House Hunters International - General Discussion

[Grizzly]

Brisbane. So it's a thing for Texas women to take up with Australian men? I didn't expect Brisbane to be so expensive. I do like the house they picked, the brick was nice.

[Cetacean]

Loved the Brisbane realtor.  "Maintenance?  It's rocks and dirt."

[buttersister]

House #2 had ringer written all over it. When someone mentioned the seller, I LOL!

The minute she said #3 was like the house she grew up in, boom. It was good for them! And his mom is so happy.

Edited March 24, 2021 by buttersister

[Grrarrggh]

That Brisbane buyer reminds of some actor, I think a Brit, but I can't figure out who. Any ideas? 

And why does he have to do the maintenance? If she's the one who wants a garden she can handle it. 

[TVForever]

12 hours ago, LittleIggy said:

Both dad and son have two young children each.

I'd have to watch again to be sure, but it looked as though the father's boys were actually younger than the son's 2 boys.

[aghst]

14 hours ago, Grizzly said:

Brisbane. So it's a thing for Texas women to take up with Australian men? I didn't expect Brisbane to be so expensive. I do like the house they picked, the brick was nice.

Looked like all 3 houses were outside the CBD, which would be more expensive and would be smaller in size.

Since they both work in "consulting" and could work out of the home office, they didn't need to be near town, unless they wanted to go to the restaurants and shops often.

But they mostly showed them doing outdoors activities so they prioritized space.  She wanted 4 bedrooms and a big backyard?

I don't blame the guy for not wanting to do maintenance all the time.

Guess heating and cooling won't be too bad even with those high ceilings.  They mentioned the temperatures in the winter were 50-70.

 

[proserpina65]

2 hours ago, aghst said:

Guess heating and cooling won't be too bad even with those high ceilings.  They mentioned the temperatures in the winter were 50-70.

High ceilings actually help with cooling since hot air rises.  That's why a lot of houses built before air conditioning in places which get hot in the summer have high ceilings.  Of course, it only helps so much.

[blueray]

May have been a repeat, but I watched the one where they were buying a house in Amsterdam. I liked the house that they picked as it was in a good location and had space. The one house (the second one?) was not going to work with the dog. They should him trying to get up the stairs and almost falling. I would not want to have to worry about him falling especially at night. I was glad when they didn't pick that one for that reason.

[ML89]

On 3/23/2021 at 11:02 PM, Grizzly said:

Brisbane. So it's a thing for Texas women to take up with Australian men? I didn't expect Brisbane to be so expensive. I do like the house they picked, the brick was nice.

Maybe the couples should have switched so that Rural Texas Big Space would have been with Farm Australia Dude? I’m only halfway through her ep in Brisbane but her “grew up in a small town” schtick seems to fit. 

[Grizzly]

Ho Chi Minh City. If he has a job teaching English, why is he working from home? I understand trying to broaden someone's horizons but I don't like how Josh pushes Elena. Maybe it seemed worse because that's what the producers focused on. Glad he agreed to the area that she liked.

[aghst]

3 hours ago, Grizzly said:

Ho Chi Minh City. If he has a job teaching English, why is he working from home? I understand trying to broaden someone's horizons but I don't like how Josh pushes Elena. Maybe it seemed worse because that's what the producers focused on. Glad he agreed to the area that she liked.

I was thinking the same thing.  He assumes forcing her to push past her fears or visceral reactions makes her life better.  At one point he says she made great “progress.”  How condescending.

They go to that Noir restaurant where they eat in pitch dark, not knowing what they’re being served.  Sorry seeing the food is part of the experience.

I don’t think teaching English is that well paying.  Maybe she makes more as programmer.  If she’s willing to put up with him pushing, they must be happy.  She said they make it a point of not refusing anything to each other.  How long will that last?

We’ve seen some more modest homes in SE Asia.  These were strictly westernized apartments in modern high rise buildings.  He wanted to be near restaurants so they’re a lot more fortunate than most residents of HCMC.

[Grrarrggh]

11 hours ago, aghst said:

 If she’s willing to put up with him pushing, they must be happy.  She said they make it a point of not refusing anything to each other.  How long will that last?

Gotta admit I might put up with him if it meant getting out of Russia.... Hopefully she'll outgrow him quickly. 

[LittleIggy]

On 3/25/2021 at 11:01 PM, Grizzly said:

Ho Chi Minh City. If he has a job teaching English, why is he working from home? I understand trying to broaden someone's horizons but I don't like how Josh pushes Elena. Maybe it seemed worse because that's what the producers focused on. Glad he agreed to the area that she liked.

I didn’t like his pushiness either. I didn’t look his looks either. Gave me the creeps (I watch a lot of ID Channel programs! 😏). He probably works for an online company and just wanted to move.

[LittleIggy]

On 3/23/2021 at 11:07 PM, Cetacean said:

Loved the Brisbane realtor.  "Maintenance?  It's rocks and dirt."

Jesse James the realtor goes all in for the Western look, doesn’t he? 😆 I like him.

[cinsays]

On 3/26/2021 at 3:08 AM, aghst said:

I was thinking the same thing.  He assumes forcing her to push past her fears or visceral reactions makes her life better.  At one point he says she made great “progress.”  How condescending.

They go to that Noir restaurant where they eat in pitch dark, not knowing what they’re being served.  Sorry seeing the food is part of the experience.

I don’t think teaching English is that well paying.  Maybe she makes more as programmer.  If she’s willing to put up with him pushing, they must be happy.  She said they make it a point of not refusing anything to each other.  How long will that last?

We’ve seen some more modest homes in SE Asia.  These were strictly westernized apartments in modern high rise buildings.  He wanted to be near restaurants so they’re a lot more fortunate than most residents of HCMC.

Yeah, very condescending, like he's teaching her how to live and without him she'd be a poor ignorant peasant.

Guess it's worth it to get out of Russia, but, yeah, once he's groomed her enough to "evolve", she should find someone else who will really respect her.

[Crashcourse]

On 3/27/2021 at 12:37 AM, LittleIggy said:

I didn’t like his pushiness either. I didn’t look his looks either. Gave me the creeps (I watch a lot of ID Channel programs! 😏). He probably works for an online company and just wanted to move.

I got a creepy, somewhat controlling vibe from him, too.   Except for the shaved head, he reminded me of Woody Harrelson (although I like Woody).    

[Grizzly]

The Black Forest. Kevin, with his shirt unbuttoned more than usual. And that smile, be still my heart! This part of Germany looks so idyllic. The dog is cute but the way he made himself at home in #1, you knew that was what they picked. I really liked Yasmin's hair, it had so much body. T's mom was so accepting of Yasmin, that was so nice to see.

[buttersister]

20 minutes ago, Grizzly said:

The dog is cute but the way he made himself at home in #1, you knew that was what they picked.

LOL! We all said the same thing at the same time, I'll bet.

[aghst]

Yasmin talked about being close to mother  in law but it seems like their decision was driven by price.

As much as she might want to get to know the in laws, what about socializing with people their age, including probably expats or friends and coworkers who spoke English?

The garden and the countryside/small town vibe is quite the culture shock from Manhattan.

[hurrrz]

As a German, this episode kinda annoyed me. "The Black Forest" is a pretty big area. They were close to Stuttgart, why not call it that.  Also... the music choices are so cliche. 

 

[LittleIggy]

23 hours ago, Grizzly said:

The Black Forest. Kevin, with his shirt unbuttoned more than usual. And that smile, be still my heart! This part of Germany looks so idyllic. The dog is cute but the way he made himself at home in #1, you knew that was what they picked. I really liked Yasmin's hair, it had so much body. T's mom was so accepting of Yasmin, that was so nice to see.

Ooh! A Kevin episode! I have a queue of HHI epis on my DVR. This one will go to the top of the pile! 🥰

[Grizzly]

Just now, LittleIggy said:

Ooh! A Kevin episode! I have a queue of HHI epis on my DVR. This one will go to the top of the pile! 🥰

We should pool our money and buy a place in Germany to get on the show. Then we could hang out with Kevin. You can want modern city-center and I'll be charm, space and country.

[StatisticalOutlier]

23 hours ago, buttersister said:

On 3/30/2021 at 9:06 PM, Grizzly said:

The dog is cute but the way he made himself at home in #1, you knew that was what they picked.

LOL! We all said the same thing at the same time, I'll bet.

And for me, it was followed by, "At least I hope that's the one they pick."  Because I think it's bad enough when they just bring dogs into other people's houses.  But I think it was also on the couch in another of the houses. 

Or maybe it was the one they took? I hope it's the one they took.  I was distracted by trying to figure out what sex T was.  Not that it matters, it's none of my business, etc. etc., but it was a challenge.

[cinsays]

9 hours ago, StatisticalOutlier said:

And for me, it was followed by, "At least I hope that's the one they pick."  Because I think it's bad enough when they just bring dogs into other people's houses.  But I think it was also on the couch in another of the houses. 

Or maybe it was the one they took? I hope it's the one they took.  I was distracted by trying to figure out what sex T was.  Not that it matters, it's none of my business, etc. etc., but it was a challenge.

Agreed.

The current home owner might not be pet friendly or have other reasons that a pet on its furniture would be undesirable. Very inconsiderate.

I was confused about T's sex as well and was trying to catch them mentioning "his" or "her" in the narration.  Yeah, not of consequence, just not easy to tell.

[StatisticalOutlier]

3 hours ago, cinsays said:

I was confused about T's sex as well and was trying to catch them mentioning "his" or "her" in the narration. 

I did the same thing and perked up when I heard a "her" (or maybe it was a "she"), but realized it was in reference to Yasmin.  Rats.

I'm not a fan of Kevin's plunging neckline. 

[hurrrz]

I wanted to mention that they carefully avoided any pronouns for T, but felt bad for pointing it out. I noticed it, though. :) 

 

Yesterday there was a France episode, Reiki Retreat in the boons. I suspect it was a repurposed episode from a UK channel, as this felt different. Bizarre soon-to-be owner that doesn't speak French. I wonder how their reiki endeavours work, now that the UK is out of the EU, and they'll probably have to get a work visa type of deal. 

[Grizzly]

2 hours ago, hurrrz said:

Yesterday there was a France episode, Reiki Retreat in the boons. I suspect it was a repurposed episode from a UK channel, as this felt different. Bizarre soon-to-be owner that doesn't speak French. I wonder how their reiki endeavours work, now that the UK is out of the EU, and they'll probably have to get a work visa type of deal. 

That was bizarre. Couldn't believe she picked the over budget with an expensive sewage repair place. That realtor is going to put goats at all her showings.

[cinsays]

7 minutes ago, Grizzly said:

That was bizarre. Couldn't believe she picked the over budget with an expensive sewage repair place. That realtor is going to put goats at all her showings.

yeah, and those are only the problems that were known/disclosed

[LittleIggy]

17 hours ago, Grizzly said:

We should pool our money and buy a place in Germany to get on the show. Then we could hang out with Kevin. You can want modern city-center and I'll be charm, space and country.

Sounds good to me! 😁

[biakbiak]

4 hours ago, hurrrz said:

 

I wanted to mention that they carefully avoided any pronouns for T, but felt bad for pointing it out. I noticed it, though. 🙂

 

I don’t think they carefully avoided anything just actively used T because that is what T likes be called and that it illustrates how even in casual conversation pronouns aren’t needed. 

Edited April 1, 2021 by biakbiak

[Grrarrggh]

I'll throw in extra for this German property if you can promise Kevin will keep that extra button undone 😉

[chessiegal]

4 hours ago, hurrrz said:

Yesterday there was a France episode, Reiki Retreat in the boons. I suspect it was a repurposed episode from a UK channel, as this felt different. Bizarre soon-to-be owner that doesn't speak French. I wonder how their reiki endeavours work, now that the UK is out of the EU, and they'll probably have to get a work visa type of deal. 

I re-watched this episode because it felt a little different to me also. One thing I noticed was they gave the house hunter's full name on a chyron several times. Usually they only give the last name of the agent assisting the hunt. The hunter is usually identified by first name only. The second thing was the graphics of showing the locations of the houses. Before the background color of the maps was yellow. In this episode the maps had a green background. That said, the production company is Leopard USA, which produces all the HHI programs. Usually if you have a repackaged episode, it will have a different production company. I didn't catch the production year date. But I don't think this was repackaged.

[chocolatine]

On 3/25/2021 at 8:01 PM, Grizzly said:

Ho Chi Minh City. If he has a job teaching English, why is he working from home?

He could be teaching mostly private lessons.

On 3/26/2021 at 12:08 AM, aghst said:

If she’s willing to put up with him pushing, they must be happy.  She said they make it a point of not refusing anything to each other. 

I got the impression that she plays up a lot of her "fears." There's a school of thought among some Russian women that men should be made to feel like alphas while the women subtly pull all the strings in the background. (That's also why Russian women are so popular as mail order brides among Western men whose egos are too fragile to treat women as equals.) Notice that they ended up choosing the apartment in the quieter neighborhood that she preferred while she pretended to have compromised on the size of the apartment. She seemed more than happy to have her own office/yoga room after the fact.

On 3/27/2021 at 9:37 PM, LittleIggy said:

Jesse James the realtor goes all in for the Western look, doesn’t he? 😆 I like him.

I wonder if he dresses like that all the time or only when he films episodes with Texan clients.

12 hours ago, cinsays said:

I was confused about T's sex as well and was trying to catch them mentioning "his" or "her" in the narration.  Yeah, not of consequence, just not easy to tell.

Yasmin made one reference to T not being a "party boy." I assume T is trans male (or maybe non-binary). There was also a brief scene of the two of them in a hot springs pool, and T was wearing a bathing suit top.

7 hours ago, hurrrz said:

Yesterday there was a France episode, Reiki Retreat in the boons. I suspect it was a repurposed episode from a UK channel, as this felt different. Bizarre soon-to-be owner that doesn't speak French.

She said she'd spent six weeks in France every year as a child, so I expected her to speak at least some French and be able to order a sparkling water without the realtor's help. The whole endeavor has "bad idea" written all over it. This show always tries to sell rural France as a desirable vacation destination, but for Europeans it's nothing special unless it's a very scenic area and/or close to beaches. 

[doodlebug]

22 minutes ago, chocolatine said:

 

She said she'd spent six weeks in France every year as a child, so I expected her to speak at least some French and be able to order a sparkling water without the realtor's help. The whole endeavor has "bad idea" written all over it. This show always tries to sell rural France as a desirable vacation destination, but for Europeans it's nothing special unless it's a very scenic area and/or close to beaches. 

HHI seems to really like the hunters with kooky business ideas.  Based on her interview, it appeared this woman had virtually no savings other than the proceeds from the sale of her home in England which she was using to purchase the French home.  She said she'd spent years fighting over property in her divorce from her husband and ended up losing.  That being the case, who in their right mind would think a holistic wellness retreat featuring Reiki massage and yoga in rural France would be a surefire moneymaker?  Seems like there are a lot of people out there who think that this sort of pseudo legit lifestyle business is going to be profitable when I'd think it's a longshot at best, especially for someone like Coral who sounded like she'd never actually been paid for that work in the past.  Inexperienced with a very niche skill setting up a business in the middle of nowhere sounds like a disaster to me.

[Cetacean]

16 minutes ago, doodlebug said:

Inexperienced with a very niche skill setting up a business in the middle of nowhere sounds like a disaster to me.

Yeah, that whole story was looney tunes, so much so that I wonder if any piece of it was real.  I'm guess she had never drawn up any kind of business plan or anything.  That place looked like a disaster waiting to happen.

[Grizzly]

Blue Mountains, Australia. I'm tired of all these spiritual healers. The realtor didn't have much patience with their communing with the tree. 

[jacksgirl]

Blue Mountain man cannot stand the woman. This is gonna end badly.

[Cetacean]

3 minutes ago, Grizzly said:

Blue Mountains, Australia. I'm tired of all these spiritual healers. The realtor didn't have much patience with their communing with the tree. 

Can people really make a living at that?  I know no one who goes to a "spiritual healer".  And when she was communing with the tree it was kind of hilarious.

[LittleIggy]

6 hours ago, Grrarrggh said:

I'll throw in extra for this German property if you can promise Kevin will keep that extra button undone 😉

Deal!  I’ll take it upon myself to teach Kevin what “rolling hills” means!😏 That little dog was so adorable too. 

1 hour ago, Grizzly said:

Blue Mountains, Australia. I'm tired of all these spiritual healers. The realtor didn't have much patience with their communing with the tree. 

He got a big thumbs up from me for that. I bet he got laughs telling his mates at the bar about the flaky New Age Yanks. 😆

[chessiegal]

10 hours ago, Cetacean said:

And when she was communing with the tree it was kind of hilarious.

I burst out laughing! My husband wasn't paying attention and looked up from his tablet to see what was so funny. 

[TVForever]

Blue Mountains, Australia:

Well, those two were a SPECIAL kind of special. I'll just leave that there...

This episode introduced me to an area of Australia that I'd never heard of before, and I loved it! The scenery was beyond stunning! I didn't even mind the houses- they each had something I could like (and dislike).

For a roommate setup, the house they chose was best. If they were a couple, I would have loved the first house. It was gorgeous, but too small for sharing.

[Cetacean]

13 minutes ago, TVForever said:

The scenery was beyond stunning!

I had read about it but never seen it. I would have loved 90% of the show to be shots of that area without the WooWoo Twins.  It was just gorgeous.

[cinsays]

1 hour ago, TVForever said:

Blue Mountains, Australia:

Well, those two were a SPECIAL kind of special. I'll just leave that there...

This episode introduced me to an area of Australia that I'd never heard of before, and I loved it! The scenery was beyond stunning! I didn't even mind the houses- they each had something I could like (and dislike).

For a roommate setup, the house they chose was best. If they were a couple, I would have loved the first house. It was gorgeous, but too small for sharing.

I would bet that this couple will not be living together long, best friends or not.  A little of her goes a long way.  Wonder if she really always acts so deliberately quirky or it was just for the show.

[chessiegal]

Re: the divorced English woman moving to France. I was so surprised to see a full name for her. I found her, and she has indeed opened up an Alternative & Holistic Health Service Business on the property shown. Who knew?

[Pine]

I think T is channeling Justin Beiber, and Coral has watched too much Escape to the Chateau.  Perhaps Dick and Angela can help Coral out.

[StatisticalOutlier]

16 hours ago, chocolatine said:

Yasmin made one reference to T not being a "party boy." I assume T is trans male (or maybe non-binary). There was also a brief scene of the two of them in a hot springs pool, and T was wearing a bathing suit top.

I noticed the "party boy," too, but then remembered that I used to refer to myself as a "fanboy" when I engaged in fanboy behavior in an arena that was almost all male and the term "fanboy" was prevalent, even though technically I would be a "fangirl."  So the "party boy" wasn't dispositive for me.

I noticed the bathing suit top, too, but that wasn't dispositive for me, either.

 

20 hours ago, biakbiak said:

I don’t think they carefully avoided anything just actively used T because that is what T likes be called and that it illustrates how even in casual conversation pronouns aren’t needed. 

I was reading an article in The New Yorker the other day about someone named Erica Chenoweth, and it was Chenoweth this and Chenoweth that and Chenoweth said and Chenoweth argued, with nary a pronoun in sight.  Finally, in the third column, the pronoun thing was discussed, but not before it was obvious to me that pronouns were being purposely avoided, which of course made me wonder why they're being avoided, which of course distracted from the reason I was reading the article.

At least with "T" it's short, like a pronoun, so it would be less likely to make me flinch than the constant Chenoweths did. 

However, a caveat:  I'm as affected by the delivery of a message as I am about the message itself.  I Don't Read Posts That Have The First Letter Of Every Word Capitalized Because I Find It Too Distracting, Which I Realize Doesn't Bother The Vast Majority Of People.  I was once reading a long book review and halfway through thought, "Why am I reading this?  I don't care about this book."  But then I looked at who had written the review and it was someone whose writing I always enjoy, and thought, "Oh, that's why," and finished the review.

What does this have to do with this show?  Verbal tics are distracting, too.  The main one on this show is "I mean."  (On most reality TV, it's like like like like like.)  But I swear, some HHs start every comment with "I mean," and it drives me nuts.  The realtors typically don't do it as much as the HHs, and I wonder if it's because the HHs are usually stating opinions, and "I mean" is a way to introduce an opinion, or maybe even soften it?  Realtors are usually stating facts (although that can lead to their overuse of "actually," as in "This house is actually 1500 square feet," when nobody was implying that it wasn't). 

I also wonder if the "I mean" is an American thing.  Maybe I'll have to pay closer attention to HHs from Australia or England or other native English speakers, to see if I catch any of them doing it.  I'll notice it whether I want to or not, but I've never tried to correlate it to anything.

 

[Grizzly]

15 hours ago, LittleIggy said:

Deal!  I’ll take it upon myself to teach Kevin what “rolling hills” means!😏 That little dog was so adorable too.

I was laughing when Kevin said he wasn't paid by how much he disappointed them. Oh Kevin, you could never disappoint us. Let's go during Oktoberfest, I'll bet he's got some lederhosen.

[hurrrz]

On 4/1/2021 at 2:34 PM, biakbiak said:

I don’t think they carefully avoided anything just actively used T because that is what T likes be called and that it illustrates how even in casual conversation pronouns aren’t needed. 

absolutely fair point. 

[ArtFossil]

23 hours ago, doodlebug said:

HHI seems to really like the hunters with kooky business ideas.  Based on her interview, it appeared this woman had virtually no savings other than the proceeds from the sale of her home in England which she was using to purchase the French home.  She said she'd spent years fighting over property in her divorce from her husband and ended up losing.  That being the case, who in their right mind would think a holistic wellness retreat featuring Reiki massage and yoga in rural France would be a surefire moneymaker?  Seems like there are a lot of people out there who think that this sort of pseudo legit lifestyle business is going to be profitable when I'd think it's a longshot at best, especially for someone like Coral who sounded like she'd never actually been paid for that work in the past.  Inexperienced with a very niche skill setting up a business in the middle of nowhere sounds like a disaster to me.

I can't decide which career is more impractical: travel blogger or holistic retreat owner?

[ArtFossil]

7 hours ago, StatisticalOutlier said:

I was reading an article in The New Yorker the other day about someone named Erica Chenoweth, and it was Chenoweth this and Chenoweth that and Chenoweth said and Chenoweth argued, with nary a pronoun in sight.  Finally, in the third column, the pronoun thing was discussed, but not before it was obvious to me that pronouns were being purposely avoided, which of course made me wonder why they're being avoided, which of course distracted from the reason I was reading the article.

At least with "T" it's short, like a pronoun, so it would be less likely to make me flinch than the constant Chenoweths did. 

 

I am happy to use whatever pronouns a human indicates the human prefers.