amarante

I guess I'm in a minority but I didn't have issues with the two women who were particular about their finishes. They had the budgets to get what they wanted unlike the idiots who turn up their nose at normal finishes when they are looking at $200,000 homes. The designer woman looking for a portfolio was essentially wanting to be able to use what she did to her own home as part of the portfolio she would present to potential clients. Since she has the expertise and would be able to get prices at trade discounts, why wouldn't she buy something that required renovation. Similarly with the Baton Rouge lady, she had the budget to achieve her design aesthetic and probably had the expertise and contacts to do it. Why pay for someone else's design choices. I am probably sensitive to this because I recently finished a gut remodel and I am so much happier with something that completely reflects me - both functionally and aesthetically. When I look at the "done" homes on the show, I really wouldn't have selected what they did - they aren't my taste and I can also generally see how they cheaped out with the finishes in one way or another. However, if I bought that kind of newly done place, I couldn't redo it to my tastes and needs versus one that could be redone without my feeling like I had already paid for someone else's mediocre taste.

I think there is a HUGE difference in people's expectations of what are reasonable commutes based on the metropolitan center they live around. In cities like NY, Boston, Chicago there is a willingness for people to trade a long commute for a *nicer* home. I am a city mouse myself as were my parents so even though I grew up in NYC and now live in Los Angeles, I have opted for a shorter commute and a smaller house in a denser urban environment. If one checks commute times average, many people have commutes of well under 30 minutes because there is no objective reason to live someplace with a longer commute. Many cities don't have the standard model of all jobs being located in a central dense center either so people would also choose to live in a suburb or outer spoke of a city that is closer to their job versus commuting.

The Indianapolis flip was beyond awful - it resembled the inside of a battleship and the finishes - especially the gray laminate floor - are already horrendously dated. I understand the difference between a 10 minute commute and a 20 minute commute. With a 10 minute commute one is theoretically able to get home during the day If necessary. I had a 10 minute commute for awhile and would go home at lunch many days. Also, at least from my experience, a 10 minute commute is generally within one's neighborhood and less likely to run into commuting traffic.

I don't mind Randy's signature line. Lots of people have signature greetings. And I think it is especially nice because I do think it reflects his joy in dressing woman of all sizes, shapes, ethnicities, sexual persuasion etc. I really appreciate that Randy sees the beauty in all the women unlike other designers who only appreciate those who measure up to narrow definitions. I have seen him dress women who are completely outside societal norms and they truly look and feel beautiful when they take his input. My observation is that he almost never dresses a woman in something that is unflattering. Of course, he is tactful and so when a bride wants something that is completely unsuitable to her body type, he will stand back rather than try to convince her why her dream gown isn't flattering.

There would seem to be a terrible double standard if they let Candiace slide when they let go of the Vanderpump people unless there is some "claim" that the Vanderpump bigots unless the rationale is that the Vanderpump people took ACTION against another cast member based on her being a woman of color.

Regarding the job - at the very beginning she said she needed the internet to LOOK for a job. Again, I realize all of this is incoherent storyline but that's why I questioned whether she was working - based on her initial statement of an internet job search.

Maybe it’s me but the last thing I would have wanted right after graduating college would be to own a house. Maybe I just don’t have that extreme homeowner gene but my life went through changes during my twenties and selling a home after a relatively short period of time is generally an economic loss after closing costs and broker fees. The episode with the 22 year old made no sense because she said at the beginning that she was looking for a job but then she was approved for $200,000. So how do you get approved without a job or even much of a credit history. Perhaps the parents were more financially on the hook that was stated. The mother was a bit over the top but I assume a lot of it was enhanced for the story line. I remember myself at 22 and would have been ill equipped to make intelligent decisions about the whole process. Even as an older home buyer, I was grateful for input from my parents who had owned homes for many years - especially my father who was knowledgeable about construction and maintenance issues. And also it is obviously personal but the last thing I wanted as a single woman was a single family home. I didn’t want to deal with exterior maintenance issues and I also liked the enhanced security of a condo - especially one on a high floor.

From what I read, AKA and other black sororities and fraternities were responsible for a huge percentage of the record donations received in the hours after the announcement. 😀

Many women make life long friends just as many non-sorority women make life long friends in college. FWIW, Kamala Harris is an Alpha Kappa Alpha and it was mentioned by all of the "talking heads" I was listening to on the news who were either AKA or even just members of other black sororities.

Her house is hopelessly dated with its heavy fake Tuscan architecture. I have to give Tamra props for remodeling her homes in a stylish manner. The exterior is a fantasy but I wouid think anyone would be put off by the home itself. I am not sure how you can even redo that interior but it would cost a lot to even attempt it.

Actually at a certain point an extremely large kitchen is less functional than a "large" kitchen. Of course, it is really nice to have an ample size kitchen with plenty of storage and counter to work on but if the "triangle" is large, it means that one is walking vast distances. Of course, no one is really cooking in the trophy kitchens except the staff or caterers and who cares about them. :-). I didn't find the step down to the closet to be that odd because it would serve as a complete dressing area. It's not like a middle class bedroom/master closet where you would want the closet to be closer to the bedroom where one might actually put on and take off clothing. At any rate, if she leaves her clothing in the bedroom when she gets undressed, the maid is going to sort it out anyway :-).

But the house was always a one bedroom. The new design made the design much more functional in my opinion for the target market. I am not sure how converting that awful space on the front porch into a nook off the bedroom decreased value. It is not as if Brett took away a bedroom and made a larger one bedroom or stole space so that there would be a master bath or whatever. At a certain point you can't enlarge what is there. How would you suggest a second bedroom be added that wouldn't detract from the aesthetics and functionality of the house. Such a small house is obviously not for everyone but it would appeal to single people or even a couple who preferred a single family home to a condo. The renovation didn't negatively impact resale value - the actual size of the home meant that it was always going to appeal to a smaller segment of the market. But within that market, a beautifully restored Victorian cottage would be more appealing than the equivalent square footage for a condo.

The house works for a single or a couple or even a couple with an infant. That's the market - essentially a small dollhouse instead of a condo so I don't think it impacts resale. The little space can be an office or a den or whatever. What doesn't work for me is having access to the bathroom through my bedroom. Maybe some people are less private about any guests traipsing through the bedroom but it would be a no for me. I would assume the daughter lives with the mother most of the time so I don't think it's an issue even when she gets older. Families share hotel rooms or trailers or live in shared quarters. Families share hotel rooms or trailers or live in shared quarters. My experience with fathers who have kids for limited time is that the child is more of a special guest than a child you live with who you don't spend every moment interacting with. So not having the separate spaces is less of an issue because the father and daughter will be doing stuff together most of the time he has her and there isn't the same need for private space. He is not going to be having female (or male) overnight visits so the issue of having separate complete private bedrooms isn't an issue - I'm not sure what the issue really is - if she needs to use the bathroom when he is sleeping or in bed, what's the big deal? Most kids interact with their parents while the parents are in bed. And like any of these renovation shows, the costs bear no relation to reality as anyone who has ever done any sort of remodeling knows. I don't know how they arrive at what amount the homeowner kicks in and how they make that fit in the budget. Brett is the designer and GC so he is not charging anything for these expensive services. The skilled craftsmen who are featured are charging minimal amounts and any of the places where he finds the tiles or has custom stuff made would be providing stuff cheaply or for free because of promotional value. At least with this show, I do get the sense that the work is being doing well versus other renovation shows I have read about where the work is done as cheaply as possible.

Candiace drives me crazy with the incessant physical posturing. It is as if she has spent hours and hours looking at a mirror in an attempt to create what she views as *flattering* poses. I put flattering in asterisks because I am not sure exactly what she is attempting to do. Is she trying to appear adorable? sexy? It just reminds me of the terrible acting that not talented child actors on sitcoms use when they are "fakely" over-emoting reaction shots. On a shallow note, I think the women themselves are among the most beautiful of any of the franchises. I might be naive but except for the obviously fake hair, their features seem to be the ones they are born with. I could be wrong as I don't profess to be the ultimate expert on plastic cosmetic surgery but for the most part they are stunning women.

I had missed the Slovenian family on the first round but I thought they had a nice dynamic. They seemed to love and support each other. I assume there is some kind of money available although they don't have a flamboyant lifestyle. It takes some amount of money to live even the modestly comfortable lifestyle the three of them do. The son got his PHD in Brussels which is not cheap and the parents are able to travel and stay in Europe for extended periods of time - god bless them.

I can understand wanting one level home by ANY homeowner who is of a certain age because you never know when there will be some medical condition that makes climbing stairs difficult. The middle home was ridiculous with all of the different levels. Didn't it also have a sunken living portion with no demarcation between the levels. That seemed like a great way to break one's neck if one inadvertently forgot where the new level began or if one of their many guests didn't realize there was a drop in flooring levels because there was no warning.

The Austin architecture episode was completely bizarre to me. I had assumed based on her background and her professed desires that she actually wanted to tackle a true fixer upper and use her skills and talents to showcase what she was capable of doing. There have been a few shows like that and generally anyone with a background in architecture or construction selects a house that needs work because they have the experience and also - and very significantly - have the contacts to get trade discounts so the work can be done more inexpensively than an amateur. What she wanted to do - and actually did - was what many homeowners do which is a small cosmetic remodel. She selected paint colors, changed flooring and selected a back splash? LMFAO. That is what she wanted to show as exhibiting her skills and taste level? I did those with my first home when I had zilch experience. Being a SAHM isn't what is causing her lack of real job responsibilities at her job. It's obviously her lack of talent and expertise.

Like others have posted, the show is so much better without the fake fighting. Let them show what most of the viewers are here for which is showing homes and being somewhat of a behind the scenes look at the world of high end real estate agents. I am on a Bravo "viewing panel" and I generally leave a plea to end the stop fights so perhaps enough people like me persuaded the producers to change the tone of the show and focus on the real estate. It's obviously somewhat still faked - Heather the buyer was not just a normal cold caller and the Trousdale guy was selected because of the real estate and his personality. No suspense that Altman was going to get the job - that guy would have paid a million dollars just to be on the show playing his music :-). I didn't mind because the Trousdale house was exceptional. Renovated by people with money and taste and the willingness to restore rather than gut. The Pasadena home really needed that kind of gut renovation - hopefully done by somebody with taste so that it doesn't turn into the generic boring flip - white Shaker cabinets; quartz waterfall island; spa-look bathrooms. However that house really was in sad shape - fluorescent kitchen and bath lighting; formica cabinets; electric coil range; poor layout plus only two bedrooms. That would be a complete negative since that neighborhood seemed family and three bedrooms is minimum for a family. Seemed as if it was an odd layout since the square footage was about 2500 feet which is more than ample for three bedrooms. And my last WTF was deliberately putting carpet in the bathroom. That was really being completely clear that the place was meant to be gutted as there was no attempt to do anything that might it even appear to be move in ready. I have no idea what they paid for the new stuff and the staging but in my opinion, the money was completely wasted. The market for that home was either a developer or someone who was sophisticated enough to want to deal with a down to the studs renovation. And those kinds of buyers don't give a rat's ass about staging but just the bones, location and how much it will cost to get it up to snuff. The easiest sells are "handyman's specials" because you aren't paying for ANY half assed fixes like cheap carpeting or move-in ready. The first house that Flagg took Heather to showed a poor renovation as the changes didn't conform to the look of the home itself and were so taste specific like a robin's egg blue paint exterior. The Pasadena renovation was such a contrast with the flipper who did the Craftsmen in Sunset Square and just removed anything that was true to the era - he didn't even attempt to use new stuff that was Craftsmen in tone except for the stuff that he was required to do. I just finished a remodel - and I did a kitchen that was evocative of Craftsmen with quarter sawn white oak kitchen cabinets.

I wonder if they lost in when real estate tanked in 2008. That would be in synch with their age lines. Of course they probably were never really multi-millionaires except in terms of leveraged chimerical real estate holdings. Mike from Shahs purportedly was wealthy on Vegas commercial real estate until the 2008 recession. Of course he never actually succeeded in making money again except from a salary for his Shah casting unlike the Altman brothers who are genuinely successful active realtors. It is a reason that I appreciate the show versus some of the other reality shows where the only reason the cast members are wealthy is because they are making money from the show and other promotional opportunities derived from their association with the show.

If you like the character of a neighborhood, living in an HPOZ zone is very desirable. You won’t have a horribly out of character McMansion built on your block. The area is very charming and people deliberately choose to live there. This particular guy was an idiot in terms of his choices. The realtors made it appear as if the entire location was problematic whereas it was the location of his lot which was less desirable than homes more in the middle and north of Hollywood. He then made expensive aesthetic choices which would be completely unappealing to a lot of people who want a Craftsman home. And aside from that the layout was weird with that useless hallway and the walnut slats which maybe would work in a mid century home.

I was a bit amazed that the Sunset Square house even sold for $2,200.000 because of the location. I live in the neighborhood so I am quite familiar with it and this house was the first house above Sunset and abutted the large parking lot for an auction house. There are also a lot of plans to "densify" the area by greedy developers which would mean those closest to Sunset would be most impacted. For example who would want a hotel or a large supermarket right next door to their home. I also though the interior layout was very odd as it seemed like a railroad or shotgun flat. He just gutted the hell out of the interior and rebuilt in generic current style. I don't care what he spent on finishes - it could have been done so that the interior wasn't so out of synch aesthetically with Arts & Crafts architecture. As you get further north, the area becomes more solidly residential and desirable - especially the blocks just north of Hollywood Boulevard. Ozzy and Harriet lived there in a large Colonial style home which is still there. I think it was used for exterior shots in the series and some of the interior shots although the interior has been modified since they lived there.

I don’t believe they set up outside Runyon Canyon as anything other than a stunt. I just meant that attempting to attract the demographics of those who visit Runyon is nit necessarily bad marketing because there are people who might want to purchase a house in that neighborhood. However, as a real promotion, it would be staffed by a low level person because these guys aren’t going to be wasting time shlepping and actually handing out promotional materials. It would have made sense to tie it in with an Open House On the same day to encourage people to drop in after hiking but someone hiking Runyon might be interested in either moving there or upgrading their home if they already do live close by. it was more targeted than the completely random visit to the Art Show which made zero promotional sense. They might as well just have handed out fliers on a random street corner

Obviously the promotions in at the Art Show and at Runyon Canyon were staged for the show. However I think that was the Beverly Hills Art Show which is a fairly major event so it wasn't your standard neighborhood event. It still was not any kind of event a three real estate agents would visit to promote in that manner. I live within a few blocks of Runyon Canyon and it is not just frequented by actors and tourists :-). It's actually a pretty good way to showcase a home that is in the neighborhood because you get a lot of people who live in the neighborhood who might be looking for homes. Also you get lots of people who drive specifically to Runyon who would be interested in the home. Listings in my neighborhood will generally state that are close to Runyon as being an asset. The home itself was - at least in my opinion - over priced and not worth the money. It is exactly the kind of historic renovation I despise since it gutted every single aspect of a Craftsmen home and replaced it with generic current trendy. I realize that sometimes you can't preserve everything but you can. remodel so that it resembles the source. I just finished a remodel and gutted kitchen and baths and although they aren't slavish period recreations, they aren't the ubiquitous white cabinets with waterfall quartz island :-). You can't just set up a table at Runyon - even if you weren't bringing in a film crew. I know this because I know people on the Board and also have done some community organizing where we set up a table to hand out literature on over-development in the area.

FWIW, closed captions wrote “sniffles” while Bryan was reacting to the soulless comment.

Drama is fine when it is organic. The problem with BH is that the drama is about nothing that anyone with half a brain would drag out - so it is completely stupid and boring. The dog-gate last season was the worst. As far as I was concerned, Dorit violated her contract for the dog and was given a HUGE pass by Lisa who chose not to penalize her for the $5000 that was contractually owed. Why would anyone - except someone who had a shady purpose - deliberately NOT return a dog to the animal rescue organization as one agrees to. It's easy and dogs are returned frequently when they don't work out. It's especially easy for someone with young children to say that the dog really didn't work out with young children as that is not uncommon.