House Hunters: Buying in the USA

[Taylorh2]

I was happy that she didn't buy the godawful 1970's house.

[laredhead]

Between her vocal fry and semi-valley girl voice, I was seriously tempted to mute the episode.  I wish women would stop talking like that.  Even the announcer for the Beach Flip episode HGTV is advertising is annoying with her perky, childlike voice.  I liked the boyfriend.  Nice to date someone who is handy and since she seems to like putting her touch on everything she will appreciate him more.  Her choice was tiny and he said so several times.  The screened porch was nice and I thought it was interesting that it was 2 stories high, but I didn't see a balcony from either bedroom on the 2nd floor.     

[Empress1]

I agree, and I would definitely want to see the end result.  I was with her on the double sink in the kitchen though.  Every cook has his/her own preference, but I know I like a divided sink so that I can have a small dish drainer in one side for the few things that I like to wash by hand and let drip dry.

 

I did love the house that had been redone and thought she was going to choose that.  The decorating and finishes were all very on-trend and attractive. Regarding closets, yet they were small, but if it is ONLY YOU, you can put your clothes in all of the closets!

I would really like to see the end result too. That was a major renovation - I loved her friend's reply, when Alisha tried to front like it was just a small project: "You don't have any walls downstairs!" I liked her friend a lot - she seemed to have good sense and she was funny.

 

I had the same thought about the closets. The house I grew up in was old so the closets were small, but there were a good number of them so we just used them all. I remember my dad had clothes in one of the closets in the den. And since it's just her, she can store stuff wherever - her friend made a good point about off-season clothes in the less accessible closet. My closets are small. I have my in-season clothes in my bedroom closet, my coats and other miscellany, like luggage, in my hall closet (which is the biggest), and my off-season stuff in the smaller hall closet. Works fine.

 

I also agree re: every cook having preferences. Said it before, say it again: a gas stove would be an absolute must-have for me, period. I cook every day and I vastly, vastly prefer cooking with gas. I feel like the kitchen is the room in which I would be least likely to make compromises - not talking about stuff like finishes or cabinet color or countertops because those can be changed, but I need to be able to work in there. It needs to be a decent size, the layout needs to make sense, and I need either ample counter space (none of the apartments I've lived in have had it, it's so frustrating) or room for an island where I can prep. So if she really wants and will use a double sink, I don't fault her.

[MsTree]

I can't quite put my finger on it, but I just didn't like the Austin woman looking for her first house

 

I think it was her clown face...those eyebrows were painted on WAY too high. Only clowns do that.

[Empress1]

I think it was her clown face...those eyebrows were painted on WAY too high. Only clowns do that.

There was also something about her mouth and the way she tilted her head as she spoke that I found odd. And as mentioned, she has a hell of a vocal fry. I thought the place she ended up in was too small - if her (cute) boyfriend moves in, things are going to get very tight very quickly. Option 3 was my favorite.

[KLovestoShop]

Did not like the Nashville couple at all. He was weird in that he wanted a huge walk in closet, and said the kitchen could be the size of a bathroom. For a guy his size, I think he needs a bigger kitchen. The wife was a pain., and came off sounding stupid. When she said she didn't like the split level because she'd never know what floor she was on, I just shook my head in disbelief. How could someone not know what floor of a house they were on.

I thought they picked the worst, and cheapest looking, house. Formica tops, hotel worthy bathrooms and the rest. For just a bit more they could have had the split level, which really gave them a bigger bang for their money. That house had granite and nicer bathrooms. And what is it with couples and their budgets? This couple had a budget of $250K, and the agent showed them a house for $255K. But don't they understand that you rarely pay asking, and they probably could have gotten the first house for less?

And boy, the husband sure looked young to have a 13 year old son.

[Empress1]

Did not like the Nashville couple at all. He was weird in that he wanted a huge walk in closet, and said the kitchen could be the size of a bathroom. For a guy his size, I think he needs a bigger kitchen. The wife was a pain., and came off sounding stupid. When she said she didn't like the split level because she'd never know what floor she was on, I just shook my head in disbelief. How could someone not know what floor of a house they were on.

I thought they picked the worst, and cheapest looking, house. Formica tops, hotel worthy bathrooms and the rest. For just a bit more they could have had the split level, which really gave them a bigger bang for their money. That house had granite and nicer bathrooms. And what is it with couples and their budgets? This couple had a budget of $250K, and the agent showed them a house for $255K. But don't they understand that you rarely pay asking, and they probably could have gotten the first house for less?

And boy, the husband sure looked young to have a 13 year old son.

My suspicion is that he didn't care about the kitchen because he didn't cook. She said something like "I spend more time there so it needs to work for me," which, as I've said, I get. There was something about her that bugged me though - she seemed cold to me somehow. He did seem to have a ton of clothes and shoes.

 

I had the same thought about $255K. I'm usually a stickler for budgets but first of all, an extra $5K over a 20 or 30-year mortgage isn't going to do much damage month to month. I remember a San Diego couple who pretty much had to up their budget because they just couldn't get anything within it (I don't think they were shown anything within it), and the wife was like "Our mortgage broker made it work, it's fine." And I think they had to go higher than $5K over. And second, I'd think it would be very doable to knock $5K off the asking price. I know the show is staged, but that "Whoa whoa WHOA, $255K?" thing bugged me.

 

I'm a city person so when people complain that the houses are "on top of each other" I chuckle.

[laredhead]

With regard to the Nashville couple, I don't think either one of them wanted a fixer and did not want to spend $$ having someone else make the changes that might need to be made to either of the other 2 houses they were shown.  They did not seem to be hung up on having granite counter tops, and other than her comment that she did not like the granite color in one house, I don't think I heard that mentioned again.  I liked the large split level house too, and thought it offered a lot of square footage for the price, but it may have been located somewhere that was not convenient.  They don't always give the distance from work when they are describing the houses.  I agree with y'all about the quibbling about the top end of the budget.  Unless it's a really hot real estate market, buyers rarely ever pay the listing price of a house.  I did chuckle when he asked how big a kitchen you needed to order in Chinese food. 

[NYGirl]

I finally got to see the Austin episode and ugh the house she picked!!  It was terrible.  I guess what they say about location was what won out tonight as she said it was in the ideal location.

 

My goodness the eyebrows!!  I was so distracted looking at them.  Plus it seemed like they were filming her from above which made her face look thinner on the bottom and didn't help her unfortunate looking mouth.

[Empress1]

I hated the Nashville couple. And the woman sealed that hate when she said of one of the houses, that the son didn't need much room, or something like that. I bet that kid has to really work to be relevant in that house with her. It frosted me, frosted me I say, when she said that.

Oooh, I forgot that until you brought it up! She said something like "He's not here that much, he doesn't need a lot of space" in this really flippant, dismissive tone that I didn't like at all. That was some evil stepmother shit. I compared them to another earlier episode where a gay couple was looking for a house in Atlanta. One of them had a son and they were BOTH adamant that the son needed his own space - they immediately vetoed a too-small place because the kid wouldn't have enough space (I think it was a two-bedroom and one or both of them worked at home so they needed an extra bedroom to make an office). In that one, the son was part of their family. Nashville wife was treating him like a guest.

[KLovestoShop]

Watching a marathon of HH, and just saw a couple who were moving from North Carolina to So Cal. Oh my stars!!!!! You mean we can't get a southern plantation-type, 3000 sqft home in So Cal for way under $500,000? Plus room for chickens and goats, and a 3 car garage for my very expensive toys? This could be the beginning of the apocalypse.

[NYGirl]

Today I watched a little of the marathon and there in living color 2 shows in a row with HHs that are on my top 10 hated.  The guy complaining about the chairs in the bedrooms that wanted a fixer upper with acreage yet ended up with a new build town house with no yard and a neighbor he's attached to.  The other was the bitchface that didn't want to take any house that had a game room because her husband wanted one.  Besides the bitchface she was mean to him about it.  Ugh.

 

Oh an the third is the poor people in Key West that picked an almost tiny house where there was no room to home school those 2 poor little girls.

[KLovestoShop]

I could not stand the Raleigh wife today. What a harpie, and what was her overly weird concern with a playroom for her son? He's not a toddler, so why would she even consider a huge formal dining room as a playroom for an older kid? And her complaining about stairs? She looked young and healthy, so what was the big freaking deal? I liked the husband a lot, but she was downright irritating. But seeing they chose the three story house, I'm guessing the whole bitching about stairs was a plot point.

Edited July 13, 2015 by KLovestoShop

[NYGirl]

I've discovered that new builds win 90% of the time.  They could complain about the houses all they want but they always end up with the new build. 

 

I didn't like the wife either.  Boy did she make a big deal about leaves!  It was bordering on irrational.  Her other big thing was her son doing homework on the kitchen counter and a play room for him.  The kid was almost a teenager for crying out loud.

 

Irritating harpie is the perfect description for her.

[Tara1665]

She complained about everything. Everything! I don't think I would want someone that negative teaching my child. I was thinking the same thing about the playroom...he's an older kid who I'm sure doesn't want to hang downstairs with his mom while his friends are over. The other thing is they have one child why the insistence on a five bedroom home?

Edited July 13, 2015 by Tara1665

[Taylorh2]

She complained about everything. Everything! I don't think I would want someone that negative teaching my child. I was thinking the same thing about the playroom...he's an older kid who I'm sure doesn't want to hang downstairs with his mom while his friends are over. The other thing is they have one child why the insistence on a five bedroom home?

 

I don't understand why people question the size of houses that other people buy.  When my son was 8, we bought a 4 bdrm, 2500 sq ft house and a few people asked us why we bought that size house for only 3 people.

 

Short answer: Because we can.

[KLovestoShop]

When it comes to house size, I don't care unless it's a couple with a $150K budget and they want a 3000sqft house with all the bells and whistles. My husband and I have a 2800sqft house for just the two of us, "because we can".

I couldn't care less what size house the Raleigh couple bought, but the harpie wife really had irrational complaints, especially about stairs, leaves (hadn't she heard of Gutter Helmet) and a playroom in the dining room for an older kid.

[KLovestoShop]

I just heard another wife complaint that made me totally freak out. When looking for a house near the beach, the wife, with a very small budget for waterfront property, rejected a house because the beach was a ONE BLOCK WALK to the beach. One freaking block? Oh, poor baby. She would have had to walk one block with her two boys, and that would be too difficult. Oh, and the two boys weren't toddlers, but in the 7 to 9 year old age group. But, you know, it's too tough to walk with them and all their "stuff".

[Peanutbuttercup]

What a weird couple last night. The wife is obsessed with seafoam green and teal, while the husband is obsessed with everything being "masculine," having a "man cave," and spending time with "us men" (his pre-pubescent boy -- not man -- children). Of the two of them, I found him and his masculinity marginally more annoying. I did decide he's probably over-compensating for his micropenis.

[Ohwell]

I think the husband (and the sons) wanted a man cave to get away from the seafoam green, "coastal kitchen" obsessed wife.  I found her to be way more annoying than the husband.

[NYGirl]

Hard to believe but I did like the couple last night.  I kind of laughed at her obsession with aqua/seafoam.  You just knew it wasn't producer driven.  I thought the husband was a good sport to go along with it and even wear shirts of that color to please her.  I liked their relationship.

 

They were pretty nice in their house looking.

 

It's not every day I like someone on HH

[Ohwell]

I thought the couple started off being pleasant enough, and I liked the way they joked with each other.  But then about ten minutes into the episode, the wife seemed to realize she was on TV and seemed to be doing a comedy act and thinking that she was funnier than she was, with the seafoam/aqua/coastal kitchen schtick.  That's when she got really annoying to me. 

[KLovestoShop]

I thought the Baltimore couple were not very likeable, especially the wife. Her shrill, loud "What?" and other comments were just silly. And when the husband kept saying that the first house didn't have a basement, I was yelling at the tv that there was a basement, it just wasn't finished. I'm so over the who,e man cave thing.

[auntieminem]

The woman on tonight's episode kept going on about being OCD.  This is one of my pet peeves.  OCD is a clinical diagnosis that requires treatment of therapy and or meds.  No, you are just prissy, don't like dirt, get queasy over others dirt and germs or like things clean.  Stop saying you are OCD unless you have a Dr's not to back it up.   

[Ottis]

I kind of laughed at her obsession with aqua/seafoam.

 

 

Sadly, it ruined the house they bought. The sea foam kitchen island was hideous. She needs to learn how to use accessories in her color so she doesn't screw up the larger, well-decorated space.

 

I have no idea how so many of the people on this show, the younger ones especially, can afford these expensive houses. We live in a fairly expensive area, and have a nice house, but we saved for years and managed our money closely in order to do it. I could not imagine being 25 or 30 and owning a house even over $200,000. My first house, when I was 31, was $69k! I lived in a cheap place in the Midwest then.

Edited July 15, 2015 by Ottis

[topanga]

 

Sadly, it ruined the house that bought. The sea foam kitchen island was hideous. She needs to learn how to use accessories in her color so she doesn't screw up the larger, well-decorated space.

The one comment I liked from the husband was that they shouldn't buy a house based on the back splash. Otherwise, I found him as annoying as some of the other posters.

 

In general I don't mind that couples make nit-picky comments about the houses--it's what the producers want. But this couple's complaints seemed annoyingly real. The husband didn't want an attic man-cave. The wife didn't want anything except white cabinets. Everything would have to be changed RIGHT AWAY before they moved in. The yard had to be perfect for a soccer game. Something about their personalities rubbed me the wrong way, I suppose. On the other hand, if a couple is funny and they seem to like each other, I find it easier to put up with their criticism of the houses.

 

My one bit of confusion: The house they picked already had furniture when they toured the house. Some of it was theirs, of course (the pool table comes to mind). But the furniture in the bedrooms and the living room was different in the final reveal. Was the original furniture theirs? Did they go out and buy all new furniture? 

[ByaNose]

The Aqua couple were annoying but seemed very nice. I knew they were going to pick that house because it had so much furniture. I'm assuming they bought because of the pool table and such. I'm not sure if that was the real sellers stuff or not. With HH you never what is the truth or not. I did have one question. Did she paint the boys bedroom Aqua, too? The boys said they don't like it but will have to live with it. I didn't know if they meant that in general or she painted the twins room Aqua. BTW!! She'd be way too OCD for me. She even painted the kitchen island Aqua. I have never seen that done before. Kind of ugly.

[Diane M]

That OCD woman was so annoying.  She must have used that term 10 times.  If she's such a neat freak, how does she manage a household with five children?  Her husband must be a saint to live with her.  Of course, she got the house she wanted, which was 40 minutes away from the base where he worked.  What I don't like about those new homes is that there are no trees in the back yard.

[Kris223]

Granted, I wouldn't want to buy a complete fixer-upper if my husband were shipping out either, esp. with 5 young kids, but man alive, that woman was working my last nerve last night. Dead obvious she was going to get her way.

[Ohwell]

On a purely shallow note, the OCD woman looked about 10 years older than her husband.  She did have five kids though, so maybe that wore her out.

[Empress1]

I did have one question. Did she paint the boys bedroom Aqua, too? The boys said they don't like it but will have to live with it. I didn't know if they meant that in general or she painted the twins room Aqua.

I hope she didn't paint the boys' rooms aqua. At 12 and 14 or however old the eldest kid was, they're old enough to pick their own bedroom colors. In my opinion she gets to decide what color the master and the three-year-old's bedrooms are (I think it was the three-year-old's bedroom that we saw at the end, and it was indeed aqua), and that's it. I'd think you'd get into mean stepmother territory pretty quickly if you painted your step kids' rooms YOUR favorite color.

 

Sadly, it ruined the house that bought. The sea foam kitchen island was hideous. She needs to learn how to use accessories in her color so she doesn't screw up the larger, well-decorated space.

 

I have no idea how so many of the people on this show, the younger ones especially, can afford these expensive houses. We live in a fairly expensive area, and have a nice house, but we saved for years and managed our money closely in order to do it. I could not imagine being 25 or 30 and owning a house even over $200,000. My first house, when I was 31, was $69k! I lived in a cheap place in the Midwest then.

 

The husband in the Baltimore suburbs couple was a physician so I'm sure he made a good living. I do wonder about young single people with budgets of $500K though. I usually wonder how much they're putting down.

[Ottis]

The husband in the Baltimore suburbs couple was a physician so I'm sure he made a good living. I do wonder about young single people with budgets of $500K though. I usually wonder how much they're putting down.

 

 

Yeah, me. too. That couple was older, but so many of these aren't. And they walk in wanting hardwood floors, open concept, stainless steel appliances, big closets, big en suite, etc. And then they buy a house above their budget. How do they do it?

[buttersister]

How do they keep it? Living paycheck to paycheck isn't fun even for people with big paychecks who live above their means (meaning they're spending it all). In these cases, it just a (bad) choice, not because they're working for what used to be middle-class salaries.

 

I want a new season where we can see those appliance finishes that are taking over from stainless! (I'm in the market and this show has ruined me for ss.)

Edited July 15, 2015 by buttersister

[KLovestoShop]

I love purple, but I would never paint a room purple.  I bring in the color in accessories, but again, not in every room.  I also didn't get her whole "beachy" obsession.  If you want beachy, go live near the ocean.  

 

We used to live in a more upscale subdivision, and you knew that the younger people who had the expensive houses were what we called "house rich".  You'd go into their houses and many rooms weren't furnished and the ones that had furniture you knew the stuff was old or not expensive.  And usually, they only owned one car.  I do know that when the market collapsed, most of the younger homeowners put their houses on the market and took big losses on their sales.  

[Kiddvideo]

Sadly, it ruined the house they bought. The sea foam kitchen island was hideous. She needs to learn how to use accessories in her color so she doesn't screw up the larger, well-decorated space.

Good grief that house was ugly when she got finished. I flashed forward to when they sell it and the potential buyers complaining about having to paint everything. I have no design talent, either, but at least I know it. White walls, now and forever!

[Ottis]

How do they keep it? Living paycheck to paycheck isn't fun even for people with big paychecks who live above their means (meaning they're spending it all). In these cases, it just a (bad) choice, not because they're working for what used to be middle-class salaries.

 

 

I wish the show would include that kind of info ... "At a sales price of $300,000, with X percent down the monthly payment is X." I mean, we just saw an ep with a 30sish firefighter and his spouse was a marketing person or something, with at least two young kids, and they had a budget of $800,000. $800,000!!!  Even if you had spotless credit and put 20 percent down, that's a payment of what, almost $4,000 a month with taxes and insurance? For a firefighter and marketing person?

[Babalooie]

I really liked the Oregon couple buying the vintage house. They had good attitudes and no grating voices.  I knew that they had already purchased the house when they  went in with the realtor for the "first time" and the girlfriend immediately knew where that small stairway door was and opened it. Most people wouldn't do that the minute they walked into an  unfamiliar house.

Edited July 23, 2015 by Babalooie

[topanga]

 

I really liked the Oregon couple buying the vintage house. They had good attitudes and no grating voices.  I knew that they had already purchased the house when they  went in with the realtor for the "first time" and the girlfriend immediately knew where that small stairway door was and opened it. Most people wouldn't do that the minute they walked in to an  unfamiliar house.

I hear ya. I like when there's some mystery to which house they'll pick. For example, I hate when there's only one empty house and two furnished houses. The couple tries to pretend by saying, "Can we keep the furniture?" But it's pretty obvious that the empty house is theirs.

 

I grew up in Portland, OR, and that couple is sooo Portland: a little hippie and granola-crunching mixed in with yuppie and hipster. Even the wife's (girlfriend's?) knit hat screamed Portland. The two of them seemed to like each other, which is always nice to see.

[Ohwell]

I usually don't go for the hippie granola-crunching knit cap-wearing types types, but I liked the Portland, OR couple.  The only thing that irked me was him stepping into the bathtub.  I know that whoever bought the house would clean the bathtub before using it anyway, but that was still gross.

[KLovestoShop]

Ohwell, I agree with you.  I hate whenever anyone steps into a bathtub or jumps on someone's bed and makes a mess.  

 

I liked the Oregon couple also.  I think he looked a lot better at the end when he had hair.  He looked much younger with dark hair.

[izabella]

It's really rude to step into someone's tub with shoes on.  Not only are shoes dirty, but they can scratch a tub, especially if the shoe bottom is the kind that little bits of rock and gravel can get stuck in the treads.

[Ohwell]

Did the Oregon couple have to have a porch? And they picked the craftsman type home? Where he could have a chair, a cigar and books on the porch? I think I remember them now if that was them. I did like them and the house they chose.

 

Yes, that was the Oregon couple.

[Angeltoes]

I don't remember where last night's couple lived but they had a baby named Jackson. His name I remember because they said it 400 times.

[chessiegal]

I don't remember where last night's couple lived but they had a baby named Jackson. His name I remember because they said it 400 times.

 

Was it a repeat in Northern Virginia outside DC? Please don't tell me there was another "Jackson" episode. Or maybe I have the wrong city.

[laredhead]

The couple on last night's show with the child named Jackson live in Denver.  When I heard her annoying, nasal, half-vocal fry voice say "Jackson" about the 10th time, I was ready to throw a shoe at the TV.  Chessiegal, I think the original Jackson episode from a few years ago is now a classic HH show.  Those 2 mothers should get together and HH would have a mega Jackson episode.

 

I didn't like any of the houses the Denver couple looked at.  The one they chose wasn't even 1100 square feet and of course, she griped about the bedrooms being small.  I cannot believe they could not not find something larger, or at least with 2 full bathrooms.  Maybe they were location restrained, but they never said anything about that.  The bonus room in the 2nd house was very strange.  I could not figure out what it might have been used for by the former owner.  Would make a great giant storage room and closet. 

[jcbrown]

I wasn't even really paying attention to last night's Denver episode and I still wanted to strangle that woman for her annoying voice and her Jackson Jackson Jackson. We get it, you reproduced, Now STFU.

 

ETA her anal retentive husband was no prize, either, so maybe they deserved each other. "Oh, whatever will Jackson do with wood floors instead of carpet for his giant melon head to fall on?!" Ack.

Edited July 18, 2015 by jcbrown

[Mittengirl]

I would be willing to bet that at least one of the Jacksons was actually "Jaxon". I see that quite frequently in the births column in my local paper.

I hate when people flop on the bed while house hunting. Unless they are buying a furnished home, get the hell off the bed.

[DownTheShore]

Just as an aside, the people who question why a family of three needs a five-bedroom house are probably people like me, who were raised in homes where the people outnumbered the amount of rooms (5 vs. 4 in my case) so we know perfectly well that a family can live happily in a small space without everyone having their own room.

It's not a comment of derision, more one of bemusement - at least on my part.

One of my sibs just moved into an 11 room house, and what has struck me the most about it is that you can be in parts of it and never hear people on the other side of it. When you are in the basement rec room, you don't hear people walking overhead. You don't hear water running in the kitchen or the bathrooms. I was sitting in my niece's bedroom admiring the view from the window, and realized that people could be coming and going from the house and I wouldn't even hear it. It was a completely novel experience for me - not to mention a heck of a lot harder to track someone down.

[Ohwell]

OMG that Denver lady's voice just annoyed the hell out of me.  I cannot for the life of me understand how her husband or anyone else could stand to listen to that voice.  I didn't like any of the houses they saw so it didn't matter to me which one they chose.

[camom]

I'm trying to figure out how in the world I raised 3 children without being able to see every room from the kitchen.  I didn't realize it at the time, but obviously I was neglecting my kids.  Plus, the two boys had to share a bedroom and we all shared one bathroom.  Oh, the horror of it all!

Edited July 19, 2015 by camom