House Hunters: Buying in the USA

[topanga]

2 hours ago, Neurochick said:

Yes, that's why it doesn't phase me.  Lots of DINK's twentysomethings in NYC, where both have six figure incomes.

I agree. But a 300,000 annual salary doesn't = rich. It's really just upper middle class or lower upper class, especially in an expensive city like Seattle. I can't figure out what a million dollar house would cost in terms of a monthly mortgage payment (plus taxes, HOA fees, etc). But unless the couple was able to put down a huge down payment, or their savings have been supplemented by a large sum of monetary wedding gifts, their incomes would still be stretched. 

[AlleC17]

Regarding laundry area not in the main house:  when I rented, we had them in the half bathroom.  It was annoying if someone needed to use that bathroom for bathroom purposes when you were doing your laundry.  I thought it was icky and not practical.  When I bought, the laundry unit was in te detached garage.  I kind of like it.  The walkway from the front door to the garage door is covered, so you don't get wet if it rains and if there is a leak, the damage is minimal since its in the garage.  It wouldn't be a deal breaker for me if my next house (not that I am hunting, but i can dream!) had a similar set up.  As long as the walkway is covered, I am okay.

Mr. Mid Century Modern didn't bug me as much as some of these HH do: maybe because I was distracted by other things while I was watching.  lol

[Ohwell]

Plus, most of these DINKs will have children and that puts a whole 'nother spin on it.  No more "restaurants and bars and shopping" as these HHers so often like to yap about.  Eventually they wind up moving to the 'burbs.  

[HawaiiTVGuy]

On 7/21/2016 at 1:53 PM, Ohwell said:

I missed the first couple of minutes so I don't know what the husband did for a living.  Not sure what the wife did either but I think she was a stay at home mom.

That is the impression I got as well, since she pretty much was saying he was the reason they were moving all the time, and he had "promised" they could stay at least a "couple years" this time, at least that I what I think she said?

[laredhead]

With regard to monthly payments on those million dollar houses, when the Seattle Craftsman couple was shopping for a house, the product placement ad for some mortgage company showed a payment of $3,700 a month on the first house, which was the one they purchased.  There was no detail as to how much down payment would be required to reach that amount, and I don't know if the price of that house qualified for a jumbo loan.  I just happened to see that blurb when they showed the figures on their handy dandy iPad or whatever they were using.   

[juliet73]

6 hours ago, laredhead said:

With regard to monthly payments on those million dollar houses, when the Seattle Craftsman couple was shopping for a house, the product placement ad for some mortgage company showed a payment of $3,700 a month on the first house, which was the one they purchased.  There was no detail as to how much down payment would be required to reach that amount, and I don't know if the price of that house qualified for a jumbo loan.  I just happened to see that blurb when they showed the figures on their handy dandy iPad or whatever they were using.   

When I visit model homes,  sometimes they have the information sheet listed with the price of the house as well the "approximate" monthly mortgage payment. All the ones I have seen are 20% down (of the base price) with a 30 yr fixed with a current lower percentage rate and it does not include taxes,  insurance or HOA fees.

Edited July 26, 2016 by juliet73

[biakbiak]

The house they chose in Fresno might be one of the ugliest exterior of any house chosen in this show and the layout was ludicrious for a new build.

[Ohwell]

I didn't see the end to see which house the Fresno guys chose, but I thought the new build was just depressingly ugly.  Make that fugly.

[Albino]

16 minutes ago, Ohwell said:

I didn't see the end to see which house the Fresno guys chose, but I thought the new build was just depressingly ugly.  Make that fugly.

Of course they picked the new build!  I think that was the one with 2 front doors...one opened to a small guest suite.  Dumbest idea ever.

The "tension-filled" part where they decide which home to buy was just weird.  One guy wants an old home, other guy the new build.  New build guy says "okay if we buy the new one, I'll let you decorate it!"  And...done!  

This was one of the most anemic episodes ever.  Personality-free buyers, crappy houses and a complete waste of my precious time!

[juliet73]

Fresno:  I thought it was odd that the corrections officer was scared to go down the stairs.  I would think in his line of work, he's seen things scarier than a set of stairs that lead to a water heater. 

Edited July 26, 2016 by juliet73

[laredhead]

Two of those houses had guest suites/quarters didn't they?  I thought it was funny since just about everyone talks about needing an extra bedroom for the many guests they expect to visit them, yet here was a couple who never said a word about that and they were shown 2 places that had guests suites complete with kitchenettes. 

I would not have wanted to go down those stairs to that crawlspace either.  I have claustrophobia and maybe that guy did as well.  I was hoping they would take one of the other two houses, but I knew one of those would not be chosen because it was furnished and probably a decoy.

At least in the closing scene, the guy was cooking a steak on the range grill and not just chopping veggies as we so often see.  I also liked the realtor when she said working with them was like trying to get two kids to play together.

[AuntiePam]

Another issue with the house they chose in Fresno was that it was really, really close to the houses on either side.  I don't recall if there was any space in the back.  Maybe there was, because they'd been grousing about small yards in the houses they viewed.

[Gurkel]

I liked the South Dakota couple. I found them so funny and charming that I actually watched the intro stuff, which I usually never do. 

But why, or why, did they name their daughter Elliott? Just a few years ago, this was a major joke on Scrubs--that parents would name their daughter Elliott. This seems to be a new trend--parents giving traditionally boys' names to a girl. I have friends who have named their young daughters Ryan and Evan. And Kristen bell named her daughter Lincoln. I'm not saying that girls all have to be Jennifer or Ashley (which used to be a 'boys' name), but I just don't like the Ryan, Evan, Lincoln, or Elliot sound on a girl.  I can't imagine what confusion these girls will have to face in school and life, having to explain to teachers and kids on the playground why they have a "boys" name. 

[Kohola3]

I hate parents who are so stupid about either cutesy names, names that have bizarre spellings, bizarre pronunciations, or names that are gender confusing.  It is their own selfishness when they do this thinking people will see them as clever or innovative.  They have no thought to the lifelong struggle these kids will have.  I be know firsthand and it gets so old starting as soon as they kid gets to school age and lasting the rest of his/her life.  Shame on adults that should look beyond their own need to "different" and ultimately torture their kids.

[Empress1]

My former coworker named her daughter Elliot. The little girl is now 2. I also worked with a woman who has three daughters named Mason, Ryan, and Logan (they're elementary school aged), and years ago I knew someone my age who was a female Evan (so she's in her 30s now). I'm less bothered by gendered names than I am by names like Pilot Inspektor or Audio Science.

 I think Kherington is the worst name I've seen on this show though. That K-H combination is killing me.

[Empress1]

Double post

Edited July 27, 2016 by Empress1
Accidental double post

[Empress1]

Triple post

Edited July 27, 2016 by Empress1
Accidental triple post

[topanga]

3 hours ago, Empress1 said:

My former coworker named her daughter Elliot. The little girl is now 2. I also worked with a woman who has three daughters named Mason, Ryan, and Logan (they're elementary school aged), and years ago I knew someone my age who was a female Evan (so she's in her 30s now). I'm less bothered by gendered names than I am by names like Pilot Inspektor or Audio Science.

 I think Kherington is the worst name I've seen on this show though. That K-H combination is killing me.

Me too! I don't think Kherington would bother me so much if it were spelled "Carrington." The K and H make it seem like the parents are trying to be both elitist and creative, but the final product is neither. I'm sorry for being so judgmental and somewhat hypocritical about names. I find it terrible, for example, that employers have an implicit bias toward applicants with "black-sounding" names like "Ebony" or "Jamal." 

On 7/25/2016 at 2:49 PM, AlleC17 said:

Regarding laundry area not in the main house:  when I rented, we had them in the half bathroom.  It was annoying if someone needed to use that bathroom for bathroom purposes when you were doing your laundry.  I thought it was icky and not practical.  When I bought, the laundry unit was in te detached garage.  I kind of like it.  The walkway from the front door to the garage door is covered, so you don't get wet if it rains and if there is a leak, the damage is minimal since its in the garage.  It wouldn't be a deal breaker for me if my next house (not that I am hunting, but i can dream!) had a similar set up.  As long as the walkway is covered, I am okay.

Mr. Mid Century Modern didn't bug me as much as some of these HH do: maybe because I was distracted by other things while I was watching.  lol

Didn't one of that couple's houses have laundry appliances in the bathroom (or maybe it was another family)?  I couldn't imagine. 

[CherryAmes]

3 hours ago, Empress1 said:

My former coworker named her daughter Elliot. The little girl is now 2. I also worked with a woman who has three daughters named Mason, Ryan, and Logan (they're elementary school aged), and years ago I knew someone my age who was a female Evan (so she's in her 30s now). I'm less bothered by gendered names than I am by names like Pilot Inspektor or Audio Science.

I have this basic dislike for giving a girl a name that just screams "we wanted a boy".  I realize that's probably not what the parents were actually thinking but it's what it sounds like to me and I just have this knee jerk reaction to it that I really need to work on because it seems to be happening a lot more.

[Empress1]

48 minutes ago, CherryAmes said:

I have this basic dislike for giving a girl a name that just screams "we wanted a boy".  I realize that's probably not what the parents were actually thinking but it's what it sounds like to me and I just have this knee jerk reaction to it that I really need to work on because it seems to be happening a lot more.

Elliot is my former coworker's first child so she didn't care what she had, but if I recall correctly, all of the names she was considering were gender-ambiguous. She shared her top three names with us and I can't remember the other two, but I remember strongly preferring Elliot. I think they sometimes call her Ellie, and her middle name is a very conventional female name so she could go by that if she wanted. With the woman with three daughters, she wasn't trying until she got a boy (her third pregnancy was unplanned, which is none of my business but she told everybody), but she definitely wanted to be trendy - her "thing" (her words) was boys names for girls. If she'd had a boy, I bet she would have named him something very traditional like John.

The SD couple was another where they couldn't bear the thought of being on a different floor from their kid. I fell out when the wife liked that yellow room because that was a VERY aggressive shade of yellow. My grandmother's favorite color was yellow and their bedroom was painted that color, but it was a more muted version. The one on this episode was ... bright. (I hate yellow, so that would have had to go immediately. A bright yellow room makes me nervous.)

That was another episode where their wish list was long and their budget was small ... but that town was so cheap! I don't think they were shown anything "at the top of their budget."

[Trillium]

My husband has a female cousin named Elliott, she's an adult now but has gone by Elle since middle school. At least that has a more feminine nick name if the kid decides later she is tired of being mistaken for a boy. I do know someone who names their daughter Jaycen (Jason) which not only is it the trend of naming girls with traditional boy names, but also the trend of misspelling and unnecessary "y" to make it "feminine". 

[CherryAmes]

Is Elliot popular because of ET?

[Neurochick]

I don't mind gender neutral names at all.  I went to school where every other girl was either Mary Beth, Catherine or Susan. 

1 hour ago, topanga said:

I find it terrible, for example, that employers have an implicit bias toward applicants with "black-sounding" names like "Ebony" or "Jamal." 

I find it awful when people do that too, people like that are too stupid to live as I am black and have a REAL Anglo Saxon sounding name.  Before people met me, they thought I was either a blonde farm girl from Iowa or a WASP from Canada/New England.

Still, why couldn't Kherington, have been Kerrington?  I think they had three girls and wanted to give them all "K" names.

[Neurochick]

Ugh, again?

Edited July 27, 2016 by Neurochick

[Neurochick]

And again.

Edited July 27, 2016 by Neurochick

[Zeebreezy]

I haven't watched HH in a while but just wanted to chime in the name discussion.  since my name is very traditional and popular I decided to give my daughter an unconventional two first name kind of name.  When people hear it I'm always told that it is beautiful yet we (her parents and family) call her Z for short and barely use it.  Also, I went to high school with a girl named Freddie. Not short for Fredricka, just Freddie.  it's whats on her birth certificate.  And although its a harsh mans name ( I have an uncle Freddie that is 6'2 and a lumberjack kinda guy compared to a petite, pretty girl named Freddie was interesting.  I always thought her name was pretty cool and unique since there were 3 girls in my class that had my name.

[Mrs. P.]

My nephew's wife's name is Lester, and that's what she goes by.  Thirty years ago, when my nephew told his father that he wanted to date Lester, my brother nearly had a heart attack, until it was explained to him!

[Kohola3]

Quote

Is Elliot popular because of ET?

Well, I suppose that's possible but since it came out in 1982, I'm thinking if they saw the movie as kids, they would be pretty old in the child-bearing world by now.  And Elliott was a boy.  Plus there haven't been a run of Gertie's that I have heard.

[iMonrey]

Quote

I'm sorry for being so judgmental and somewhat hypocritical about names.

Don't apologize. It's not the originality of the name that's the problem, it's the spelling. If you go out of your way to spell a name in a "creative" way you are cursing your child with a name that will be mispronounced his or her whole life. And trust me, it gets to be a real complex because you get to the point where you dread hearing your name called because you're going to have to correct it every time someone tries to say it. 

[Kohola3]

Quote

And trust me, it gets to be a real complex because you get to the point where you dread hearing your name called because you're going to have to correct it every time someone tries to say it. 

I am right there with you.  And the mail comes to all kinds of bizarre names.  And to Ms., Mrs, and Mr.  I could kill my parents.

[megwhite]

Ugh! chiming in, I hate the "new trend" of giving girls boys' name! Its a pet peeve, there are so many beautiful girl's names and less for boy's names, would parents give a boy a traditional girl's name? I don't think so!

[Quof]

Quote

And the mail comes to all kinds of bizarre names

Chanandler Bong, anyone?

[Ohwell]

8 hours ago, topanga said:

I find it terrible, for example, that employers have an implicit bias toward applicants with "black-sounding" names like "Ebony" or "Jamal." 

I find it terrible, too.  It's bad when the employer just looks at the name on the resume and doesn't look any further to look at the qualifications of the applicant.  Whether the name is "black-sounding" or just "weird-sounding," I do think that parents should take such things into consideration before naming a child.   I'm glad mine did.  Celebrities can name their kids whatever they want because they know they won't be worried about applying for regular jobs. 

[biakbiak]

2 hours ago, megwhite said:

Ugh! chiming in, I hate the "new trend" of giving girls boys' name! Its a pet peeve, there are so many beautiful girl's names and less for boy's names, would parents give a boy a traditional girl's name? I don't think so!

Gendered names change Ashley and Vivian were once more typicallt boys names. I think you should name your kid what you want and not go by some antiquated notion about what names.

[Homily]

2 hours ago, megwhite said:

Ugh! chiming in, I hate the "new trend" of giving girls boys' name! Its a pet peeve, there are so many beautiful girl's names and less for boy's names, would parents give a boy a traditional girl's name? I don't think so!

Absolutely agree.  If it's just another way that parents get to choose whatever name they want for their kids then why aren't we seeing a bunch of boys being named Megan or Sara?   So not going to happen.  It's just another way of saying boys are better than girls - even their names are better. 

Edited July 28, 2016 by Homily

[laredhead]

Did the couple in tonight's episode in Long Beach realize they were on House Hunters and not Tiny House Hunters?  They were OK with very little square footage and chose the 600 sf house.  They put location over size as the deciding factor.  I would love for the completed project to be shown on a future episode of HH Where Are They Now.  I noticed in the final scene that they seemed to have installed some lattice at top of the wall in the back yard for further privacy and security which I thought was a good idea.  Overall they weren't demanding about much, other than a nice kitchen and a garage, and they were respectful of each other's wishes.  The husband got his garage and they both got the location, which in the real estate world, is the most important thing.    

[WendyCR72]

Names and gender roots of said names have nothing to do with house hunting, folks. Let's stay on topic. If you do wish to continue the name discussion, please take it to the Small Talk thread.

Thanks for your cooperation.

[Albino]

1 hour ago, laredhead said:

Did the couple in tonight's episode in Long Beach realize they were on House Hunters and not Tiny House Hunters?  They were OK with very little square footage and chose the 600 sf house.  They put location over size as the deciding factor.  I would love for the completed project to be shown on a future episode of HH Where Are They Now.  I noticed in the final scene that they seemed to have installed some lattice at top of the wall in the back yard for further privacy and security which I thought was a good idea.  Overall they weren't demanding about much, other than a nice kitchen and a garage, and they were respectful of each other's wishes.  The husband got his garage and they both got the location, which in the real estate world, is the most important thing.    

I only caught the tail end of it but wow...the wife is really beautiful.

[Empress1]

6 hours ago, Albino said:

I only caught the tail end of it but wow...the wife is really beautiful.

I thought they were a really good-looking family. I thought he was handsome and their daughter was very cute.

[topanga]

1 hour ago, Empress1 said:

I thought they were a really good-looking family. I thought he was handsome and their daughter was very cute.

I agree, and the wife was pretty too, but I found her quite annoying. I guess she wasn't worse than a typical whiny HH wife, but I hated her fake snobbery. I like that the husband and wife both talked about coming from humble beginnings, but she acted like she was Paris freakin' Hilton and was born with a silver spoon in her mouth. 

Did they convert the closet and pantry back into the 2nd bedroom? I don't remember seeing the inside of the house. Only the patio. 

[juliet73]

58 minutes ago, topanga said:

 

Did they convert the closet and pantry back into the 2nd bedroom? I don't remember seeing the inside of the house. Only the patio. 

They were in the process of a reno. Basically EVERY room was down to the studs. 

That house was very small, but I would have chosen it too because of the location.  Looking forward to seeing them on Where Are They Now. 

[NYGirl]

She annoyed me too.  I giggled when she said she didn't want the built ins and the realtor told her it was part of the craftsman.  At the end she said she'd put in her own built ins.

i just wonder where her other children will sleep when they come to visit.

[topanga]

4 minutes ago, NYGirl said:

She annoyed me too.  I giggled when she said she didn't want the built ins and the realtor told her it was part of the craftsman.  At the end she said she'd put in her own built ins.

i just wonder where her other children will sleep when they come to visit.

I'd totally forgotten that! "Yes, I want a Craftsman. But not all of the Craftsman details. Tee-hee." It's one of the things that really annoyed me about the wife. 

[Babalooie]

I couldn't tell if the grass in the 'after' scene was real grass or Astroturf.

[Ohwell]

7 minutes ago, Babalooie said:

I couldn't tell if the grass in the 'after' scene was real grass or Astroturf.

It looked like Astroturf to me.

Another thing that bugged me about the Long Beach woman was the opening when she just had to give their ages, like she wanted us to know that he was one year younger than she was.  Big whoop.  Also, didn't she say that she had two older children who were in college?  I guess we were supposed to think how great she looked for having college-aged children?  I just thought she was angling for compliments.

Edited July 28, 2016 by Ohwell

[Dawning]

Quote

 I giggled when she said she didn't want the built ins and the realtor told her it was part of the craftsman.  At the end she said she'd put in her own built ins.

I couldn't get irritated with her about that because those were (IMO) some ugly built-ins. I usually love Craftsman built-ins, but not those. I just hope the place still looks like a Craftsman when they're done with it.  

Quote

I couldn't tell if the grass in the 'after' scene was real grass or Astroturf.

It looked to me like maybe it was new sod? It reminded me of Flip or Flip lawns after they've put sod in. Green but fake looking. 

Quote

 Also, didn't she say that she had two older children who were in college?  I guess we were supposed to think how great she looked for having college-aged children?  I just thought she was angling for compliments.

I don't remember if they were in college or not. I thought the point was just that they weren't living with them. The "listing the kids/family" thing seems to be pretty standard, so I assume the producers ask them.

They didn't bother me overall. Maybe because it was just so refreshing to have someone who didn't "need" a huge closet and en suite bathroom, but actually ripped out the closet to make a bedroom. And the husband talked about wanting a two-car garage, but seemed perfectly content when he was shown houses with fairly small one-car garages.

[AuntiePam]

I always skip the intro so didn't understand why the location was so important.  Two miles to the beach -- do they plan to walk?  Carrying all the things that people carry to the beach?  Being without a car in case of an emergency?  Eight miles isn't that much farther.

I could see buying the tiny house if it was under budget, but if their budget was $400K and they got the house for $391K, that didn't leave nearly enough for everything they're doing.  Husband wanted a restaurant-style kitchen, and they might be able to get that, but only if they give up the second bedroom.  There's not enough square footage for a second bedroom, a larger kitchen, and a second bathroom, or a larger bathroom.

I liked the ranch style house, except that there were no trees that I could see.  In warm climates, trees provide a lot of needed shade.  I liked the Spanish style house too.

[Empress1]

3 hours ago, Dawning said:

I don't remember if they were in college or not. I thought the point was just that they weren't living with them. The "listing the kids/family" thing seems to be pretty standard, so I assume the producers ask them.

She said she had two adult children who didn't live with them - she must have been a very young mom because I think she said she was only 40. She also had an 8-year-old who lived with them half the time, and then a daughter with her husband who was obviously there all the time. Buying a 600 square foot house is a good way to ensure that your guests/grown kids stay in hotels when they visit!

[Texasmom1970]

Regarding the Long Beach couple. I understand you love the beach and want to be near it. But for heavens sake do you have to love on the freaking beach. Maybe I am just too practical but I would have chosen a two bedroom home even if it was - gasp - 8 miles to the beach. 

I know they picked the smaller home in the end. How they were going on at the beginning that a small house was fine then when they get in there the wife is whining about it being small and claustrophobic. She annoyed me.

[juliet73]

4 hours ago, Babalooie said:

I couldn't tell if the grass in the 'after' scene was real grass or Astroturf.

It was synthetic grass.  If you're in a drought stricken area, synthetic grass and/or desert landscaping are encouraged. 

Even though  I preferred the more spacious updated 2nd home,  the backyard/alley would have been a deal breaker for me.  I'm a total beach person.  In my opinion 8 miles is close to the beach,  but I would prefer 2 miles because then I could walk (I'm a walker) or bike and wouldn't have to worry about parking, etc. Throw the necessities in a backpack,  and I'm good to go.

Edited July 28, 2016 by juliet73