House Hunters International - General Discussion

[aguabella]

Was anybody else annoyed with the woman in New Zealand last night?  I think she was trying too hard to be cutesy and there was something I just didn't like about her.  Anybody? 

 

I'm not much help b/c I don't dvr (or watch) reruns and also try to ignore the participants!  I did check last night's HGTV schedule.  So, you're talking about the NZ md + family?

 

IIRC, when it originally aired, other posters were annoyed by her.  Was it the usual budget woes?  Didn't have time to post then but I do remember checking out their blog.  He works at a university hospital in Bend so I assumed he scored an exchange program / semi-sabbatical to NZ. 

 

They were only there a year and back home before the episode aired.  IIRC, they'd been in NZ about 6 months at the time of filming.  They did also mention on their blog, however, that his NZ salary was lower so their boys (?) would be sharing a room.

 

The short answer is no, IIRC, you're not alone if the OR / NZ wife annoyed you.  Hope that helps.

[SmithW6079]

On "CBS Sunday Morning," they just aired a story on Guardia, Italy, and the Americans who are buying homes there. The house hunter who was featured in an HHI episode was interviewed.

[scrb]

On "CBS Sunday Morning," they just aired a story on Guardia, Italy, and the Americans who are buying homes there. The house hunter who was featured in an HHI episode was interviewed.

Here's the 4 minute video.

[MsTree]

^^ Video??

[DownTheShore]

Pennsylvania to Dublin family:

They move to Ireland to be closer to his family, yet a twenty minute drive to visit to them is going to defeat the purpose of the move??? What, "driving" to visit from Pennsylvania was faster??? You're going to be living in a country that is smaller than the STATE you're moving from, and suddenly you can't be twenty minutes away?

[biakbiak]

Given the time estimates on the show, I have my doubts it was only 20 minutes, it also wasn't just far away from family it was far away from the train and far from the office but clearly it wasn't a real issue because it's the one they got.

I found it so odd that she had never been abroad or thought about living abroad given that her husband is Irish.

Edited April 12, 2016 by biakbiak

[AlleC17]

What I didn't get was making the large attic space a playroom instead of the girl's bedroom.  It was very spacious enough for each girl to have their own bed, as well as giving plenty of room to play.  Instead, they crammed them in that tiny bedroom.  I think I must have missed out on something. 

[DownTheShore]

Some of these spouses seem as though they've never gone beyond a twenty-mile radius of their hometowns. You can just see how uncomfortable they are when they really realize they're "not in Kansas anymore". And the clingiest ones seem to be the ones going to countries where English is widely spoken. It's like that few degrees of difference between the cultures really throws them off.

[roseslg]

Some of these spouses seem as though they've never gone beyond a twenty-mile radius of their hometowns. You can just see how uncomfortable they are when they really realize they're "not in Kansas anymore". And the clingiest ones seem to be the ones going to countries where English is widely spoken. It's like that few degrees of difference between the cultures really throws them off.

I know, right?  I would love to move to Ireland or the UK for the next couple of years.  My family is looking to relocate from NYC to the PNW (our version of an adventure), and we would jump at a chance to leave the country.  Seriously, if we could find jobs overseas, we'd be gone tomorrow.   

[proserpina65]

PNW

 

?

[Kohola3]

?

 

I wondered as well but think it might mean Pacific Northwest?

[SmithW6079]

^^ Video??

Here you go:

American House Hunters Buy Up an Italian Village

 

Pennsylvania to Dublin family:

They move to Ireland to be closer to his family, yet a twenty minute drive to visit to them is going to defeat the purpose of the move??? What, "driving" to visit from Pennsylvania was faster??? You're going to be living in a country that is smaller than the STATE you're moving from, and suddenly you can't be twenty minutes away?

 

Given the time estimates on the show, I have my doubts it was only 20 minutes, it also wasn't just far away from family it was far away from the train and far from the office but clearly it wasn't a real issue because it's the one they got.

I found it so odd that she had never been abroad or thought about living abroad given that her husband is Irish.

But if Mum was coming over twice a week to babysit, the house couldn't have been that far away from family. What did the wife do during that time? Was it her "me time"?

 

The wife was annoying, with her usual American insistence on size and -- horrors! -- having to share a bathroom with the kids. "America the Size Queen."

[laredhead]

I saw the piece on CBS Sunday Morning about 50 Americans (the count so far) who have bought property in that small Italian village and they were saying the residents had not gotten to the point of resenting foreign investors buying property and running up the prices to where the locals cannot afford to buy anything.  Well, if it's 50 today, there will be many more in the future and that town might regret becoming a hot spot for foreign investment.  It was a lovely village.  Better visit now before it becomes Americanized.

[scootypuffjr]

Re: Atlanta to Okinawa couple:

1) It was nice to see somewhere a little different from the usual overseas venues. My best friends growing up were half Okinawan, so it was a bonus for me to see a bit of their mother's home country, though I'm sure it has changed a lot from when she was a child there.

2) $4200 went farther than I expected it to go - that's a lot of money, but I didn't expect it to be able to rent a four (!) bedroom house. In fact, I didn't expect to see so many three or four bedroom places available, period. Shows what I know.

3) It was refreshing to have the one person say, "This is the house *I* want, so *I* will inconvenience myself and drive the extra time in order to have it" rather than "This is the house *I* want, so *you* can inconvenience yourself so I can have it" which seems to be the more usual way. The house they chose was awfully nice, though somewhat bigger than I thought absolutely necessary, and the big, fenced in yard was ideal for the kid and the dogs. I wonder how long it took to figure out how to use the stove and the toilet?

[Pickles]

I missed the first part of the Atlanta to Okinawa episode. Did they say what the wife does for a living?

[scootypuffjr]

She does something with autistic children, I believe, helping to prepare them for school.

[morgan]

I think she worked in early intervention. So she works with kids 0-3 who have disabilities or delays. Both of my boys had expressive speech delays...essentially talked late...so we worked with EI when they were little. A speech pathologist helped them get going, essentially. Fabulous experience and we really appreciated it.

Edited April 16, 2016 by morgan

[Lsk02]

I was wondering if she's maybe contracted through the military and working with the base children there. That's a huge housing allowance for that career here in the US, plus I'd think with the language difference it'd be tricky working with the Okinawan children.

The houses were very westernized, I'm guessing because of the large military population there.

[Spooneroonie]

The Okinawa episode was also the first time I can recall a specific mention of the couple "paying out of pocket", specifically referencing a housing allowance. I'm also betting she was working at a military base...I can't see her being an intervention specialist who can't speak the local language.

[SmithW6079]

I think in some earlier episodes, the ex-pats or the announcer would mention a housing stipend.

I liked the Okinawa couple. The housing differences were exaggerated, because they both wanted, at the heart of it, the same thing -- to make sure it was obvious they were living in not-America.

The house they chose wasn't even all that "Japanese" anyway. One little tea room does not an authentic cultural experience make.

[zivadanielle]

Episode with the cultural anthropologist in Yap, Micronesia = fascinating. 

 

I was not paying attention at the very beginning--were/was the couple accompanying him on his house hunt also anthropologists or similar?

 

I think my favorite part was the local chief who had to give permission for them to look for a place in his village: "Yes, he can just look at all the houses and pick out one he likes."   Or maybe that they were all conscientiously carrying around those baskets so they would never be empty-handed walking into a village.  What does one carry around in those, I wonder?  Chocolate?  A book? 

 

Edit: I just remembered that Yap was on HH: Off the Grid, for which there is no forum I don't think?  Not sure if this should be moved or not?

Edited April 19, 2016 by zivadanielle

[Kohola3]

I just remembered that Yap was on HH: Off the Grid

 

I think it was originally in HHI because I saw it. I have never watched the Off the Grid version.

 

I recall (although maybe incorrectly) the people with him were friends that already lived there but not anthropologists.

 

I agree, it was the best episode I had ever seen.  He really embraced the culture and no whining at all.  Refreshing.

[zivadanielle]

Oof, I did not realize it was a re-run of sorts.  Always happens to me! 

[candall]

Yap!  Now we're talkin'!!

 

I'm going to put up an "Off The Grid" thread because I see there are at least three episodes, according to my Directv two-week programming guide.

 

I kind of see whether you want a toilet and adding a new leaf to the roof as a different strata of "house hunting."

[SmithW6079]

I liked the flight attendant moving to Italy. She kept the diva behavior to a minimum, and I liked the scenes of the Italian countryside. If I recall, she picked the place that was close to the airport so she could get to work. 

[topanga]

20 hours ago, SmithW6079 said:

I liked the flight attendant moving to Italy. She kept the diva behavior to a minimum, and I liked the scenes of the Italian countryside. If I recall, she picked the place that was close to the airport so she could get to work. 

I liked her, too! She wanted an authentic Italian home and didn't harp on what she was used to having in the U.S. Except the bathtub, which she really wanted--but the house she ended up choosing only had a shower. And she was okay with that. But a 3-story house with one bedroom and one bathroom? That must have been one narrow house. I couldn't tell by the way it was shot. 

[aguabella]

On ‎4‎/‎17‎/‎2016 at 9:01 AM, SmithW6079 said:

I think in some earlier episodes, the ex-pats or the announcer would mention a housing stipend.

I liked the Okinawa couple. The housing differences were exaggerated, because they both wanted, at the heart of it, the same thing -- to make sure it was obvious they were living in not-America.

The house they chose wasn't even all that "Japanese" anyway. One little tea room does not an authentic cultural experience make.

 

I can't remember, going back to early HH/HHI days, either a housing stipend or the possibility of base housing ever mentioned.  If it happened, it must have been once or twice.  Now have I suspected same?  Oh, yeah!

Can't have anything cut down on housing search drama, right?

[Dejana]

Enjoyed the high school sweethearts relocating to Warwickshire, though I was hoping they'd pick the windmill. During the tour of the house, it made me think of The Burrow from Harry Potter and right then, the production cued up this twinkly music vaguely reminiscent of "Hedwig's Theme".

[misstulip]

The stove in the windmill was an Aga. I've always said the only thing I think I'd want to buy if I won the lottery is an Aga. It's a $15,000 stove. And she had no idea of the magic one can do with an Aga!!!  SMDH!!! I wanted to jump into my television and let her know what a bonus that was!

Plus the darling Harry Potter house...

[biakbiak]

8 hours ago, misstulip said:

The stove in the windmill was an Aga. I've always said the only thing I think I'd want to buy if I won the lottery is an Aga. It's a $15,000 stove. And she had no idea of the magic one can do with an Aga!!!  SMDH!!! I wanted to jump into my television and let her know what a bonus that was!

Plus the darling Harry Potter house...

The first house also had an Aga, it just wasn't mentioned because they could say it was to expensive and far away so they didn't need to create random reasons to not go with it.

[TwirlyGirly]

Jay's comment on the windmill house: "It would be great. But it's really impractical. You know, to get all the way up to where the boys would be on the top level would be almost impossible. It would really take away from our time as a family."

Wait a minute. If it's "almost impossible" to get up to the top level, how will the boys do it?

And how much time does it take to climb up and down those stairs, anyway? Are you seriously claiming it takes so long, and you'd have to go up there so frequently, doing so would actually and substantially decrease your "family time"? By how much per day, exactly?

The HHI producers need to hire me. I know I could develop much more logical faux objections to the houses the hunters reject than the current producers. (Hint: claiming the time it takes to go up and down a couple flights of stairs would have a noticeable negative impact on the amount of time the family spends together isn't one of them).

[NYGirl]

The realtor who was disappointing because he wasn't our beloved Richard,looked like he was smelling farts through the whole episode.

i liked the house they chose

[SmithW6079]

On 4/28/2016 at 6:07 PM, aguabella said:

 

I can't remember, going back to early HH/HHI days, either a housing stipend or the possibility of base housing ever mentioned.  If it happened, it must have been once or twice.  Now have I suspected same?  Oh, yeah!

Can't have anything cut down on housing search drama, right?

If I recall, there was an episode where a young woman was moving to Saudi Arabia that specifically talked about her housing stipend -- and it was amazing what she could get. She seemed kind of clueless about Saudi culture.

I thought it was a given that most people who moved overseas because of a job transfer were getting some kind of housing allowance. 

[NYGirl]

I turned on the TV before bed last night and imagine my surprise finding the guy we made fun of for days here moving to Lyon France.  He's the one who had to have a bath tub, a gas range and outdoor space for the puppy he was going to buy.  I giggled throughout the episode as he's so funny that he can't be a real person.  And then the final shot?  Him in a rainbow colored tank top romping with a 1 lb puppy on the grass.  I loved it.

[DownTheShore]

I would have picked the windmill, if just to live in it for a year. How many times is a chance like that going to come along? They always go with the closest thing to an American home that they can find. So disappointing. 

I recognized that as an Aga stove. I would love to give one of those a try. 

Oh, dear! The oven is so small! How will we ever roast a turkey?  How? Cut the damn thing up into parts first.  

Edited May 2, 2016 by DownTheShore

[NYGirl]

Ok last night..the South of France.  The newlyweds with 4 Brady Bunch children telling their kids..oh we are getting a second house..kids excited and dying to go with them.  All the talk about having the kids with them..  And then....they tell the realtor..I need 1 or 2 bedrooms.  Me:  click remote while thinking.."idiots".

[Babalooie]

Couple in Brussels:  "House Hunters International is on."  "OH, yay, my favorite show."   Haha.  I don't know if I would want to live there after the recent attacks, but the three choices were all appealing to me.

[Ohwell]

I was thinking about the attacks in Brussels as I watched the episode.  However, as nice as Brussels looks, it wouldn't have been the kind of place I'd want to live in, even without the attacks.  It looks a somewhat "closed," if that makes sense.  I just don't think I'd feel comfortable there but I'm happy for the couple.

[Spunkygal]

Don't know if the Brussels episode was filmed before the attacks, but I have always wanted to visit it. Those dogs are soooo precious and happy! I thought house 1 would be the choice. When they went through, I noticed those lovely pieces of furniture "left behind", i.e., chests and sideboard, which I loved. So I immediately thought that was their house, their pieces. 

But I am ready for more London episodes with our favorite realtor, Richard Blanco and his adorable laugh! 

[buttersister]

I enjoyed the Brussels couple, which is more than I can say about most HHI HHs.

[proserpina65]

13 hours ago, buttersister said:

I enjoyed the Brussels couple, which is more than I can say about most HHI HHs.

I actually found them annoying.  Or, more accurately, I found the one guy annoying.  The other, Guy, I found myself agreeing with.

 

Just saw the one with the couple moving to Eastbourne.  I would've chosen the same house they did, for the potential of it.  Of course, I mostly ended up hating what they did with it, far too modern for my tastes, and found myself wishing they'd chosen one of the other houses instead.

[Jeremiad]

The Denver to Dublin wife absolutely us have a scrap booking room.  She arrives in a cosmopolitan city and this is how she plans on filling her time.  Use some imagination, Lady!

[scootypuffjr]

To be fair, she was into photography and I assumed she wanted to preserve her photos and memories in scrapbook form.

Who didn't guess they'd pick the over budget place with a view?  And I don't know, but do people renting an apartment in your average American downtown city demand a view?  Maybe they do, but I would expect it can get pretty crowded and I imagine a lot of views consist of other apartment buildings.

What always gets me is how people feel they need a dedicated guest room, used only for the many people they expect to visit them, nearly every week of the year.  Why can't a room be an office/guest room or a scrapbooking/guest room?  Or if their friends and family can afford to fly overseas to visit , perhaps they could afford a hotel room as well.

Perhaps I should have read the Pet Peeves thread first....

[SmithW6079]

Ugh, the Brussels couple. Bitchy gay men like that are the reason I identify as "homosexual," not "gay."

From the moment Guy, the spouse coming from the US opened his mouth, I knew he was one of those unpleasant, brittle, high-maintenance people, although the other one wasn't sweetness and light. He was just short of rude to the realtor, and she didn't appreciate it. 

Why were they concerned about "curb appeal"? They're renting a place, not buying it. The only thing I agreed with them was the no open space in the apartment they chose, but going on ad nauseum about there being enough grass in the park up make up for it made me annoyed at them again.

[Babalooie]

I knew which place the Dublin couple would choose because it seemed that the man was talking as if it were theirs. I would love to live there if the climate were a little warmer.  We were there in June and it was like our Florida winters.

[proserpina65]

22 hours ago, Jeremiad said:

The Denver to Dublin wife absolutely us have a scrap booking room.  She arrives in a cosmopolitan city and this is how she plans on filling her time.  Use some imagination, Lady!

God, that woman was annoying.  I fully expect her to be telling the husband "remember everything I sacrificed so that you could move to Dublin" when they're 80.

I will confess, however, to being somewhat amused that, in both this episode and the recent one in Brussels, they're featuring couples where one partner clearly didn't want to move abroad.

Edited May 6, 2016 by proserpina65

[Pickles]

I agree about the Denver to Dublin woman. She looked miserable. She said she had to give up her job, there was more green space in Denver, etc. She was a pain. I also thought she looked older than the husband which is not relevant at all, but I think they are the same age. Maybe if she tried to be happier, she would look younger.

[Ohwell]

Not that it matters, but I also thought the Denver woman looked older than her husband.  But then the husband pinged my gaydar. 

[Albino]

Ooops.

*moved to Caribbean Life because Geography is hard!*

Edited May 9, 2016 by Albino

[scootypuffjr]

He:  My name is Barkley.

She: I am a reiki master.

Me: rolls eyes.

To their credit, they did manage to fool me.  With all the insistence on keeping to the $400,000 budget, I fully expected them to take the tiny $445,000 place.  They went slightly less over budget instead, but still had to furnish the house.  Oh well, it was a pretty nice place and they seemed happy, so what do I care?