House Hunters: Buying in the USA

[Empress1]

11 hours ago, FawnLeibowitz said:

OMG that was really awful. I can't watch this if the kids have to do the talking too. And yeah! You have a 4 Bed house but make your 2 sons share a room?? Not cool.

I didn't see this (my TiVo doesn't recognize HH Family as part of HH, I guess) but there was an episode not long ago in which a family bought a 6000-square-foot Victorian and they had their sons share a room, and the sons had expressly said that they hoped they didn't have to share in the new house. Mom had an art studio but the kids shared. If I were one of those boys I'd probably just camp out in one of the other rooms.

[Bastet]

I didn't see the episode; did the kids say they wanted separate rooms?  My cousin has four kids, and when they moved into a bigger house, the two boys - who were the oldest and the youngest, and I think she popped one out about every two years, so there was an age gap - opted to continue sharing a room even though there were now enough to go around.  It was weird as hell to me, and I'm not sure how long it lasted, but that's what they wanted.

[suebee12]

I didn't look at the Copyright date on this awful House Hunter's Family but I wonder if these episodes(unfortunately there is another one tonight set in Macon, GA) are "left-overs" from when they first ran these shows? I really wasn't sure why they needed a new house anyway....their's was certainly enough for a normal family! When they looked at the one master bedroom that they thought was too small, I wondered why...you could fix several beds in that one room and who needs a shower that you can dance in? I personally would not want to be on those fresh water lakes or ponds...remember alligators frequent them. Not my cup of tea!

I though it the first time the Family shows were on and I still think it.....who wants to listen to bratty kids mouthing whatever words are feed to them by the producers! At least on my television guide they are listed as "Family" so I can easily skip them!

[FawnLeibowitz]

Quote

I didn't see the episode; did the kids say they wanted separate rooms?

Yes. The kids were interviewed asking what they wanted in a new house and the first thing they each said was "my own room".

[SpiritSong]

Don't know if the Columbus house hunters was a rerun or not, but the couple, who seemed nice, were plainly lost. They kept talking about moving back to where they went to school, Ohio University. That's located in Athens, Ohio. Ohio State University is in Columbus. Nobody who actually went to OSU would confuse the two. So why are they pretending they went to school in Columbus? Or was the fact that they met at college the only hook the producers could come up with?

Also, since that's my hometown, it was very disappointing that they never mentioned any of the areas where the houses were located. I don't know if any of the houses were actually in Columbus.

[Kohola3]

House Hunters with kids?  Uh-uh.  No way.  Where the heck is the remote?  Click.

[LittleIggy]

I didn’t mind the episode with the couple with the 12 year old and the baby. The girl wasn’t annoying like those two boys the other night. What annoyed me was the wife’s bosom tattoo. That’s a pet peeve of mine along with neck tattoos. The Japanese Yakuza has it right: your full body tatts end at the shirt collar and cuffs!

[Kohola3]

6 hours ago, LittleIggy said:

I didn’t mind the episode with the couple with the 12 year old and the baby.

I admit I didn't even give it a chance because I hate that premise so much.  And right there with you on the tattoos.  Add in the orange hair and I was done from the start.

[Pickles]

I had the tattoo Durham episode on in the background. What did this couple do for a living? I was surprised they were looking at such normal neighborhood houses. I just thought anyone with so many tattoos, the hipster glasses and clothes, etc, would be looking for something not so mainstream. 

[irisheyes]

The mom was so hipster, and the daughter was so normal!  Mom’s running around with her tattoos, and the daughter is wearing t shirts and shorts with a bedroom that is typical tweenager. It was fascinating. I liked the family.  For all their quirkiness, they seemed to really work together. AND, they didn’t have any weird desires. 

[msmarjoribanks]

Rerun -- couple with a baby got a $1.3 m condo (in a rowhouse) in Brookline.  Chose location, which always makes sense to me, but wow, I couldn't get over how expensive everything was.

[mousegirl]

I'm kind of burnt out with HH episodes, so I haven't been watching much lately, but I saw the "family" episode last night with a divorced dad and his three kids, two girls and a boy, looking for a place in Austin, and I just fell in love with the kids.  They were so sweet and natural in front of the camera, and they seemed to have a great relationship with their father.

I can see how the four of them will have a ball in the huge country house they chose, but when the kids are with their mom, won't he be terribly lonely out there?  No city life, no near neighbors, and all those ballroom-sized spaces with no kids around to fill them with laughter and fun...

Dad was HOT, and if he's dating and looking to get married again, I hope he can find a great partner who will love sharing that environment with him, and with the kids when they're around.

[Ohwell]

At first I started to turn the channel on the "family" episode because I don't like them, but the kids just captivated me.  They were so delightful and well-behaved.  And yes, the dad was HOT.  I didn't catch the first couple of minutes, so I don't know what he did for a living.  He had the body of an athlete--baseball player, maybe?  Anyway, with a $900,000 budget, whatever he does pays pretty well.

I don't think he will have any trouble at all meeting someone when the kids leave.  He might want to be alone sometimes, but I don't think he'll be lonely, lol.  

[doodlebug]

1 hour ago, Ohwell said:

At first I started to turn the channel on the "family" episode because I don't like them, but the kids just captivated me.  They were so delightful and well-behaved.  And yes, the dad was HOT.  I didn't catch the first couple of minutes, so I don't know what he did for a living.  He had the body of an athlete--baseball player, maybe?  Anyway, with a $900,000 budget, whatever he does pays pretty well.

I don't think he will have any trouble at all meeting someone when the kids leave.  He might want to be alone sometimes, but I don't think he'll be lonely, lol.  

I believe he said he worked in insurance.  And he was definitely hot and the kids were adorable.  The littlest one, Annie, was so sweet and funny.

[Pickles]

Another family episode tonight, this time in San Diego. Interestingly, they didn't choose any of the houses, but "two months later" had chosen another house. A few pictures were shown, but no price was mentioned. 

[KAOS Agent]

On 7/30/2018 at 12:33 AM, CruiseDiva said:

Has anyone actually seen a tiny house rolling down the Interstate? I seriously doubt that buyers of those tiny houses haul them all over the country.

I work at a state historic site and we did have someone pulling a tiny house stop and tour the site, so I guess some people actually do treat them like an RV. I hate the shows because they are so similar and especially hate when they show them under the House Hunters label, but I have to admit I was curious enough to sneak over and look at the house.

[LittleIggy]

2 hours ago, Pickles said:

Another family episode tonight, this time in San Diego. Interestingly, they didn't choose any of the houses, but "two months later" had chosen another house. A few pictures were shown, but no price was mentioned. 

I was like “WTF, why show that if they didn’t pick any of the houses?” That was a waste of time.

[Mittengirl]

I just about choked on my popcorn when the daughter in Austin was excited that she could see the neighbors from a bedroom window.   Obviously she hasn’t seen the show enough to know the “correct” reaction to that is not glee.

[msmarjoribanks]

Another rerun (can't help myself, I always watch the ones somewhat local to me) -- executive pilot who was on call and wife with a toddler and child on the way in the Chicago NW 'burbs.  One house was above the budget (the wife had an unrealistic budget for what they wanted, the husband had a slightly higher budget), great location for the husband's work (O'Hare, I guess, based on the locations they indicated), but didn't have much yard space -- I think it needed some updates, but forget what.  (Husband wanted projects, wife did not, and since he was a pilot and she worked at home with a little kid and another soon, I didn't blame her.)  Next had great space on a lake, but was probably unrealistically far, and needed lots of updates. It hit the wife's budget, though, at least pre work.  (My note: there are some lovely places on that particular lake for more money, but the commute probably would have been awful anyway so not realistic.) Third was a middle location, in a suburban area the wife liked, done but for an unfinished basement which the husband was excited about, and had a great yard space and was next to a forest preserve.

Third was the obvious choice IMO -- great compromise re location and projects (a basement project being a lot less disruptive than, say, a kitchen project) -- and it is indeed the house they had chosen.

I thought the couple was likable, and they actually did not complain that neighbors could see them or make any of the otherwise stereotypical remarks that I am so used to. The one thing was that the wife kept complaining that she expected more for THIS MUCH MONEY (the house they got was $320K), which I thought was unrealistic about the market.

[Kemper]

Ok, I finally saw the program(s) titled "House Hunters Family" or whatever.  The Chip/Joanna, Brothers and Erin and her husband and new baby (I like that couple, by the way) are trickling down to other programming.  I think of all of it as The Hallmarking Of HGTV - we must must have sap and FAMILEEES.  Don't get me wrong...I have a family, kids (grown), house and regular life.  Why on earth do we need a Family House Hunters? Aren't a good number of house hunters made up of families anyway.  Always have been?  

Saw the New Zealand young woman (she was so pretty, by the way) and her obnoxious friend.  I feel the friend pushed that apartment on her; although she had it fixed up nicely at the end.  But the neighborhood?  Deal breaker.  I have to wonder how she is doing with money - maybe she was planning to get a job to supplement her rent and essentials.  Or maybe she was an heiress.  This was one episode I would like to see on Where Are They Now?

[Kemper]

14 hours ago, Kemper said:

Ok, I finally saw the program(s) titled "House Hunters Family" or whatever.  The Chip/Joanna, Brothers and Erin and her husband and new baby (I like that couple, by the way) are trickling down to other programming.  I think of all of it as The Hallmarking Of HGTV - we must must have sap and FAMILEEES.  Don't get me wrong...I have a family, kids (grown), house and regular life.  Why on earth do we need a Family House Hunters? Aren't a good number of house hunters made up of families anyway.  Always have been?  

Saw the New Zealand young woman (she was so pretty, by the way) and her obnoxious friend.  I feel the friend pushed that apartment on her; although she had it fixed up nicely at the end.  But the neighborhood?  Deal breaker.  I have to wonder how she is doing with money - maybe she was planning to get a job to supplement her rent and essentials.  Or maybe she was an heiress.  This was one episode I would like to see on Where Are They Now?

Sorry...meant to put the New Zealand comments in the International Thread.  Got caught up in my critiques.

[KLovestoShop]

I'm getting tired of whatever HH franchise showing people who don't choose a house.  Why do they even bother with this, with the producers fully knowing from the start that they didn't pick a property.  

The San Diego family kind of confounded me.  I wonder if the kids, and the idea of moving, really caused their decision. It's not like these kids were in middle or high school where changing schools might cause some problems. My family moved us many times during my school years, once when I was going into eighth grade, and I survived.  But, I thought the third house, despite the fact that it wasn't in their target town, was a perfect house for them.  

[Kohola3]

10 minutes ago, KLovestoShop said:

I'm getting tired of whatever HH franchise showing people who don't choose a house.  Why do they even bother with this, with the producers fully knowing from the start that they didn't pick a property.  

 

It is a bit of a mystery since we've been told by people who appeared on the show that they have to already  have purchased the house or must at least be in escrow to be accepted.  Don't know how true that is;  I looked at the application online and it doesn't say that. But we've heard it more than once.

[Thumper]

I hate the Househunter Family shows.  And yes, I have a family too.  I want to see the house, not the kids or even the "fun" in the area.  

[KLovestoShop]

Is anyone else bothered by the shows that are on the Big Island of Hawaii? I can't help but worry how those people are doing, if they're safe and their homes are ok.  

[MsTree]

I'll tell you what I was bothered about tonight. The little Maui "princess"...or as she called herself while hanging out in the pool, a Maui mermaid. Talk about HIGH maintenance.

[topanga]

Last night’s Nashville doctors were cute. The husband looked a little like the NFL player Terrell Owens, and the wife was an adorable black girl nerd. 

I liked all of the homes they saw, but I agree with the wife that the house they picked with 5 bedrooms and 3000 sq feet is more space than they need. They’re young and still childless, and neither of them is from the area. I didn’t hear either of the. Say that they’re staying in Nashville for good. So why do they need a house that large right now. Who’s going to clean all of those bedrooms and bathrooms?

And I’m going to scream if I hear one more grown man whine about having a video game room/man cave/sports memorabilia room/liquor room/workshop for his hobbies. (I didn’t include home theater room because I’d want that, too). 

[jcbrown]

I thought the Nashville guy was rather irritating with his bathroom obsession plus his need for a dedicated video game space.

[Pickles]

I liked the Nashville house the doctors  chose. Really pretty.  I would think they'd stay in Nashville. They are both starting their medical careers. Most likely got good job offers, since they could afford that house! They may want to have children in a few years. Plus, they said they'd be having lots of family visit them, so plenty of room for overnight guests.

[KLovestoShop]

What is it with so many guys and not wanting stairs in their homes?  Young, healthy men!  The Sioux Falls husband didn't want stairs because he fell down he fell down stairs as a kid?   I fell down 10 stairs when I was 11 years old and I wasn't traumatized.  He didn't want more than 12 stairs, but why that number?  The wife was a pain because she didn't like the kitchen in house one because it was a nice kitchen, but not her taste.  Do people spend that much time in a tub where you can read a book?  You'd have to keep emptying and refilling the tub, unless you don't mind freezing   It just seems like a huge waste of water  

So, it's no longer a man cave, but a Hobbit Hole?  Dumb. 

Edited August 8, 2018 by KLovestoShop

[twinks]

I didn't understand the purpose of seeing house #3. It was over budget and more inland. I thought the idea was that it would be more affordable.

[jcbrown]

13 hours ago, KLovestoShop said:

What is it with so many guys and not wanting stairs in their homes?  Young, healthy men!  The Sioux Falls husband didn't want stairs because he fell down he fell down stairs as a kid?   I fell down 10 stairs when I was 11 years old and I wasn't traumatized.  He didn't want more than 12 stairs, but why that number?  The wife was a pain because she didn't like the kitchen in house one because it was a nice kitchen, but not her taste.  Do people spend that much time in a tub where you can read a book?  You'd have to keep emptying and refilling the tub, unless you don't mind freezing   It just seems like a huge waste of water  

He was weird about stairs and I thought the bickering between them was no fun to watch, producer-driven though I suspect it was.

Er, when we re-did our master suite two years ago, we had a 72-gallon fabulous tub put in. It is not uncommon for me to spend a couple of hours at a time in it reading a book, and I don't always even have to top it off with hot water.

Agreed that it was lame that she did not like move-in ready kitchens because she wanted to re-do it. Having also re-done our kitchen in the last five years, I can attest that it is an expensive way to "put your stamp" on a house. And despite what she said, re-doing cabinets and counters is not "an easy fix."

[AlleC17]

On 8/5/2018 at 6:10 PM, KLovestoShop said:

Is anyone else bothered by the shows that are on the Big Island of Hawaii? I can't help but worry how those people are doing, if they're safe and their homes are ok.  

The recent ones on the Big Island have been showing homes well away from the lava areas, so no.  There are some older episodes from the Hawaii specific show that did show homes that were close to, if not within the rift zone where the lava is.  I do wonder about those, and will not watch old reruns that pop up.  Hawaii is nicknamed the Big Island for a good reason.  :-)  My retired horse lives on the other side of the Big Island and I had lots of people asking what I was going to do about her.  I very much appreciated the concern, but the vast majority of BI places and homes are perfectly fine.  Still it is horrible for people who gambled on buying a cheaper place within the rift zone.  :-(

[Kohola3]

I thought this graphic from USGS Volcanoes is pretty helpful for people not familiar with Hawai'i. 

 

[KLovestoShop]

Wow.   That really puts the whole volcano thing into perspective.   Thanks for putting that up.  The news channels really made it look like half the island was being buried in lava.  

Edited August 8, 2018 by KLovestoShop

[Kohola3]

34 minutes ago, KLovestoShop said:

The news channels really made it look like half the island was being buried in lava.  

Well, it is but not new lava. Pretty much the whole danged place is lava!

[Pickles]

The Minneapolis wife tonight bothered me for some reason. Did they say she was 26 and he was 28? They had been married three years and this was their third house! That seems kind of crazy to me. Who buys a different house every year for three years? It is not like they had moved to different areas of the country for jobs. I think they were in MN the entire time.

[LittleIggy]

MN: The wife’s vocal fry drove me nuts, as did the husband’s “no stairs” harping. I mean, WTF, you are a young able-bodied guy. You can handle stairs! ?

[Kohola3]

7 hours ago, LittleIggy said:

MN: The wife’s vocal fry drove me nuts, as did the husband’s “no stairs” harping. I mean, WTF, you are a young able-bodied guy. You can handle stairs! ?

Lord, yes. Those two got on my last nerve.  And since when is 3300 square feet too small for two people? Another couple of entitled twits.

[BTBAM310]

On 7/24/2018 at 5:59 PM, Dewey Decimate said:

Austin couple was cute - I enjoyed his cheesy "Heeeeere's Johnny!" as they broke through the wall. And the kids were adorable, especially the little girl. Wow, her smile was straight from dad, and gotta say the snuggly hammock scene made even this non-child-bearer go "awwww...".

The "Heeeeere's Johnny!" made me laugh really hard.  I know it's a well known scene, but I just didn't see it coming from him.

[AlleC17]

21 hours ago, Kohola3 said:

I thought this graphic from USGS Volcanoes is pretty helpful for people not familiar with Hawai'i. 

 

I love this graphic, as it is really helpful.  Most people are not that familiar with the islands.  I  have used this and other, more humorous graphics on Facebook.  It doesn't help that Fox news had captioned 'Oahu residents forced to evacuate from volcanos' on their news once...got a lot of concerned friends asking about that!  The news can really do a big disservice when they don't bother to fact check and/or when they sensationalize.

Edited August 9, 2018 by AlleC17

[jcbrown]

14 hours ago, LittleIggy said:

MN: The wife’s vocal fry drove me nuts, as did the husband’s “no stairs” harping. I mean, WTF, you are a young able-bodied guy. You can handle stairs! ?

I don't normally notice vocal fry but hers was terrible!  They were infuriating.

[KLovestoShop]

17 hours ago, LittleIggy said:

MN: The wife’s vocal fry drove me nuts, as did the husband’s “no stairs” harping. I mean, WTF, you are a young able-bodied guy. You can handle stairs! ?

This has to be at least 10 Millennial husbands in recent episodes who don’t want stairs.  And not only that, they don’t want to do a stitch of work on their house, be it inside or out.  “I don’t want a lawn because I don’t want to spend hours and hours cutting it.  I don’t want stairs.  I don’t want a deck if it’s real wood and I don’t want to have to refinish it.”   And what was with the MN husband and the refrigerator that was too big and cost too much in electricity?  

Another probably producer-driven scenario is the thing about wanting the exact kind of house they grew up in.  It mostly seems to be men, but once in a while it’s the woman. Do they think that living in the kind of house they grew up in will insure a happy life?  

[chessiegal]

The psychic mediums tonight - I kept thinking of the happy dance the producers must have been doing when they got their audition tape. Oh goody - a pair of nut cases. :)

[twinks]

17 minutes ago, chessiegal said:

The psychic mediums tonight - I kept thinking of the happy dance the producers must have been doing when they got their audition tape. Oh goody - a pair of nut cases. :)

The most boring couple ever.

[KLovestoShop]

36 minutes ago, twinks said:

The most boring couple ever.

Boring, and unusual.  Like Chessiegal said, the producers probably thought they would be a lot more interesting.  The agent was the best part of the show.  

Edited August 10, 2018 by KLovestoShop

[Babalooie]

MN couple:  I'm no Spring chicken.  Why have I never heard the term "Craftsman colors"?  That's a new one.

[suebee12]

5 hours ago, Babalooie said:

Why have I never heard the term "Craftsman colors"?  That's a new one.

I'm not sure I have heard the term but I do know that on Home Town, I have heard Erin say that she tries to pick colors that would have been used when the house was built. The colors are usually muted and "quiet" looking to me. So maybe the term is one this woman made up, but there are definite craftman colors.

[Babalooie]

5 hours ago, suebee12 said:

So maybe the term is one this woman made up, but there are definite craftman colors.

Well, turns out it's real.  I've learned something new.  Found this on Bing.

" Typical Craftsman roof colors are natural brown, green and red. With a brown roof, ideas for traditional body colors are olive, dark green and russet or the lighter bungalow colors of the 1920s such as yellow, orange and sage green. With a green roof, work with brown, yellow and red body colors, both light and dark."

[LittleIggy]

On 8/9/2018 at 10:49 PM, chessiegal said:

The psychic mediums tonight - I kept thinking of the happy dance the producers must have been doing when they got their audition tape. Oh goody - a pair of nut cases. :)

Guess their psychic powers didn’t tell them that their budget wouldn’t get them much in the OC. ?

Edited August 11, 2018 by LittleIggy