House Hunters International - General Discussion

[awaken]

The number of times it was mentioned that he likes bars, partying, and “mingling” was truly concerning. I mean, to the point she was worried he’d be so distracted by it that he wouldn’t work. Major red flags!!

[LittleIggy]

I looked at the tv schedule and it says tonight’s episode is in Germany! 😁

[Tess23]

Racking my brain to think if I've ever seen a bigger douche on HHI than Mr. Thailand. 

Mingle, my ass.

[Grizzly]

Kaiserslautern, Germany. Big disappointment, no Kevin. Traditional house big enough for their family is going to look and cost like a castle. The location of #1 was admittedly not ideal but the house was nice. And #3 was under budget, which I find amazing. Tea parties won over traditional. They continue to surprise me.

[LittleIggy]

1 hour ago, Grizzly said:

Kaiserslautern, Germany. Big disappointment, no Kevin. Traditional house big enough for their family is going to look and cost like a castle. The location of #1 was admittedly not ideal but the house was nice. And #3 was under budget, which I find amazing. Tea parties won over traditional. They continue to surprise me.

I was watching Cruel Summer and flipped over during commercials to get a glimpse of my sweetie, and there was Angela Merkel! 😡Where is Kevin? 

[cinsays]

Other Thailand episode, somber music guy and cranky local girl.  She wants a separate room so she doesn't have to listen to him play his music and they end up with a little one bedroom.

Oh, and a dog.  Oh, and then another dog. In that already tiny space.  Ok.

Will they even be together to have those 2 weddings.  Doubtful.

[aghst]

She kept talking about Bavarian beams but Kaiserlautern is not in Bavaria.  Close to the border but 4 hours from Munich.

In any event, the first house was better practically, closer to the kids school, the hubby's work and to all their friends she wanted to entertain.

One of the kids said their family was best known for useless knowledge.  Well Larry David became filthy rich making Seinfeld and Curb Your Enthusiasm episodes centered around useless knowledge.

Curious if and when HHI will ever have the agents driving with the house hunters again instead of in separate cars, talking on speaker phone.

Logistically it has to be easier to film them talking in one car instead of two?

[Cetacean]

53 minutes ago, aghst said:

 

Logistically it has to be easier to film them talking in one car instead of two?

Is this because of Covid?

[aghst]

Just now, Cetacean said:

Is this because of Covid?

Presumably but they never acknowledge it.

In some episodes, you can see bystanders masked in the background.

[Grizzly]

Sesimbra, Portugal. They seem like a nice couple but the whole wanting totally different things is tiresome. House #2 was way too small. If Katie wants Hampton style, maybe she should stay in the Hamptons. At the end, did Henri say they were working? The one time they didn't subtitle him.

[buttersister]

He did. They’re working together in real estate, I think.😂😂 Glad he got the space closest to his mom. Hampton wife came off whiny and snippy—great image, hon. 

[Dehumidifier]

10 hours ago, buttersister said:

He did. They’re working together in real estate, I think.😂😂 Glad he got the space closest to his mom. Hampton wife came off whiny and snippy—great image, hon. 

I felt a bit bad for her. She was very anxious about the move.The bidet thing was stupid, though. Just because the kid got in one when he was (I assume) a toddler doesn't mean he would do it when he was six.  I wondered how she could work in real estate. Did she know Portuguese? If they said anything about that I missed it.

[Crashcourse]

I liked the Portugal couple, and the two of them dancing in that one place.  I can understand her being nervous about moving to another country and away from her family, but I think they handled the house search well.  I got the feeling that he was the only one working.

[aghst]

18 hours ago, buttersister said:

He did. They’re working together in real estate, I think.😂😂 Glad he got the space closest to his mom. Hampton wife came off whiny and snippy—great image, hon. 

She doesn't speak the language so there must be UK and US expats there?

It's about 40km south of Lisbon.

I don't know how popular it is compared to say Cascais, which is suppose to be a real popular beach destination near Lisbon.

I would have thought the bidet thing was schtick for the show but even when they were reviewing properties she said that other people have used it!

Why would it be such a big deal to remove it or put a piece of wood over it to cover it up? I don't use bidets when I visit Europe, though I tried them, just to give then a chance.

Maybe they were more price sensitive than they let on.  They chose the cheapest and eliminated the property which was the biggest, which had 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms. It had some decor and colors they didn't like but it was still under their stated price limit.

But the second bathroom has to have some utility?  Or if they're still bathing their kid, maybe it doesn't matter as much to have more than one bathroom.

 

[amarante]

On 5/26/2021 at 10:15 AM, aghst said:

 

One of the kids said their family was best known for useless knowledge.  Well Larry David became filthy rich making Seinfeld and Curb Your Enthusiasm episodes centered around useless knowledge.

 

In fairness to Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld, their shows were about nothing happening and not useless knowledge. It was somewhat of a breakthrough because traditionally half hour comedy shows were supposed to center around something happening.

[Grizzly]

Ojochal, Costa Rica. What is it about Costa Rica that makes people lose their minds? Let's move there and live off our savings. I can understand why she wants friends, he's probably not much of a conversationalist. Pool house was too small, I liked their choice.

Edited May 28, 2021 by Grizzly

[LittleIggy]

2 hours ago, Grizzly said:

Ojochal, Costa Rica. What is it about Costa Rica that makes people lose their minds? Let's move there and live off our savings. I can understand why she wants friends, he's probably not much of a conversationalist. Pool house was too small, I liked their choice.

Sloths! 😁

Edited May 28, 2021 by LittleIggy

[Cetacean]

9 hours ago, Grizzly said:

What is it about Costa Rica that makes people lose their minds? Let's move there and live off our savings.

They weren't that old, either.  Unless they have massive savings, that makes no sense unless they plan on dying young.  Although with the abysmal health care down there, it's certainly a possibility.

[snarts]

7 minutes ago, Cetacean said:

They weren't that old, either.  Unless they have massive savings, that makes no sense unless they plan on dying young.  Although with the abysmal health care down there, it's certainly a possibility.

The Costa Rican Healthcare system ranks higher than the US. It offers universal healthcare to both citizens and permanent residents, which why there are so many ex-pats moving there for retirement.

This couple is likely living off their savings until they're of age to tap into 401k or other retirement savings. With the low rent and lower cost of living, they may even be able to forgo working altogether or do something part-time.  

Five more years until that will be me.  Probably not Costa Rica (my hair hates humidity) but I've done a lot of research and it's always listed in the top 5 retirement options, most notably for their healthcare system and infrastructure. 

[sempervivum]

2 hours ago, snarts said:

This couple is likely living off their savings until they're of age to tap into 401k or other retirement savings. With the low rent and lower cost of living, they may even be able to forgo working altogether or do something part-time.  

The wife said at the end that at some point they would probably have to go to work again. I couldn't tell if they spoke Spanish, and I don't know if the husband's background as a ?chemical researcher? would be a career option in CR. Didn't hear her say what her work was. The city they lived in/near seemed pretty shabby.

They looked to be in their early 50's, so they might have 20 years of higher income that contributed to their 401K and SS. That's not a lot (speaking as someone who worked for 46 years until age 68, and would be living in genteel poverty now if I weren't married to someone who made decent money).

If I were the wife's size, the last place on earth I'd choose to retire to would be someplace hot and humid, but to each their own. I can see why she'd want to stay submerged, though. 

[aghst]

3 hours ago, Cetacean said:

They weren't that old, either.  Unless they have massive savings, that makes no sense unless they plan on dying young.  Although with the abysmal health care down there, it's certainly a possibility.

 

3 hours ago, snarts said:

The Costa Rican Healthcare system ranks higher than the US. It offers universal healthcare to both citizens and permanent residents, which why there are so many ex-pats moving there for retirement.

This couple is likely living off their savings until they're of age to tap into 401k or other retirement savings. With the low rent and lower cost of living, they may even be able to forgo working altogether or do something part-time.  

Five more years until that will be me.  Probably not Costa Rica (my hair hates humidity) but I've done a lot of research and it's always listed in the top 5 retirement options, most notably for their healthcare system and infrastructure. 

Sounds like they both hated their jobs so maybe they were thinking they will just move and then worry about more money later?

And she boasted that she chose the town online.  They've been down to CR several times but not that particular town or region.  So at least they must be ready to deal with the humidity?

He really wanted to be isolated but why in the jungle?  Bugs and wild animals which may encroach on your home?  I wonder about these homes in Central America or Southeast Asia.  Monkeys can be aggressive, especially if they get spoiled by people feeding them easy food to acquire.

As for health care, maybe the idea is that for anything major they could fly back to the US but if they don't have insurance in the US, that could be a problem.  Both of them are overweight so they could be facing chronic problems as they age, but still well short of Medicare eligibility.

Trying to think of a CR episode which featured one of the large cities.  Instead it's mostly small towns on the coast or some places in the jungle.  San Jose is the capital but it's not on the coast so maybe it's not a magnet for Americans.

HHI mostly seems to feature CR or Panama.  Maybe they've done a couple of episodes in Nicaragua but I don't think Honduras or Guatemala, which are reportedly more dangerous places.

 

[Grrarrggh]

1 hour ago, aghst said:

As for health care, maybe the idea is that for anything major they could fly back to the US but if they don't have insurance in the US, that could be a problem.  Both of them are overweight so they could be facing chronic problems as they age, but still well short of Medicare eligibility.

Why would they need to return? Health care in CR is fabulous. Better than in the USA.

[aghst]

18 hours ago, amarante said:

In fairness to Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld, their shows were about nothing happening and not useless knowledge. It was somewhat of a breakthrough because traditionally half hour comedy shows were supposed to center around something happening.

They talk about things like regifting etiquette and close talkers.

Or the proportion of ice cream mix in a sundae.

A recent season of CYE was about Larry opening up a spite store or cafe to go after Mocha Joe and they went over some nuances that most people don't care about.

I would term that "useless knowledge."  The Seinfeld and CYE characters got specific about things that most sane people don't bother with.

[amarante]

6 minutes ago, aghst said:

They talk about things like regifting etiquette and close talkers.

Or the proportion of ice cream mix in a sundae.

A recent season of CYE was about Larry opening up a spite store or cafe to go after Mocha Joe and they went over some nuances that most people don't care about.

I would term that "useless knowledge."  The Seinfeld and CYE characters got specific about things that most sane people don't bother with.

Not to belabor it, but "useless knowledge" is generally knowledge about arcane subjects and not discussing social nuances like regifting etiquette and close talkers. That was what was meant about a series about "nothing" because there was no situation - in essence the characters talked about ordering big salads or running out of toilet paper and having a selfish woman in the next stall.

Curb Your Enthusiasm is much more like a classic situation comedy in which there is an actual plot and the seasons generally have a real arc to them which is resolved in the last episode in some way.

[aghst]

That's your opinion.  I forget the exact context when one of the HHI children used the words "useless knowledge" but it wasn't in the context of "arcane subjects" which can be like some specialized field of particle physics for all we know, a niche which only a few specialists know or care about.

Why can't "arcane subjects" apply to weird social nuances?  Larry David clearly is aware of these trivial matters and decided to integrate them into the dialog of Seinfeld and CYE.

Nobody cared enough about regifting to give it a lot of thought until Seinfeld gave a name to it and the characters were giving strong opinions on something most people don't give two seconds to think about.

[tessaray]

It's time to move on from Seinfeld and Curb Your Enthusiasm, please.

[Grizzly]

South Limburg, Netherlands. Ah Snarky Sarah. She was pretty gentle to their faces. Castle house was unique. I guess you could close off part of it to make it more manageable. And so you don't end up losing the boys or the dogs.

[buttersister]

Hire a Dutch cleaner, lady. 

[Rootbeer]

On 5/28/2021 at 2:10 PM, Grrarrggh said:

Why would they need to return? Health care in CR is fabulous. Better than in the USA.

First, you have to establish residency to qualify for the national health insurance, which takes 18 months.  In the interim, they would need private coverage.  Also, basic health care is widely available and good quality in the public health care system in CR; but there are often long waits to see specialists or get specialized testing or treatments including more complex surgeries.  The facilities are also often quite crowded and hospitalized patients are placed in wards, no private rooms.

So, while the overall quality is good, the amenities that most Americans expect; things like ease of access to specialists, short wait times for surgeries and private hospital rooms are not usually found in the national health system.  Also, the care is not 'free' anymore than Medicare is 'free'.  Patients pay based on a percent of the income they reported when they applied for coverage.

People who want to bypass the wait times and inconvenience of the public health care system can go to private hospitals which are also widely available but generally require a cash payment of up to $20,000 on admission unless the patient has a private health insurance policy.

[aghst]

13 hours ago, Grizzly said:

South Limburg, Netherlands. Ah Snarky Sarah. She was pretty gentle to their faces. Castle house was unique. I guess you could close off part of it to make it more manageable. And so you don't end up losing the boys or the dogs.

The wife didn't care about the outdoor space.  She might have preferred that second house if they didn't have to wait 6 weeks for it.

But are they responsible for maintaining that space since it was shared?  Maybe there is a big tractor mower to maintain that huge lawn, which was uphill no less.

Strange that the NATO base where he works would be near such a rural area.

Sarah is more chipper than snarky, unless they harsh her buzz by not reacting well to her positivity, putting the homes in the best light.  Is she really a realtor or just plays one on HHI?  She commented that this place was a remote corner of the Netherlands, sounded almost weary about what she puts up with for HHI sometimes.  Maybe Floor didn't want anything to do with Limburg.😊

 

[chessiegal]

2 hours ago, aghst said:

Is she really a realtor or just plays one on HHI?  

This is from her Instagram account (the chyron on the show called her a Property Consultant).

Quote

Sarah Eggar

Actress, married to a Frenchman, living in Amsterdam.💃
Realtor Extraordinaire, House Hunters International!
@baron.goldenretriever
@saraheggardesign

 

[Grizzly]

Brisbane, Australia. Realtor Maxine doesn't watch HGTV. So funny when she didn't know pocket door. This is a believable couple and their healthy budget is showing us some spectacular houses. I don't think there was a wrong choice.

[LittleIggy]

1 hour ago, Grizzly said:

Brisbane, Australia. Realtor Maxine doesn't watch HGTV. So funny when she didn't know pocket door. This is a believable couple and their healthy budget is showing us some spectacular houses. I don't think there was a wrong choice.

I’m glad the husband got the short commute time he wanted.

[StatisticalOutlier]

17 hours ago, Grizzly said:

Brisbane, Australia. Realtor Maxine doesn't watch HGTV. So funny when she didn't know pocket door.

I'm in the U.S. and only in the last few years did I learn that it's called a pocket door, even though we had one in the house I grew up in.  It wasn't much before learning about "pocket door" that I learned "en suite" for a bathroom attached to a bedroom, and we had one of those, too.  I guess we just never talked about them.  😀

 

17 hours ago, Grizzly said:

This is a believable couple.

They seemed believable to me, too, and I liked them.  There's probably a correlation.

[aghst]

Brisbane wife demanding beach access can’t have been serious?

There seemed to be plenty of parks including waterfront public spaces.

Or drive to the beach occasionally.

first place looked great but they weren’t willing to go over budget.  

[Grrarrggh]

I hope that Brisbane mom takes a water safety course. A parent should never be inside a house, no matter how close to the pool, while children are swimming. 

[Grizzly]

London. So good to see Richard! Omg, Richard peering through the portholes, too funny. Seeing houseboats is something different for us. Why didn't he suggest a less central part of London that might be less expensive? The metro is very good. Wow, they actually went for the boat. Owning instead of renting, more space, a lot less stairs, really a no-brainer. I did wonder if there was docking or mooring fees.

[Kiddvideo]

London houseboat: So I wondered if houseboats were like mobile homes and lose value every year, and it appears they do depreciate. Plus you have all the unique issues of grey/black storage tanks, electricity from batteries, blah blah blah. I can see why that flat wouldn’t work, either, but this episode really amplified my awareness that they’d already chosen their home.

I only watched to see Richard. 👏👏👏

[StatisticalOutlier]

I just did a little bit of a dive into houseboats in London.  It's much more complicated than the show portrayed (to no one's surprise, I'm sure). 

The Canal & River Trust runs the program.  You can have either a home mooring (which requires a license and paying mooring fees), or you can be a continuous cruiser (it requires a license but there are no mooring fees, but you have to move every 14 days).

Here's the beginning of their section on continuous cruising:

Quote

But what's it really like?

Hard work and time consuming, almost like having two jobs if you are working. Could you honestly say you'd enjoy trudging along the towpath with firewood or trying to empty sanitary tanks when the rain is horizontal, and the wind chill is -5C, and it’s getting dark? Of course, it’s not like that every day, but you should expect as many depressingly cold, wet and grey days as well as gloriously sunny ones. It’s a more challenging lifestyle than you might first think. It needs good planning and organisation skills to keep your boat well supplied and being a practical hands-on type of person to keep it running.

 

The home mooring might include electricity (for which you have to pay separately).  Continuous cruisers will have to make their own electricity, either through generators or solar panels.

And then there's waste disposal, for everyone, home moorers and continuous cruisers alike:

https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/enjoy-the-waterways/boating/boating-blogs-and-features/boating-team/game-of-thrones-boat-toilet-waste-disposal

They bought a wide-beam boat, which makes me think they're not going to be continuous cruisers.

https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/enjoy-the-waterways/boating/getting-afloat/wide-beam-wider-considerations

This is a lot easier than continuous cruising, but the show made it look like their $110,000 or whatever was all in, and it's not.  Not unlike the people in the U.S. who buy and own their mobile homes, but have to rent the land to place them on--a scheme that doesn't offer the security most people think of when owning a home.

Edited June 5, 2021 by StatisticalOutlier

[AnnMarie17]

Richard!  We're best friends...if only he knew. 🤣

Seriously, when we went to London last year (scratch that, TWO years ago...the last year is like the "forgotten year" in my memory bank) I was on the watch for him the entire time.  Alas, I never saw him.  In a city of over 9 million people, not counting tourists, I was sure I'd run into him and start our best friend-ship!  

[aghst]

12 hours ago, Kiddvideo said:

London houseboat: So I wondered if houseboats were like mobile homes and lose value every year, and it appears they do depreciate. Plus you have all the unique issues of grey/black storage tanks, electricity from batteries, blah blah blah. I can see why that flat wouldn’t work, either, but this episode really amplified my awareness that they’d already chosen their home.

I only watched to see Richard. 👏👏👏

Yeah I wondered about that.

Not wanting to pay high rent, I get.  But if they plunk their whole savings or a lot of their savings in an asset that depreciates, what is the point?

That rental apt. wasn't good for them but why not say look to spend up to $2500 say?  That is the equivalent of over 30 months of their savings.

But they both got jobs so they could have paid a higher rent than the one apt. Richard showed.

Of course their money would go further if they were not in central London.  So neither presumably wanted to commute but could they have tried to find a place near his family?

I don't think high-cost London is a good place to raise a child, especially since both seem to be starting out in their careers, not necessarily making a lot of money.  Parents probably helped buy that houseboat though, can't imagine they'd saved $110k already with him not really working in the US.

The first houseboat was right along the sidewalk so really no privacy.  The one they chose seemed to be set off from the sidewalk but the boardwalk seemed accessible to anyone.  That area seemed to have a lot of high rise office buildings so maybe it's quiet in the area at night.

 

[Cetacean]

There has to be some sort of back story to the London choices.  We already know that they had purchased the houseboat so HHI had to find another one that was cheaper but unsuitable along with a land-based option that would clearly not work.  Climbing multiple stories with a stoller would be a nightmare.

So the purchase of the houseboat prior to filming must have been driven by funny money or the boat being gifted to them.  Otherwise they gave no real solid reason for the mandate that they be in the heart of London.  Richard pointed out that owning in that area could cost a million dollars so there was some sleight of hand going on.

[buttersister]

Richard was working hard to make this fun or interesting. So of course, he was entertaining. But it’s hard to believe there wasn’t a rentable place available in the area that wasn’t a 4-flight walk up!😂

[Grrarrggh]

5 hours ago, buttersister said:

Richard was working hard to make this fun or interesting. So of course, he was entertaining. But it’s hard to believe there wasn’t a rentable place available in the area that wasn’t a 4-flight walk up!😂

There are tons of rentable places, but they were more than they wanted to spend. I was slightly amazed he found something there that cheap.

Edited June 4, 2021 by Grrarrggh

[Kiddvideo]

4 hours ago, buttersister said:

Richard was working hard to make this fun or interesting. So of course, he was entertaining. But it’s hard to believe there wasn’t a rentable place available in the area that wasn’t a 4-flight walk up!😂

I think that flat was shown only to make the boat seem like a good idea in comparison.

[amarante]

I found the houseboat episode to be completely bonkers. 

I can't imagine raising a child in a houseboat. What about when the child reaches toddler stage and it is potentially dangerous in the same way that having a pool in the backyard would be.

I have always lived in a city so I understand wanting the benefits of a metropolitan area but at some point you commute. My parents moved from their Manhattan apartment to Brooklyn when they had children - and that was when Brooklyn was NOT a hip place to live. It was essentially suburban life - single family homes - tree lined streets where kids could played outside like you would in most suburban neighborhoods and everyone owned a car because it made life easier - it is far easier to take a subway into Manhattan from the outer boroughs than it is to get from one place in Brooklyn to another neighborhood. 

As others have posted, they have not invested money in a home. They have essentially bought a boat which is a depreciating asset which requires a good amount of very specialized upkeep. Why wouldn't they just do what most people do and find a child friendly rental within their budget. I can't imagine actually living with a child in that boat - children come with all kinds of paraphernalia that takes up lots of space. 

[biakbiak]

11 minutes ago, amarante said:

can't imagine raising a child in a houseboat. What about when the child reaches toddler stage and it is potentially dangerous in the same way that having a pool in the backyard would be.

 

My sister and I spent most of our childhood growing up on a houseboat and both managed to survive to adulthood, just like the millions of children who have grown up with pools or close to water without incident. 

Edited June 5, 2021 by biakbiak

[LittleIggy]

On 6/3/2021 at 11:04 PM, Grizzly said:

London. So good to see Richard! Omg, Richard peering through the portholes, too funny. Seeing houseboats is something different for us. Why didn't he suggest a less central part of London that might be less expensive? The metro is very good. Wow, they actually went for the boat. Owning instead of renting, more space, a lot less stairs, really a no-brainer. I did wonder if there was docking or mooring fees.

That’s what I was wondering about too. There would have to be some kind of fee, wouldn’t there? The boat did look really nice inside. It gives Lola tons of space to explore.

[MakingBacon]

All I kept thinking was the boat rocking back and forth during a storm is going to cause motion sickness. I think staying on the boat on vacation would be fun but I don’t know if I could do it full-time. It seems like a lot of work. If I had to live on a boat I think I would want it moored somewhere where it was just a lot of boats. This seems to be right in the city and it make me feel vulnerable.

[StatisticalOutlier]

23 hours ago, Cetacean said:

So the purchase of the houseboat prior to filming must have been driven by funny money or the boat being gifted to them. 

Something else I found out is that the mooring typically doesn't convey with the boat, so just because it's tied up in a certain location when you buy it doesn't mean the buyer gets to keep it there, too.  I get the impression there aren't enough home-mooring berths to go around, and the wide-beam boat won't fit in some canals, so it's really meant to be more of a permanent residence than a cruiser.

Also, because of the pandemic, the continuous cruiser regulations were eased, and they were allowed to stay in one place for longer.  AND there are special allowances for continuous cruisers who have a new baby, where they can stay in one location longer that typically allowed.  (Although I'm still not sure this couple is continuous cruisers.)

I think there's a LOT left out of this episode, which is too bad because I think it's something that most people don't know anything about and would find interesting since they're already watching a show about how people in other countries live.