House Hunters International - General Discussion

[Grrarrggh]

I wonder if the Edinburgh dad home schooled? He talked about being at home with the kids all day.

[Cetacean]

8 hours ago, Grizzly said:

Warsaw, Poland. That couple had an interesting dynamic. Not what I would want in a relationship but it seemed to work for them. Even if the realtor didn't always look comfortable. 

Heck, it made me uncomfortable.  Some of that needling did not seem at all good natured.

[Grizzly]

15 hours ago, Grrarrggh said:

I wonder if the Edinburgh dad home schooled? He talked about being at home with the kids all day.

I may be mixing up my episodes but I thought at the end he said he walked the kids to school.

[izabella]

On 4/14/2021 at 2:02 AM, aghst said:

But vacations and other entertainment expenses comprise maybe a few weeks out of the year?  So are they going to be miserable with cramped rooms, tiny refrigerators, one small bathrooms the rest of the year?

I always side-eye these HH who say they can deal with this.  How will a dorm refrigerator suffice for a family with kids?  Especially an American family with kids? 

My assumption is always that they are not actually buying or renting to live there.  Maybe it's a temp rental like an AirBnB, and they won't be living there.  If they do live there, then I want an explanation of how that fridge is working for them.

[Grrarrggh]

3 hours ago, izabella said:

I always side-eye these HH who say they can deal with this.  How will a dorm refrigerator suffice for a family with kids?  Especially an American family with kids? 

My assumption is always that they are not actually buying or renting to live there.  Maybe it's a temp rental like an AirBnB, and they won't be living there.  If they do live there, then I want an explanation of how that fridge is working for them.

Maybe, but people in Europe also do fresh food shopping nearly daily, so they don't need as much storage space for it.

[Dehumidifier]

2 hours ago, Grrarrggh said:

Maybe, but people in Europe also do fresh food shopping nearly daily, so they don't need as much storage space for it.

Chicken or egg? Maybe they wouldn't shop daily if they had bigger refrigerators.

[deirdra]

34 minutes ago, Dehumidifier said:

Chicken or egg? Maybe they wouldn't shop daily if they had bigger refrigerators.

Maybe if Americans had smaller fridges like the rest of the world, 69% of them wouldn't be overweight or obese.

Edited April 16, 2021 by deirdra

[Kiddvideo]

35 minutes ago, Dehumidifier said:

Chicken or egg? Maybe they wouldn't shop daily if they had bigger refrigerators.

They’ve shown us apartments with full size fridges before. Seems culturally they prefer the smaller size fridges and doing smaller shopping runs for fresher food more frequently. It’s a mind shift not a deficit.

[Dehumidifier]

6 minutes ago, Kiddvideo said:

They’ve shown us apartments with full size fridges before. Seems culturally they prefer the smaller size fridges and doing smaller shopping runs for fresher food more frequently. It’s a mind shift not a deficit.

I think the newer builds have the bigger appliances. 

[Dehumidifier]

15 minutes ago, deirdra said:

Maybe if Americans had smaller fridges like the rest of the world, 69% of them wouldn't be overweight or obese.

I wonder how many people who think shop every day is a good system would want to do that themselves, especially suburbanites and working moms.

[awaken]

Warsaw realtor looked like she was going to bust out a whip or suddenly transform into some kind of superhero!  

[Grrarrggh]

58 minutes ago, Dehumidifier said:

I wonder how many people who think shop every day is a good system would want to do that themselves, especially suburbanites and working moms.

Why would being a working mom matter? There is a second adult to shop as well. And when fresh ingredients are bought daily or every other day they're much less likely to spoil and being binned. Less food waste.

[Dehumidifier]

Just now, Grrarrggh said:

Why would being a working mom matter? There is a second adult to shop as well. And when fresh ingredients are bought daily or every other day they're much less likely to spoil and being binned. Less food waste.

Where I live commutes of over an hour are common. People are tired when they get home.

Tonight's Warsaw hunter has been there since January 2020. https://pl.linkedin.com/in/grayjt

[Grizzly]

1 minute ago, Dehumidifier said:

Tonight's Warsaw hunter has been there since January 2020. https://pl.linkedin.com/in/grayjt

Not liking him. Glad he appreciates what Warsaw has to offer. 

[Dehumidifier]

1 minute ago, Grizzly said:

Not liking him. Glad he appreciates what Warsaw has to offer. 

I'm liking him because he just proved my point about the one hour commutes!

[aghst]

In a European city, they might find a mini supermarket on the way from their home to work or the metro station.

Also if you don't have a car, you might not want to buy a lot of stuff all the time.

But I believe for people who want to buy a lot and have a big enough fridge, you can get the groceries delivered if you're willing to spend over a certain amount.

Again, because people who live in the center of a city may not have cars.

Edited April 16, 2021 by aghst

[copshop]

South Africa to London

I can't believe they did not take the adorably perfect last place for the soulless modern monstrosity next to a construction site--and she is supposed to study through that noise? She seemed childish--how do people like that make it through law school? Their budget seemed low for London for a lawyer and "international banker"--even a lawyer taking a year off. It is so amusing how some people just want to be on tv no matter how bad they appear.

Comedian in Edinburgh

They were cute, aside from the HHI pretend-stupidity. How did I not know how beautiful this city is? It's going on the post-pandemic travel list stat!

I am very partial to Mediterranean country episodes because I want to see the real estate more than the made-up story, but Scotland and Ireland episodes are moving up.

 

 

[amarante]

On 4/15/2021 at 6:35 PM, Dehumidifier said:

I wonder how many people who think shop every day is a good system would want to do that themselves, especially suburbanites and working moms.

It's a different lifestyle. 

In metropolitan areas it is very common to get ingredients for dinner on the way - especially among single and couples without children. You don't eat at home that often and a lot of times you don't even know what you will be doing. People don't tend to do a lot of entertaining at home either as people generally meet at restaurants. At most they meet for drinks at someone's house before setting out. This is even more true in some of the cities like Rome and Paris. 

At least in NY you don't tend to pick up that food at a large supermarket - you stop at the bodega or corner market and of course ordering food to be delivered.

My refrigerator in Manhattan was pretty small. It had a single door with one of those freezers in the refrigerator section which basically didn't keep anything frozen and since it wasn't frost free it was generally iced up - about all if fit was a box of Lean Cuisine and a bottle of vodka.

As others have pointed out, without a car it is pretty difficult to do a major shopping expedition anyway unless you plan it and shlep out a granny cart. 

Generally if you are commuting an hour or more you are commuting to the suburbs and have a car as a rule so your lifestyle is completely different. 

Edited April 17, 2021 by amarante

[LittleIggy]

On 4/15/2021 at 10:46 PM, Grizzly said:

Not liking him. Glad he appreciates what Warsaw has to offer. 

I found his attempts at humor cringe-worthy. I think the realtor did to. He ended up with the smallest most expensive place.

[Grrarrggh]

On 4/15/2021 at 10:36 PM, Dehumidifier said:

Where I live commutes of over an hour are common. People are tired when they get home.

Yes, but why are only Moms tired or expected to food shop?

[ArtFossil]

20 hours ago, LittleIggy said:

I found his attempts at humor cringe-worthy. I think the realtor did to. He ended up with the smallest most expensive place.

I'm really enjoying the Edinburgh episode because (1) Edinburgh and (2) I now get to add stand-up comedian to my list of most-likely-to-fail HH jobs (after travel blogger and holistic health retreat operator).

[deirdra]

13 hours ago, ArtFossil said:

I'm really enjoying the Edinburgh episode because (1) Edinburgh and (2) I now get to add stand-up comedian to my list of most-likely-to-fail HH jobs (after travel blogger and holistic health retreat operator).

I was hoping to see him at a gig making American jokes that left the audience perplexed, not laughing or clapping.

[slasherboy]

18 hours ago, ArtFossil said:

I'm really enjoying the Edinburgh episode because (1) Edinburgh and (2) I now get to add stand-up comedian to my list of most-likely-to-fail HH jobs (after travel blogger and holistic health retreat operator).

Does this mean you believe a digital nomad would be a success story?  Yeah, me neither.  HAHA

[Babalooie]

On 4/15/2021 at 2:55 PM, Grizzly said:

I may be mixing up my episodes but I thought at the end he said he walked the kids to school.

What I thought about that was that I wondered if all schools required uniforms, because the kids were not wearing them.

[Grrarrggh]

On 4/17/2021 at 8:50 PM, ArtFossil said:

I'm really enjoying the Edinburgh episode because (1) Edinburgh and (2) I now get to add stand-up comedian to my list of most-likely-to-fail HH jobs (after travel blogger and holistic health retreat operator).

He is actually in one of the best places to be a comedian with the Fringe Festival. 

[Grizzly]

Zurich. I couldn't get past her appearance. Sorry, I'm now officially an old judgemental, fuddy duddy. 3 nose rings, teeth that should of had braces, and tattoos all over. The baby is so cute. For once the husband won and has a shorter commute. I think she'll come to appreciate the open concept and sleekness.

[buttersister]

1 hour ago, Grizzly said:

I think she'll come to appreciate the open concept and sleekness.

Oh yeah. Like right away if not sooner. Seeing their walk across the bridge to the grocery store every day, she's got all the charm she wanted. And is (surprise!) happy in her big space with lots of ex-pat pals around.

[aghst]

Yeah she was going for a cartoonish look?

She kept going on about ow cute the third place was and how quirky.

if she said she preferred the neighborhood of the third place it’s one thing.  Otherwise that was not better.

[Cetacean]

8 hours ago, Grizzly said:

Zurich. I couldn't get past her appearance. Sorry, I'm now officially an old judgemental, fuddy duddy.

Table for two, please.  I couldn't concentrate on the places because of finding some other bizarre body "art" in each shot.  I'm surprised she didn't keep referring to herself as quirky instead of just the places they were looking at.

The whole idea of him living in a place where he would have to stoop all of the time was just ridiculous.  And it was evident from the start that the place with all of the stairs would not work with the kids.

[MartyQui]

Zurich:  I didn’t mind the crooked teeth, but it looked like they needed a good brushing.  And post-docs work a ton of hours, adding a 2 hour round trip just wasn’t feasible.

 

[Cetacean]

25 minutes ago, MartyQui said:

I didn’t mind the crooked teeth, but it looked like they needed a good brushing

And certain lipstick colors make yellow teeth look even worse.  Bad color for her.

[StatisticalOutlier]

On 4/11/2021 at 12:51 PM, LittleIggy said:

Too bad he ruined his ears like that. I hate earlobe plugs. Bovine nose pierces, too.

And I swear that was a family photo in his earlobe. 

 

4 hours ago, MartyQui said:

Zurich:  I didn’t mind the crooked teeth, but it looked like they needed a good brushing.

They weren't just crooked--they were broken or something, so the top front two made an inverted V.  And I kept screaming, "A tree is not a what????"  At the end, her shirt finally shifted enough that I think it was "forest."

But...A tree is not a forest?  Of course it's not.  Did she mean "A tree does not make a forest" and just got it wrong??  Or realized she was going to run out of room and changed it on the fly?

[Crashcourse]

The strange thing about "Bunny the Tattooed Zurich Wife" was that she looked normal in earlier pictures they showed.  I didn't a bunch of tattoos, her hair was longer, and she looked reasonably attractive.   Maybe motherhood made her go off the rails?  

[MartyQui]

Just wondering...are visible (hand) tattoos on teachers acceptable?  

[Crashcourse]

I don't know about the policies school districts have regarding a teacher's appearance, but I wonder how she even got hired with all those tattoos and the nose rings. 

[Spunkygal]

2 hours ago, Crashcourse said:

I don't know about the policies school districts have regarding a teacher's appearance, but I wonder how she even got hired with all those tattoos and the nose rings. 

The elementary school where I volunteer used to have a computer lab teacher who had piercings in her tongue, nape of neck, nose, eyebrows. And those are only the visible ones! Don’t want to know what was under her clothing! I think the tongue one is the grossest.

[Crashcourse]

1 minute ago, Spunkygal said:

The elementary school where I volunteer used to have a computer lab teacher who had piercings in her tongue, nape of neck, nose, eyebrows. And those are only the visible ones! Don’t want to know what was under her clothing! I think the tongue one is the grossest.

Wow, those poor kids!  

[Spunkygal]

1 minute ago, Crashcourse said:

Wow, those poor kids!  

I seem to remember that she lasted 2 years. She was so lazy and never did anything! So the principal asked her to leave. (Not correlating piercings to laziness in general.) 

[StatisticalOutlier]

6 hours ago, Crashcourse said:

The strange thing about "Bunny the Tattooed Zurich Wife" was that she looked normal in earlier pictures they showed. 

Now, I'm not positive about the inverted V in her top front teeth, but if it is there, is it possible that she did it on purpose, like the people who get a V notched into the tips of their tongues?  I hope I mis-saw the teeth, and I really hope that if I didn't, she chipped them opening a pocket knife or something.

[chessiegal]

My husband said the same thing about her teeth - he thought they looked deliberately chipped.

[Cetacean]

42 minutes ago, StatisticalOutlier said:

Now, I'm not positive about the inverted V in her top front teeth, but if it is there, is it possible that she did it on purpose, like the people who get a V notched into the tips of their tongues? 

I did think it odd that it was such a perfect inverted V.  I have never seen that sort of thing naurally occur.  In her early pictures I didn't notice it but they were so brief it's possible I missed it.

[Kimboweena]

9 hours ago, StatisticalOutlier said:

But...A tree is not a forest?  Of course it's not.  Did she mean "A tree does not make a forest" and just got it wrong??  Or realized she was going to run out of room and changed it on the fly?

Pretty sure this is the source for her tattoo.

“A tree is not a forest” writes Peter Wohlleben in The Hidden Life of Trees, “on it’s own, a tree cannot establish a consistent local climate. It is at the mercy of wind and weather” [1]. Alone, a tree is a vulnerable individual. It must succumb to the forces of the larger landscape.

[Grizzly]

Netherlands. I really like realtor Sarah's dress, the way the ruffles move when she walked. Their house in S Africa looked huge, too bad they're having problems selling it. I really like this couple. He gives me a Phil Collins vibe. The kids look big enough to help around the house. So glad they sold their old house, financial anxiety is not a good thing. 

[BrownBear2012]

On 4/20/2021 at 11:03 PM, Grizzly said:

Zurich. I couldn't get past her appearance. Sorry, I'm now officially an old judgemental, fuddy duddy. 3 nose rings, teeth that should of had braces, and tattoos all over. The baby is so cute. For once the husband won and has a shorter commute. I think she'll come to appreciate the open concept and sleekness.

Switzerland is a very conservative country. I lived there for a year...the Swissies, as we kids called them, are very rigid and not into a lot of "self expression". I would imagine that  Bunny gets alot of looks with her nose rings, tattoos and and red glasses. Instead of spending money on more tattoos, how about investing in some dental work? A dentist could do some bonding on the front teeth in an hour and she would look so much better. 

 

[Grrarrggh]

21 minutes ago, BrownBear2012 said:

 Instead of spending money on more tattoos, how about investing in some dental work? A dentist could do some bonding on the front teeth in an hour and she would look so much better. 

 

Why? So she can fit someone else's standards of "beauty"?

[aghst]

South African family seemed to be good people.

Tough way to support a large family but he’s done it for a couple of decades.

Now this would be interesting way to weave in the pandemic.  Surely his gigs dried up, even in the Netherlands and Europe.

He didn’t leave South Africa because of the pandemic.  Seems like he mostly made his living doing tours in Europe, did well enough to support a big family, buy a big home.

Hope they’re doing okay now.  

[Grizzly]

Canberra, Australia. Michelle certainly has the American attitude but I wonder where she picked up the accent. 

[Kiddvideo]

19 minutes ago, Grizzly said:

Canberra, Australia. Michelle certainly has the American attitude but I wonder where she picked up the accent. 

It was a surprise when she said Seattle! She mentioned moving a lot bc of her Navy father and then she mentioned living elsewhere abroad. I’d bet she really doesn’t have a distinct natural accent and instead subconsciously mimics what she hears. I googled it. Lots of articles, but I didn’t see any scientific sources immediately so I won’t share links.

[blueray]

I at first thought she was British however, she at other points had an american accent. She didn't seem like the IVY League type that just pretends to be British. She probably picked up from moving around a lot and having a serious relationship with a Brit. 

[MartyQui]

On 4/22/2021 at 12:07 AM, BrownBear2012 said:

Instead of spending money on more tattoos, how about investing in some dental work? A dentist could do some bonding on the front teeth in an hour and she would look so much better. 

Not just for appearance, but that V looked like a big cavity waiting to happen.