I hope they can figure out a way to add a second bathroom.

Yeah, that's the exception for me too, but even there I think they had a much more reasonable budget (maybe $600K?) vs. some of the "we can spend $1 m" ones), and I was super impressed by what you could get in St Louis for that price. But I do like it when they look at interesting/different places or when it's a place I'm kind of interested in. I thought the "MCM by a prominent architect in Palm Springs" one was interesting too, even though they had a huge budget. I know I've mentioned Restored a lot but one reason I liked it so much is that the houses he was restoring were very often quite modest ones. I found it very interesting to see what he could do with them.