House Hunters: Buying in the USA

[ByaNose]

Dave and David. The older blond one was really creepy with his eyes and fair skin. I also think there might have been some plastic surgery involved, too. Overall, the house has great bones and I would like to see the after renovation. I really like the sun room because there was so much light. I'm not sure if they were just going to repaint and get new floors or do a total gut job. They have an amzing budget and the house looks so big. Also, they were going to add a pool. I want to see the finished product....now! LOL!!! They said it would take 6 months or so. This show was done a while ago so they must be done by now, right? Does anyone have the tea on the location of the house and if it was a flip or if they really plan on staying?!

[sistersledge]

On 6/26/2018 at 12:09 PM, Empress1 said:

 

On 6/26/2018 at 11:42 AM, ByaNose said:

They had a pretty healthy budget but the houses they looked at were kind of dumpy. I think they lived somewhere in North Jersey. I was surprised they couldn't find something new-new with that budget.

She said that one of the things she liked best about living in Jersey is that you could look over and see NYC, so yeah, north Jersey - that wouldn't be true in south Jersey (it's the Philly skyline you can see there!). And t

 

Well they said they were living in Bayonne, which is outside NYC. But they were buying in Somerset/Bound Brook which is at LEAST an hour, probably closer to an hour and a half to the west and south (more central). Apparently that’s where the studio is, I rewound because I was confused. And no, 20 minutes does not get you in the country. 20 minutes barely gets you out of the Lincoln Tunnel. 

[ByaNose]

1 minute ago, sistersledge said:

Well they said they were living in Bayonne, which is outside NYC. But they were buying in Somerset/Bound Brook which is at LEAST an hour, probably closer to an hour and a half to the west and south (more central). Apparently that’s where the studio is, I rewound because I was confused. And no, 20 minutes does not get you in the country. 20 minutes barely gets you out of the Lincoln Tunnel. 

Yeah, I'm not familar with the N New Jersey/NYC area. I know NYC is expensive but I didn't think North Jersey was that pricey. I was shocked at their budget and then seeing places they were looking at really shocked me. Everything looked so dumpy.

[WarnerCL45]

On 10/10/2015 at 10:23 AM, ByaNose said:

OMG! Kill me now. The Columbus, Ohio couple and Cookie-Cutter houses. The husband seemed like the nicest guy in the world but his wife had to be the most annoying housewife that HH has ever had. She's short in stature but sure has a big mouth. Good lord!! How does he live with her? The house they decided on was pretty nice and needed minimal work. I thought it was HYSTERICAL when he said the kidnappers would bring her back. Her mouth dropped to the floor because she was in shock. Too funny! I also think he was subtly speaking the truth because he knows what's it's like to deal with her 24/7. I actually feel bad for him because he really does seem like the nicest guy.

Just saw this one the other night.  Didn't realize how old it was.  Glad I'm not alone in disliking the woman.  And she actually found someone to marry her.  

Agent:  "And you have a wood-burning fireplace"

Annoying short woman:  "What do you mean, wood burning?"         Kill me now!

Edited June 28, 2018 by WarnerCL45

[LittleIggy]

Shaman my a**! Talk about cultural appropriation. I don’t like people taking some other culture’s spiritual heritage and using it to make money. I’m sure that neighbor wouldn’t have liked having a business run out of the house next door.

That first house was drop dead gorgeous.

Edited June 28, 2018 by LittleIggy

[doodlebug]

16 minutes ago, LittleIggy said:

Shaman my a**! Talk about cultural appropriation. I don’t like people taking some other culture’s spiritual heritage and using it to make money.

She was looking to spend $1.5 mil on a second home.  Being a fake shaman seems to be a profitable gig.  So pretentious!  Gorgeous houses and stunning scenery, though.

[LittleIggy]

7 minutes ago, doodlebug said:

She was looking to spend $1.5 mil on a second home.  Being a fake shaman seems to be a profitable gig.  So pretentious!  Gorgeous houses and stunning scenery, though.

Maybe I should try my hand at it! My cats could be mystical spirit guides! ?

[Mittengirl]

My spirit animal is the sloth, so I wouldn’t want to run a business out of any of those homes, but would love to kick back on a porch and enjoy the view all day.

 

The fact that a shaman can afford a $1.5 million house proves that there are a lot of people with more dollars than sense.

Edited June 28, 2018 by Mittengirl

[Empress1]

9 hours ago, LittleIggy said:

Shaman my a**! Talk about cultural appropriation. I don’t like people taking some other culture’s spiritual heritage and using it to make money. I’m sure that neighbor wouldn’t have liked having a business run out of the house next door.

That first house was drop dead gorgeous.

I found it so pretentious that I turned off the episode.

[Angeleyes]

She made such a big deal about needing a tub for her Shaman baths (?) and plenty of space for fire walking then chose the house that had neither. How lucky that she found a house shaped exactly like her spirit animal. She has a web page for her business, but conveniently does not list her fees. Business must be booming if she can afford such an expensive second home. 

[doodlebug]

10 hours ago, LittleIggy said:

Maybe I should try my hand at it! My cats could be mystical spirit guides! ?

All you need is an empty Coca Cola bottle to call the spirits!  Who knew the ancient Shamans were so advanced they knew about blowing across the top of a bottle to make sounds for their ceremonies?

This gal was an embarrassment to anyone who is truly spiritual and I'm kinda chagrined to find out that she caters to women in her 'practice'.  There's a sucker born every minute, I guess.

They did say that she was at least partially paying for her new place with an inheritance, although her place back east sounded pretty fabulous, too.

[irisheyes]

She must have gotten a sweetheart deal in her divorce.  Obviously, I need to quit my job and become a “shaman”.  I love a good bubble bath and cabins in the woods. 

[chocolatine]

Fake shaman woman mentioned an inheritance, so I'm guessing that's where the bulk of the $1.5M came from. She also said she owned an 80-acre property outside of Nashville, which mustn't have come cheap either. My read on her is that she's never had to earn a living. I feel bad for her daughter. Imagine bringing home friends after school and having your mom regale them with stories of spirit animals, energies, shaman baths, and fire walking.

Edited June 29, 2018 by chocolatine

[roseslg]

6 hours ago, Empress1 said:

I found it so pretentious that I turned off the episode.

Ditto.  I waited to see her budget and then turned it off.  It was nice to see Taos again.  Ugh.  

[LittleIggy]

On 5/1/2018 at 10:25 AM, Empress1 said:

San Fernando Valley guy looking for a house in which he, his brother, and his friend would live: his friend got on my nerves. Were they a couple? Because otherwise I wouldn't have given her a vote - it's not her house. That was my mantra with her every time she rudely commented about not liking something. "It's not your house." When she was balking at the fact that the second house didn't have a fridge: "It's not your house, not your problem." (And the guy - who was very cute - was unfazed by the prospect of buying a fridge, to his credit.) When she said that her point of view on the kitchen was more important than theirs: "Not if your name isn't on the deed, it isn't." When she kept insisting she needed her own bathroom: "Then buy your own house or move into an apartment by yourself."

LOL! I just saw this episode and had the same reaction you did except my refrain was “Then buy your own house, bitch.” Once again amazed at how little home you can get for a half million dollars in some parts of the country.

Edited June 29, 2018 by LittleIggy

[Lady J]

14 hours ago, Angeleyes said:

She made such a big deal about needing a tub for her Shaman baths (?) and plenty of space for fire walking then chose the house that had neither. How lucky that she found a house shaped exactly like her spirit animal. She has a web page for her business, but conveniently does not list her fees. Business must be booming if she can afford such an expensive second home. 

She'll have to take a Shaman shower.

[Pickles]

The California episode tonight. The woman's voice. Lord. It sounded like Betty Boop.

[chocolatine]

1 hour ago, LittleIggy said:

LOL! I just saw this episode and had the same reaction you did except my refrain was “Then buy your own house, bitch.” Once again amazed at how little home you can get for a half million Ballard in some parts of the country.

I'm sure this was an auto-correct error, but it made me think of the Seattle neighborhood of the same name, where you can't get anything for half a million dollars anymore.

[KLovestoShop]

There's no way the Shaman should be doing anything with fire in that area of the country.  It's a very dry area and just one ember could start a catastrophic wildfire.  

Now im going downstairs to grab a coke bottle and see if I can earn a million bucks.  

[LittleIggy]

Damn auto-correct! ? Fixed it.

[magemaud]

2 hours ago, Pickles said:

 

The California episode tonight. The woman's voice. Lord. It sounded like Betty Boop.

 

Another one fixated on a Christmas tree window and a ROOM of his own—for the DOG! 

[Hpmec]

Sonoma County couple made it clear from the get-go they wanted a home in Windsor, a picturesque suburb with a small town feel a few minutes north of Santa Rosa.  So where are the two "shill" houses they're shown? One is in college town Rohnert Park, nearly a half hour south, and the other is at least an hour away in Napa. They, of course, bought the one house actually in Windsor. I know this show is fake, but the producers couldn't come up with two more houses in or closer to the location they were already sold on? And yes, her need for a Christmas tree spot and designated dog space had me rolling my eyes. In general, one thing that really bugs about this show is that the words "property taxes" never appear on anyone's lips even though the potential tax bill would, of necessity, be a major consideration. 

[Kohola3]

7 hours ago, Hpmec said:

In general, one thing that really bugs about this show is that the words "property taxes" never appear on anyone's lips even though the potential tax bill would, of necessity, be a major consideration. 

Not only would it be a major consideration it would also be extremely interesting to the viewers. I would live to compare something besides just the basic price.  There is way more to home ownership than plunking down the cash. 

[msmarjoribanks]

8 hours ago, Hpmec said:

Sonoma County couple made it clear from the get-go they wanted a home in Windsor, a picturesque suburb with a small town feel a few minutes north of Santa Rosa.  So where are the two "shill" houses they're shown? One is in college town Rohnert Park, nearly a half hour south, and the other is at least an hour away in Napa. They, of course, bought the one house actually in Windsor. I know this show is fake, but the producers couldn't come up with two more houses in or closer to the location they were already sold on? And yes, her need for a Christmas tree spot and designated dog space had me rolling my eyes. In general, one thing that really bugs about this show is that the words "property taxes" never appear on anyone's lips even though the potential tax bill would, of necessity, be a major consideration. 

Yes, so much this, this is my on-going issue.  Why not try to find other properties in the actual place they are looking, for a real comparison of the alternatives?  I missed most of the Sonoma episode (for some reason the first two houses got cut off and I didn't care enough to find it on demand), but as soon as they mentioned the locations I knew they'd take the last one.  From the recap at the end the middle one looked great, though.  Also, another person with a ridiculous idea of what requires a "gut job" of a kitchen and seems to think being white makes appliances "horrible" (I forget the exact word used, but something like that).

The dog room discussion caused me to roll my eyes, although at least coming in at the end I missed the designated Christmas tree spot discussion.  (I find it hard to believe that one could not find a perfectly adequate spot for a tree in any house.)

ETA: forgot to mention that the shaman woman one was worth it for the properties, even though she herself was annoying ("but my shaman baths are very important to me!).

Edited June 29, 2018 by msmarjoribanks

[KLovestoShop]

The tax idea is a great one.  I would love to hear the yearly taxes on similar homes in different areas of the US.  When we lived in Arizona, my prop taxes were around $2300.  The house in Wisconsin, in the same price range, was 4 times more, and believe it or not, they tax you at a higher rate if you have a ranch house rather than a two story.  And now, here in Pennsylvania, they're even higher.  In our area, taxes are different depending on what county you live in, and the counties surrounding ours have taxes that are a LOT less.  And, we get tax bills three times a year.  But what hacks me off about how they do taxes here is on the property report, it only lists one part of the total tax, so when you look at it, the property taxes seem really low.  HAHA.  If you're a newbie here, and you don't know to ask if the listed tax is the full tax, you can be screwed. 

Edited June 29, 2018 by KLovestoShop

[msmarjoribanks]

Agreed that the property tax idea is a good one (it also bothers me that they don't always give the assessments for places that have them or calculate that into the final amount, although they sometimes do).  Also they don't talk about the cost of non cosmetic repairs when that can be a real issue with some of the places looked at. Around here when they are looking in the 'burbs that can be a real difference between different burbs too, for example Oak Park (which I love and looked in some) has higher property taxes. 

During one of the recent Hawaii episodes the person calculated monthly payments for the cost and I initially assumed it was way off and ignoring property tax and checked it, and I guess Hawaii actually has a low property (the opposite of what I'd been assuming).

[BTBAM310]

On 6/14/2018 at 9:43 PM, CruiseDiva said:

I wanted to smack that Nashville wife in the face with the "help wanted" section of the local newspaper. She kept saying they "needed" rental income to help with the mortgage because she didn't have a job and then talked about building a rental unit in the back yard of that one house. How stupid was that?

Just watched this episode last night. I don't think I've ever yelled at my TV as loud as I did when she said "there's not enough room to build a rental unit back here."  WHY WOULD YOU SPEND MONEY TO BUILD A RENTAL UNIT??? Especially for a home that was so far below their budget? Even if it was made up for the show, it was such a ridiculous idea.

[izabella]

5 hours ago, msmarjoribanks said:

The dog room discussion caused me to roll my eyes, although at least coming in at the end I missed the designated Christmas tree spot discussion.  (I find it hard to believe that one could not find a perfectly adequate spot for a tree in any house.)

The Christmas tree things is dumb.  She was looking for a house that had a picture window that faced the street so the tree could be seen from the street.  The first house they looked at, while spacious and open inside, had no windows in the front of the white elephant house (I thought the curb appeal was awful and the white house was featureless from the front).  All the big windows were in the back, which is great for privacy and light, but not great for showing off your tree to the neighbors.

Edited June 29, 2018 by izabella

[ForReal]

5 hours ago, msmarjoribanks said:

Yes, so much this, this is my on-going issue.  Why not try to find other properties in the actual place they are looking, for a real comparison of the alternatives?  I missed most of the Sonoma episode (for some reason the first two houses got cut off and I didn't care enough to find it on demand), but as soon as they mentioned the locations I knew they'd take the last one.  From the recap at the end the middle one looked great, though.  Also, another person with a ridiculous idea of what requires a "gut job" of a kitchen and seems to think being white makes appliances "horrible" (I forget the exact word used, but something like that).

The dog room discussion caused me to roll my eyes, although at least coming in at the end I missed the designated Christmas tree spot discussion.  (I find it hard to believe that one could not find a perfectly adequate spot for a tree in any house.)

ETA: forgot to mention that the shaman woman one was worth it for the properties, even though she herself was annoying ("but my shaman baths are very important to me!).

I was thoroughly annoyed by her complete trashing of the kitchen -- it was certainly serviceable until they had time to update it. I thought the gray paint on the walls they chose was pretty boring.

I missed the first house, but I knew they wouldn't chose Napa because no one in their right mind would -- it's not a nice commute, and they were moving to be closer to his job in Windsor. That said, the largest city in the area is Santa Rosa, which is right next to Windsor, and yet they saw no houses there. Unbelievable. 

Property taxes here are .75% of the purchase price. I think they paid $615,000, so that's $4,612.50 a year, or $384 a month. 

[Hpmec]

Since the buyer has to be under contract or in escrow before the episode is filmed, the other houses are just for show anyway. But it is absurd that they can't find two homes nearby. Maybe they have to let the owners know that these aren't serious buyers and the crew runs into resistence. I have friends who appeared on the show way back in 2003. They bought a condo in the Tampa area and were then taken to two of their agent's other listings for filming. I've read though that sometimes the other properties are homes of friends or even the realtor and aren't for sale at all. Production has to take what they can get, I suppose. 

Edited June 29, 2018 by Hpmec

[aguabella]

32 minutes ago, Hpmec said:

Since the buyer has to be under contract or in escrow before the episode is filmed, the other houses are just for show anyway. But it is absurd that they can't find two homes nearby. Maybe they have to let the owners know that these aren't serious buyers and the crew runs into resistence. I have friends who appeared on the show way back in 2003. They bought a condo in the Tampa area and were then taken to two of their agent's other listings for filming. I've read though that sometimes the other properties are homes of friends or even the realtor and aren't for sale at all. Production has to take what they can get, I suppose. 

They absolutely, positively don't film anything until escrow closes.  They might accept an application and/or start talking to buyers if/when escrow opens in order to determine if a crew can or will be in their area.  (They normally film 4-6 episodes in a given area.)

The realtors obtain the 2 decoy homes.  Because the production company doesn't pay and requires 100% control of the home for 12 hours, they're tough to find.  Not to mention that everyone's kinda' figured out that their home will (most likely) be sold long before it airs.

The real fakery, e.g. airing a realtor or friends' unsold homes, usually occurs on HHI.  They have a tougher time b/c the show doesn't air overseas and the "agents" aren't always involved in RE.

In the U.S., realtors can usually strongarm their existing clients to appear and/or use listings provided by associated agents.  Unfortunately, the locations don't always work so the plot is twisted, accordingly.

[aguabella]

Trying to catch up, sorry, but noticed (and agreed with) all the comments about the Philly couple's furniture.  Gave them a pass b/c it's unusual for a buyer's existing furniture to work in a new space.  Sure, you hope standard sizes fit but then you try to arrange it and frequently, they don't.  There's a reason why furniture manufacturers and retailers (among others) use housing starts and sales as economic indicators!

Everyone notice more upgrades and nicely arranged / staged furniture during the final scene(s) on HH episodes lately?  HH now calls that final scene "Where are they now?" and encourages it.  Yeah, BTW, they haven't produced / aired as many WATN shows during this same period.    

About staging, however, most of us don't live the way that stagers arrange homes / furniture.  So, the Philly couple was probably more true to life.

Edited June 29, 2018 by aguabella

[aguabella]

On 6/14/2018 at 6:26 AM, laredhead said:

With regard to the Chicago episode, I would not think there is any way that staircase would have been permitted or within a building code.  Maybe it must have been only for attic access before the attic was converted to bedrooms. There was a brief snippet showing her stepping up on a bottom stair before they toured the upstairs.  He probably won't go upstairs much because he could barely stand up straight on the second floor.  I was laughing at the realtor because every time they were critical about a feature, he would immediately turn around and steer them somewhere else with a super positive phrase.  That house was odd in so many ways, including that cheap looking 70's paneling in many of the rooms.

The hostas were lovely, and I wondered why the husband said most of them would have to go.  

Good point, laredhead.  Assuming Glen Ellyn uses the standard code, it's a (relatively) new section that includes a formula for calculating the required landing.  Most people remember (and kinda' use) 36" as a standard.  Worst case scenario, people have fallen down stairs, jammed into a wall, were stuck between the wall and last stair and been asphyxiated, if immobilized and alone for some period of time.

It appeared they'd started with an attic dropdown.  (An outline of the dropdown was visible on camera when they filmed / showed the hallway behind that stair case.)  Based on the lovely spirit poles in the l/r, my guess was someone made that change in the 60's, w/o a permit.  Wouldn't surprise me if both the stairway and the poles carry some load.  I believe they'll have big problems, if/when they work on that house.

Yeah, I'd run, not walk, away from that one.  Checked out the zillow and they needed over 2 years to unload that place.  Started at 420K in 6/16, tried 725K for 5 weeks in 4/17 after not selling with multiple price reductions and then, finally, sold at 325K in 8/17.* It had so many price reductions, they exceeded the zillow space!  (Might have been on the market even longer ...)  Run, people!

They might have had previous sale(s) that didn't close.  For one thing, I doubt it'd appraise at a higher price.  The value might have been downgraded slightly b/c those attic spaces probably wouldn't be considered bedrooms.  That'd make it a 1 bedroom, IIRC.   

Oh, about the realtor's positive comments / selling - just me but I consider that either inexperience or a lack of professionalism.  Why?  Well, it's not unusual for experienced realtors to have been sued at least once.  To them, it's important to point out (negative) issues in a home and recommend the buyers obtain additional, expert advice, if/when necessary.  Plus, in the long run, that's how they take care of their clients and ultimately, receive referral business.

Ah, the lovely hostas ... I suspect the h was referring to their indestructibility and the way they frequently take over yards / gardens.  Many people forget to split them every year or so.  

P.S.  Anybody who'd like the listing link, shoot me a pm.  Would rather not publish their address.

*Nice couple, hope they scored a reno allowance!  They'll need it!

Edited June 30, 2018 by aguabella

[aguabella]

On 6/23/2018 at 5:59 PM, ByaNose said:

Now, is that good or bad news?

RE:  Philly row house couple

Good question.  Hard to perceive that lot's width, given the sideways camera angle, during the episode.  Plus, the open space extended back, at least a couple blocks.  Made me wonder if it was an alley.

About your question - to me, it depends if they don't mind living with construction for awhile.  Unless they get lucky and the owners don't develop it for some period of time.  Or, if it's permanent open space, they can consider adding a window or three on that side.  (I didn't see any.)  Sure, they'd score a view of their neighbor's wall but at minimum, they'd gain light.

It's definitely a good question to research before closing.  Hopefully they called the city, checked permits and even contacted the owner, if necessary.

[laredhead]

Just getting around to watching the Windsor, CA episode, and thought the first house looked like one of those commercial steel buildings.  I really thought that when I saw that the beams were everywhere in that house.  It looked like they had taken pieces of wood and made fake beams to cover the steel supports.  A very unattractive house.  

If I remember correctly, the Napa house master bedroom did not have a built in closet, only what looked like those Ikea-like wardrobe storage cabinets that are not built in.  Would that qualify a room as a bedroom?  If the owner took the cabinets, then the room would have no built in closet.  

[ByaNose]

First off, I didn’t know what a Shaman was. Now, I do and it sounds like a scam. Secondly, I think the husband was a smart man getting away from that nut job. Thirdly, me thinks the husband has full custody of said nut jobs daughter, I couldn’t handle watching the whole show to see which house she picked. Usually, I like a HH big budget but not this time. 

[juliet73]

Windsor ep: I really don't understand the wife's obsession with the Christmas tree window.  I've lived in my current home for over 13 years. It has a huge window in the living room that faces the street. Every year, I put a beautifully trimmed Christmas tree up in front of that window, and not once has anyone commented how lovely my tree looks from the street. 

Edited June 30, 2018 by juliet73

[laredhead]

Juliet, she was like the other HH's that we see who are obsessed (or seem to be) with a grand staircase to watch their future children walk down on prom night for pictures.  Makes you wonder if the rest of the house was a $$ pit, but it had a large window or a staircase would they ignore the more important issues for something like that.  My house has a large floor to ceiling window in the living room that overlooks the back yard, and I usually put the Christmas tree there.  A passing raccoon, possum, or neighborhood cat will see the tree, but no one can see it from the street.  Not a big deal for me and the Christmas tree has been located in 4 different places in my house over the last 15 years.  Now my obsession, if I were on HH, would be to insist on covered parking with outside storage.   I consider that more important than a Christmas tree window.

[msmarjoribanks]

McKinney TX episode from March with the couple who supposedly wanted to be out in the country, wife wanted chickens, and they needed a separate home school room, big garage or place for woodworking, and guest room with separate bathroom (as if people aren't going to start using the bathroom instead of preserving it for just occasional guests).  Oh, and most ridiculously, endless talk about pass-through kitchens, since there's apparently no way to avoid the kids running through but to have only one entrance.

The house they had already purchased was a new "design your own" home in a new development with what seemed to me surprisingly high HOA (but they got their landscaping done) and no chickens.  One of the other two houses also seemed to be in a new development with no chickens and kind of high HOA for a SFH, at least in my world where SFHs don't have HOAs, certainly not ones that you buy when you want to be "out in the country."  (I live in a big city and could have chickens, so the idea that this was hard to find seemed weird. Surely there are lots of places without HOAs.) Also the pass-through kitchen thing was dumb since as others said when the when I was a kid my mom said "no running in the house" or "go outside and play if you have so much energy."  (They made it seem like she went with the house they got since it was the only one where they could customize the house to not have the kitchen with 2 entrances.)

Since having chickens (or being out in the country or even having much land) obviously was not a priority, why pretend. I can't imagine that in the area it would have been that tough to find a place with lots of room for a shop and no problem with chickens would have been tough.  If they wanted to show WHY she changed her mind about what she wanted, showing a big old farmhouse that wasn't fancy enough for them, the fancier, smaller one that was over-budget and not big enough, and also the model home would have made sense, but starting with two places in developments that seemed the opposite of what she'd claimed to want and then the one "farmhouse" as an afterthought was just puzzling.

[Pickles]

Those McKinney parents drove me nuts. If you don't want your children running in circles through the kitchen, discipline them! It is not that hard! Good grief. Ridiculous.

[jcbrown]

The Georgia woman in the tiny HH episode last night was so loud! I kept telling her to use her inside voice. She wanted to pull her tiny house behind a truck--how do these things work with plumbing an electrical if you do that? Are they like motor homes?

[LittleIggy]

14 minutes ago, jcbrown said:

The Georgia woman in the tiny HH episode last night was so loud! I kept telling her to use her inside voice. She wanted to pull her tiny house behind a truck--how do these things work with plumbing an electrical if you do that? Are they like motor homes?

I wondered about that, too. She couldn’t use the plumbing while traveling, could she? I wouldn’t like a loft bedroom either.   Seems to much like waking up in a coffin to me!

[LittleIggy]

Yeah, a kitchen that doesn’t have the counters and color of appliances you want, doesn’t keep the house from being “move in ready.” Wanting a room for Zeus the dog was silly, but I did like the little hideaway they made for him under the stairs.

[msmarjoribanks]

Yeah, I'm way too claustrophobic for that loft bedroom.  That was the first tiny house episode I've seen; those just basically seemed like super fancy motor homes, although I'd be terrified to try to pull them around on a road trip.

[Ohwell]

Georgia woman with the tiny house.  I noticed at the end when she was serving the pizza that the guests didn't seem to be comfortable sitting there.  The didn't seem too impressed either.  

[biakbiak]

12 minutes ago, msmarjoribanks said:

Yeah, I'm way too claustrophobic for that loft bedroom.  That was the first tiny house episode I've seen; those just basically seemed like super fancy motor homes, although I'd be terrified to try to pull them around on a road trip.

To me they seem like super cheap mobile homes. My parents have an RV that is nicer and more comfortable than any of these tiny homes and actually built to travel and has a ton more storage whereas I can’t imagine taking one of these stupid things on a freeway. 

Edited June 30, 2018 by biakbiak

[jcbrown]

30 minutes ago, biakbiak said:

To me they seem like super cheap mobile homes. My parents have an RV that is nicer and more comfortable than any of these tiny homes and actually built to travel and has a ton more storage whereas I can’t imagine taking one of these stupid things on a freeway. 

Agreed. I wondered why she just didn't buy an RV that would be one heck of a lot easier to drive. She might need a special license to pull one of the behemoths she was looking at, mightn't she?

[Kohola3]

I bet dollars to donuts that 99.9% of these delusional people never move those death traps once they are on a site. I bet most of them are out of there within a short time, too.  

In the first place, those boxes do not have the same kind of intake and output set ups that a motor home or trailer would have.  Dragging one to a campground would simply not work even if the campground allowed it.  In the second place, a lot of them have open shelving and appliances just sitting on a horizontal surface.  You'd need to pack all of that stuff away before moving the building.  And I doubt the pipes, etc. are reinforced to take the bumping and jolting of being on the road like a motor home or trailer would have.

Trust me, I drove a small camper to Alaska when the Alaska Highway was all dirt.  Virtually nothing not nailed down broke loose at some point.

[Ohwell]

1 hour ago, jcbrown said:

Agreed. I wondered why she just didn't buy an RV that would be one heck of a lot easier to drive. She might need a special license to pull one of the behemoths she was looking at, mightn't she?

Also, I was wondering, who's going to move that thing?  I don't see her driving it.  I missed the first part but at the end I thought I heard her mentioning something about going to upstate NY to visit her son.  

[StatisticalOutlier]

On 6/28/2018 at 7:26 AM, doodlebug said:

This gal was an embarrassment to anyone who is truly spiritual and I'm kinda chagrined to find out that she caters to women in her 'practice'. 

I missed the beginning of the episode, but I gathered she hosts groups of women.  I just looked at the high ceilings and hard floors and imagined the noise if a bunch of women were gathered in there.

Also, ever really look at an eagle?  They're ugly and gross. 

 

On 6/29/2018 at 2:25 PM, ForReal said:

Property taxes here are .75% of the purchase price. I think they paid $615,000, so that's $4,612.50 a year, or $384 a month. 

California has surprisingly low property taxes, due to Proposition 13.  It's an interesting system, where the tax is set upon transfer, and can go up only a certain percent every year.  One rationale was to keep people from being forced from their long-time homes because they can't keep up with taxes.

I found this property tax calculator that's fun to play with:  https://smartasset.com/taxes/property-taxes

It says the taxes on a $615,000 house in Windsor, California, would be $4,871 (about what @ForReal said).

The taxes on a $615,000 house in Dallas would be $13,364.  Tampa is $7,085.  Denver is $3,444.  Philadelphia is $5,836.  Glen Ellyn, Illinois is $13,665.  Columbus, Ohio is $12,478.