House Hunters International - General Discussion

[ML89]

Finally watching Edinburgh “no jobs” - what was up with all the weird shots? Let’s focus on the front door opening, two shots of the windshield wipers, the guy’s shoes on a coffee table - was this someone’s show reel for film school?

 

 

[seacliffsal]

So, we got to hear "I'm an American and I'm used to..." again in the Paris episode.  Don't leave America if you want everything American in your new location.  

I really liked the large two bedroom apartment in central Paris.  Although they kept referencing buying versus renting (return on money, etc.), I think she is so new to living in Paris that it would have been valuable to rent for a while first to make sure she wanted to continue to live in France.

[amarante]

4 hours ago, seacliffsal said:

So, we got to hear "I'm an American and I'm used to..." again in the Paris episode.  Don't leave America if you want everything American in your new location.  

I really liked the large two bedroom apartment in central Paris.  Although they kept referencing buying versus renting (return on money, etc.), I think she is so new to living in Paris that it would have been valuable to rent for a while first to make sure she wanted to continue to live in France.

I also don't understand the mania to purchase when starting in a new place.

If I had moved to a new country and just got married to someone I barely knew and had what frankly appears to be a marginal business, I would want to keep as much liquid cash available as possible until I was sure of things.

Of course I don't know what it means to purchase a $400,000 place in France in terms of financing options. In the US, one assumes that one just needs cash for the down and closing. In other places, the full purchase price would be required especially for a non-citizen.

Even so I would still be reluctant to give up flexibility in her position. 

[chessiegal]

I take all the backstories on HHI with a large mound of salt.

[LittleIggy]

Munich: So good to see my sweetie Kevin again. He was styling in that blue overcoat! That lady appears to have hit the jackpot with her husband. He seemed like a mensch. The little boy was adorable.

[Grizzly]

3 hours ago, LittleIggy said:

Munich: So good to see my sweetie Kevin again. He was styling in that blue overcoat! That lady appears to have hit the jackpot with her husband. He seemed like a mensch. The little boy was adorable.

Yes, once she got past the need to have open and new, I really liked this family. How cute were they in lederhosen?

[Grrarrggh]

I didn't like the Munich woman. Her ridiculous claim that her former bedroom was 4 times the size of one they saw. And has she never heard of birth control?

[chessiegal]

23 minutes ago, Grrarrggh said:

I didn't like the Munich woman. Her ridiculous claim that her former bedroom was 4 times the size of one they saw. And has she never heard of birth control?

My guess is the marriage happened because she got pregnant, and it wasn't a honeymoon baby. We have friends who eloped and they were open that the pregnancy came first. They were engaged, so things just sped up a little. But yeah, she should have figured out how that happens by now.

[lgprimes]

Oh that cute little boy and husband in Munich had me smiling ear to ear- so sweet! And I think they wife expressed how grateful she is that her husband has accepted her son so completely. I really am rooting for them. I haven’t seen such a lovely family in this show ever. 

[LittleIggy]

6 hours ago, Grrarrggh said:

I didn't like the Munich woman. Her ridiculous claim that her former bedroom was 4 times the size of one they saw. And has she never heard of birth control?

What about him? It takes two people to make a baby. 🙄

[buttersister]

So the wine couple in Spain and Norman: Poster in HH forum said they'd already moved to DC. Also Norman's IG page is gone? I'm either a little nervous about Norman or she'd had it living in a tiny place with his bike and skis and who knows what other things that gave him So Much Happiness to look at.

[biakbiak]

1 hour ago, buttersister said:

Norman's IG page is gone? I'm

It’s not gone she just said his handle wrong. Today I learned there are several dogs named Norman with instagrams.

https://instagram.com/winedognorman?igshid=1gk0jkcmohy02

Looks like they filmed this in early February so there is a good chance they moved back to the states due to the uncertainty over Covid.

Edited October 16, 2020 by biakbiak

[StatisticalOutlier]

10 hours ago, buttersister said:

So the wine couple in Spain and Norman:

They got on my last nerve with that fucking dog. 

[Grizzly]

2 hours ago, StatisticalOutlier said:

They got on my last nerve with that fucking dog. 

Are you kidding? The dog was the best behaved house hunter I've ever seen! Seemed to like everything, not picky at all. Did not jump on the furniture to try it out. More people should act like Norman.

[Grrarrggh]

That couple with their ridiculous "natural wine". It's just a con to get you to pay more money. The dog was the best thing about the episode. The relator seemed nice as well, especially when she was trying to sell them on that shower!

Edited October 16, 2020 by Grrarrggh

[Grizzly]

Adrian in Paris, another great realtor! She is so practical and amusing at the same time. Jordan seemed like a nice guy but not liking his man purse/fanny pack. Admire his decision to reinvent himself. The apartments were bright and not too small.

[Grizzly]

Young couple in Thailand annoyed me. Their voices, him not wanting to rely on her for money, her wanting space, him insisting on a gym. When they said they hadn't considered marriage yet, I was like no kidding.

[LittleIggy]

Thailand: Girlfriend must have been desperate for a man. Dude was extremely unappealing.

[SIMONSAYS123]

On 9/13/2017 at 1:19 PM, KLovestoShop said:

Just watched the couple in Australia and I think the husband was a real schmuck.  He had no respect for his new wife, with his only concern being HIS music.  He only cared about perfect acoustics for his recording studio, and not about the fact that this studio could cause his wife many sleepless nights.  And if the short performances we saw, this guy needs a shot of reality and realize he's a VERY long shot for a real music career.  

They just played a rerun here in Australia. The first thing I did was google to see if anyone else thought that guy was the douchiest douche that ever douches, and I found this thread. THEN I looked him up. The sad news is they had a kid this year (feel so sorry for the wife). The good news is he closed up the studio he turned the master bedroom into: https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1698681653619572&id=757079611113119

[Seelouis]

11 hours ago, Grizzly said:

Young couple in Thailand annoyed me. Their voices, him not wanting to rely on her for money, her wanting space, him insisting on a gym. When they said they hadn't considered marriage yet, I was like no kidding.

Ugh they were awful!  You’re in Thailand and don’t have a job. Get out and walk/run. Buy some weights. His insistence on “I must have a gym membership” drove me nuts. 

[sempervivum]

Paris with Jordan, the dancer reinventing his career: Wow, you can get a cute place like that first one for only $1350 in PARIS? Although there was a disturbing amount of graffiti.

Also, who knew you  could get a masters in 'Tourism'?? Dude, you're going to end up as a tour guide, don't waste your $$

[chessiegal]

57 minutes ago, Seelouis said:

Ugh they were awful!  You’re in Thailand and don’t have a job. Get out and walk/run. Buy some weights. His insistence on “I must have a gym membership” drove me nuts. 

Considering they are both from Bethesda, MD I'm not surprised he acted like an entitled rich kid. Disappointed, but not surprised.

[LittleIggy]

1 hour ago, Seelouis said:

Ugh they were awful!  You’re in Thailand and don’t have a job. Get out and walk/run. Buy some weights. His insistence on “I must have a gym membership” drove me nuts. 

And apparently he (or should I say she) was also going to be paying for the martial arts classes regardless.
I was so disgusted with their catty remarks about the landlady of one place not speaking much English. Well, you assholes don’t speak or understand Thai, do you, which is spoken in Thailand? 

Edited October 17, 2020 by LittleIggy

[Seelouis]

8 minutes ago, LittleIggy said:

And apparently he (or should I say she) was also going to be paying for the martial arts classes regardless.
I was so disgusted with their catty remarks about the landlady of one place not speaking much English. Well, you assholes don’t speak or understand Thai, do you, which is spoken in Thailand? 

Right!  “I guess we should learn some Thai”. Ya think?  You’re in Thailand!!!

[DanaMB]

7 minutes ago, Seelouis said:

Right!  “I guess we should learn some Thai”. Ya think?  You’re in Thailand!!!

They were ridiculous and annoying. 

[meep.meep]

13 hours ago, Grizzly said:

Adrian in Paris, another great realtor! She is so practical and amusing at the same time. Jordan seemed like a nice guy but not liking his man purse/fanny pack. Admire his decision to reinvent himself. The apartments were bright and not too small.

I loved Jordan.  Coming from New York, he kept finding those tiny spaces in Paris to be big!  Adrian is always great and they bonded over their love of hats.

[StatisticalOutlier]

On 10/16/2020 at 1:15 PM, Grizzly said:

Are you kidding? The dog was the best behaved house hunter I've ever seen! Seemed to like everything, not picky at all. Did not jump on the furniture to try it out. More people should act like Norman.

I agree that it was well behaved, but I don't think people should take dogs into other people's homes unless they've asked for permission.  I also got sick of hearing the word "norman."

And every time they said he liked something, I thought, "How do you know?"  If a dog went into an apartment it didn't like, would it snarl?  I doubt it.

I don't like episodes centered around children, and I don't like episodes centered around dogs. 

 

On 10/17/2020 at 9:09 AM, sempervivum said:

Paris with Jordan, the dancer reinventing his career: Wow, you can get a cute place like that first one for only $1350 in PARIS? Although there was a disturbing amount of graffiti.

I didn't see this episode, but I'm always shocked at the amount of graffiti in Paris, as well as other European cities, and it doesn't seem to bother them.  It does me.  

Edited October 19, 2020 by StatisticalOutlier
Fixed a comma fault! I'm losing it!

[Sheikh Yerbouti]

Jordan the dancer in Paris. So cute. He and our favorite Parisian real estate agent are both mad about hats. Fresh attitude. Walked into the tiniest apartment and was like OMG it’s so big! LOL New Yorker. Second one, a studio, was impossibly tiny. Just a pull-out loveseat, not even large enough for an actual bed. Third one (the “Sacre-Coeur” apartment, because you could kind of see the back side of it off in the distance) was also a tight fit, but at least it had a separate sleeping area. A bit too suburban for his tastes, though, and also a fourth-floor walkup. Last on my list. I would have stretched the budget to take the first apartment, relatively large and in the ideal central location. I know the stated budget and prices often are part of production shenanigans, but I wish they’d fake a more notable difference. Time and again, we see people “choose” the worst or most questionable option ostensibly to save $100, which would rarely actually happen in real life for anyone with the means to move overseas to begin with.

[Grrarrggh]

2 hours ago, StatisticalOutlier said:

I didn't see this episode, but I'm always shocked at the amount of graffiti in Paris, as well as other European cities, and it doesn't seem to bother them.  It does me.  

https://en.graffitiparis.com/

1 hour ago, Sheikh Yerbouti said:

Time and again, we see people “choose” the worst or most questionable option ostensibly to save $100, which would rarely actually happen in real life for anyone with the means to move overseas to begin with.

Really they're saving $1200. Just because you have the money to move doesn't mean you can afford an expensive place to live. Especially if you're a student.

[Dehumidifier]

4 hours ago, LittleIggy said:

And apparently he (or should I say she) was also going to be paying for the martial arts classes regardless.
I was so disgusted with their catty remarks about the landlady of one place not speaking much English. Well, you assholes don’t speak or understand Thai, do you, which is spoken in Thailand? 

Just finished watching this one. They were a somewhat annoying couple but I didn't think they sounded catty when they said they had to learn Thai. They are on camera, they have to say something. They will probably learn it from their students.

[Sheikh Yerbouti]

1 hour ago, Dehumidifier said:

Just finished watching this one. They were a somewhat annoying couple but I didn't think they sounded catty when they said they had to learn Thai. They are on camera, they have to say something. They will probably learn it from their students.

To me, they sounded sheepish that they didn't know the language. And I think they had already picked up at least a little, because they were able to get the gist of what the agent was saying.

[Dehumidifier]

19 minutes ago, Sheikh Yerbouti said:

To me, they sounded sheepish that they didn't know the language. And I think they had already picked up at least a little, because they were able to get the gist of what the agent was saying.

Agree.

[biakbiak]

2 hours ago, Grrarrggh said:

https://en.graffitiparis.com/

Really they're saving $1200. Just because you have the money to move doesn't mean you can afford an expensive place to live. Especially if you're a student.

In addition in 99.9% of the episodes the other two apartments weren’t an actual option when they were making the decision.

[StatisticalOutlier]

4 hours ago, Grrarrggh said:

https://en.graffitiparis.com/

No, not street art.  Tags.

[7-Zark-7]

Oh, I love Redon, with his super colorful outfits and over the top responses. I want him to join Adrian on all the Parisian episodes, arguing with the prospective homeowners: “You don’t want to live here. The kitchen smell will get on your clothes. You know, I’m just ... done!”

[Grizzly]

Breda. So who was caring for all those kids while she was busy being a professional? She wants Dutch charm but complained bedrooms weren't big enough. Hello, small rooms is Dutch charm.

[chessiegal]

So do you have to do your own maintenance on a rental in The Netherlands? He kept complaining about maintenance on the older place.

[lgprimes]

Ugh! Hairdresser sisters in Mexico City.. I fell asleep just before the reveal can anybody help? I’m hoping the more reasonable sister one and they picked the last apartment with the rooftop deck and cool neighborhood.

[LittleIggy]

1 hour ago, Grizzly said:

Breda. So who was caring for all those kids while she was busy being a professional? She wants Dutch charm but complained bedrooms weren't big enough. Hello, small rooms is Dutch charm.

Seriously. I don’t remember which place it was, but when they showed the kitchen I was like “Nice big kitchen!” and the wife immediately said it was small. 🙄 And God forbid two of the kids would have to share a room! 🤭

[buttersister]

Three years of competitive whining in Breda! Ha, was there a chance in hell she wasn’t getting her Dutch charm house? There was not.

 

[NJMom]

9 hours ago, chessiegal said:

So do you have to do your own maintenance on a rental in The Netherlands? He kept complaining about maintenance on the older place.

No, of course not. My BIL and SIL were always hopping in and out of their rental  to take care of things  for the tenant. And if I heard 'Dutch Charm" one more time I  thought I would throw  something at the  tv. The outside of the houses are almost all  typical Dutch with the  insides modernized.

[Seelouis]

I always imagine a producer just off camera saying “I’m not sure the viewers will understand what you want. Can you say ‘Dutch charm’ again?” Lol. 

Edited October 23, 2020 by Seelouis

[Dehumidifier]

10 hours ago, lgprimes said:

Ugh! Hairdresser sisters in Mexico City.. I fell asleep just before the reveal can anybody help? I’m hoping the more reasonable sister one and they picked the last apartment with the rooftop deck and cool neighborhood.

They did. The cheapest one. Mexico City looked nice. I always pictured it as more crowded at street level.

Edited October 23, 2020 by Dehumidifier
Left word out.

[Dehumidifier]

1 hour ago, Seelouis said:

I always imagine a producer just off camera saying “I’m not sure the viewers will understand what you want. Can you say ‘Dutch charm’ again?” Lol. 

It is so obvious that the hunters, domestic and international, are given lines to say. They all use the same vocabulary. "Space" instead of room, "put our stamp on it" instead of decorate/renovate, "character" instead of style, the ticking boxes business. Many more I can't recall at the moment.

[TVForever]

3 hours ago, Seelouis said:

I always imagine a producer just off camera saying “I’m not sure the viewers will understand what you want. Can you say ‘Dutch charm’ again?” Lol. 

I was just grateful that this script didn’t have her blathering on about how “ I gave up everything to follow you here, so I should get the house I want, blah, blah”

Because frankly, that line seemed to fit this woman more than the “Dutch charm” silliness.

 

[buttersister]

2 hours ago, TVForever said:

was just grateful that this script didn’t have her blathering on about how “ I gave up everything to follow you here, so I should get the house I want, blah, blah”

Because frankly, that line seemed to fit this woman more than the “Dutch charm” silliness.

Ha, maybe they tried it and she gave them one of those looks. Perhaps her, uh, appreciation of Dutch charm was meant to telegraph that all of this was her idea! 

Their sad story could have translated into much more of a sympathetic portrayal of that couple. Except for the the personalities they projected. Producers can feed key words to people but how (if) they deliver them, along with their regular ticks, always give them away.

[lgprimes]

Thanks @Dehumidifier!

[Crashcourse]

I wish the realtor had asked that woman, "What specifically does Dutch charm look like to you so that I can show you what you'd like?"  I'm betting the woman couldn't even give her a detailed answer.

[StatisticalOutlier]

On 10/22/2020 at 10:09 PM, lgprimes said:

Ugh! Hairdresser sisters in Mexico City..

I can't believe nobody has mentioned the posture on that one who had curlier hair during the hunting.  Stand up straight!

[Dehumidifier]

2 hours ago, StatisticalOutlier said:

I can't believe nobody has mentioned the posture on that one who had curlier hair during the hunting.  Stand up straight!

I was distracted by the god-awful purple lipstick. matching her hair bow no less.