House Hunters International - General Discussion

[LittleIggy]

I liked the old setup. 😒

[chessiegal]

My guess is the new format allows for more clickables on ads/stories.

[proserpina65]

On ‎02‎/‎23‎/‎2019 at 11:29 PM, LittleIggy said:

I liked the old setup. 😒

Me too.  I hate that there's no longer a Masterpiece forum.

[Bronx Babe]

Could someone decipher the bizarre episode I saw last night?  Young woman with some sort of auto-immune disease goes to Vicenza, Italy seeking a cure, meets the young man who is head of a clinic specializing in her condition, they immediately fall in love, she moves there to be with him, now they're engaged.  Guy supposedly was born in Vicenza but has an odd English accent, says he's glad to be back in his home town, apparently the two of them were living in Cincinnati, Ohio?  At the finale she tells us she's now the director of the clinic?  WTF was going on with this story?

Edited February 26, 2019 by Bronx Babe

[Pickles]

I don't know that he ever lived in Ohio. His accent was interesting. He did say something about having lived many places. It was all a bit odd. I find it hard to believe that nowhere in the US could help her with her disease and that she had to travel to Italy, but what do I know? And then it was love at first sight and, yes, it does sound like she is the head honcho for the clinic. One thing I do know. This gal needs to go up a size in her clothing and ditch those way, way skimpy shorty shorts she had on at the end. Even with tights underneath, that was not a good look at all. 

[juliet73]

26 minutes ago, Pickles said:

I don't know that he ever lived in Ohio. His accent was interesting. He did say something about having lived many places. It was all a bit odd. I find it hard to believe that nowhere in the US could help her with her disease and that she had to travel to Italy, but what do I know? And then it was love at first sight and, yes, it does sound like she is the head honcho for the clinic. One thing I do know. This gal needs to go up a size in her clothing and ditch those way, way skimpy shorty shorts she had on at the end. Even with tights underneath, that was not a good look at all. 

I find it even harder to believe that she can just up and move to a country with no job and get access to free medical care.  Everything seemed really off about this episode. 

I can't believe she was even considering house #3!  He pointed out that the elevator being broken was a concern, but what about the 100 steps she had to climb to get to the bedroom?! 

She wore those horrible shorts in the beginning of the episode too.  Just when my eyes stopped bleeding, she appeared at the end wearing them!  

[Bronx Babe]

6 hours ago, Pickles said:

I don't know that he ever lived in Ohio. His accent was interesting. He did say something about having lived many places. It was all a bit odd. I find it hard to believe that nowhere in the US could help her with her disease and that she had to travel to Italy, but what do I know? And then it was love at first sight and, yes, it does sound like she is the head honcho for the clinic. One thing I do know. This gal needs to go up a size in her clothing and ditch those way, way skimpy shorty shorts she had on at the end. Even with tights underneath, that was not a good look at all. 

Thanks, @Pickles.  She was pretty but certainly did not know how to style herself, that's for sure.

The guy said he never lived with a woman before.

Trying to remember his name -- Cosimo something....

Edited February 27, 2019 by Bronx Babe

[wovenloaf]

19 minutes ago, Bronx Babe said:

Thanks, @Pickles.  She was pretty was certainly did not know how to style herself, that's for sure.

The guy said he never lived with a woman before.

Trying to remember his name -- Cosimo something....

I got the impression he had never even lived on his own before.  I think at one point he said he'd always been living with his parents?  Even though he's a manager of some health clinic people travel from far and wide to come to?  Huh?  I agree the whole story made no sense. 

[blueray]

I'm glad to see I wasn't the only one who didn't understand this episode. The whole time my husband and I were trying to figure out what she had and why she had to travel to Italy. Assuming she had something with her legs, the 3rd house made no sense. If the elevator breaks you have to do a lot of stairs.

[biakbiak]

1 hour ago, wovenloaf said:

think at one point he said he'd always been living with his parents?  

He said he had never moved out to live with a girlfriend before.

[biakbiak]

2 hours ago, juliet73 said:

and get access to free medical care.  Everything seemed really off about this episode. 

Did she ever say it was free? The clinic seems to be private and sort of sketchy so most likely  or free. This is the website, Anna has a testimonial on there.

[mojito]

Vicenza, Italy

I was impressed by the staircase within the third apartment. It seems a Dutch apartment would've whittled that dramatic, curving staircase down to 5 stairs.

I'm also impressed with how enamored people are with rooftops.

[scrb]

29 minutes ago, mojito said:

I'm also impressed with how enamored people are with rooftops.

Seems to be fashionable in the US and Europe.

Definitely like them in hotels, where they will serve breakfast and drinks.

But living in an apartment with one?  I'm sure it'll be great to have space that you otherwise wouldn't have in a city, regardless of whether there's a view or not.

Unless there's an easy way to get food and drink up there, the appeal may wear off.

Oh and comfortable furniture and wifi too would be needed.

[LittleIggy]

Italy: He wasn’t the head of the clinic. The job she got was more like PR. Where did anyone get the idea that she became head of the clinic? I looked up the disease (CRPS) and clinic online. The treatments are apparently very expensive so I wondered how she paid for them. I thought it a bit presumptuous for her to say the pain from her disorder was much greater than that of giving birth since she apparently had never had a child. 🙄

Couldn’t they have gotten a stair lift for that place with the stairs to the bedroom? 

Edited February 27, 2019 by LittleIggy

[LittleIggy]

Germany: I loved that third house! Not practical for them, but it was lovely.

Do US bases abroad have vets on base for the military families’ pets?

[biakbiak]

3 minutes ago, LittleIggy said:

bit presumptuous for her to say the pain from her disorder was much greater than that of giving birth since she apparently had never had a child. 🙄

In the pain studies about the disease that’s how it’s categorized so she has most likely been told this by doctors. 

[buttersister]

It’s not uncommon for Italian men to live with their mamas/families until they marry, so that wasn’t the weirdest thing for me. Agree that she took some marketing job with the clinic—hope she gets an employee discount on the treatments before her friends and family fee kicks in.

Meanwhile, I thought the third place was an excuse to ooh and ah over the view (Vincenza Chamber of Commerce says grazie). And for him to express concern and remind us of his work while pointing out the 1,000 steps made it out of the question as an option.

[LittleIggy]

33 minutes ago, biakbiak said:

In the pain studies about the disease that’s how it’s categorized so she has most likely been told this by doctors. 

From what I read about the disease, there’s a spectrum as to the pain level.

[biakbiak]

27 minutes ago, LittleIggy said:

From what I read about the disease, there’s a spectrum as to the pain level.

There’s also a spectrum that women feel when giving birth.

[mojito]

St. Paul to Kaserslauten, Germany

Quote

Do US bases abroad have vets on base for the military families’ pets?

Kinda surprising, huh? But I guess when you have a community that large (over 50K), you can provide such things.

Nice couple. I get a feeling that the husband is really comfortable spending money; he was okay buying furniture. He did make a good point of furnishing as much as you want to allow play spaces for the kids. Also, decent point of maybe their not making friends with the neighbors anyway. My guess, though, is they'll hang with the base community so they won't have a problem finding play dates and such for the girls.

Interesting that the husband chose veterinary medicine so he could travel. Never thought of it as a travel-type job. Veterinarians Without Borders? Also wonder what kind of veterinarian he is. If he's specialized or a large animal kind of doctor, he would have more opportunities to travel, I would believe, than being a domestic pet kind of doctor. Maybe his goal was merely to attach himself to military installations. Of course, he may just be working his way into whatever kind of veterinarian work he want to ultimately do. He may show up in HHI Nairobi someday.

Hope the wife has a boy or she may be in for another pregnancy! 

[sempervivum]

St. Paul to Kaiserslautern- Once again, curious about how a vet can afford 4 kids! Unless the wife works, although when would she have time? I assume the military paid their moving expenses, and maybe some of the rent, maybe provided schooling for the girls?

At any rate, what a great looking family- they could have walked right out of central casting.

[Ohwell]

They seemed like a nice couple but the wife had kind of a shouty voice, which wasn't pleasant to listen to.

[ML89]

He's a vet....with no pets? I was also surprised he got the job on the military base. I thought they'd be a pill couple but they turned out to be okay.

Vincenza - yeah, I think that story was weird too. I did check the website for them and I think Director of US Relations needs to do a bit of a rewrite. In any case, low drama couple and I liked the place they got. 

[LittleIggy]

4 hours ago, Ohwell said:

They seemed like a nice couple but the wife had kind of a shouty voice, which wasn't pleasant to listen to.

Probably a result of having three little kids! 😆

[biakbiak]

8 hours ago, mojito said:

Veterinarians Without Borders?

Yep.

I am sure they will find a community with the base but the husband going on about how outgoing and how active she was so she wouldn’t have a problem going out, I did wonder how much she wanted to go out when she added a baby to the theee young children.

The third house was so odd in so many ways. The odd mix of furniture styles and despite having plenty of room and looking fairly new having a spiral staircase the stairs to the main living space were all weird choices.

Edited February 28, 2019 by biakbiak

[Kemper]

I must be in the minority about the vet/Germany/pregnant wife couple.  For some reason I just didn't care for him.  He checked all the boxes...great husband, dad, nice-looking.  And she had such a big smile; the 3 girls were so cute.  There were three girls, weren't there?  Could there have been a set of twins?  But. 

Why would you move to another country with your wife pregnant (maybe she wasn't when he accepted the job) because you wanted a shorter commute?  So you could spent more time with your wife and kids?  I'm an Army Brat and cannot imagine the difficulty in trying to set up a household in a foreign country, in a house with no nearby neighbors (an industrial neighborhood, to boot), with no support.  Yes, I am sure that in time she will get into the swing of things with friends, activities, etc.  It just seemed to me that she really wanted the other house and he nixed the idea.  And then I think she said that "he would be all she would need" or some such.  Mr. Kemper interrupted me so I didn't really hear the last few minutes all that well.

I cannot explain my reaction to the husband because on the surface he seemed a nice guy.
 

[biakbiak]

3 minutes ago, Kemper said:

Why would you move to another country with your wife pregnant (maybe she wasn't when he accepted the job)

She said they found out after he had accepted the position.

[pep4]

Wroclaw, Poland:  Man, those bouncy stairs that looked liked they were about to fall down would have been a dealbreaker for me.  Not to mention that he has to go up and down them just to get to the bathroom from the bedroom.

[pep4]

On 2/26/2019 at 1:41 PM, Bronx Babe said:

Thanks, @Pickles.  She was pretty but certainly did not know how to style herself, that's for sure.

The guy said he never lived with a woman before.

Trying to remember his name -- Cosimo something....

Cosimo de' Medici?

[doodlebug]

On 2/27/2019 at 12:14 AM, LittleIggy said:

Germany: I loved that third house! Not practical for them, but it was lovely.

Do US bases abroad have vets on base for the military families’ pets?

Large ones, like in Germany where a lot of service members will be bringing there family along, go out of their way to provide English speaking businesses on base for the families.  There are 10's of thousands of American military and their families living in that part of Germany; they'd be easily able to support a veterinary clinic there.

Quote

. I find it hard to believe that nowhere in the US could help her with her disease and that she had to travel to Italy, but what do I know?

I got the impression that she sought out non-traditional medical care for her problem.  Complex regional pain syndrome (or reflex sympathetic dystrophy) is a fairly uncommon problem and not well understood.  It usually occurs after a serious injury or even an amputation.  Since it is so rare and not well defined, there are not a huge number of specialists who treat it, but, living in Cincinnati, she should've been able to find one.  There are a lot of different treatments but none that are 100% effective and a lot of people suffering from this problem will seek out alternative therapies.  I suspect the clinic in Vincenza provides that and that they only take cash payment.  I expect her parents were picking up the tab since she didn't seem very worried about covering her living expenses.

Quote

Wroclaw, Poland:  Man, those bouncy stairs that looked liked they were about to fall down would have been a dealbreaker for me.  Not to mention that he has to go up and down them just to get to the bathroom from the bedroom.

Those stairs were scary and I don't care what kind of mattress he put on it, a sofa is not a bed.  I also didn't like the slanty ceilings in the living area which meant it looked larger that it actually was, since a lot of the room had ceilings that were too low to stand up straight.  I guess he loved the location enough to discount that.  That said, I really liked the househunter and his friend; they seemed like really nice guys and were realistic about things.  His comment that he hired a cleaning lady so he wouldn't have to do dishes in his last apartment was pretty funny.  I guess American-style pro football is the up and coming thing in Poland.  The show also made me want to visit Poland, the town was very pretty.

Edited March 1, 2019 by doodlebug

[Bronx Babe]

12 hours ago, pep4 said:

Cosimo de' Medici?

He'd be quite the catch!  

[Bronx Babe]

48 minutes ago, doodlebug said:

Large ones, like in Germany where a lot of service members will be bringing there family along, go out of their way to provide English speaking businesses on base for the families.  There are 10's of thousands of American military and their families living in that part of Germany; they'd be easily able to support a veterinary clinic there.

I got the impression that she sought out non-traditional medical care for her problem.  Complex regional pain syndrome (or reflex sympathetic dystrophy) is a fairly uncommon problem and not well understood.  It usually occurs after a serious injury or even an amputation.  Since it is so rare and not well defined, there are not a huge number of specialists who treat it, but, living in Cincinnati, she should've been able to find one.  There are a lot of different treatments but none that are 100% effective and a lot of people suffering from this problem will seek out alternative therapies.  I suspect the clinic in Vincenza provides that and that they only take cash payment.  I expect her parents were picking up the tab since she didn't seem very worried about covering her living expenses.

Those stairs were scary and I don't care what kind of mattress he put on it, a sofa is not a bed.  I also didn't like the slanty ceilings in the living area which meant it looked larger that it actually was, since a lot of the room had ceilings that were too low to stand up straight.  I guess he loved the location enough to discount that.  That said, I really liked the househunter and his friend; they seemed like really nice guys and were realistic about things.  His comment that he hired a cleaning lady so he wouldn't have to do dishes in his last apartment was pretty funny.  I guess American-style pro football is the up and coming thing in Poland.  The show also made me want to visit Poland, the town was very pretty.

Thanks, @doodlebug, for your and everyone's input on the Vicenza episode.

I also found the Georgia-to-Poland young football sales guy and his friend very pleasant.  And agree about Wroclaw, so picturesque, especially that lovely view from the #2 apt.

[proserpina65]

On ‎02‎/‎27‎/‎2019 at 11:51 AM, Ohwell said:

They seemed like a nice couple but the wife had kind of a shouty voice, which wasn't pleasant to listen to.

I found his talking about how a 30 minute commute was SOOOOOOOOOOOO long really annoying.  I used to drive an hour each way to Towson, Maryland - using the Beltway, no less - shut up, you whiner.

[Ohwell]

44 minutes ago, proserpina65 said:

I found his talking about how a 30 minute commute was SOOOOOOOOOOOO long really annoying.  I used to drive an hour each way to Towson, Maryland - using the Beltway, no less - shut up, you whiner.

Yeah, an hour commute is pretty standard now in the DMV.  I have a friend in Florida who used to complain that she had a 25 min. commute to work.  She actually found a job with a shorter commute.

[TVForever]

1 hour ago, proserpina65 said:

I found his talking about how a 30 minute commute was SOOOOOOOOOOOO long really annoying.  I used to drive an hour each way to Towson, Maryland - using the Beltway, no less - shut up, you whiner.

24 minutes ago, Ohwell said:

Yeah, an hour commute is pretty standard now in the DMV.  I have a friend in Florida who used to complain that she had a 25 min. commute to work.  She actually found a job with a shorter commute.

Ditto for me. I grew up in the NYC area, and now live in the DMV, so I actually had to stifle a laugh when he complained about a 30 minute commute. But I guess it’s all relative. I also facepalm over the show My Lottery Dream Home where they’re looking in other areas in the country for near-mansions at prices that couldn’t buy studio apartments in NYC or the DMV.

Sigh...

[hookedontv]

Just watched the Melbourne Australia episode. Wow, Kendra got on my nerves right from the start. She’s a big complainer and I also found the way she spoke to be very irritating. Not sure how her husband Scott puts up with her-maybe he will appreciate the longer work commute just to be away from her. I guess it’s true-opposites attract. 

[7isBlue]

Wait: Did the wife moving to Melbourne want to live close to the beach? 🙄 Sheesh! She was super-annoying.

[LittleIggy]

Melbourne: Loved the first house. The wife was super annoying. If the husband biked to work everyday, wouldn’t he have to shower when he got there? Would he keep his work clothes at the office?

[juliet73]

Melbourne:  The wife was beyond annoying and ditzy!  She acted liked she had never seen an open concept house before.  The husband could have done a lot better!

[abbyzenn]

I wish they'd show floor plan maps because sometimes the inside just doesn't match the outside of the house.  For example in the Vet moving to Germany.  That first house didn't look very big from the outside and it only had 2 windows - one each side of the front door.  Then inside we see this humongous looking room with 3 (or 4?) sliding glass doors (or at least that size windows), which I thought overlooked the backyard. Zoom to the back yard and the couple are standing on a smallish deck with a bump out room forming one wall of the deck - where in the heck was this in relation to that huge living room?  That 3rd house was certainly beautiful and interesting but again the rooms showed didn't quite match up to the outside.  I wouldn't have gone for it either if it was 50 steps up to the front door and then another flight of stairs inside to get to the living room, kitchen.

All 3 houses they looked at had super large looking rooms except for the kitchens which were just average.

The wife was super calm especially in comparison to her husband who found something to complain about.  

[Pickles]

Watching the Australian episode now. Wow, I really dislike the wife. Complaining about the small ovens, lack of counter space, too far from the beach. Gotta love the agent, though. When the wife complained again about the small ovens, she agent said, yes these are standard size for Australia as we have already discussed!  LOL. Good for her. No one cares that the wife was a swimmer in college and loves the water. College was probably 15 years ago for this chick. She seemed dim. Did not know what a wardrobe was. So, like a wuss, the husband went with the house close to the beach and he will have a 45 minute commute to work. On a shallow note, the wife needed some braces for her picket fence teeth. 

[LittleIggy]

On 2/27/2019 at 11:07 PM, pep4 said:

Wroclaw, Poland:  Man, those bouncy stairs that looked liked they were about to fall down would have been a dealbreaker for me.  Not to mention that he has to go up and down them just to get to the bathroom from the bedroom.

I liked the first place best. Shouldn’t a bedroom be darker since you sleep there? It always makes me go 🙄 when people act as if they have never heard of blinds or curtains.

[doodlebug]

9 hours ago, LittleIggy said:

I liked the first place best. Shouldn’t a bedroom be darker since you sleep there? It always makes me go 🙄 when people act as if they have never heard of blinds or curtains.

I know!  Everyone seems to go on and on about wanting a bright bedroom with lots of 'natural light'.  Heck, I keep the shades drawn in mine about 90% of the time I'm in there.  What are these people planning to do in there that they need so much light?I can see wanting functional windows for fresh air, but a lot of light?  I don't think so.

[Mittengirl]

I have blackout blinds in my bedroom - no natural light for me.

Both guys in Poland spoke Polish at some point, which made me think that the friend also lives there.  

I wonder how many more American football players we will see house hunting in Poland?  

[kirklandia]

American football player moves to Poland - déjà vu all over again!

Two different episodes less than a month apart.  I preferred the earlier one in Gdynia. Those two handsome dudes doing yoga on the beach...

Edited March 3, 2019 by kirklandia

[SmithW6079]

I'm up as far as the woman moving to Italy and the football player in Poland.

The thing that bothered me about Italy was that it didn't seem like the realtor really treated the woman's disability as legitimate, especially when it came to the elevators. She was very nonchalant about the one building where the elevator wasn't working. I wanted one of them to ask how often it didn't work.

I didn't like the friend of the football player, especially after he jumped on the bed, but I agree that the friend must live in Poland too.

Edited March 3, 2019 by SmithW6079

[Mrs. Hanson]

Did anyone see the Queens to Iceland episode?  Nice lawyer with twin five year olds but she confused me and I have a lot of questions.  First off, can she legally work in Iceland?  Was there a dad around that she needed to get permission from to move to Iceland?  Her big push was Nature! Nature! Nature! and don't get me wrong, I have been jonesing to go to Iceland for a few years now, but if nature and more family time was her thing, why not move to a big piece of land in upstate New York?  Or (I am biased, I know) Minnesota?  $450,000 will get you A LOT here, my dear.

I am always a little eyeroll-y with "We need more family time" because to me, if you need to move to Iceland/Guam/Australia/Costa Rica to be together more, that is a big sign.

[MartyQui]

Re Cincinnati to Italy...I was just at a meeting where we were talking about CRPS, apparently it’s quite rare, and usually happens after a trauma and in a specific area so her case was a little odd.  There’s no established treatment (the people I was talking to are trying ketamine for it), but the pain is supposed to be excruciating...12 on a scale of 1-10.  As far as his accent, I have a good friend from Padua, right near Vicenza, and he speaks English with a British accent too.  He said that was the accent his teacher had, so that's what he learned.

[MerBearStare]

Totally agree with your whole post @Mrs. Hanson. I missed the first five minutes of the episode and thought they had covered all of your questions because I had the same questions, but apparently not. 

I've had friends (without kids) who have moved across the country because they've visited a place on vacation and they loved it. But the whole reason the loved it was because they were on vacation. Once they moved in and started their jobs, they were just as unhappy as they were in their old city because they fell back into the same habits as before. Point being, if she doesn't change her habits, she'll have just as much time, or lack there of, with her kids even if they are in Iceland.

Edited March 3, 2019 by MerBearStare

[Mrs. Hanson]

44 minutes ago, MerBearStare said:

Totally agree with your whole post @Mrs. Hanson. I missed the first five minutes of the episode and thought they had covered all of your questions because I had the same questions, but apparently not. 

I've had friends (without kids) who have moved across the country because they've visited a place on vacation and they loved it. But the whole reason the loved it was because they were on vacation. Once they moved in and started their jobs, they were just as unhappy as they were in their old city because they fell back into the same habits as before. Point being, if she doesn't change her habits, she'll have just as much time, or lack there of, with her kids even if they are in Iceland.

Wish I could help you - she never addressed if she was divorced, widowed, never married and used a donor, adopted as a single woman - nor does she have to disclose that.  I was just curious of the logistics.   She never revealed if she was working remotely from Iceland and securing a US income or working at an Iceland law firm.  Geez, I must be annoying to watch HHI with as I ask all these questions!

Do the kids go to an American school?  Are they taught in Icelandic or English?  Questions questions questions......