House Hunters: Buying in the USA

[DownTheShore]

Oh, I could not stand her voice!  I had a hard time understanding what she was saying because she sounded so garbled - like a little girl doing a vocal fry.  I was looking at the guy and thinking, "you're going to spend the rest of your life listening to that?"

 

He reminded me of the guy who hosted Food Network's "Kitchen Casino": http://foodnetwork.sndimg.com/content/dam/images/food/fullset/2014/2/28/0/KK0104_Bill-Rancic_s4x3.jpg.rend.sni18col.jpeg

 

What was with him not being able to live on lower floors because of an allergy?  He gets a fail in his Mad Men emulation then, because men of that time didn't have allergies - lol.

[mcat]

The Mad Men stuff was ridiculous. I couldn't wait to see what he was going to wear for the house visits. I loved when they went to the last building and he was so judgy about the building being built in 1972. If the guy had said 1967, he'd have been all over it.

[mojito]

Geez, the Mad Men guy. I wondered, "Who was he before Mad Men went on the air?"

 

The cardigan sweater, polo shirt, light pants and white bucks. The sports jackets with the hankies. You could practically smell the Brylcreem.

 

Listening to her, it occurred to me that she needed a couple of voice lessons. Surely, someone get her to stop talking out of the back of her throat and nose and learn how to e-nun-ci-ate.

 

And how could he put down a disco ball in favor of an era that gave us the pillbox hat? I'll take my pet rock over your damned troll doll any day of the week, you Don Draper wannabe.

[mcat]

And really, if you're watching Mad Men and your main takeaway is that you want to be Don Draper, you're kind of missing the point. His office at the end was sad.

[BradandJanet]

Chicago guy looked like a home shopping network or informercial salesman. I kept waiting for him to pull out some kitchen gadget and say "And if you order in the next 30 seconds, we'll double your order . . . ." 

 

I was fixated on this couple's teeth. They had been hitting the bleach trays pretty hard.

[DownTheShore]

Though, to be fair, I suppose every generation finds it both amusing and a bit baffling when a younger generation tries to emulate the surface features of what they perceive an earlier generation to be about.  Each of our generations was probably no different.  I give you:

 

 

John looks like he just rolled out of a shtetl, George is trying for the Early West Gunslinger Look, and Ringo is doing a bit of the Edwardian Bohemian look.

Edited November 11, 2014 by DownTheShore

[BearCat49]

I understand what you mean about the "we'll have $20,000 if it's that under budget". But in our case, the first house we bought we had a goal of 20% down so as not to pay mortgage insurance. We got a good deal on the house, so there was money left over in savings to add the screened in porch we wanted paying with cash. We did so well in selling that house, we were able to put down an over 63% down payment on a house we had to up our budget $100K to get the house we wanted, and still had enough cash to add our screened in porch. I can see how people who are building equity when selling can have cash left over for improvements, or have saved enough to not need their entire savings on a down payment.

 

Although I agree with you that some buyers might have sufficient equity from the sale of their previous home to immediately make improvements and don't necessarily wish to sacrifice all their available cash to reduce their monthly payment by a minimal amount, the Aurora buyers were single and purchasing their first home. 

 

Sure, some buyers might have more savings than the typical, preferred 20% down - but that's unusual these days.  The Aurora buyers were talking about a 10K price difference so the maximum, typical downpayment difference would only be 2K.  Not enough to fully furnish a new home and complete the projects they mentioned, IIRC and IMHO - 

 

Hey, no matter to the HH ptb!  Their intern feeds everyone the same, ridiculous line!

[twinks]

He reminded me of Mr Bean.

 

 

Chicago guy looked like a home shopping network or informercial salesman. I kept waiting for him to pull out some kitchen gadget and say "And if you order in the next 30 seconds, we'll double your order . . . ." 

 

I was fixated on this couple's teeth. They had been hitting the bleach trays pretty hard.

[NYGirl]

OCD wife in Puget Sound = really annoying.  Honey you don't get 6 bedrooms, a 5 piece master bath AND an upgraded granite, stainless plus a giant pantry and the whole house spotlessly clean to satisfy your OCD (mentioned at least 20 times during the half hour) for $275,000.

 

My goodness...the husband is 30 years old and already has 5 kids.  She's like 26.  Plus besides that her mother was moving in with them.  OCD doesn't drive well and husband is going away in 6 weeks for naval training.

 

Of course OCD won and husband needs to travel 40 miles to work each day.  They looked at 2 perfectly good houses 5 minutes from his job but she HAD to have her new build so she won.  He kept trying to appease her offering to build her a big master suite with her 5 pieces, etc. while sticking the kids all together in the other rooms.

 

Her mother ended up with the tiniest bedroom too.

[laredhead]

Just watched the Seattle area couple who wanted at least a 4 bedroom house and they had 5 children and a mother-in-law who would be living with them.  I think the split level house would have been a good compromise with the modifications he suggested and it was closer to his job.  At least they didn't insist that each child have their own room and bathroom like we have seen with some former HH's.    

[Pickles]

The TX couple moving to Brussels. Her outfits were kind of bizarre. Those hugely high heels to stroll thru the park in the beginning of the episode. The heavy eyeliner and false eyelashes. That black outfit---short skater skirt, tights and boots. I don't know if she was just putting on a show for her tv spotlight or maybe she really dresses like that in her daily life.

[peggy06]

He reminded me of Mr Bean.

BradandJanet, on 11 Nov 2014 - 10:05 AM, said:

    Chicago guy looked like a home shopping network or informercial salesman. I kept waiting for him to pull out some kitchen gadget and say "And if you order in the next 30 seconds, we'll double your order . . . ."

    

    I was fixated on this couple's teeth. They had been hitting the bleach trays pretty hard.

 

 

Don Bean, lol. Since when is Mad Men a style of housing anyway? What will these wacky house hunters come up with next.

Edited November 12, 2014 by peggy06

[NYGirl]

Doesn't Mad Men take place in the 50s or 60s? I don't watch the show. If so, the mid century is what he was looking for. He dressed so funny. And her voice? I couldn't take much more if it.

Laredhead. I agree about the split level in Seattle.

[BearCat49]

Don Bean, lol. Since when is Mad Men a style of housing anyway? What will these wacky house hunters come up with next.

 

All I can say is that I certainly hope Mad Men's ptb paid ($$$) HGTV's ptb!

[BearCat49]

Oh, I could not stand her voice!  I had a hard time understanding what she was saying because she sounded so garbled - like a little girl doing a vocal fry.  I was looking at the guy and thinking, "you're going to spend the rest of your life listening to that?"

 

He reminded me of the guy who hosted Food Network's "Kitchen Casino": http://foodnetwork.sndimg.com/content/dam/images/food/fullset/2014/2/28/0/KK0104_Bill-Rancic_s4x3.jpg.rend.sni18col.jpeg

 

What was with him not being able to live on lower floors because of an allergy?  He gets a fail in his Mad Men emulation then, because men of that time didn't have allergies - lol.

 

That's it - couldn't place it during the episode - Bill Rancic!  Haven't ever seen Kitchen Casino but isn't he the guy who was the first Apprentice?  He creeps me out for some reason.  And his wife - ugh!

 

Totally agree with your post, DownTheShore - this wife bothered me, too.  They both came off as vapid, IMHO.

 

Wasn't the guy a flooring sales manager or something?  Yep, I could see him on an infomercial.

 

Real men don't have allergies, lol!

 

Lose the dandy hats and clothes, dude!

[mojito]

How MANY TIMES did we hear OCD?

 

And is she totally incapable of cleaning? I mean, she has OCD, doesn't she? Isn't that what you do?

 

And if you have a disorder like that, why subject all those kids to it? I mean, you take on someone else's two and have three more of your own?

 

They both kept saying "my" a lot, too. "My" hardwoods. "My pantry". "My back yard". "My five-piece bathroom".

 

Okay, those two really irritated me....

[joanofarch4]

I would agree that the home schooling project works as a good excuse to justify not to go back to work outside the home. I've got a cousin who stopped working when she gave birth and never went back. She felt that she had put in her time, and her husband's income was sufficient to support the family.

Not everyone needs outside employment to define their self-identity; I know that I never did. My job was merely a way to support myself. On the other hand, one of my friends totally defined her worth by her job, so you can just imagine the emotional crash that occurred when she was laid-off while in her forties.

Often, though, those who don't need careers to define their identify use their children -- and often their overzealous role in raising them -- to define their identities.  However, I was referring specifically to those cases in which the husband faces a long and grueling commute and the wife insists upon the house that makes the commute even longer and more grueling or upon the most expensive house or the one that comes unfurnished when the budget is a concern, yet no mention is made of her offering to find even part-time work to pay for her choice.  Sometimes these displaced wives do seem to be out for revenge!

[KLovestoShop]

I don't get this grueling commute crap.  In most big cities, 30 minutes is the norm, and in many places, you're lucky to have only a 30 minute commute.  Hell, in LA, you could have a 90 minute commute depending on traffic.  've seen some HH shows where the husband was bitching because the commute was 15 minutes !!!  So in all reality, 30 minutes is no big deal.  My husband, when we lived in Az. had a 40 minute commute, and he didn't complain about it because we lived where we wanted.  Where we live now, every working person has at least 30 minutes to their job. 

Edited November 12, 2014 by KLovestoShop

[ChelseaNH]

So in all reality, 30 minutes is no big deal.

 

It is to me.  I prefer to concentrate on driving, so it's time taken away from things I like to do.  Therefore, 30 minutes is pretty much my cutoff.  It has limited my job searches in the past, but it's that important to my happiness.  YMM(literally)V.

Edited November 12, 2014 by ChelseaNH

[Bastet]

Yeah, some people tolerate it better than others.  I have a low tolerance, and commute time from my home is a significant factor in evaluating a job prospect.  If a HH is someone for whom a commute longer than X minutes or one involving stop-and-go traffic would be a significant source of stress, I think they should have a big say in location, especially if their partner has no commute at all!

[Thumper]

I give the side-eye to the "OCD" woman. I hate it when people use that term without really knowing how debilitating real OCD can be. She just sounded picky to me.

[BradandJanet]

Sometimes the wage earner, usually the husband, says he wants a short commute in order to have more time to spend with the family. I will bet the wives who pick the nice house with the long commute for hubby will soon be complaining about being alone too much. 

[Christine]

If OCD lady was genuine, wouldn't she be seizing at the sight of carpet?  Most of them do when it comes to cleanliness.

[DownTheShore]

I always found my drive time home from work to be a way to decompress from the stress of it and to get into a more relaxed mindset.  I didn't live super far away from my job, but with traffic it normally was a 35-40 minute drive.  To me, anything under an hour is do-able.

 

You really have to wonder about the passive-aggressiveness of those women who know that their husbands want to have a shorter drive so they can spend more time with the family, yet they deliberately choose the furthest home.   Then again, there are those husbands who will sacrifice obviously needed living space for the sake of basically falling out of bed into their jobs.

[Bellalisa]

She kept saying "My Ocd" as a synonym for "I like cleaniness". It is NOT the same thing by any means. She thought it was cute. It's not one bit cute to say "My OCD" over and over when you mean I like to clean and I like my house clean. She was an idiot because of saying that. This house was brand new so it's great for my ocd. What the hell does that mean? Uck.

 

As for the driving, I grew up in NYC and never drove so had to learn to drive when I was around her age 26, in Atlanta. I was the same way she was- afraid to go on the freeways, afraid to drive where I didn't know. I understand she is nervous and it's hard. But after a few years, I became a real pro. On the highway, off the highway! I got this down now and I'm fine! She will improve. Not worth buying the forever home for this reason as driving improves with experience.

[joanofarch4]

In addition, don't forget that gas is expensive and only getting more so, not to mention is an exhaustible resource that is becoming exhausted!  I would like to see more of an emphasis on walkable/bikeable lifestyles in choosing these homes, ESPECIALLY when they relocate to a city that's set up for that.  That "must have" parking space in Chicago or NYC where perfectly good public transportation is available; the one that costs as much as a whole house where I live?  SMH!

Edited November 14, 2014 by joanofarch4

[awaken]

I give the side-eye to the "OCD" woman. I hate it when people use that term without really knowing how debilitating real OCD can be. She just sounded picky to me.

This really bothered me on behalf of those who really do suffer from OCD!  

 

In real life I don't comment on people's bodies, but since we're here for snark- the Utah couple who was buying in Connecticut for up to 1M- she had the oddest body type.  Very round and slumpy, and the peasant-type shirts with droopy sleeves really emphasized it.  Gorgeous houses- we loved the historic one that was #2, with all the old wood.  Of course they went for the newer one.  

 

It also annoys me when people are looking at massive houses, and every room they see is "tight".  or "it's tiiiiinnnnyyyy!"  My kids were like, what the heck??  That's a huge bathroom!  What more do you want?  

[DownTheShore]

It seems like such a simple thing to me:

• If two people can't fit in the kitchen at the same time, then only one person does the cooking
• If there is only one bathroom and one bathroom sink, then the couple have to use the room at different times
• If you don't want your kids to be locked away in their rooms instead of being with the family, give them small bedrooms
• If you don't want to clean the pool all the time, get a motorized cover and leave it closed until someone wants to swim
• Unless you're going to spend the entire day in the kitchen, you don't need to see your children from it
• If you want to spend your time with your guests, either prepare foods in advance or get the event catered
• That grand staircase that impresses you so much?  Think about how many times you're going to have to climb it
• If a large walk-in closet isn't going to be enough to hold your clothing, then you have too much clothing

[Tunia]

Great list and wonderful logic, DownTheShore.

 

Just going to add to this:

 

•That grand staircase that impresses you so much?  Think about how many times you're going to have to climb it

 

"and vacuum it."  (I hate doing stairs!)

[BearCat49]

In addition, don't forget that gas is expensive and only getting more so, not to mention is an exhaustible resource that is becoming exhausted!  I would like to see more of an emphasis on walkable/bikeable lifestyles in choosing these homes, ESPECIALLY when they relocate to a city that's set up for that.  That "must have" parking space in Chicago or NYC where perfectly good public transportation is available; the one that costs as much as a whole house where I live?  SMH!

 

Unfortunately, we live in a car-centric society.  Even if incredible public transportation is available, it typically doesn't reach all employment centers.  Sometimes the only/best option may be carpooling.  Carpooling has certain challenges and limitations, too. 

 

WRT walkable and bikeable, that sounds like a dream!  Unfortunately, RE is an illiquid asset.  It's not always possible for homeowners to relocate each time their employment location changes, within walking or biking distance of a new employer.  And, they may not want to live in that particular area, for whatever reason.  Besides that, the walkable location could be incredibly inconvenient for a working spouse/partner's employment.   

 

If nothing else, the city parking spot may be an incredible RE investment, even if a homeowner uses public transportation!  As parking becomes more scarce and urban areas grow, the homeowner could possibly rent out their parking spot and eventually cash out their equity,

 

We'll see if HGTV / HH ever uses that as an episode twist!  Could be interesting.  IIRC, somebody did mention the possibility of using a scooter in Silicon Valley once, IIRC.

[BearCat49]

I give the side-eye to the "OCD" woman. I hate it when people use that term without really knowing how debilitating real OCD can be. She just sounded picky to me.

 

Anybody up for a drinking game using the term, "OCD"? 

 

Agree, it can be very serious and require medication.  She didn't come off as genuine - to me, anyway.

[BearCat49]

I always found my drive time home from work to be a way to decompress from the stress of it and to get into a more relaxed mindset.  I didn't live super far away from my job, but with traffic it normally was a 35-40 minute drive.  To me, anything under an hour is do-able.

 

You really have to wonder about the passive-aggressiveness of those women who know that their husbands want to have a shorter drive so they can spend more time with the family, yet they deliberately choose the furthest home.   Then again, there are those husbands who will sacrifice obviously needed living space for the sake of basically falling out of bed into their jobs.

 

Agree, IMHO most people have their own personal limit WRT commute times.  Anything over a certain amount of time makes them crazy!  If they live in a metropolitan area, they probably have a higher tolerance for it, IMHO.

 

I've spent months working in Seattle and they have horrendous traffic!  In my own home base, 40 minutes would be considered a dream commute!  So, in real life, I seriously doubt that the Seattle husband would have a problem with that commute.

 

I couldn't see the other homes as anything more than decoys for another reason:  renovation time.  It didn't sound as if they had a pot of cash to hire contractors to renovate a home.  With a new, civilian job in the service, a blended family with 5 children, live-in mil and a needy, challenging spouse, I just couldn't see him renovating a home in his limited spare time.

 

JMHO but I had the feeling that his 40 minutes, each way, would be the only peace and quiet he might find during the day.   The commute must have been the producers' red herring for that episode.  JMHO

[Pine]

I thought the Seattle couple chose the right home for them.  The other two were dank, and just looked depressing to me.  One of them had the garage converted to bedrooms, and those are usually damp and cold.  At least the kids all looked happy.

 

The Brussels episode.  The Girlfriend was dressed very oddly, and her extensions were awful.  If I had those skinny legs I wouldn't go for the boots made for a giant. 

[mojito]

Just saw the Key West couple looking for a home. Yet another woman claiming to have OCD, or as they often say, "I am OCD". (eye roll)

 

What is it about southern Floridians who want to use the word Caribbean when describing their environment? Talk about an identity crisis. Face it, you share the Gulf Of Mexico with Alabama and Louisiana, etc. and the Atlantic Ocean with New Jersey and South Carolina, etc. You are not in the Caribbean and the green in your water does not impress people who live in the Caribbean.

[laredhead]

The California to Key Largo couple are total opposites, or so this show would want you to believe.  They look at two very nice houses (both w/2000 sq ft)  with some flair, and then a very plain, no style generic looking house with less than 1700 sq ft.  They choose the small, plain one because she liked it.  I laughed out loud when they walked in and the was gushing over it being open concept and the shotgun style she wanted so the breezes would flow through.  I didn't see that at all and agreed with her husband that the house was nothing special.  Her statement at the end that the the house had the wow factor she wanted, made me want to say that the only wow I would be saying is "Wow, you paid how much for this nondescript place?"  I got the idea that they didn't want to spend the $450,000 they said they qualified for.  Again laughable that she said they got the house for $7,000 less than list and considered it a steal.  Really?  $7,000 off isn't much of a steal.  

[mojito]

That Key Largo house looked like it was part of a low income housing project or a U.S. military base house in Anywhere, USA. She said she loved the architectural style for its air flow through the house. Did the house not have windows with screens?  If you look up shotgun houses on Wikipedia, you'll be even more confused as to why she had to have this style house.

[laredhead]

I didn't understand her saying this was a shotgun house and that she wanted one so the breeze could flow through.  There wasn't a door at the back in the kitchen, only a high window.  Air won't flow very well with that design.  Also, a shotgun house was coined that because you can fire a shotgun from the front door through the house and out the back door w/o hitting a wall because the doors all line up.  We have plenty of them here in south Louisiana.  It has nothing to do with breezes blowing through the house.  Yes, Mojito, it really did look like it was something out of a community housing project or military housing.  Real estate must be very expensive in Key Largo.  

[BearCat49]

Just saw the Key West couple looking for a home. Yet another woman claiming to have OCD, or as they often say, "I am OCD". (eye roll)

 

What is it about southern Floridians who want to use the word Caribbean when describing their environment? Talk about an identity crisis. Face it, you share the Gulf Of Mexico with Alabama and Louisiana, etc. and the Atlantic Ocean with New Jersey and South Carolina, etc. You are not in the Caribbean and the green in your water does not impress people who live in the Caribbean.

 

I'll defend Key Largo girlfriend, even though she annoyed me, too!

 

I never heard her say, "I am OCD" at any time during the episde.  She did express her desire for a clean home.  Her husband called her "a little OCD about cleaning the house" a couple of times.  Heard the narrator say it once.  BTW, still had the episode on the dvr so checked it.  She mentioned "OCD" exactly 0 times during her self-introduction.

 

Anyone else wonder if the HH ptb filmed that Seattle woman who mentioned it about 9,000 times in reference to cleaning and accidentally picked it up there?  Hmmm, makes me wonder -

 

 

WRT Key Largo, they do live in a tropical climate, an hour (or so) south of Miami.  Agree, I personally wouldn't call it the Caribbean -  technically, it's considered the sub tropics, IIRC.  That said, for advertising purposes, I believe they do call if "America's Caribbean Islands".

 

ETA:  Yes, that's what they call it:      http://www.fla-keys.com/paradise.cfm

 

Key Largo wife was the sales dir/mgr for a large, new resort, probably opening around now.  So, she may have been making the episode for marketing purposes and wanted to use that moniker.  In fact, she probably tried to slip in the word "Caribbean" as many times as she possibly could!

Edited November 18, 2014 by BearCat49

[BearCat49]

That Key Largo house looked like it was part of a low income housing project or a U.S. military base house in Anywhere, USA. She said she loved the architectural style for its air flow through the house. Did the house not have windows with screens?  If you look up shotgun houses on Wikipedia, you'll be even more confused as to why she had to have this style house.

 

Definitely agree!  It was most certainly not a shotgun house for the reasons you guys mentioned.  Here's another - what she called the shotgun would be known as the great room or open concept living area by most of us.  Shotguns don't have bedrooms located off the main, shotgun corridor.  (They're within that same corridor!)

 

Yes, it looked like a cheaply made box.  Wondered if they'd had it built.  That yard appeared a little small for a pool, too.

Edited November 18, 2014 by BearCat49

[BearCat49]

The California to Key Largo couple are total opposites, or so this show would want you to believe.  They look at two very nice houses (both w/2000 sq ft)  with some flair, and then a very plain, no style generic looking house with less than 1700 sq ft.  They choose the small, plain one because she liked it.  I laughed out loud when they walked in and the was gushing over it being open concept and the shotgun style she wanted so the breezes would flow through.  I didn't see that at all and agreed with her husband that the house was nothing special.  Her statement at the end that the the house had the wow factor she wanted, made me want to say that the only wow I would be saying is "Wow, you paid how much for this nondescript place?"  I got the idea that they didn't want to spend the $450,000 they said they qualified for.  Again laughable that she said they got the house for $7,000 less than list and considered it a steal.  Really?  $7,000 off isn't much of a steal.  

 

Yep, we're on the same page.  $7K, wow, impressive!

 

I have a feeling we all know the first two were decoy houses and the supposed husband/wife conflict was set up by the HH ptb. 

 

I noticed during the groundbreaking decision scene that they had the husband say, "Well, I know which one you want and there's only 1 that mostly meets our needs ..."  How quickly he forgot the Spanish style and his other stated desires!

[mojito]

 

I never heard her say, "I am OCD" at any time during the episde.  She did express her desire for a clean home.  Her husband called her "a little OCD about cleaning the house" a couple of times.  Heard the narrator say it once.  BTW, still had the episode on the dvr so checked it.  She mentioned "OCD" exactly 0 times during her self-introduction.

No, she didn't. I wrote, "as they often say". I was referring to the fact that yet another person was throwing around the term. Nice of you to do the accounting, though.

 

America's real Caribbean islands don't call Florida "America's Caribbean", probably because they have a better handle on geography.

Edited November 18, 2014 by mojito

[BearCat49]

Just saw the Key West couple looking for a home. Yet another woman claiming to have OCD, or as they often say, "I am OCD". (eye roll)

 

What is it about southern Floridians who want to use the word Caribbean when describing their environment? Talk about an identity crisis. Face it, you share the Gulf Of Mexico with Alabama and Louisiana, etc. and the Atlantic Ocean with New Jersey and South Carolina, etc. You are not in the Caribbean and the green in your water does not impress people who live in the Caribbean.

 

 

No, she didn't. I wrote, "as they often say". I was referring to the fact that yet another person was throwing around the term. Nice of you to do the accounting, though.

 

America's real Caribbean islands don't call Florida "America's Caribbean", probably because they have a better handle on geography.

 

No big deal, mojito - I was actually responding to the other half of your sentence (first quotation, above) that stated "Yet another woman claiming to have OCD,".  Was pretty sure I never heard her make that claim and only checked her self-intro b/c it hadn't been deleted from the dvr. 

 

I have sympathy for these reality show participants who get branded with various labels for dramatic reasons by tptb.  Yes, we all understand they signed on in exchange for their 15 minutes of fame but OTOH ...  No worries -

 

Agree WRT the use / misuse of "Caribbean".  In her position as a sales director, I have a feeling she's more concerned with marketing than actual geography.

[DownTheShore]

I'm watching the San Diego episode with Christina and Josh - she who doesn't want any house with a bathroom that someone else has ever used.  I know that we probably get the wrong impression of these couples based upon how the shows are edited, but I have a feeling that she is truly a b*tch in real life.  These are one of those couples that cause me to wonder what on earth they see in each other, other than sex.

[Fury]

Just watched the San Diego ep as well.  I'm all for being direct about what you want, but she was just horrible.  I even agreed with her on some points, but her delivery was just salty. 

[laredhead]

Christina from the San Diego episode tonight should be inducted into the Worst Women HH's Hall of Fame.   I almost didn't finish watching it because of her comments and attitude.  How on earth have they stayed together for 8 years?  That man is a saint.  I'm glad he got a big garage because he's probably going to be spending a lot time in it.  The first house had nice curb appeal, and by investing some money and sweat equity, they could have had a very nice house.  The fact that Josh's father is a contractor meant they could probably get some of the work done inexpensively.  Her idea of being able to buy something "grand" in San Diego for $325,000 was laughable.  It was also laughable when she ran her hand over the plaster wall and I'm pretty sure she said it felt "vacationey".  I don't think that is a word and I have no idea how to spell it if it is.  DownTheShore, I think we got exactly the correct impression about this woman.  I wonder how she feels now that millions have seen this episode?  I would be too embarrassed to leave my house, but somehow I don't think that will be her reaction.     

[DownTheShore]

I doubt that she sees anything unreasonable at all in her behavior; that type of personality never does.  I really felt sorry for that real estate agent - if he was the one that actually handled their home search.  What a hellish time that must have been.

 

When I heard the opening of the show, I thought that they actually were going to be a couple who had the money to afford her "grand" home, but when I heard what the budget was going to be, I just rolled my eyes and thought, "it's going to be one of those teeny-tiny shacks that's been remodeled".

 

I suppose one thing in her favor was that she demand an ocean view.  Though perhaps even she realized that would be impossible in that town with their budget.

[KLovestoShop]

What an awful woman in the San Diego episode. All she kept saying was "Where's my........" Sorry, but that new build was really ugly and looked like a shoebox. And of course, even though everything was new, all she did was complain that nothing was luxury. What did that spoiled shrew think she'd get in SD for only $325K? The Spelling Mansion? And i wanted to ask her if she's ever traveled and stayed in a hotel and slept in a bed, sat on a toilet and stood in a shower? I felt sorry for the agent, but even more so for the husband. How has he stayed with that shrew for so long? In reality, the first house was the best choice because of price and size. But the wife is officially in the Nasty Hall of Fame.

Edited November 20, 2014 by KLovestoShop

[mojito]

 

What an awful woman in the San Diego episode. All she kept saying was "Where's my........" Sorry, but that new build was really ugly and looked like a shoebox. And of course, even though everything was new, all she did was complain that nothing was luxury. What did that spoiled shrew think she'd get in SD for only $325K? The Spelling Mansion? And i wanted to ask her if she's ever traveled and stayed in a hotel and slept in a bed, sat on a toilet and stood in a shower?

I'm throwing in with everyone else. This woman was exceptionally horrible "Where's my..." irritated me. And yes, she mentioned "vacationy" and you have to wonder how she managed to vacation in places with brand new, never-before-used bathrooms. That poor husband. What has he done in his past lives to deserve her now? I disliked her so much that I'm going to sink low enough on this entitled little witch and comment on her clown-like makeup and her white go-go boots. Or was she a majorette who lost her tassels?

 

Yes, she definitely makes HH's Top Ten Entitled Wannabe list.

[joanofarch4]

Did I miss the discussion on the single woman looking to buy a historic condo in "stroller land" with the evil older sister?  I realize I'm a few episodes behind on my DVR, but I can't be the only one who was gawping at the TV with my mouth open at their hateful sniping at one another...  That was uncomfortable to watch!

[mojito]

One person's "mean" and "hateful" is another person's ribbing. I thought their exchanges were normal. I come from a family that likes to joke a lot and yes, we'd consider these exchanges "cracks". I liked when the younger sister said, "Let it go" when her sister was making a comment about the younger sister's dislike for white cabinets (which the older sister had). Give and take. What's the big deal?