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House Hunters: Buying in the USA

Lisin

By Lisin
in House Hunters [V]

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biakbiak

biakbiak

23 minutes ago, Mittengirl said:

didn't understand the complaint about grass in one of the backyards - saying that party guests wouldn't want to walk on it?  I would rather walk/stand on grass than cement or gravel.  Easier on the knees and cooler in the hot desert (I would think).   

I think he was referring to the fundraisers and such that he would be throwing so high heels and fancy dress shoes. It also is more annoying for setting up tables and chairs not to mention keeping it green in Palm Springs is a waste of water.

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LittleIggy
LittleIggy

For $1300/month, they better bring me breakfast in bed and do my laundry! ?

Tony
Tony

I find myself asking this question nearly all of the episodes. Funny enough, this meme has constantly been popping up all over my Facebook feed recently...

chessiegal
chessiegal

Those family shows are the worst! Get those kids off my lawn.

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awaken

awaken

20 hours ago, Sun-Bun said:

How damned entertaining was that couple of rich Alabama fellas searching for their Palm Springs dream home? Can we just start making sure we get at least one rich gay male couple on this show every other day?? Because between the charming banter and fantabulous real estate porn, I could watch HH shows like these for endless binges.

Loved the house they ended up choosing, although every single property they toured was pretty damned spectacular. I can only imagine how awesome the parties are that those two throw, because they were a hoot.

This was an interesting ep!  Didn't like the house they chose though- it looked like an office building or some other municipal space. 

I wonder how much dog show judges are paid?

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Mittengirl

Mittengirl

6 hours ago, biakbiak said:

I think he was referring to the fundraisers and such that he would be throwing so high heels and fancy dress shoes. It also is more annoying for setting up tables and chairs not to mention keeping it green in Palm Springs is a waste of water.

The waste of water I can understand.  My very rare "entertaining" runs more towards shorts and flip-flops than fancy dress, so high heels in grass never occurred to me.  Makes sense though.

I still think that the grass looks better than hardscape.  Fake grass would be my preference over concrete or gravel.  I think it is more soothing to the eye.  Especially in the desert.

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laredhead

laredhead

Anyone going to talk about the Waco episode last night with the 24 year old single guy looking for his first house?  His roommate won't be living there very long from the roommates comments about being in a long time relationship with his girlfriend, his desire for an older house with a big front porch, and other features that are seem to be more in line with someone ready to think about settling down with a wife and family.  The purchaser acted like he had years of single, partying life planned.  At least they showed a scene where he was mowing the lawn, and we didn't hear any complaints by him about having to do any yard work which is a common whine from many of the younger HH's on past episodes.

I liked the contemporary looking house with the upstairs area that could be a master suite.  To me that was more fitting for a roommate situation.           

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ChelleGame

ChelleGame

5 hours ago, mojito said:

allowed on-campus dancing in 1996. 

Mojito, your italics just tickled my funny bone. I just belly laughed.

I was prepared for Waco home buyer to big me. Kept waiting for it but he never did. Just seemed like an energetic little hardworker.  A little too "get the party started" for me but he's 24 and I haven't been in a long time.

$300,000 buys a whole lot of house in Waco. I cringe thinking what a house that size would cost here (SoCal).

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Ottis

Ottis

(edited)
On 2/6/2017 at 10:13 PM, Sun-Bun said:

How damned entertaining was that couple of rich Alabama fellas searching for their Palm Springs dream home? Can we just start making sure we get at least one rich gay male couple on this show every other day?? Because between the charming banter and fantabulous real estate porn, I could watch HH shows like these for endless binges.

It was like looking for a home with Liberace. The pillow in their current home, with one of their faces on it, made us howl. 

On 2/7/2017 at 7:13 PM, awaken said:

This was an interesting ep!  Didn't like the house they chose though- it looked like an office building or some other municipal space.

ITA. That's what I said when they first walked up to it ... "looks like a city gov't office." I don't know how they got "wow factor" from that. Also, what was behind the high wall in the backyard?

21 hours ago, camom said:

I found the Waco buyer fun, but the roommate bugged me.  He wasn't buying the house, probably won't even be living there that long, he sure thought he should have a lot of say in what his friend bought.  What he wanted shouldn't have mattered one bit.

That's the role the buyer said he wanted the roommate to play, to keep him grounded. I agree those two guys, despite being frat bros, are at different stages of their maturity. Can't imagine they will live together much longer. We watched this ep right after the ep with the wealthy gay guys, and the juxtaposition of the older gay guys wanting "wow factor" and the 24yo frat boy with the colored kitchen lights was either humorous or ironic or both. 

Edited by Ottis
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chessiegal

chessiegal

(edited)

My husband's comment on the Baton Rouge repeat last night was that the wife had the producer driven script down pat - I think she used every complaint/comment we've ever heard except for the weird ones like afraid of ghosts/birds/critters. Other than that, they seemed like nice folks - just disappointing to see someone succumb to the obvious script with such gusto.

ETA: On the other hand, maybe she was having fun with it - if that's the case, kudos to her.

Edited by chessiegal
MoreCoffeePlease

MoreCoffeePlease

Quote

I found the Waco buyer fun

I loved him!  What a character!  Just a good old country boy from west Texas.  Loved his upbeat attitude.  He said he sold lots of different types of trucks.  Can't be that hard of a job when the economy is rolling. If a company needs a truck, they are going to buy a truck.  Not like people who don't buy cars if they can't afford it.

They said they tailgate at Baylor football games ... "what a hootenanny!" I'm in the mid-Atlantic area, so Texas is a whole other world to me.

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laredhead

laredhead

(edited)

Just watched the couple (2 nurses) buying a house in Columbus, Ohio.  I liked the 2nd house the best, but it must have been way out of the city since he said it would be a 40 minute commute for him.  The woman was a bit irritating because she kept on and on about having a formal dining room for all of their entertaining.  If they had bought the 2nd one, they could have made the front room a formal dining room.  Some of these people have no imagination when it comes to room usage.  The house they chose was cookie cutter and her comment that the "kitchen was amazing" really made me laugh.  The word "amazing" has become very overused, but evidently people's standards of what is amazing have been lowered.  The kitchen was a standard builder kitchen with an appliance package that can be bought at any big box home improvement store.  

The more I watch this show and see houses with basements, it makes me want a basement, but here in south Louisiana that would be considered an indoor pool :(.

Edited by laredhead
spelling correction
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chocolatine

chocolatine

1 hour ago, laredhead said:

Just watched the couple (2 nurses) buying a house in Columbus, Ohio.  I liked the 2nd house the best, but it must have been way out of the city since he said it would be a 40 minute commute for him.  The woman was a bit irritating because she kept on and on about having a formal dining room for all of their entertaining.

What I found most annoying about her is the way she kept brining up needing room for all their wedding presents. After the second time she mentioned the presents, I was like, OK, we get it, you're bourgeois.

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NYGirl

NYGirl

Ok I saw an episode today with a couple in California wanting more than 3 bedrooms.  They had a little girl, a little boy and a baby girl.  Bear with me now.  She didn't want any of her kids sharing a bedroom.  They then saw a 3 bedroom house that had a bonus room that the realtor suggested a 'guest room'.  I kept yelling at the TV..there's your other bedroom dopeys!!  

Anyway you guys might remember them...they bought the house with the pool that slid down the hill in the yard.

The end result was putting the little girl and little boy in the same room in bunk beds rather than the 2 girls together.  I was like huh?  The baby wasn't an infant btw.

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AuntiePam

AuntiePam

1 hour ago, Dejana said:

The Vegas couple was looking for a farm and only viewed one farmhouse out of the three properties: three guesses which one they bought...

I worried that they'd go for the larger ranch-style house, but I wondered why they thought the property had space for horses.  Chickens, sure, but horses?

They were a nice couple -- no bickering, phony or otherwise.  I didn't catch what they paid, or how much the renovations were going to cost.  It looked like they were doing most of the work themselves, and what they did looked pretty good!

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chocolatine

chocolatine

(edited)
4 hours ago, AuntiePam said:

They were a nice couple -- no bickering, phony or otherwise.  I didn't catch what they paid, or how much the renovations were going to cost.  It looked like they were doing most of the work themselves, and what they did looked pretty good!

I thought they were really nice too, and they're having their children share bedrooms, which is virtually unheard of on HH. If I have to hate something about them, it's that the wife has such a girlish figure after having four children in what looks like the last five years. It's not fair.

They said they paid $290k, $10k below asking. I don't think they said how much the reno was going to cost, or else I missed it. It must be pretty expensive since they gutted the kitchen, tore down walls , added bedrooms, etc, and also talked about building a chicken coop and an workshop.

I thought it was adorable how the little kids with their tiny toy hammers were "helping" their dad with the demo.

4 hours ago, AuntiePam said:

I worried that they'd go for the larger ranch-style house, but I wondered why they thought the property had space for horses.  Chickens, sure, but horses?

I don't think they wanted horses, the realtor just mentioned that the HOA of one of the houses they saw was zoned for horses. I don't know the zoning laws - if a property is zoned for horses, does that automatically include zoning for smaller animals, like goats and chickens?

Edited by chocolatine
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laredhead

laredhead

The final scene in the Las Vegas episode showed that the recessed area in the outside wall had been filled in with siding and windows, so I'm guessing that was the master bedroom suite they were talking about adding.  That was the only property that had most things on their wish list, but 1/2 acre isn't large enough for a horse, even though the wife mentioned that a couple of times.  It was nice to hear that there are people who don't think the world is coming to an end if their children share a bedroom.

The fact that the husband is handy and had worked in construction before he became a firefighter, and the fact that they had lots of friends and family to help with the project means their reno $$ is going to stretch a lot further than it would ordinarily.  I think they said they could go up to $330,000 so that would give them about $40,000 for the project, which is what some people spend on just a kitchen sometimes.  Maybe they will be on a future HH Where Are They Now episode.  About time for one of those isn't it? 

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mojito

mojito

Las Vegas: nice couple. They said a few odd things. The wife mentioned having room for a pumpkin patch and horses. He wanted more greenery. They hated stucco. I'm guessing that they're not from the desert. I kept thinking, "You might want to relocate to Oregon."

I'm sure they've already been reported to Child Protective Services for subjecting their kids to shared rooms, so I won't bother to make the call. 

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Mittengirl

Mittengirl

I thought LV husband said he grew up there, but I could be wrong.  Wife definitely mentioned wanting horses, so I thought they wanted acreage, not just a large lot.  Maybe the place they bought has a community stable?  I have heard of equestrian subdivisions that do, kind of like the aviation neighborhoods that have a shared private landing strip.  But I would have thought that would have been mentioned as a requirement. 

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ByaNose

ByaNose

6 hours ago, mojito said:

Las Vegas: nice couple. They said a few odd things. The wife mentioned having room for a pumpkin patch and horses. He wanted more greenery. They hated stucco. I'm guessing that they're not from the desert. I kept thinking, "You might want to relocate to Oregon."

I'm sure they've already been reported to Child Protective Services for subjecting their kids to shared rooms, so I won't bother to make the call. 

When I think of Vegas I think of farming. Pumpkin patches & farm life. Yup! That's a head scratcher. They seemed like a nice couple but I agree I think Oregon is the place to be...Farm living is the life for me. LOL!!!

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Dejana

Dejana

(edited)
2 hours ago, Mittengirl said:

I thought LV husband said he grew up there, but I could be wrong.  Wife definitely mentioned wanting horses, so I thought they wanted acreage, not just a large lot.  Maybe the place they bought has a community stable?  I have heard of equestrian subdivisions that do, kind of like the aviation neighborhoods that have a shared private landing strip.  But I would have thought that would have been mentioned as a requirement. 

 

24 minutes ago, ByaNose said:

When I think of Vegas I think of farming. Pumpkin patches & farm life. Yup! That's a head scratcher. They seemed like a nice couple but I agree I think Oregon is the place to be...Farm living is the life for me. LOL!!!

I also recall him saying that he was from the area. A while back I remember reading that the Las Vegas area had a surprisingly large LDS population (about 5 percent), not that all Mormons are into farming or all non-LDS people just hang out on the Strip all night, but the young big family wanting to carve out a simple country life on the outskirts of Sin City did remind me of that...

Edited by Dejana
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juliet73

juliet73

(edited)

Las Vegas couple: Yes, husband said he was born and raised in LV which made me wonder if he lived in a cave his entire life because their wishlist was so bizarre for the area.  I recently moved from Vegas after living there for most of my life.  I wish they would have said what part of town they were looking in because the majority of the more recently developed parts (built 30 years ago to present) are all stucco, Spanish style tract homes with small lots. For the average home ($200,000 - $400,000), you're lucky if you get a home that sits on a 0.10 acre lot.  So for them to want at least .50 acre was asking a lot.  And I would think .50 acre wouldn't be enough for horses, but whatever. Then not wanting an HOA or a stucco house was really asking for a miracle.  But then to ask for a farmhouse???  What??  I have NEVER EVER seen a farm in Vegas, let alone a farmhouse. The house they picked, was not a farmhouse even though they kept referring to it as one.  It looked like a ranch with a 2nd story addition.  I wonder why they didn't look at homes further out like in Blue Diamond, Pahrump or Mesquite.  You can definitely get more land (and house) out there in their price range and they could ride their horses around the town.  I'm also curious what part of town since they have 4 kids under the age of 10.  The schools are really hit or miss (mostly miss) out there, so I would think they would take that into consideration.  If the house they did purchase is on the outskirts of the city, I can guarantee within 10-15 years it will be surrounded by strip malls, bars, and more tract home neighborhoods.

Edited by juliet73
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chessiegal

chessiegal

(edited)

The LV episode had me scratching my head. There was not one home that was too small for horses (although "zoned" for horses). The real estate agent mentioned one lot was so large - around 20K sq ft - that's about half an acre! You're not putting horses on any of the homes they showed - all were less than an acre.

Edited by chessiegal
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mojito

mojito

Quote

The house they picked, was not a farmhouse even though they kept referring to it as one.  It looked like a ranch with a 2nd story addition. 

Looked like that to me, too. Other homeowners might call it "modern" since it looked a little different.

Seems like what they were really going for was a half-acre lot and a place for chickens. Maybe the rest was just crap they were told to say. 

Quote

Oregon is the place to be...Farm living is the life for me. 

Keep Las Vegas, just give me that country side.

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KLovestoShop

KLovestoShop

We lived in the Phoenix area for 10 years, which has a similar climate to LV, and I can tell you, there are reasons for stucco houses.  One, they're cooler in the very hot summers, and two, you don't want wood houses because of termites, which overrun Arizona and Nevada.  When we lived in Wisconsin, we had 3 acres, and that would have been perfect for horses, but a half acre?  Seriously?   

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Ottis

Ottis

Ok, Mr Kansas, you're 33 and you already live in fear of stairs? You have a long road ahead of you.

Also, classy calling the space your in laws lent you a dungeon. Bet they would like you to find a place ASAP. 

They are both special snowflakes. Though she tried to at least consider his interest in the final decision. They ended up with the worst of the 3, in our opinion. 

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Pickles

Pickles

Did not like the Kansas City couple. She did that up talking. Ugh. She also needed to fill in her eyebrows (totally shallow observation, sorry). She didn't like a gas range, because the daughter might burn her fingers off. Omg. I was glad the agent spoke up and said it would only take one time and the daughter would learn. Lol! True! She added that they could buy a child protective cover. 

Yes, the husband didn't want to have stairs, because of his knees. Good grief. He acted like he had 80 year old knees.

i thought the couple's exchanges sounded so scripted or rehearsed. 

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mojito

mojito

Quote

Yes, the husband didn't want to have stairs, because of his knees. Good grief. He acted like he had 80 year old knees.

He might. If you're a jock as he is, you know you are putting wear and tear on your joints that you'll be paying for within the next 20 years (and he might be paying for it now).  I speak from experience. I wouldn't (and didn't) buy a home with stairs when I was his age. 

Ordinary couple to me. No red flags, although worrying about your child burning his/her fingers on an electric stove was really a silly line, as was calling him picky and then fretting over the sink that didn't look out to the rest of the room. I liked that she was interested in a community, not personal, pool. Smart move.

Seemed like a nice move, leaving expensive SD for affordable KC, which I understand is a nice city. 

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KLovestoShop

KLovestoShop

As someone who's full time disabled since I was two, I really disliked the Kansas husband.  And when she made the comment that they could put in a stair chair for him to go to the basement, that really pissed me off. Sheesh, I don't care if he's concerned with his knees in the future, he's sure as hell isnt disabled now. I have a two story house, and have a stair lift, but it's not a giggly toy for some snowflake millennial jock.    

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Ottis

Ottis

9 hours ago, mojito said:

He might. If you're a jock as he is, you know you are putting wear and tear on your joints that you'll be paying for within the next 20 years (and he might be paying for it now).  I speak from experience. I wouldn't (and didn't) buy a home with stairs when I was his age. 

Except in the shots of them together, he was playing basketball and out exercising. His knee problem seems to be selective. If his knee issues are that severe, I would expect that to be true in all aspects of his life. I suspect he has other issues about stairs, tied to the fact it is a two-story house (which he doesn't like), than his mysteriously debilitating athletic career. This is all based only on what we can see, of course. Maybe he has a rare bone disease, for all I know.

 

9 hours ago, mojito said:

No red flags, although worrying about your child burning his/her fingers on an electric stove was really a silly line,

Wasn't she talking about a gas stove in that instance? That's what I thought I saw, though admittedly I might have missed it.

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Empress1

Empress1

9 hours ago, mojito said:

He might. If you're a jock as he is, you know you are putting wear and tear on your joints that you'll be paying for within the next 20 years (and he might be paying for it now).  I speak from experience. I wouldn't (and didn't) buy a home with stairs when I was his age. 

Ordinary couple to me. No red flags, although worrying about your child burning his/her fingers on an electric stove was really a silly line, as was calling him picky and then fretting over the sink that didn't look out to the rest of the room. I liked that she was interested in a community, not personal, pool. Smart move.

Seemed like a nice move, leaving expensive SD for affordable KC, which I understand is a nice city. 

There was a young Florida couple where the guy didn't want stairs because he'd had a bunch of knee surgeries but they ended up getting a house with stairs anyway (wife wanted them), which I thought was unwise. Knees don't improve with age and he was already having knee problems.

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mojito

mojito

(edited)

If you've ever had orthopedic problems, you might have been told to limit your activities, but not stop them altogether. My knee doctor encouraged me when I was 19 to cut out bicycle riding if I wanted to continue playing tennis. My back doctor told me to cut back my jogging to only two miles as opposed to five when I was 34. Stairs are an easy thing to cut back on; most people don't especially like walking up and down them and would prefer other recreational activities instead. What you're doing is giving yourself more time to continue doing the activities you enjoy by cutting back on avoidable ones like walking stairs. As Empress said, knees don't improve. The best you can do is keep them healthy for as long as possible without completely obliterating your exercise activity.

It's a shame that spouses of people with orthopedic issues don't understand that. Yet they probably understand the concept of diet moderation to lessen the chance of illness or obesity. For some reason, moderation in activities that are stressful to joints is difficult to appreciate. Sooner or later, though, they probably will.

Quote

Wasn't she talking about a gas stove in that instance? That's what I thought I saw, though admittedly I might have missed it.

Yes, it was a gas stove. Either way, kids learn how not to touch hot stoves.

Edited by mojito
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juliet73

juliet73

(edited)

Kansas husband was a selfish douche. I understand not wanting stairs if he had knee problems, but it seems like he had knee issues at "convenient" times. Wasn't his office down the stairs in the basement?  He totally came across as a complete dick when he said having the master bedroom next to the kitchen and living room was important than being near the baby's room. Wife was a total flake. 

Edited by juliet73
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AuntiePam

AuntiePam

I really liked the doctors in Oklahoma City -- they were so natural, relaxed, happy, apparently grateful to be able to have such a nice home.  I liked the French Provincial-style house better than the one they chose, but only because of the noisy street in the pillar house.  Maybe they can do some plantings to deaden the traffic noise.

juliet73, I agree about the KC flakey wife.  I can't understand why a community pool was so important to her.  In SoCal or the Southwest, maybe, but KC doesn't have year-round outdoor pool weather.  (Indoor pools are fine, if you can stand the smell of the chlorine. )  And then the concern about the toddler losing a hand to the gas stove?  Nah.  

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