House Hunters International - General Discussion

[magemaud]

Phyllis (how many times did her husband say her name, like every sentence?) struck me as the type of flight attendant who would only work in the first class cabin and look down her nose at those of us back in coach!

I bet the only issue the producer could dream up for drama was the paint color of the house they bought. And I agree with the theory that they didn't move to Sicily year round, they would have had a much larger budget if they had sold a home in Carolina plus the flipping aspect really leads me to conclude this is an investment which they will live in part of the year and rent out the rest. 

I was half expecting them to buy BOTH the pink house for now AND the studio for future use.  

Edited July 29, 2016 by magemaud

[AlleC17]

5 hours ago, laredhead said:

I wondered if the couple moving to Sicily really was moving there.  With only a $100,000 budget, it sounded to me like this was a real estate investment where they would stay a few weeks of the year and rent it out the rest of the time.  Their house in South Carolina (?) looked very nice and I would have thought if they sold it they would be able to afford more than $100,000 for a house.  Perhaps one of our real estate sleuths who participate in this forum can find their Sicilian place on a vacation B&B site.  There were some lovely views from the first property.

I thought this as well.  Plus a lot of times they will mention that they sold their original property to move, but no mention was made of them selling the Carolina home.  And yeah, why wouldn't they be able to afford more than $100k?  As usual, there must be shenanigans in the background which ended up distracting me from the episode.  I also thought they would pull a 'we bought both!' twist at the end. 

[magemaud]

Can someone refresh my memory, what was the name of the town in Sicily? 

[KLovestoShop]

The town is Caccamo.  I'm not nearly as impressed with Sicily as she seems to be.  That tiny budget surprised me and when I heard that he wanted that to be for both the property and renos, I was shocked.  

[Ohwell]

Regarding Sicily, I thought I heard in the intro that the unemployment rate among youth was 75%.  I don't know if that meant the whole island or just that town but, in any case, I wouldn't want to live anywhere that people are so poor and desperate.  

[scrb]

I've been to Sicily twice.

There isn't any more panhandling than any other country.

 

In fact, I think the people without jobs just hang out.  I think they get some kind of assistance from the state.

A couple of years ago, Planet Money did a feature about the absenteeism at the Barilla pasta factory located in the South.  Some of the factory workers played for the local football (soccer) club so they'd have a match over the weekend and blow off work on Monday.

Some of them had to make sure they weren't mentioned or photographed for the local paper.

The manager tried to make things work, because the company's factories in the north didn't have the same absentee rate.  I forget the resolution though.

Edited July 28, 2016 by scrb

[Ohwell]

Well, I guess it's good to know they aren't concerned about being unemployed. 

[Pickles]

The couple (and Sophia!) in tonight's episode moving to Malta. He had spent 28 years in the military and was retiring. Neither the husband or the wife would be working. Sophia was 5. I guess the husband will get a good retirement from the military, but that is a lot of years not to be working and having a child to raise. You knew they would choose the apartment that was currently being remodeled. 

[Albino]

SOPHIA!  SOPHIA!  It's all about SOPHIA!

I gave this couple some serious side eye when they were touring the work-in-progress home at the end.  I could be wrong, but it appeared that there were doorways that opened onto balconies with no railings...just open slabs of concrete.  Again, it's not finished and they were holding her hand but for the love of God ...won't someone think of SOPHIA?

Edited July 29, 2016 by Albino

[AuntiePam]

I worry about kids and balconies too.  Maybe they can add a temporary barrier, until Sophia's old enough to understand the danger.  I liked the couple -- they got along so well and really didn't have differing wants, so there wasn't much manufactured drama.

It would have been nice to see what Malta has to offer for single family homes.  With that dense population, maybe there aren't many available.  Malta was heavily bombed in WWII, so it was nice that grandpa's home was still standing.

[Neurochick]

On 7/26/2016 at 5:50 PM, izabella said:

I did agree with her 100% about not wanting to live by a school.  Not only does it get noisy when school is in session, you also have teens "hanging around" at all hours.  I don't know how London teens get to school, but if they are like the US, there will also be traffic - cars and buses during mornings and afternoons.  Plus sporting events - you KNOW that basketball court gets used.  "Bounce, bounce, bounce, thunk, cheer, groan, yell!  Bounce, bounce, over here!  over here! sneaker squeak, bounce, thunk!" is fine, but not when you're trying to enjoy your balcony or listen to music, watch a movie, or have friends over for tea.

I agree with this 100% too.  I thought the first place she saw was the nicest.  

She didn't look different to me.  I had a friend in college, who if she saw her would say: Déjame ver tu abuela.(Let me see your grandmother).

Edited July 29, 2016 by Neurochick

[aguabella]

On ‎7‎/‎26‎/‎2016 at 8:23 PM, juliet73 said:

Since London lady really didn't give us any background,  here's what I'm thinking...the kids are step kids and they never got along.  Husband wants a divorce, but then she'll probably get half so that's out of the question.  So...instead of becoming an episode of Dateline, husband "encourages" wife to buy a house in London because she's always wanted to live there.  Now she can sip her afternoon tea in her overpriced, bland, IKEA decorated apartment while her husband lives happily ever after with his new girlfriend and kids.

Sorry to disappoint with a little actual reality but public records indicate that the London woman and her husband are very close in age with older children - also fairly close in age.  Looks like she works in the U.S. and didn't relocate full-time.  Appears to be a long-term marriage plus bio-kids. 

I didn't check vacation properties.  Don't know for certain but it wouldn't surprise me if the cheap staging was completed for vacation rental marketing photos and future guests.  For marketing purposes, however, she wouldn't mind the intrigue, don't you think, lol?

[AuntiePam]

Help!  Rain knocked out the dish and I didn't get to see the house that the family in Italy chose.  They were in Italy on a sabbatical (husband's job), had two small boys.  He wanted to be close to the train station for his 45-minute commute to Rome, and she wanted something with no stairs, because of the kids.  Budget $1500/month.  Two places they looked at had lots of stairs, and the third place had no stairs but it was on a busy street, and he was worried about biking to the train station. 

I'm pretty sure this was a repeat, but does anyone recall which house they ended up choosing?

[magemaud]

The Santa Marinella couple ruled out the third place-far out of town, all white, totally impractical and over budget. But I can't remember if they chose the first or second place, it was the under budget one with the winding staircase (NOT the steep modern one with open risers that went straight up the wall of the living room)  

[AuntiePam]

Was the Cambodia episode a new one?  They moved from one city in Cambodia to Phnom Penh, where jobs were more plentiful.  Husband was going to stay home with the daughter and the wife got a job as a preschool teacher.  I really liked that couple -- they knew how to compromise.  The wife was concerned about apartment balconies and wanted a western style bathroom -- separate shower space.  The apartment they chose had a teensy balcony but the railing was high enough to be safe, and the shower was right next to the commode. 

I've never understood parents sleeping in the same bed with small children (if they have a choice).  Parents who've done this -- how difficult is it to move the kid to a separate bed?  What about intimacy? 

[izabella]

The couple moved from Seattle to Cambodia, I thought. 

She got on my nerves with all her fears that their 3 year old daughter would be jumping to her death from the balconies.  And then the co-sleeping with the child?  Sorry, but when I hear that, I assume sex isn't high on their agenda.  Or maybe they can have sex on the tiny balcony.

[AuntiePam]

Yeah, they were initially from Seattle, then lived in Sihanoukville (sp?), Cambodia, but couldn't find jobs there, so on to the capital city. 

Balconies and kids -- well, famously there's Eric Clapton's son, and occasionally there'll be something on the news about a toddler falling from a balcony.  I'd worry more about older kids tossing things off the balcony to watch them smash on the concrete. 

OT: Capitol/capital is confusing -- I had to look it up to make sure I used the right word.  The seat of government in a capital city is called the capitol building, but the city itself is the capital city.  Sometimes English makes no sense at all! 

[Quof]

Eric Clapton's son didn't fall off a balcony, he fell out a window which the housekeeper had opened to clean.

[Peanutbuttercup]

That little girl was so young to have such a problem with self-harm and suicidal tendencies. Thank goodness her parents are committed to looking after her and making sure she doesn't throw herself off a balcony at the first opportunity or burn herself on the stove or scar herself by jumping off a low coffee table (danger!).

Seriously, though, they did seem like a nice couple who weren't making outrageous demands. If they can make a family bed work, good for them -- it's certainly been the norm for most of human history and it doesn't seem to have slowed down our ability to reproduce!

I actually thought they were going to take the super-tall apartment that was on budget, so it was nice that House Hunters managed to surprise me for once.

[KLovestoShop]

How many young children do you hear taking dives off a balcony, especially knowing that millions of children around the world live in places with balconies?   I just wanted to slap the mother.  I liked the husband and thought he had the best attitude.  And at the end when she told her husband he can have the apartment if he glued the door to the balcony shut really hacked me off. 

[AuntiePam]

Google "child falls off balcony".  I counted 11 in the last couple of years, on the first three pages -- they were from all around the world though.  It's obviously not a leading cause of childhood injuries, but it does happen.

[debraran]

I just watched the show with the couple from Indiana with 9 kids who move to Italy...what scenery! (which is partly why I watch) The rents seemed so cheap, 700 for a 4 bedroom piazza home? The language barrier and what the husband did for work was never mentioned but I was enamored by the beauty of the villages and the fact someone moved that many children across the ocean and were still sane....well maybe they weren't.  lol

I was a little surprised they moved again to Ukraine. But then I read comments and realized they did leave out info on being missionaries, help with church etc. Well, it is TV.

Found this blog on couple...   http://www.stillsmiling.net/blog--journal/how-did-your-family-of-eleven-end-up-filming-an-episode-of-house-hunters-international-in-italy

Edited August 4, 2016 by debraran

[proserpina65]

Quote

Sorry to disappoint with a little actual reality but public records indicate that the London woman and her husband are very close in age with older children - also fairly close in age.  Looks like she works in the U.S. and didn't relocate full-time.  Appears to be a long-term marriage plus bio-kids. 

Oh man, don't harsh our buzz. ;-)

[proserpina65]

Quote

it's certainly been the norm for most of human history and it doesn't seem to have slowed down our ability to reproduce!

Privacy is a relatively recent concept.  Historically, people didn't care if the kids could see/hear them having sex.

[AlleC17]

I was very excited to see that HHI was going to Zanzibar, but was a bit disappointed in what they showed.  I didn't really care for any of the apartments, but did laugh at not wanting a squatter toilet.  Me either! 

[AuntiePam]

I liked the Zanzibar couple -- the husband reminded me of an ubiquitous character actor, face and voice, but I can't think of his name. 

AlleC17, yeah, it would have been nice to see more upscale places, and single family homes. 

I had to chuckle at the wife.  She liked the decor in one place that had bright oranges and yellows, but didn't like the decor in another place, which also had bright oranges and yellows.  Hot colors in hot places -- I don't understand that -- I'd be wanting cool greys, greens, blues.  And the place she liked had a worse kitchen -- no stove -- than the place she said she didn't like, which was small, but had all the necessary appliances.

The ugly couches -- that's what slipcovers and throws are for, to hide the ugly. 

[mojito]

I could not have felt comfortable with any of the Zanzibar choices. I am an awe of people who are, though.

[Clover]

Re: Zanzibar episode -- The furniture at the second place (close to the ocean and had a pool) was made from wooden pallets.  Couldn't believe the wife preferred that furniture from that of the first place.  I'm with you Auntie Pam; just use slip covers.

[AlleC17]

Yeah, and the thing with the kitchen cracked me up as well AuntiePam.  She did state how much she liked to cook, blah blah, but then liked a kitchen with no stove better.  Agree about the slipcovers:  you are renting.  It is not a big deal to cover the ugly furniture.  Now if it's also uncomfortable furniture...oh well! 

[aguabella]

On ‎8‎/‎4‎/‎2016 at 11:12 AM, proserpina65 said:

Oh man, don't harsh our buzz. ;-)

Sorry that's life, lol ... v. the drama of reality television!

[Peanutbuttercup]

I liked the couple moving to Uruguay last night, despite the fact that one of them was of the "death is lurking everywhere, waiting to snatch our children, God forbid they be near water or a window!" sort. Except he apparently forgot where death is really lurking: in the backseat of his car, where he's apparently perfectly fine with having his son ride around without a freaking seatbelt.

[biakbiak]

33 minutes ago, Peanutbuttercup said:

I liked the couple moving to Uruguay last night, despite the fact that one of them was of the "death is lurking everywhere, waiting to snatch our children, God forbid they be near water or a window!" sort. Except he apparently forgot where death is really lurking: in the backseat of his car, where he's apparently perfectly fine with having his son ride around without a freaking seatbelt.

Kids that age take off seat belts all the time because it annoys them. I didn't think he was crazy about the kids, he wanted a yard for them to play in. He wasn't complaining about the pool for the one house he was saying the other side of the house was on a deep drop off. They got a house with a pool that had no fence and didn't have a problem. 

[laredhead]

Biakbiak, I thought the same thing about the pool with no fence and wondered why he didn't say a word about that when they showed it.  Must not be a safety requirement in Uruguay.  I wonder how long they really will live there since they are renting and both have professions where they can move around fairly easily. 

[Albino]

"I'm the kite and he's the string!"

"Without the string the kite would just fly away!"

"He's the string and I'm the kite!"

"We're not a couple any more...we're a FAMILY!"

These guys annoyed me but I don't think it was their fault.  Not entirely. Every time we came back from a commercial, HH would recycle the same quotes, over and over.  I think I heard the soul-stirring kite analogy 6 times in one version or another.  Maybe they were just boring and HH was scambling to find something interesting or provocative to use.  I don't recall either of them laughing even once.

The wet-blanket "string" was such a downer.  The free-spirited "kite" tried too hard to be kite-like.   Fly away!

Edited August 9, 2016 by Albino

[Babalooie]

Right.  Tim was certainly a Negative Nelly.  I guess opposites attract in this case.  His FB page has a lot of anti-Trump posts, so maybe they were predicting the election outcome and wanted to become ex-pats???   I was interested in Uruguay since I didn't know anything about that country.

Edited August 9, 2016 by Babalooie
Capitals are important.

[seacliffsal]

I think that the South Carolina house flippers are not traditional house flippers who flip for a quick sale.  They kept mentioning having the kids come visit and the wife kept saying that she didn't care about things as  long as she would get the home she wanted.  So, I was confused for a bit until I realized that HGTV just needed to 'label' them in some way.  It was also interesting that for as much as they talked about doing renovations, they actually meant having someone else doing the work, they just hired them.  So, no, not really 'flippers.' 

The London woman chose an apartment that is in one of the (if not THE) most expensive neighborhoods in London.  Kensington is expensive, but not as much as the one she chose.  It's also super expensive to have one of the apartments that comes with the garden in the square.  She was definitely looking at expensive properties.  I, too, love London, but would never be able to afford anything there.

[AuntiePam]

The Costa Rica couple -- just ugh, especially the wife.  Was it a new episode?  She has celiac disease so wanted a "full kitchen" because she'd have to prepare all her food.  All you need is a fridge, an oven, and some work space, so I don't know what she meant by "full kitchen".  She vetoed one place because of a large window on the second level-- apparently not realizing that there's such a thing as curtains, and the curtains were there.  But she was all for another place, with a large window on the ground floor, which looked out on the community pool.  People would be walking by that window all day.  I couldn't stand her.

The husband wasn't too bad.  He needed reliable internet and he was concerned for the wife's safety, since he travels -- maybe twice a year.  [rolleyes]  His bitching about going $50 over budget was ridiculous.  What kind of job does he have that $650 a month rent is too much? 

[biakbiak]

The large window on the second floor was in the bedroom and was also in area where people would be walking because that is how people got into their apartments, the place they went with had a smaller window in the living room that looked out onto the pool area but was set back from the pool and there didn't seem to be many units. 

As for a full kitchen she just meant an oven, stove, fridge, counter space, and storage which is not a given (particularly an oven or a full stove top) in some locations. 

[Diane M]

If I had celiac disease, I'd think twice about moving to a small town in a third world country.  They didn't say whether they were near San Jose and a hospital if she had need of treatment.

[Ohwell]

That was a repeat of the Costa Rica couple and her celiac disease.  I didn't see this repeat but I thought I remembered from the first viewing that the husband was going to be there for a year?  I remember wondering why she just didn't stay in the U.S. until he came back home, considering her issues with celiac disease.   Maybe she could have just visited a few times until he came back.

[Grneyedldy]

Celiac disease can be controlled with diet. She has to be completely gluten free and watch what she eats. It doesn't mean she can't travel or live in a foreign place. 

[Ohwell]

No one said she couldn't travel or live in a foreign place; it's just that it seemed easier for her (and perhaps him not having to worry about her) to just stay in the states until he came back.  She was the one who kept mentioning the celiac, so if it was that much of a concern then perhaps she should have stayed home.

[biakbiak]

4 hours ago, Ohwell said:

No one said she couldn't travel or live in a foreign place; it's just that it seemed easier for her (and perhaps him not having to worry about her) to just stay in the states until he came back.  She was the one who kept mentioning the celiac, so if it was that much of a concern then perhaps she should have stayed home.

I think it was more the producers since she said in the end it wasn't an issue and she only referenced in terms of wanting a decent kitchen which is hardly a crazy demand even if you don't have a disease.

The episode was marked as new and there was no mention of them only being there a year, his job was back in the States and they said the reason for the move was to spend more time together and even said that the apartment they chose was the first one in Costa Rica in a way that implied that there would be more. 

Liberia has over 50,000 people so it's not really a small town.

[Homily]

Quote

 She was the one who kept mentioning the celiac, so if it was that much of a concern then perhaps she should have stayed home.

I think when someone keeps banging on about a specific thing that it is producer driven.  But the producers must be nuts!  The other day I saw a US based episode where the woman in the relationship didn't miss an opportunity to talk about her birds and was there a room that would suit her birds and would the birds like this house and the birds, the birds, the birds.  The husband seemed somewhat supportive but he also made a few comments though that made me think either the producers told him to try and create some controversy or he wasn't as thrilled with the birds, the birds, the birds as she was.

[Ohwell]

8 hours ago, biakbiak said:

The episode was marked as new and there was no mention of them only being there a year, his job was back in the States and they said the reason for the move was to spend more time together and even said that the apartment they chose was the first one in Costa Rica in a way that implied that there would be more. 

So this must have been another episode where the wife had celiac disease because I'm positive I saw a similar episode where the wife talked about the disease. 

[Pine]

White glasses, and snarky.  I didn't like the husband in the Gouda, Netherlands episode last night.  

[Ohwell]

Oh yes,, the Netherlands husband.  I thought those white glasses made him look very creepy.  I did not like him at all. 

[Ohwell]

Double post

Edited August 12, 2016 by Ohwell

[StatisticalOutlier]

2 hours ago, Ohwell said:

Oh yes,, the Netherlands husband.  I thought those white glasses made him look very creepy.  I did not like him at all. 

The glasses were ugly and weird, plus the temples didn't fit right over his ears.  Those can't have been comfortable.

[AuntiePam]

I agree about the white glasses, and was glad he wasn't wearing them in every scene.  And that made me wonder why he wore them at all.  Usually if you wear glasses, you wear them all the time, or you wear them just for reading. 

Did anyone notice where they put the girls' beds?  The extra "bedroom" was too small, and the upstairs playroom didn't have much space either.  We saw them playing with toys in that room, but I didn't see any beds.