House Hunters International - General Discussion

[Grrarrggh]

I felt a bit bad for the German wife. It's got to get annoying living with a Pollyanna people pleaser. Though I did think some of her comments sounded stupid maybe she was trying to balance his creepy, super sunny attitude. 

[Dehumidifier]

In the river(?) scene, what on earth were they sailing in? A floating bathtub? Any Berliners here who know? 

[aghst]

1 hour ago, Dehumidifier said:

In the river(?) scene, what on earth were they sailing in? A floating bathtub? Any Berliners here who know? 

It's a hot tub.

In a previous episode some years ago in Amsterdam, there was something similar, a hot tub boat.

 

[Dehumidifier]

33 minutes ago, aghst said:

It's a hot tub.

In a previous episode some years ago in Amsterdam, there was something similar, a hot tub boat.

 

Glad they were warm. I was worried about them.

[ArtFossil]

19 hours ago, buttersister said:

Stay awhile, Kevin.

As to the couple, I thought for a hot second she was so negative because Adam is a half-full guy. But nein, she’s just awful. It’s not even her stupid complaining, the disrespectful looks she shoots him are going to get might old. Long before they do.

I've only started watching the episode and I already hate her. I only hope that Adam escapes her with his soul intact. 

[Grizzly]

Madrid. She's 30?! Oh dear, I thought she was having a midlife crisis.

[ECM1231]

13 minutes ago, Grizzly said:

Madrid. She's 30?! Oh dear, I thought she was having a midlife crisis.

She is unbelievably picky for having a slim budget of $1000/monthly...wants to be in the city, near the metro, and have outdoor space for the dog she doesn't have yet. Agent shows her a 2 bedroom apartment in the Retiro district for only $50 over budget and all she does is complain that it's compact! 

[chessiegal]

We thought the Madrid woman was nice, and funny. We'd love to have a drink with her.

[Grizzly]

5 minutes ago, chessiegal said:

We thought the Madrid woman was nice, and funny. We'd love to have a drink with her.

Especially if Nick comes too. They seemed to have a lot of fun together. Loved the line about the dog knowing more languages than she did.

[LittleIggy]

2 hours ago, Grizzly said:

Madrid. She's 30?! Oh dear, I thought she was having a midlife crisis.

I think she was lying about her age. Always good to see Nick the Silver Fox again!

[LittleIggy]

1 hour ago, ECM1231 said:

She is unbelievably picky for having a slim budget of $1000/monthly...wants to be in the city, near the metro, and have outdoor space for the dog she doesn't have yet. Agent shows her a 2 bedroom apartment in the Retiro district for only $50 over budget and all she does is complain that it's compact! 

Complaining about a guest room not having a window was ridiculous. BTW, I’m so sick of the “having coffee on the balcony” cliche.

[buttersister]

Nick, Kevin’s stopping by, hope you can join us.

Chicago to Madrid might consider that her stand-up routine isn’t funny as conversation. And just a thought: Life is short, so if a producer insists you say things that make people drag you, just say no. 

[aghst]

Maybe with her standup aspirations she hammed it up on this show, complaining about the apts. being too small or whatever.
 

If, like a lot of other house hunters, she was planning to move only for a few months or a year at most, budget seemed to be what she prioritized.  I don’t know how long or how well-paying teaching English is in Madrid.  Europeans seem to learn English more from UK citizens than Americans.

Though maybe by getting the dog, she did intend to commit to staying there for awhile.  
 

There must be a big enough English-speaking expat community for there to be a club for  English-speaking stand ups?

Edited December 4, 2020 by aghst

[Grizzly]

9 hours ago, LittleIggy said:

Complaining about a guest room not having a window was ridiculous. 

People used to sleeping in a different time zone would appreciate having a dark bedroom. 

[Crashcourse]

40 year-old Madrid woman was pleasant enough, but I thought she was trying too hard to be funny for the tv cameras.   I think Nick got a little annoyed with her jokes.

[LittleIggy]

9 hours ago, aghst said:

Maybe with her standup aspirations she hammed it up on this show, complaining about the apts. being too small or whatever.
 

If, like a lot of other house hunters, she was planning to move only for a few months or a year at most, budget seemed to be what she prioritized.  I don’t know how long or how well-paying teaching English is in Madrid.  Europeans seem to learn English more from UK citizens than Americans.

Though maybe by getting the dog, she did intend to commit to staying there for awhile.  
 

There must be a big enough English-speaking expat community for there to be a club for  English-speaking stand ups?

She talked about getting her certificate, so I assume she is in Spain attending a month long program to get her TESOL certificate. She may be attending a program that guarantees a job of some sort. I bet she is just there for a year. I have an MA in TESOL. A certificate is the minimum.

I wondered about that club, too. There were only five or so people in there. 🙄

[biakbiak]

On 12/2/2020 at 7:51 PM, readheaded said:

For someone who's supposed to be a dual-citizen, she sure doesn't have much understanding of housing standards in Berlin.  It's pretty common not to have closets.

She was born there not raised there, she indicated that she hadn’t been back until recently. 

I actually only notice her mention the closers once and that was because the room didn’t have anything even an armoire to hang things.

Edited December 5, 2020 by biakbiak

[readheaded]

8 minutes ago, biakbiak said:

She was born there not raised there, she indicated that she hadn’t been back until recently. 

I actually only notice her mention the closers once and that was because the room didn’t have anything even an armoire to hang things.

I understand all of that, but if she's moving there it probably would have been a good idea to do a little research about what the housing standards are like.  Had she done that, she would have been surprised at the places WITH closets as opposed to the places without.   

[biakbiak]

Just now, readheaded said:

I understand all of that, but if she's moving there it probably would have been a good idea to do a little research about what the housing standards are like.  Had she done that, she would have been surprised at the places WITH closets as opposed to the places without.   

Or she was told by producers to point out positive and negatives about each space and pointed that out. She didn’t seem surprised to me just that wouldn’t like it. 

[readheaded]

2 minutes ago, biakbiak said:

Or she was told by producers to point out positive and negatives about each space and pointed that out. She didn’t seem surprised to me just that wouldn’t like it. 

 She seemed surprised and unhappy about the lack of closets and a bunch of other stuff to me.

[aghst]

8 hours ago, Grizzly said:

People used to sleeping in a different time zone would appreciate having a dark bedroom. 

Some places require a window to be considered a bedroom.

I don't know about Madrid but I remember a Barcelona apartment building where a lot of the windows looked out into a central court.  So you had windows on all 4 sides overlooking the court and usually there wasn't much to see in there.  It did bring daylight into the apartments that way though.

One thing I've noticed about a lot of places in Spain, the noise insulation between floors of a building and also to the outside corridors are poor.

And you can hear people coming and going very late at night.

Maybe I got unlucky with these vacation rentals but it was inadequate construction as well as people keeping weird hours.  Maybe not such a big deal if you're from New York but if you're from the burbs, it takes some adjustment.

Though many places in Spain are known for people going out for dinner starting around 10 PM.

 

 

[MartyQui]

I stayed in an AirBnB in Plaza Major (they even showed the shop that the owners of the apartment owned), and it was great to have a central location, but it’s a really busy spot and I don’t think I’d like to live there full time.  I think the apartment she chose was the right one.

[amarante]

I think Madrid women said she was divorced when she was thirty so I assume she was in her mid-30's by the time she managed to do everything necessary to change careers; get a job and move.

I didn't mind her as her requests seemed more or less what was available in her price point. The realtor didn't think she was totally fixed on that price since everything he showed her was just a bit above and was technically two bedrooms.

I know she has to make negative comments for the theoretically suspense but I found her fake carping about the lack of bedroom door to be funny because it really doesn't matter if you have a bedroom door if you have friends crashing in the living room - but then I lived in a studio with a loft overlooking the sofa people would crash on. Nobody expected privacy when they were sleeping. And had a bedroom in a college apartment for a semester which only have a curtain across it. 

The only absolute veto would be an apartment with the only bathroom in the bedroom because not only do casual guests have to troop through your bedroom to pee but overnight guests have to deal with coming into your bedroom if they need to use the toilet while you are asleep. Again not so much for privacy but just very awkward to actually invade someone's bedroom while they were sleeping.

[biakbiak]

4 hours ago, readheaded said:

 She seemed surprised and unhappy about the lack of closets and a bunch of other stuff to me.

I mean the apartment where they spent the most time talking about the closets was literally the one that they chose and have been living in for some time before the show was filmed so no I don’t think she was actually surprised that her home doesn’t have closets.

Edited December 5, 2020 by biakbiak

[LittleIggy]

Madrid: IIRC, in her stand-up bit, she said she was recently single again. Maybe she made that up for the routine.

[chocolatine]

On 12/3/2020 at 7:32 PM, Grizzly said:

Madrid. She's 30?! Oh dear, I thought she was having a midlife crisis.

When she said "I turned 30" I replied "10 years ago."

On 12/4/2020 at 12:48 AM, aghst said:

There must be a big enough English-speaking expat community for there to be a club for  English-speaking stand ups?

That was a small space and there were four or five people in the audience. Probably a multi-purpose space that's used for amateur open-mic nights once or twice a week. Her standup routine wasn't the least bit funny and the polite giggles from the audience made it even more cringeworthy.

I really liked the apartment she picked, though I would have switched the location of the living and dining areas.

[Crashcourse]

28 minutes ago, chocolatine said:

When she said "I turned 30" I replied "10 years ago."

Heh, yeah.  I thought she was 40.

[chocolatine]

On 12/2/2020 at 1:04 PM, CrazyInAlabama said:

I suspect that Sam isn't very happy with the outcome of his investment, and the realtor's comment about how difficult business is in Vietnam was a big hint Sam should have listened to.      

I just watched that episode. The realtor said those things to the camera, not to Sam. To Sam she said that the business idea sounded "sweet." I wonder if it's a cultural thing not to say anything pessimistic to someone embarking on a new venture, or if she was so annoyed by him that she wanted him to learn the hard way.

[CrazyInAlabama]

 Considering how fast and loose the HHI producers play with the storyline (some apartment or house shoppers are actually coming home, not moving there, some have lived overseas for years before they 'move' for the show), who knows how long Sam was actually in Vietnam, and working in the tourism business.     I liked the third apartment, for the kitchen, but I bet Sam already lived in the one he chose for a long time.  

Edited December 7, 2020 by CrazyInAlabama

[NosyCat]

Wow. That wife in Germany with the fashion blog ... really? Her bragging about needing a room as a huge walk in closet for her dresses was embarrassing. She needs to ditch the booties, the circus tent skirt, and the fashion blog. and grow up. She is delusional. Not sure what the husband sees in her, but the female German relator was priceless. I loved when she asked the blogger wife what took her 45 minutes in the bathroom each day. The blogger wife responded that she did her hair. The relator looked like "Oh, THAT is intentional?"   

[buttersister]

Who’s gonna budge? You are, asshole.

Thank you for your service. Don’t let the producers make you out to be a selfish boor. OTOH, based on wife’s comment about previous house selections, maybe they didn’t have to work that hard?

[aghst]

Canberra - they met in college and then he joined the army and whatever job she had was subordinated to his deployments in different parts of the world and her having children?

I wouldn’t have guessed that US military are deployed in Hanoi of all places.

OK he agreed with her choice even if it meant a longer commute since the newer house was easier for her to maintain.  She had to get him to agree that she wouldn’t be able to keep the pool clean with her pregnancy?

They seem to like the house with the ghastly fake grass because low maintenance?  
 

Canberra doesn’t look bad but with all the other glamorous Australian cities, could be kind of a drag.

[Schnickelfritz]

13 hours ago, aghst said:

I wouldn’t have guessed that US military are deployed in Hanoi of all places.

He was Military Intelligence (showed his uniforms enough to figure out) and was probably stationed at the  embassy.

[CrazyInAlabama]

The Hanoi to Canberra couple were fairly typical military careers.   You move every two or three years, and the spouse may not get a career job, because they're only going to be at a station for that time.     Depending on the visa status, the spouse may not be able to work either, except for the U.S. government, because that wouldn't need a work permit, as long the job's on U.S. property.   

It's just like any other place, where the cost for day care may be more than the spouse can earn.     Also, if you're connected to the embassy, there may be a lot of socializing required too, so less time for career.   

I love the Australia episodes.    

[Grizzly]

Thailand. His niece should have gone on all the house hunts. She might have lightened Ross up.  Loved the realtor insisting he get in the hot tube and then got in with him! And that dog sleeping through a whole film crew, must have been a real hot day. Hope the landlord fixes up the place he chose.

[LittleIggy]

Phuket: I loved the real estate lady! She was funny and so pretty. Yeah, she is right predicting he will get a Thai girlfriend. Just look at his brother. The niece was adorbs.

[aghst]

Never been to Thailand but read on TripAdvisor that the taxi situation on Phuket is bad, so called taxi mafia gouges.

The coastal beach towns can only be reached by narrow roads going downhill while the middle of the island is elevated.

So he chose the place which had the most room and was closest to his family but hope he isn’t relying on taxis to get around, could get expensive quickly.

Patong is suppose to be a big party town so the noise probably would get bad.  His kids might like the night life when they’re a few years older but that place is tiny.

The last place seemed best even if he found it bland.  But it was too far from his brother.

[TVForever]

England to Phuket:

For what he said he was after, House 3 was definitely the best choice. A place to live and work, not a vacation party house.

And his niece was probably the best child I've ever seen on HHI. Okay, I'm exaggerating, but not by much. She was adorable, and not "trying too hard"; if you've seen enough of these kids on HHI, you know what I mean.

[Koalagirl]

England to Phuket. I noticed that the realtor made him take his shoes off when they entered the first two houses but he had his shoes on when he almost fell off of the desk chair in the third house (the realtor kept her shoes on as well).  That’s when I knew he was going to “pick” #3. 

[Crashcourse]

I really liked the Thailand guy, loved the realtor.  They were delightful together and I liked their back and forth quips.  If she isn't married, I'd ship those two.  The niece was adorable.

Oh yeah, the third place made the most sense.

[Grizzly]

Kevin again! Stuttgart looked fantastic. I would have gone for the penthouse.

Edited December 11, 2020 by Grizzly

[LittleIggy]

Kevin! My boyfriend’s back! I don’t remember much about the flats/houses because I was too busy watching Kevin. 🥰

[Crashcourse]

Kevin!!!  

That's all I got.

[LittleIggy]

2 hours ago, Crashcourse said:

Kevin!!!  

That's all I got.

That’s all I need! 😉

[aghst]

I don't know if the guy was putting on an act about his damn boat and fishing.

He claimed that he agreed to move because he liked traveling in Europe.  But he kept mentioning all these things he wanted which would take them far away from her work.

He was a car salesman in FL so maybe she was the big breadwinner and she basically laid down the law that they would pick the closest one to work.

Then it turns out he takes a construction job in Germany?  I guess her employer helped him get a work visa, though not speaking the language, he may not have had much choice in the type of job he took.

[Grizzly]

1 hour ago, aghst said:

He was a car salesman in FL so maybe she was the big breadwinner and she basically laid down the law that they would pick the closest one to work.

Then it turns out he takes a construction job in Germany?  I guess her employer helped him get a work visa, though not speaking the language, he may not have had much choice in the type of job he took.

He didn't exactly look how I picture a German car salesman to look. 😏

[LittleIggy]

17 minutes ago, Grizzly said:

He didn't exactly look how I picture a German car salesman to look. 😏

They wear lederhosen?

[Crashcourse]

2 hours ago, aghst said:

He was a car salesman in FL so maybe she was the big breadwinner and she basically laid down the law that they would pick the closest one to work.

In the intro, he claimed he was a car salesman, but at the end, he claimed he was a roofer.  When he jokingly made the comment about not wanting to go to prison, I wondered if he had gone to prison. 

[ArtFossil]

On 12/5/2020 at 6:34 PM, Crashcourse said:

Heh, yeah.  I thought she was 40.

I was actually thinking 50!

[Crashcourse]

15 minutes ago, ArtFossil said:

I was actually thinking 50!

Yeah, if she'd said 50 I don't anyone would have blinked an eye.