House Hunters International - General Discussion

[TVForever]

My mother-in-law had 2 bags: one held the bulk of her knitting gear, the other held whatever project she was working on. And she carried them to whatever spot in the house she chose to sit in to do her knitting. It was usually a spot in her den, but it could also be a chair in the living room, or a spot out on the back deck when the weather was nice...

See where I'm going with this, Maidenhead guy?

[Grizzly]

For all of Andy's fusspot behavior, they looked really happy in that wedding photo. So glad they showed it.

[LittleIggy]

Nice: That was fun finding all about Adrian! They better do an “Adventure Continues” episode with Richard now. I remember the HH. He was funny. His singing though...🙄 The French can have weird tastes, non? I wondered if Dozer had passed on since he didn’t appear in the new content. ☹️

[buttersister]

Quote

 wondered if Dozer had passed on since he didn’t appear in the new content. ☹️

🤔 Aw, right? Or perhaps singer guy in the tiny apartment decided Dozer could have a better home.

Quote

The French can have weird tastes, non?

Oui. Jerry Lewis a genius? 

Miss you, Adrian. You're a spirit animal.

[Irlandesa]

1 hour ago, LittleIggy said:

I wondered if Dozer had passed on since he didn’t appear in the new content. ☹️

He was mentioned.  He said the vet is amazed because Boston terriers are only supposed to live for 10 years but Dozer is 14.  They also showed him on the street and the HH walking with some other dude. I guess was probably old footage. But they spoke of him in the present tense. 

This was a fun revisit.  I laughed out loud at Adrian just learning what gaydar was even though she was married to a gay man.

Edited July 1, 2020 by Irlandesa

[biakbiak]

Nothing has indicated more to me that 2020 has been a decade long than them saying this episode first aired a year and half ago! Seriously, even though I remember it I would have guessed  2015!

Edited July 1, 2020 by biakbiak

[hisbunkie]

I love,love, love this concept while we are in this International Health Crisis. Adrian is a natural. I would also like updates from the realtor in London (whose name escapes me,sorry), he also works in Spain. 

[CrazyInAlabama]

I think you're talking about Richard.     I love him, he started off buying a wreck of a house, fixed it up beautifully, and now whenever he's on HHI, I watch it.  

[scrb]

New episode!  In Lisbon!

Couple had smiles throughout.

First apt. was obviously the only choice for them, even at the highest price, given location and value — furnished, most roomy, nicest finishes.

Maybe they were smiling at the charade that they’d consider the other apts.

Marta the realtor has been on other episodes.  Not too chatty but would be good to see more in Portugal, such as in Porto.

[StatisticalOutlier]

On 6/30/2020 at 10:30 PM, LittleIggy said:

Nice: That was fun finding all about Adrian! They better do an “Adventure Continues” episode with Richard now. I remember the HH. He was funny. His singing though...🙄

I hadn't seen this episode before, and found the HH to be among the most repellent I've ever encountered. 

[hisbunkie]

23 hours ago, CrazyInAlabama said:

I think you're talking about Richard.     I love him, he started off buying a wreck of a house, fixed it up beautifully, and now whenever he's on HHI, I watch it.  

Yes!  Thank you!  It was driving me crazy. I really like him and the woman in the Netherlands, she’s an American,blond?

[Tosia]

I liked seeing Richard again and learning about Adrian.

Richard seemed very honest about his ecinomic status,  weight, and being gay... he even surprised himself which was kind of funny. His personality may gather him some fans as well. Love Dozer. I want him to be successful and find love again. And singing lessons.  

[LittleIggy]

1 hour ago, Tosia said:

I liked seeing Richard again and learning about Adrian.

Richard seemed very honest about his ecinomic status,  weight, and being gay... he even surprised himself which was kind of funny. His personality may gather him some fans as well. Love Dozer. I want him to be successful and find love again. And singing lessons.  

His name was John, I believe. The Richard we talk about on this forum is the Brit real estate guy. 

[Tosia]

Thank you.  I obviously don't pay close attention. 

John Garland from Garland,Texas, right?

I love Richard too... the bearded real estate agent in England, right? But then I'm an Anglophile, so it's all good. 

On DABL, the show Escape to the Country. Shows amazingly beautiful landscapes,  but runs kind of slow.  The house seekers are very modest and reticent to speak up much... very British I guess. I notice the low ceilings in the homes most of all. Today's house styles have made high ceilings, open concept , white kitchens, the standard unfortunately. I would live in Great Britain anywhere..... almost.  🙂

 

Edited July 3, 2020 by Tosia

[KFC]

On 7/2/2020 at 7:01 AM, hisbunkie said:

Yes!  Thank you!  It was driving me crazy. I really like him and the woman in the Netherlands, she’s an American,blond?

Same! Those three are my favorite HHI realtors. Adrian in France/Paris, Richard in London and Sarah (the American blond) in Amsterdam. They're all kind of "in" on the joke of HH, so I appreciate their humor when they rib the pickiness of certain House Hunters.

[buttersister]

Holy what! Chris, the 1770 surfing dog whisperer time traveling to 3 years ago when he bought his house with 40 acres running a stream-of-consciousnesses narrative! I don’t know where to start.

Chris, I know you’re a surfer, not a farmer, but consider being a realtor and the HGTV agent for all virtual hunters in Australia. 

How could I have left out the most important thing: Dog reaction shots!

Edited July 8, 2020 by buttersister

[LittleIggy]

1770, Oz: Um, Chris, your accent isn’t “international.” It’s still Australian! His property is impressive. Those cottages were really cool.  Love the doggies.

[biakbiak]

I love the snarky commentary via chyron “By “we” Chris means him and his dogs, obviously.”

Edited July 8, 2020 by biakbiak

[Dewey Decimate]

I could honestly watch a whole year's worth of HHI revisited eps like the one with Chris in 1770. Stream of consciousness was EXACTLY it, buttersister, and I loved it! Reminded me a little too much of what I must sound like talking to myself at home...

[scrb]

They revisit Slovenia, the young author going in on an apt. with his parents, who were going to visit from CA.

They went for an under budget choice instead of an over budget luxury place.

But they moved out because it was so small when the parents came over to visit.  They then bought an apt. They spent a lot of time renovating.

In the original ep. the mother talked about finding some woman for him and she says she got a lot of flak on social media over it.

But he’s still single two years later, though he’s cranked out 8 more books since then and now have a nice pad.

[LittleIggy]

Slovenia: More likely he’ll end up with a boyfriend.

[buttersister]

So, Andrew in Slovenia? Eight more books! Big, remodeled place! Which figures, because no way the three of them were going to fit in the one they picked for Show. Andrew with thirteen books and caretaker parents? Imagining a Slovenian, man or woman, lasting through one parental visit. Yeah, hard to do.

I'm wondering who does the cooking and cleaning while they're not around. Because eight more books! Of historical fantasy fiction. And more! Andrew is a man with a plan. 

Good luck, Mom, who, turns out, is a writer, too. At least when it comes to family stuff.

[Irlandesa]

His books don't really have many reviews on GoodReads so when his mother was defending him as having a "real" job (seen as a real  job in Slovenia but not in the US), I had to laugh.  I question whether or not he could support himself as a writer if no one appears to be reading his books.  (But maybe they just don't write reviews.)

 

Edited July 16, 2020 by Irlandesa

[TVForever]

Is it crazy to admit that I actually liked the family in Slovenia? The parents just seemed like good-natured folks who clearly adore their son, and he's enjoying his life there. He's earning enough with his writing to support himself, though I wonder how much he actually contributed to the apartment they ended up buying. And by the way, I love what they did with the new place. 

[scrb]

Someone is publishing his books.

Or maybe he's using a vanity press.

He must be distancing from his parents during the pandemic.

 

 

[chessiegal]

We have a friend who writes children's books and her son illustrates them. They created a publishing company and sell them on Amazon. They only get printed when someone orders them. They're not making a ton of money, but they are making some, and it satisfies their creative needs.

[Irlandesa]

Even published authors with real publishing houses usually have to have a second job to support themselves.  I too know an author who writes young adult novels that are published by a well known publisher.  The author's books have even been mentioned in the book thread of this board and she has done book tours. 

Still, she has to work part time for income and the only reason she can get away with part time is because her husband has a pretty decent paying job. 

That's why I'm suspicious he's doing it on his own with no other job or support from his parents.

Edited July 16, 2020 by Irlandesa

[amarante]

I had missed the Slovenian family on the first round but I thought they had a nice dynamic. They seemed to love and support each other.

I assume there is some kind of money available although they don't have a flamboyant lifestyle. It takes some amount of money to live even the modestly comfortable lifestyle the three of them do. The son got his PHD in Brussels which is not cheap and the parents are able to travel and stay in Europe for extended periods of time - god bless them.

 

[ArtFossil]

On 7/16/2020 at 1:40 PM, amarante said:

I had missed the Slovenian family on the first round but I thought they had a nice dynamic. They seemed to love and support each other.

I assume there is some kind of money available although they don't have a flamboyant lifestyle. It takes some amount of money to live even the modestly comfortable lifestyle the three of them do. The son got his PHD in Brussels which is not cheap and the parents are able to travel and stay in Europe for extended periods of time - god bless them.

 

The parents creeped me out with their talk of grandchildren and girlfriends. I just found it so sad that the parents could not, or did not, acknowledge their son's true nature. 

[TVForever]

On 7/15/2020 at 6:42 PM, scrb said:

Someone is publishing his books.

Or maybe he's using a vanity press.

He must be distancing from his parents during the pandemic.

 

 

The parents are based in California, but apparently spend lots of time in Slovenia.

[Irlandesa]

I liked tonight's revisit where the couple were commenting on each other.  The husband was funny with "I didn't realize how much stank you were giving me" and the wife teasingly reminding him of his story about how important having his grill was.

To the show's credit, he did have a grill at the end.

[scrb]

What I found interesting about the Brno, Czech Republic revisit is that there’s one scene of the family on an excursion in some outdoors area with a lake and they’re all wearing masks.

So it was filmed after the start of the pandemic — unless masks were common in the CR for things like the flu.

They either shot those segments before travel restrictions were imposed or maybe they had some people in the EU, though it was only in mid June and later that travel restrictions between European countries were lifted.

So maybe they filmed in March before border closures?  Doesn’t seem likely that anything filmed in the last month or two would already be on the air.

More likely they contracted local filming crews and producers who’d usually travel to filming locations arranged the shooting and interviewing the house hunters and prodding them on things to discuss remotely.

These HHI the Adventure Continues episodes don’t contain as much new content as a brand new HHI episode does so maybe they will keep dribbling out these revisits, if they can find enough former house hunters willing to do them, as well as getting the shooting logistics together.

On the episode itself, it’s interesting that they are still in the same property that they purchased 4 years ago, though they’ve pretty much rebuilt the home.  They’ve put so much time into it that they seem to be there permanently, despite growing up in the US.  They have their son play baseball — futbol would be much more popular there — to keep some American ties.

That may be the thing with these revisit episodes.  A lot or most of the house hunters, especially on HHI, are not staying in their “homes” long term.  Often it’s some stunt by travel bloggers to do HHI.  So they have to find, willing people who’ve actually settled in their foreign homes at least a couple of years, as well as dealing with the logistics remotely.

 

 

 

[chessiegal]

4 minutes ago, scrb said:

or maybe they had some people in the EU,

From people who have been on HHI and posted, my understanding is they always use local crew for filming. There's no reason to fly production crews from the US. Other countries have people who know how to use a camera. 🙂

[TVForever]

49 minutes ago, scrb said:

What I found interesting about the Brno, Czech Republic revisit is that there’s one scene of the family on an excursion in some outdoors area with a lake and they’re all wearing masks.

So it was filmed after the start of the pandemic — unless masks were common in the CR for things like the flu.

They either shot those segments before travel restrictions were imposed or maybe they had some people in the EU, though it was only in mid June and later that travel restrictions between European countries were lifted.

So maybe they filmed in March before border closures?  Doesn’t seem likely that anything filmed in the last month or two would already be on the air.

More likely they contracted local filming crews and producers who’d usually travel to filming locations arranged the shooting and interviewing the house hunters and prodding them on things to discuss remotely.

These HHI the Adventure Continues episodes don’t contain as much new content as a brand new HHI episode does so maybe they will keep dribbling out these revisits, if they can find enough former house hunters willing to do them, as well as getting the shooting logistics together.

On the episode itself, it’s interesting that they are still in the same property that they purchased 4 years ago, though they’ve pretty much rebuilt the home.  They’ve put so much time into it that they seem to be there permanently, despite growing up in the US.  They have their son play baseball — futbol would be much more popular there — to keep some American ties.

That may be the thing with these revisit episodes.  A lot or most of the house hunters, especially on HHI, are not staying in their “homes” long term.  Often it’s some stunt by travel bloggers to do HHI.  So they have to find, willing people who’ve actually settled in their foreign homes at least a couple of years, as well as dealing with the logistics remotely.

 

 

 

I assumed from the first of these Adventure Continues episodes (which I LOVE, btw) that the production company had found a way to put out some "new" content during the pandemic. These episodes are essentially along the lines of Zoom calls where the couple is essentially sitting in their living room. It's a one camera setup that probably needs just one person to run, definitely not the usual filming crew. That's why for the Slovenia episode, the parents are talking from their home in California, while the son is in the Slovenia apt. All the rest is editing.

But I've always been a fan of "Where are they now" shows, so I wouldnt have a problem with them going back over all the shows they've ever filmed to do updates on any guests willing to participate.

[Irlandesa]

1 hour ago, scrb said:

That may be the thing with these revisit episodes.  A lot or most of the house hunters, especially on HHI, are not staying in their “homes” long term.  Often it’s some stunt by travel bloggers to do HHI.  So they have to find, willing people who’ve actually settled in their foreign homes at least a couple of years, as well as dealing with the logistics remotely.

I think it'd be pretty easy.  The house hunters who are renting are probably more likely to be short timers--Nice guy excluded.  People who are buying are more likely to be long term.

And I don't even know if they would have needed a film crew.  This one did look like they might have had a more professional camera but the others look to possibly have been filmed by the homeowners themselves.  That's true even of the outdoor things.  They might be wearing masks just because they're outside; not because there are strangers present.  That's probably less common in the US but I've seen it. 

[chocolatine]

Just watched the Slovenia episode with Andrew.

On 7/15/2020 at 10:57 AM, Irlandesa said:

His books don't really have many reviews on GoodReads so when his mother was defending him as having a "real" job (seen as a real  job in Slovenia but not in the US), I had to laugh.  I question whether or not he could support himself as a writer if no one appears to be reading his books.  (But maybe they just don't write reviews.)

On 7/15/2020 at 3:42 PM, scrb said:

Someone is publishing his books.

Looks like he's self-publishing and giving the Kindle version away for free so it's extremely unlikely he's making a living from his writing. I read the first page of the book I linked to and his writing is really bad, like millions of other self-published books on Amazon. It's preposterous of him to call his writing "literary."

On 7/15/2020 at 11:52 AM, TVForever said:

Is it crazy to admit that I actually liked the family in Slovenia? The parents just seemed like good-natured folks who clearly adore their son, and he's enjoying his life there. He's earning enough with his writing to support himself, though I wonder how much he actually contributed to the apartment they ended up buying. And by the way, I love what they did with the new place. 

I think they coddle him too much. It doesn't look like he's ever had to support himself financially, and even for the remodel of the apartment they bought him the father had to come all the way from California to supervise because the son couldn't do it on his own. I don't think the parents are doing the son any favors. They aren't going to be around forever, and how is he going to fend for himself when they're gone?

On 7/16/2020 at 10:40 AM, amarante said:

The son got his PHD in Brussels which is not cheap and the parents are able to travel and stay in Europe for extended periods of time - god bless them.

The mother said at the beginning of the episode that she and the son were able to acquire Slovene citizenship based on ancestry, and since Slovenia is an EU member state he can study for free in any other EU member state. I'm a German citizen and got my Master's degree from the University of Edinburgh for free (pre-Brexit).

[KLovestoShop]

I think a lot of shows are being listed as new, but they are obviously reruns.  The other day I taped Say Yes To The Dress because it was listed as New on the DVR guide, but when I sat down to watch it, the two episodes were repeats.  My guess is that the powers that be want viewers to think they’re showing new shows, just like they are making us think that some of these HHI shows are new. 

[Irlandesa]

48 minutes ago, KLovestoShop said:

The other day I taped Say Yes To The Dress because it was listed as New on the DVR guide, but when I sat down to watch it, the two episodes were repeats.

I think SYTTD is airing new episode on Saturdays in the first hour.  The second hour are compilation shows. 

And they're getting away with these shows being "new" by virtue of adding new content like the homeowners giving updates or talking about what they did in the past.

[buttersister]

It was good to see the Czech couple, now family. They did a nice job on their house. As in their initial hunt, they respect each other and it shows---all of them in one bedroom for all that time, yikes and bless. The only person/woman I felt bad for is grandma back in the States. Hope she'll be able to visit some time, soon. 

[absnow54]

The Munster episode was pretty uncomfortable. The whole “let’s move into my current apartment with my roommate who I may or may not have been hooking up with” vibe was pretty awkward. And the girl seemed to be second guessing her decision to move the whole episode. Do you think their relationship survived the pandemic in that studio apartment?

[buttersister]

Nevermind.

Edited July 24, 2020 by buttersister

[TVForever]

Munster, Germany: What an interesting episode. She's in grad school, he's still an undergrad. He's extremely budget-conscious, she wants privacy.

An odd setup, but I spent the whole show thinking that the solution wasn't really that hard. If she really wants privacy that much, she could pay a larger share of the rent. Neither of them were being unreasonable in their desires. If I'm moving countries (heck, even cities) to live with my boyfriend, I wouldn't really want other housemates either (male or female, friends or not). But if I'm clearly on a "starving student's" budget like he was, there's only so much I want to pay for rent. 

In the end, the place they got was cute. But in that super-cozy space, they're either going to get really close, or they're going to drive each other crazy. But for their phase in life, it seemed perfect. 

[Irlandesa]

I don't think there was any hanky panky between the roommate and the guy.  They've known each other since they were 9.

That studio really felt like a dorm room.  It wouldn't surprise me to find out it was subsidized student housing of some sort, especially if Felix's current apartment is a two bedroom that rents for around 800.  I know he said 400 but I always assumed that was his share of the rent that he'd split with his girlfriend.

[scrb]

She must have had better living situation back home in Chicago, so maybe wanted something nicer.  Certainly nicer than that small matters on the floor in that narrow room.

How many more years could the guy have to get his degree?

He tried to get her to retry that metts thing, some kind of raw pork snack and she wasn't having it.

 

[Grizzly]

I'm wondering if his old roommate had to find someone new to move in or could she handle the rent on her own.

[TVForever]

15 minutes ago, Grizzly said:

I'm wondering if his old roommate had to find someone new to move in or could she handle the rent on her own.

The way this show plays fast and loose with the real story, I half expected to learn at the end that the roommate (Kinzi?) had decided to move in with another friend somewhere else, leaving the couple with the cute, perfectly located, affordable apartment where boyfriend was already living.

[scrb]

1 hour ago, TVForever said:

The way this show plays fast and loose with the real story, I half expected to learn at the end that the roommate (Kinzi?) had decided to move in with another friend somewhere else, leaving the couple with the cute, perfectly located, affordable apartment where boyfriend was already living.

That apt. looked to be in a nice location, was as nice as the other places they saw.

If the roommate moved out, it would have been a good choice.

So Felix figured he's lived there for a few years so they don't need a realtor to come up with living options.  Maybe not having an agent on this episode was a reflection of the pandemic but I think it was shot in the fall.

[buttersister]

I think $400 was his share and his budget limit. Which might mean it'll still be his share if girlfriend pays her half.  Which is fine, as long as she gets what she wants, having, as people in this situation rightfully do, remind that she made the big move and gave up, blah blah. 

The aroma of shenanigans surrounds the idea that they've been talking about this move for two years without deciding they were getting their own place, which I think she alluded to. Good luck, kids. Study hard. Wash your hands. 

[chocolatine]

I was looking forward to the Münster episode since I grew up about 50 miles from there, but I agree, the couple had a very awkward vibe. I think the girlfriend will go back to the US after she finishes her master's program, with or without the boyfriend. Living in that tiny studio will be OK for a year or two, but eventually she'll miss her Chicago lifestyle.

7 hours ago, Irlandesa said:

That studio really felt like a dorm room.  It wouldn't surprise me to find out it was subsidized student housing of some sort, especially if Felix's current apartment is a two bedroom that rents for around 800.  I know he said 400 but I always assumed that was his share of the rent that he'd split with his girlfriend.

I don't think his current apartment rents for 800. His bedroom is tiny, so Franzi must have the bigger bedroom and proportionally pay more. It could also be that Franzi's family own the apartment and they're giving Felix a "Freundschaftspreis" (friends and family discount) to live there. Franzi did say that she and Felix had been friends since they were nine years old.

6 hours ago, scrb said:

How many more years could the guy have to get his degree?

When I was a student in the early 2000s many people stayed in school for as long as eight years. There was no time limit for graduation, no tuition to be paid at public universities, and students get a lot of perks like free health insurance and discounted transit passes. Cost of living was much cheaper then, so people could get by with a part-time job, and since their course load was so light there was still plenty of time for social activities. Especially in lovely university towns (like Münster) people liked to stick around and enjoy the good life. I don't know if that's still the case though, I haven't lived in Germany for over 10 years now and haven't kept up with the developments in higher education. I do know that the cost of living has gone up drastically so getting by on a part-time job is not as easy anymore.

[Babalooie]

I liked all three places in Muenster and could handle living in a studio apt.  I don't see these two staying together.  She has some hang-ups and  I cannot imagine romance between the two.

Signed,

Dr. S. Freud