House Hunters International - General Discussion

[aguabella]

On 10/23/2018 at 7:50 PM, Pickles said:

The Manchester UK episode is not over yet, but the wife is annoying. Her glasses do her no favors and she seems quite pleased with herself for being so picky. Saying she would trash the furniture in the first apartment, just because she didn’t like it. Wow, entitled much? The husband seems reasonable. Too nice for her. 

 

On 10/23/2018 at 9:18 PM, LittleIggy said:

I agree with you. She was irksome. The furniture wasn’t hers to “trash” to begin with. And all the angst about the entrance being in an alley. ? The first place was my fave. The husband was nice and good looking.

I assumed she meant they'd replace it by returning it to the landlord.  But, who knows?  Sounded good for the camera, didn't it?

Yep, it did feel like an alley but minor - the street appeared to contain the rears of the other buildings.  Tough to see / feel on camera.  Probably not a bustling, city atmosphere.

Tiresome episode - felt as if they were working OT to derive minute comparisons between the places.

[javajeanelaine]

Poor Jon.  Goofy but sweet.  Maria was MEAN.

[SmithW6079]

16 hours ago, aguabella said:

Yes, everybody, it was a rerun.  Doesn't look like they've done much with it, however.  They did appear on a local tour and hosted at least one reenactment.

Here's the website:    https://www.sigginstowncastle.com/

Thanks for the link. I really hope they can restore/renovate the ruins.

[proserpina65]

I missed the end of the HHI in Buenos Aires.  Did they pick the apartment with the never-ending views of the cemetery?  'Cause I was with her about that being creepy.  I could never live someplace where I could see a cemetery at night.  It's weird and illogical, but there it is.  Of course there was an episode with Richard buying and renovating a house in east London, and he was also put off by the one with the cemetery just over the wall from the back garden, so I guess I'm not alone.

[Kohola3]

Personally, I'd love to live adjacent to a cemetary. No noisy neighbors, generally the grounds are well kept, lots of places for birds if they left the trees.  I find that so peaceful, no pun intended.

[Mittengirl]

I wouldn’t mind living near a cemetery, as long as it was gated at night. ( To keep rowdy teens out, not to keep the residents in.)  I think a well-kept cemetery would be a nice place to take a stroll.

[Kohola3]

Holy cow, how low can HHI go.  That whole twin thing was just, well, ugh.  The tagalong kept bitching but was she kicking in anything monetarily?  If you don't like it, bitch, don't go.  I guess he needs to be by pubs to get the hell away from that whole bizarre combo.

That city was just gorgeous!  All of that beautiful snow.

[chessiegal]

The whole the twin thing had to come along was bizarre and unexplained. Well, what else is new for HHI?

[Thumper]

Wasn't there just a regular HH episode with the twin thing too?

I was uncomfortable for the husband the whole time.  

Did either he or the twin sister have a job?

Weird. 

[Irlandesa]

I might be okay with a cemetary view but that was an aggressive cemetary view.

They chose the third.  Not the air b&b or the cemetary. 

[TVForever]

33 minutes ago, Thumper said:

Wasn't there just a regular HH episode with the twin thing too?

I was uncomfortable for the husband the whole time.  

Did either he or the twin sister have a job?

Weird. 

The husband said that he would be working remotely. All we know about the sister is that she sold her house and quit her job to make the move.

[LittleIggy]

1 hour ago, Kohola3 said:

Holy cow, how low can HHI go.  That whole twin thing was just, well, ugh.  The tagalong kept bitching but was she kicking in anything monetarily?  If you don't like it, bitch, don't go.  I guess he needs to be by pubs to get the hell away from that whole bizarre combo.

That city was just gorgeous!  All of that beautiful snow.

Yeah, that was too freakin’ bizarre!  I cannot for the life of me figure out why the twin went with them. Yeah, every time she opened her mouth to complain, I was like STFU and go home. The husband looked younger than them.

[KAOS Agent]

There had to be a reason for the tagalong twin. It was somewhat creepy. And then they looked at an apartment with only one real bedroom? What was that about? There were three adults and two kids going to be living there. The final interview was interesting too because no one was super effusive about how happy they are. It was all about adjusting to living together and not much about the place they chose or how they liked living in Sweden.

On a separate note, it's Umeå, not Umea. Please pronounce it correctly, Narrator Lady. It's not hard.  

Edited November 2, 2018 by KAOS Agent

[buttersister]

It looked like the twin was paying part of the rent, hence her harping on the budget. When they were toasting the university apartment did the husband say, holy crap? Or was that me?

I’m assuming Aunt Twin was there as part of child care—and the fulfillment of some bizarro package deal. Or maybe just the latter. While she made noises about the noisy, toilet-missing little boys, she did seem to hang with them okay. Maybe that’s also part of the package deal?

[chessiegal]

I thought I heard the husband say "holy crap" too and was surprised it wasn't edited out or at least bleeped.

[mojito]

Quote

Wasn't there just a regular HH episode with the twin thing too?

Yes. All three house hunters were in their late 30s and knew each other since college. If there's a falling out, it's not so hard to go elsewhere since you are home. They came off as friends and I didn't get the sense that the twins were joined at the hip. Not so with this Switzerland threesome. The twins were kind of scary. The husband seemed way out of place. I see the makings of a plot for a horror film here. 

[abbyzenn]

Kaiserlauten Germany episode:  That whole family was annoying especially the daughter.  She looked too young to me to be wearing makeup (the scene where her Dad did her ponytail) I mean really she can't pull her hair back into a ponytail????    You would also think if you're moving every couple of years you wouldn't hoard a bunch of stuff - I say this as the daughter of a Navy man and we moved throughout my childhood.

[HZAnita]

I was just in Umea this summer and it is so charming and fabulous!  I am so jealous of that couple (+1)!  I love my sisters, but I can't imagine having any of them THAT close!  He is one understanding husband.   Unless they have some sort of "understanding".... :/

[sempervivum]

Umea- I missed the first 5 minutes and thought there was some sensible explanation for the twin thing, but apparently not. When I first saw this trio, I actually thought maybe the blond was an older relative, like a mother in law, who was there to 'support' their house hunt process. I also considered the possibility that the women were lesbians, and that the guy was one of their brothers. I was amazed to learn the 2 women were twins, they looked nothing alike, and the blond looked a lot older. The husband seemed kind of disconnected to the twins' relationship.

I don't know why they even bothered to show the last place, that was just ridiculous.

[chessiegal]

12 minutes ago, sempervivum said:

to learn the 2 women were twins, they looked nothing alike,

They were obviously fraternal twins. I guess if you didn't know that going in, it would be a disconnect.

[Irlandesa]

1 hour ago, HZAnita said:

I was just in Umea this summer and it is so charming and fabulous!  I am so jealous of that couple (+1)!  I love my sisters, but I can't imagine having any of them THAT close!  He is one understanding husband.   Unless they have some sort of "understanding".... :/

Yeah.  Honestly, before I saw their names and the old picture, I wondered if they were more sister wives than sisters but decided to pass themselves off as sisters because polyamory was a bridge too far for HGTV.

[slasherboy]

19 hours ago, Mittengirl said:

 I think a well-kept cemetery would be a nice place to take a stroll.

I live about a mile from a beautiful, large cemetery and love to take my dog there for a walk.  Yes, the staff are aware (I'm not the only one) and are welcoming.  Of course, we're 100% respectful, no walking over graves, poop is immediately pick-up, and we don't go near funerals in progress.  We especially like the lake and ducks.  It's quiet, traffic moves slowly, and the flowers are beautiful and smell good.  I recommend it if the staff is cool with it.

On topic, I love my sister but wouldn't want to share my marital home with her, although I wouldn't mind her moving to the same town/country to help with the kids.  I would go crazy ... in a good way ... with all that snow!  Would love to visit the Scandinavian countries but at this point in my life, that's not going to happen. 

Sad!

[Ohwell]

3 hours ago, chessiegal said:

They were obviously fraternal twins. I guess if you didn't know that going in, it would be a disconnect.

Fraternal twins, yes, but the blonde did look older than her sister. She even acted older and more "settled."  As someone said, she could have been the mother-in-law.

Also, I don't know what kind of "remote" job the husband had but I had the feeling he settled for having the sister as part of the deal because he wasn't making much money.  That is, if he even had a job.

[Kohola3]

51 minutes ago, Ohwell said:

Also, I don't know what kind of "remote" job the husband had but I had the feeling he settled for having the sister as part of the deal because he wasn't making much money.  That is, if he even had a job.

Interesting, too, that there was no mention of any office space.  And his insistence on being close to pubs.  So what does he do for a living?

[TVForever]

12 hours ago, chessiegal said:

They were obviously fraternal twins. I guess if you didn't know that going in, it would be a disconnect.

But fraternal twins still look like siblings. These  are the first twins I’ve ever seen (and admittedly, I haven’t seen all that many) that don’t even look related to each other. They don’t even look the same age. It’s just odd.

[chessiegal]

6 minutes ago, TVForever said:

But fraternal twins still look like siblings. These  are the first twins I’ve ever seen (and admittedly, I haven’t seen all that many) that don’t even look related to each other. They don’t even look the same age. It’s just odd.

Siblings don't have to look like each other. Fraternal twins are just like any other siblings. Genetics is an amazing thing. I know many siblings you would never guess they came from the same mother and father. Sharing a womb doesn't make you look alike.

[izabella]

On 11/1/2018 at 10:51 PM, TVForever said:

The husband said that he would be working remotely. All we know about the sister is that she sold her house and quit her job to make the move.

I found that whole story weird.  The dynamics are bizarre, and I don't think they ever mentioned where they were moving from.  Did I miss it?  I actually re-watched from the beginning to try to figure out where they were moving from, and I still didn't hear a location.  Did the sister mention where her house and job were, or what her job was?

[Pickles]

I thought they were moving from Oregon, if I am remembering correctly. 

[TattooFan]

On 11/1/2018 at 11:27 PM, Irlandesa said:

I might be okay with a cemetary view but that was an aggressive cemetary view.

They chose the third.  Not the air b&b or the cemetary. 

But that was the famous Recoleta cemetery!  I would have snapped up that apartment immediately.  I’m not typically a cemetery tourist, but that one in Buenos Aires is magnificent!  And lots of cats live there!

[scrb]

On 11/1/2018 at 4:04 PM, Mittengirl said:

I wouldn’t mind living near a cemetery, as long as it was gated at night. ( To keep rowdy teens out, not to keep the residents in.)  I think a well-kept cemetery would be a nice place to take a stroll.

Recoleta is one of the in-demand places in Buenos Aires.

Plus cemeteries are often put in beautiful locales, like over expansive views of lakes and oceans.

[chessiegal]

2 hours ago, scrb said:

Plus cemeteries are often put in beautiful locales, like over expansive views of lakes and oceans.

John McCain's grave on the Naval Academy in Annapolis has a beautiful view of the Severn River. It's become quite the tourist attraction. We have out-of-town guests coming in 2 weeks, and that's one destination request they made.

[Ohwell]

On 10/30/2018 at 10:15 PM, aguabella said:

How do we know that the word "chef" or "as a chef" wasn't edited out of the 40 some-odd hours filming for the 22-minute episode?  Or, what if he graduated culinary school but is a manager or sommelier or hey, even a dishwasher?  Nothing wrong with that, either.

We could talk about editing of any show.  All we've got to go on is what we see, and that's what I commented on. 

Plus, I have a feeling that if he had been a sommelier, he would have jumped at the chance to let us know. 

[puppytoes]

On 11/3/2018 at 1:26 AM, izabella said:

I found that whole story weird.  The dynamics are bizarre, and I don't think they ever mentioned where they were moving from.  Did I miss it?  I actually re-watched from the beginning to try to figure out where they were moving from, and I still didn't hear a location.  Did the sister mention where her house and job were, or what her job was?

I kept yelling at the blond sister to get her own apartment.  The storyline was ridiculous.

[laredhead]

I read all of the comments about the episode with the twin sisters in the Swedish episode, and finally got around to watching it last night.  Here's my theory, and it is only a theory, because HGTV certainly didn't supply any background information to support it.  Many of these moves to other countries involve one of the participants being enrolled in a college for post graduate work, which is a temporary gig, so the HH's probably won't be living in that country permanently .  I think that in this case, the wife, who was working on her PhD or doing research (I can't remember which), will be there only for a year or so.  Since she and her sister get along so well, she probably asked her sister to go and help out with the children.  The intro did say that the other sister sold her house, and I think she is using some of those proceeds to contribute to the monthly apartment rent and other expenses so her input on the budget would be valid if that is the case,  I also think that sister was probably looking for an inexpensive way to travel and see another part of the world.  Of course, IMHO, I would have chosen somewhere other than 200 miles from the Arctic Circle.  The husband said he works remotely, so trying to deal with 2 very young children and work from home would be difficult if the children are not in school or in day care. 

A little background to explain why I didn't find this episode quite as odd as others - when I was a child, my mother's father passed away and her mother moved in with us to take care of my brother and me while my mother and father worked. A year later, my aunt (my mom's sister), moved to our city, and she also moved in with us to save money.  She was a nurse, and in 1950 nurse's didn't make very much money.  We had 6 people (4 adults & 2 children) living in a 3 bed bedroom/1 bath house for 4 years, until my parents bought a house in another part of the city, and my aunt and grandmother then moved into a rental house they could afford.  They lived together until my grandmother passed away in the mid-70's.  Then about 2 years later, my parents bought another house, and my aunt bought a house across the street from them, and there they all stayed until my mom died in 2010, and my aunt decided 2 years ago to move to a retirement apartment.  During the years my mom and aunt lived across the street from each other, they had coffee twice a day (morning and afternoon), played an almost daily game of Scrabble or Skipbow, etc., shopped together, etc.  They even had a few squabbles like the sisters in the episode.  Long explanation, but I wanted to explain why I didn't think the situation was as odd some other viewers did, but of course, we don't have the benefit of knowing the true story as is often the case on HH.          

[Kohola3]

OK, I could have gone a long time without hearing how that dude in Vietnam likes to walk around naked.  Blech.

[chessiegal]

5 minutes ago, Kohola3 said:

OK, I could have gone a long time without hearing how that dude in Vietnam likes to walk around naked.  Blech.

While he's cooking! My husband said he must not cook much bacon. :-}

[LittleIggy]

1 hour ago, Kohola3 said:

OK, I could have gone a long time without hearing how that dude in Vietnam likes to walk around naked.  Blech.

I need a few gallons of eye bleach to get rid of that image! ?? 

Wonder how they get to work? 

[sempervivum]

Vietnam- this is becoming a theme: weird looking giant man with a cute GF/wife (?) She was so well groomed and chicly dressed, and he was sweaty and disheveled (also kind of rude and dismissive of her). 

[biakbiak]

I have never heard the phrase “single as a Pringle”!

[LittleIggy]

Hanoi: Dude looked like the Comic Book Guy on the Simpsons. He sure was dismissive of the girlfriend and her wants. At the “three months later” part, he said he had found a job so that means he didn’t have one when they were apartment hunting. And yet dude was the one insisting on his way over hers. GF must have lived a sheltered life.

[javajeanelaine]

There was zero chemistry also.

[slasherboy]

5 hours ago, biakbiak said:

I have never heard the phrase “single as a Pringle”!

And you'll probably never hear it again.

Vietnam lady .....  you can do SO much better!

[biakbiak]

1 minute ago, slasherboy said:

And you'll probably never hear it again.

It’s made it to Urban Dictionary and has a decent number of google hits so it might come up again! I thought it was cute.

[Kohola3]

Except that Pringles come in a can....they are decidedly not single.

[mojito]

Quote

Hanoi: Dude looked like the Comic Book Guy on the Simpsons.

You got a guffaw out of me. The neck beard turned me off pretty quickly, then he started talking and shut me down completely. But her comments about how she wouldn't settle weren't at all true. Girlie, we saw what you were moving in with. You settled. Not at all an impressive couple. They didn't seem right together.

[LittleIggy]

MN to Tulum: WTF was that mess they put over the staircase? After bitching about edges on counters and tables, the mom is okay with that staircase and living somewhere with spikes and broken glass on top of the outside walls? And she’s going to be alone there with the kids while he travels on business. Wow. 

8 hours ago, Kohola3 said:

Except that Pringles come in a can....they are decidedly not single.

They like to snuggle! ?

[Mittengirl]

That thing that they put on the open staircase looked more dangerous than leaving things alone.  Looked like a kid could hang themself from it.

 

I have two major beefs with the storyline in episodes like this one:

A) The “we love to be outdoors but live in the upper Midwest and it is too cold for 3 months out of the year” bullshit.  A true outdoors person can find many things to do outside in winter - hiking, fishing, camping, skiing, sledding, snowshoeing, tubing, snowmobiling, etc.  Then, of course, there is just playing outside (snowball fights, building forts). Hell, I even see people riding bikes in the winter.  Put on the right clothes, haul your ass outdoors and quit whining.

 

B)  The parents who claim to be moving to another country for the kids’ benefit, especially when the kids are quite young.  Your toddler doesn’t give a damn about the “culture”.  Mom and/or Dad want to live abroad and that is the reason for the move.  (Not talking about the ones who get transferred overseas for work.)  It is especially galling when one or both parents seem peeved that they can’t live in a shack in the middle of the jungle (“their dream”) and resent having to accommodate their child’s needs.

 

I wish they would only do episodes where people are actually buying, not renting.   When they complain about some aspect being unsafe for Junior, all I can think is it’s not like they are stuck there forever.  Find someplace without whatever deathtrap they are worried about, then move to a more “dangerous” place when the rugrats are older. 

[mojito]

MN to Mexico

That wife was slap-worthy. Sharp corners. The dishwasher. The bed with the palate-like headboard. She'd want to change those out for something the kids would like better. Like those kids would notice or care. Wanting all this safety stuff while renting in a condo setting. Not places likely to cater to kids.

I don't get his insistence on seeing a jungle. The coast is probably not the best place for that. That stair railing setup looked pretty laughable. If she was worried about kids eventually climbing over the balcony, why wouldn't they treat those stairs like flexible monkey bars? So do the adults stoop over when they walk up the stairs?

Clearly, they don't intend to stay in that place for long. The kids were sharing a room and there seemed to be no consideration for schools or an environment for the kids where there would be other kids around. Why go all the way to the Yucatan with kids so young and they don't seem to know anyone and not try the southern tier of the US? The whole move seemed  half-baked  to me.

[sempervivum]

6 hours ago, Mittengirl said:

The “we love to be outdoors but live in the upper Midwest and it is too cold for 3 months out of the year” bullshit.

Eh, more like 5-6 months (November-March, but we had 6" of snow on April 12 last year) here in Milwaukee, and these folks were much farther north. I understand their attitude, but not their solution.

[Mittengirl]

(Waving from across the lake!) I live in West Michigan and we only reliably have snow on the ground from mid-December through February, with an average of 75 inches per year.  (Gotta love that lake effect!) Not that we can’t get snow earlier or later, but it usually doesn’t last.  I would never consider myself “outdoorsy”, but those that do (like most of the gripers on HHI) don’t seem to have any problem amusing themselves.  

Now, those that say they are tired of shoveling - that I totally understand.