House Hunters International - General Discussion

[hkit]

2 hours ago, Ohwell said:

The NY to NZ couple were both kind of low-key, no drama people, which was a good thing, but made the episode kind of boring.   I know, I can't be pleased, lol.

Wow, I hated them. They weren't dramatic, but they really wanted everyone to know just how hip their New York lifestyle was. Every other word from them was "NY this" or "NY that". I loved it when the husband pointed out that he was excited that there was a gas stove, because everyone in NY has gas. Ugh... STFU dude.

[Albino]

3 hours ago, Ohwell said:

The NY to NZ couple were both kind of low-key, no drama people, which was a good thing, but made the episode kind of boring.   I know, I can't be pleased, lol.

I'm the exact same way!  Episode after episode of happy, easy-to-please buyers would get so boring.  But the pissy ones make me so angry I've actually have to stop watching for a week or two LOL.  

I'd love to see some shows from 15 years ago - the Suzanne Whaaaannng years - just to compare how different the buyers behave.

[Bronx Babe]

15 hours ago, Pickles said:

I enjoyed the NY couple with the three children moving to New Zealand. They seemed so calm and laid back. And they seemed to genuinely like each other and looked happy together. They were a cute couple. 

Canadian.

13 hours ago, AuntiePam said:

And so nice to see Americans not complaining about small kitchens, or about not having a bedroom and bathroom for each member of the family.

North American.

Canadian.

I don't understand why the producers want to "hide" this fact.

[Peanutbuttercup]

I had to delete fugly Seattle-to-Sweden dudebro before I even saw one apartment. That made me sad because I love the Nordic countries and look forward to any HHI episodes set there. But he was so vomit-inducing with his fixation on the "nightlife" and sense of entitlement with respect to dating Swedish "supermodels" that I just couldn't continue watching.

[abbyzenn]

Re Manchester couple.  I had to laugh when she said something about wanting the house with the bigger yard because she would be the one that had to take care of him all day (or something to that effect) and I thought wouldn't that give you a lot of time to take him for walks.  A big dog needs more room than that yard to run in.

Re Brooklyn to New Zealand couple:  I really liked the guy.  He seemed to do most of the talking.  The wife seemed like to be sleep walking.  I had to rewind the tape just to hear those children's names again.  Would love to have heard how they came up with those names.

Re Seattle Guy to Stockholm:  All 3 apartments were "studios" but they had separate and nice sized kitchens and a dinning area which I thought seemed rather large for a studio - which I thought was just 1 room with a kitchen alcove plus of course a separate bathroom.  He took the one with a balcony although it was 15 minute walk from the nightlife after making a big deal about it being too far from the nightlife. 

[chocolatine]

I just watched the Manchester episode. I wanted to slap the wife for many reasons, but especially for complaining that there wasn't an "open" kitchen-dining-living layout and more than one bathroom in the town houses. What was the realtor supposed to do, travel back in time 70-80 years and ask the builders of all the town houses to completely change the floor plans? And then she complained about the furniture in the second house (I think), even though all three places had exceptionally nice decor for rentals. I haven't lived in the Manchester/Liverpool area, but I have lived in another part of the UK, and I thought all three places were great for their respective prices, compared to the accommodations that I've lived in over there. And finally, pretending to "advocate" for the dog while being too lazy to take him for a walk every day in the "terrible" Manchester weather. I'm sure hubby was the one to walk the dog during the Chicago winter.

She said they'd just gotten married, yet hubby seems already sick of her. I think the marriage will be over before his UK assignment ends.

Edited October 11, 2016 by chocolatine

[TVForever]

Niigata Falls to Aruba

I just started watching, so this is just to say how much I'm giggling right now because these this couple is just cracking me up! Also, either these two are really short or the realtor is super tall, because they're like children standing next to him!

Okay back to the episode. I'll come back later to talk about the homes.

[mojito]

Niagara Falls to Aruba

This couple made me chuckle a lot, too. In the movie version, Danny DeVito will play the husband, David. Brenda reminded me of Edith Bunker. Totally different accents, and neither of these two people look like Danny DeVito or (the late) Jean Stapleton. He just seemed like a DD character, and she sort of sounded like Edith Bunker, and she had a pronounced regional accent, too. She probably speaks at a rate of 25 words a minute and struck me as very mellow, so it was funny at the end when she declared how relaxed she was in Aruba.

The husband wanted things BIG and she was a self-proclaimed minimalist. They talked about size, but not style. Not a single mention of "entertaining" or having to have bedrooms for all their visiting family (no family mentioned) or of anything being "dated". He was hung up on having a tiki bar, and his glee at seeing an ordinary  bar on the patio was enough to make me wonder what a tiki bar actually was. 

All in all, a kind of entertaining episode. 

Edited October 11, 2016 by mojito
added link

[Twiz44]

Mrs. TikiBar's voice drove me up the wall.  It sounded to me like a Wisconsin accent every time I heard her say, "baaaaarrrrrrr".

[izabella]

Tiki bars require tiki torches.  That is all.

[proserpina65]

Quote

And don't get me started about the cat on the cooking surface in the kitchen.  Just what I like, cat hair where you cook.  

Trust me, anyone who owns a cat has had the cat on the cooking surface at some time.  Usually if you see it's up there, you make it get down right away, but cats get wherever they want when the owner isn't home to stop them.  Heck, closed doors don't always stop them.

[proserpina65]

On ‎10‎/‎05‎/‎2016 at 10:50 PM, Bronx Babe said:

!http://eliza-and-jon.ourwedding.com/

Oh dear god, if I didn't hate her before . . .

[chocolatine]

I just watched the Vienna episode because I was just there a few weeks ago and absolutely love the city, and again there was a woman demanding an open plan kitchen, in a pre-WWI apartment. I wanted to throw things at the television.

[chessiegal]

1 hour ago, proserpina65 said:

Trust me, anyone who owns a cat has had the cat on the cooking surface at some time.  Usually if you see it's up there, you make it get down right away, but cats get wherever they want when the owner isn't home to stop them.  Heck, closed doors don't always stop them.

Taking this to small talk.

[truther]

1 hour ago, chocolatine said:

I just watched the Vienna episode because I was just there a few weeks ago and absolutely love the city, and again there was a woman demanding an open plan kitchen, in a pre-WWI apartment. I wanted to throw things at the television.

I would hardly consider myself a close watcher of this show, but it really seems to me that they've upped the Ridiculously Annoying Woman Quotient recently.  I mean that in a gender-specific way.  It's starting to really bother me.  The woman is always either insane, absurdly demanding, or both.  Just ep after ep where you the viewer is left shaking your head at how awful this woman is behaving.  Have these House Hunters ever moved for the wife's career instead of the husband's?  (I can think off the top of my head of a Paris photographer but even her partner had a job, too, right?  And also some London nutcase.)  Am I being selective or is it really that way?

[chocolatine]

56 minutes ago, truther said:

I would hardly consider myself a close watcher of this show, but it really seems to me that they've upped the Ridiculously Annoying Woman Quotient recently.  I mean that in a gender-specific way.  It's starting to really bother me.  The woman is always either insane, absurdly demanding, or both.  Just ep after ep where you the viewer is left shaking your head at how awful this woman is behaving.  Have these House Hunters ever moved for the wife's career instead of the husband's?  (I can think off the top of my head of a Paris photographer but even her partner had a job, too, right?  And also some London nutcase.)  Am I being selective or is it really that way?

I only got into the show recently by watching some old episodes on Netflix, and I just started watching the more recent episodes on demand, but I also noticed that it's most often the wife giving up her career for the husband's. I mentioned it in the pet peeves thread because it annoys me so much. From my experience living in several European countries, most of the expat couples I've met had both spouses either working or in grad school, and often - gasp! - the impetus for moving abroad was the wife's career/schooling.

On this show, to add insult to injury, they take the leap from the wife giving up her career to her becoming a shrew that uses her "sacrifice" to make unreasonable demands. In both the Manchester and Vienna episodes the couples ended up choosing places that were significantly over budget to please the wives (though Vienna wife was less obnoxious than Manchester wife), which is just madness if they're living on one salary and plan to travel while they're living in Europe.

[KLovestoShop]

The Aruba couple made me laugh.  But I saw them as being in a comedy sketch on Saturday Night Live in the late '70's with Dan Akroyd and Gilda Radner playing the parts.  To me, her voice reminded me of the Linda Richman character (Mike Myers doing Coffee Talk).  What was with her hair, all smooshed to one side?  I know part of it looked like some kind of bow, but it looked like it was falling off her head.  And if I had to hear him saying how he needed to practice being a Tiki bartender, I was going to scream.  

[vesperholly]

5 hours ago, truther said:

I would hardly consider myself a close watcher of this show, but it really seems to me that they've upped the Ridiculously Annoying Woman Quotient recently.  I mean that in a gender-specific way.  It's starting to really bother me.  The woman is always either insane, absurdly demanding, or both.  Just ep after ep where you the viewer is left shaking your head at how awful this woman is behaving.  Have these House Hunters ever moved for the wife's career instead of the husband's?  (I can think off the top of my head of a Paris photographer but even her partner had a job, too, right?  And also some London nutcase.)  Am I being selective or is it really that way?

Actually, there was just an episode where a couple moved to Puerto Rico for the wife's job as a air traffic controller. They were both fairly normal, too.

[magemaud]

The Aruba couple, David and Brenda seemed like caricatures from the early 60s. Yes, what was with that huge ponytail (as large as her head) off to the side? And that nails-on-the-chalkboard VOICE! I couldn't figure out why he was so determined to get a Tiki Bar to practice his bar-tending skills making drinks. Won't any counter do? When he proudly showed the bar he added at the end, it looked like the cheap kind you can get at Party City: http://www.partycity.com/product/tiki+bar+hut+55in+x+56in.do

[AuntiePam]

What's going on in Hungary?  Three decent apartments for less than $300 a month, and the one for $215 with the nice kitchen and bathroom -- wow. 

It's nice to know there are options outside the US that I could afford.

[Ohwell]

I couldn't believe how cheap and nice the Hungary apartments were.  

[vesperholly]

3 hours ago, AuntiePam said:

What's going on in Hungary?  Three decent apartments for less than $300 a month, and the one for $215 with the nice kitchen and bathroom -- wow. 

It's nice to know there are options outside the US that I could afford.

Hungary is not on the euro because of inflation and public debt, and has struggled to transition from communism to capitalism. I wonder if the influx of Middle Eastern immigrants (and Hungary's negative response) has also depressed housing prices.

[awaken]

8 hours ago, magemaud said:

The Aruba couple, David and Brenda seemed like caricatures from the early 60s. Yes, what was with that huge ponytail (as large as her head) off to the side? And that nails-on-the-chalkboard VOICE! I couldn't figure out why he was so determined to get a Tiki Bar to practice his bar-tending skills making drinks. Won't any counter do? When he proudly showed the bar he added at the end, it looked like the cheap kind you can get at Party City: http://www.partycity.com/product/tiki+bar+hut+55in+x+56in.do

Haha. I haven't even seen this ep yet but now I'll make it a priority! Sounds riveting!

[Kohola3]

Singapore prices - $1800 a month for a "tiny home".  Holy cow.

"Shower with a lip, shower with a lip, shower with a lip.....".  Honest to Pete, shut up already.

[magemaud]

Singapore couple, Josh and Kylie (Kaylie?), got on my last nerve. First, school teachers working in a few foreign countries hardly constitutes a "jet setting" lifestyle! Second, there must be some kind of do it yourself way of keeping the shower water from going all over the bathroom floor if it's such an issue. Like sandbags or standing  in a kiddy pool. Third, I think they broke the record for eye rolling at each other. Fourth, I couldn't stand Josh's stupid hairstyle!!

[Kohola3]

Quote

Singapore couple, Josh and Kylie (Kaylie?), got on my last nerve. First, school teachers working in a few foreign countries hardly constitutes a "jet setting" lifestyle! Second, there must be some kind of do it yourself way of keeping the shower water from going all over the bathroom floor if it's such an issue. Like sandbags or standing  in a kiddy pool. Third, I think they broke the record for eye rolling at each other. Fourth, I couldn't stand Josh's stupid hairstyle!!

Amen to each and every word.  Does that man every look in the mirror?  Maybe his wet socks distract him from that hideous hair.  And loved how she said he obsesses about one thing (budget) while chanting "lip around the shower" over and over.  Talk about obsessive.

[AuntiePam]

49 minutes ago, magemaud said:

Singapore couple, Josh and Kylie (Kaylie?), got on my last nerve. First, school teachers working in a few foreign countries hardly constitutes a "jet setting" lifestyle! Second, there must be some kind of do it yourself way of keeping the shower water from going all over the bathroom floor if it's such an issue. Like sandbags or standing  in a kiddy pool. Third, I think they broke the record for eye rolling at each other. Fourth, I couldn't stand Josh's stupid hairstyle!!

That's what I thought too -- a towel on the floor will soak up a lot of water, and a length of rubber hose can make a barrier.

Josh's hair -- oy vey.  I had to laugh when he looked at that small sink with almost zero counter space and said he'd have room for his hair products.  No, you won't. 

[SmithW6079]

On 10/9/2016 at 3:32 PM, Peanutbuttercup said:

I had to delete fugly Seattle-to-Sweden dudebro before I even saw one apartment. That made me sad because I love the Nordic countries and look forward to any HHI episodes set there. But he was so vomit-inducing with his fixation on the "nightlife" and sense of entitlement with respect to dating Swedish "supermodels" that I just couldn't continue watching.

I'm not so sure about the "dating supermodels" thing. I was sure his lady friend who accompanied him was his girlfriend (and she kept hinting about him inviting her over), but when they showed him making dinner for a friend, it was a guy.

This was another, though, in the annoying trend HHI has had lately -- house hunters who believe you can only find a slower lifestyle/culture/whatever in another country. In this instance, it was fitness. Apparently, only the only place you can live a fitness lifestyle is Sweden. And he wasn't even that in shape (there was evidence of a potbelly). 

While I get that he could only afford studio apartments, I didn't understand why they would have a bed smack dab in the middle of the room. When I lived in a studio apartment, I got a sleeper sofa so I could have "living room" during the day and opened my bed at night to sleep. 

[KLovestoShop]

Could not stand the Singapore couple.  All he would have to do is glue a bit of weatherstripping to the floor and the water problem is taken care of.  I thought she was a total spoiled bitch.  And I didn't blame him one tiny bit with the comment about how she always gets what she wants.  But he either puts on his big boy jock and and tells her to grow up, or he dumps her.  And her comment that she always wins is very telling-----she IS a brat. 

Does he honestly think he looks good with that hair?   He looks hideous.  

I wonder how long the snowflake princess will like living in a tiny apartment.  

[mojito]

Singapore

I'd seen those open showers before, but until this episode, I'd never thought of a constantly wet floor. Wet socks. Oh, I so hate wet feet. But I think there had to be a DIY workaround. I appreciated the rolled eyes; their reactions to each other (particularly his talking heads) seemed quite genuine and typical. I wonder what it is about Singapore that they liked so much? They have decided that this would be their last stop. Guess I'll just have to go there and check the place out.

[truther]

25 minutes ago, mojito said:

Singapore

I'd seen those open showers before, but until this episode, I'd never thought of a constantly wet floor. Wet socks. Oh, I so hate wet feet. But I think there had to be a DIY workaround. I appreciated the rolled eyes; their reactions to each other (particularly his talking heads) seemed quite genuine and typical. I wonder what it is about Singapore that they liked so much? They have decided that this would be their last stop. Guess I'll just have to go there and check the place out.

I had a hotel room in Italy once that had a bathroom with an open shower.  Used the shower once and ugh it was awful -- even though there was a shower curtain to pull over, the water got everywhere.  It pooled on the floor and splashed around.  The whole bathroom was wet for the rest of the day.  Using the sink, using the toilet . . . ugh.  Never again.  

[biakbiak]

A wet room doesn't bother me but I can see it bothering others and it's not always that easy to do quick diy fixes depending on the location of the drain which can be in the center of the room.

Edited October 13, 2016 by biakbiak

[izabella]

1 hour ago, mojito said:

I wonder what it is about Singapore that they liked so much? They have decided that this would be their last stop.

You would think they'd have looked into the cost of housing in Singapore before deciding to make it their "forever" home.  Then they wouldn't have been so surprised at how little space they get for their money.  I don't see them staying there beyond a year.  English as a second language teacher and PE teacher are NOT the kind of jobs that will make her happy in a place that has the highest cost of living in the word.  I did not like that princess at all!

I was glad to see their dog was teeny tiny.  I couldn't imagine them having a medium sized or large dog in that small apartment.

[mojito]

Quote

A wet room doesn't bother me but I can see it bothering others and it's not always that easy to do quick diy fixes depending on the location of the drain which can be in the center of the room.

Maybe part of the shower curtain covered another drain. At both opportunities to view the bathroom floor, I only saw a drain beneath the sink, which was on the other wall and seemed oddly placed. 

That was a very cute little dog, @izabella. I can't see them staying in Singapore for long, either. 

[AuntiePam]

Arizona to Brighton, England for husband's job.  Three children, ages not mentioned but I think the oldest was eight, maybe, and the other two were five and three.  I'm not good with kids' ages since mine are long since grown. 

Anyway, husband's main concern was finding a house close in size to what they had in Arizona.  He thought it would be an easier adjustment for the girls.  That made me wonder about how much of an adjustment it really is for children that young.  They probably have no concept of distance, that they flew over the US and then over an ocean and are thousands of miles from their former home.  They're also of an age where the size of a house means nothing to them.  They'll have beds, a kitchen, bathroom, etc. -- same as before.

And the "different" things the kids will do, like feeding lambs, walking on a beach, riding a big ferris wheel -- those kids won't know that they're doing it in Iowa or Timbuktu.  The only change they'll notice is that they'll be wearing different clothes. 

So I thought dad's concern was kinda silly, and an indication that he really doesn't understand what's important to children, what they'll notice and care about.  Then again, most of us are that way -- we've forgotten how little kids think.

[TVForever]

Arizona to Brighton

I thought it was refreshing to have the wife/mother/trailing spouse

1. looking forward to the prospects of her new life, not act like she was being dragged from her beloved U.S. home kicking and screaming

2. actually want a smaller house instead of a McMansion because it will be easier to care for along with raising three kids.  Shades of the tiny house movement?

Random question: In the house that they ended up  choosing, the husband complained about the size of the refrigerator, but they neglected to open the fridge to show us how small it really was. Notable because it didn't really look all that small. in fact, they seemed to be intentionally vague about whether it was the top and bottom or just the bottom. Nothing to do with the price of tea in China, it was just weird if this was just a script device to give them something to complain about in an otherwise fine house.

[AuntiePam]

TVForever, I wondered about the fridge too, and decided that the bottom part was the freezer and the top was the fridge.  So it was a tall skinny refrigerator, and small for a family of five, but not a deal breaker, since the rest of the place was very workable for them. 

[proserpina65]

1 hour ago, TVForever said:

Arizona to Brighton

I thought it was refreshing to have the wife/mother/trailing spouse

1. looking forward to the prospects of her new life, not act like she was being dragged from her beloved U.S. home kicking and screaming

2. actually want a smaller house instead of a McMansion because it will be easier to care for along with raising three kids.  Shades of the tiny house movement?

Random question: In the house that they ended up  choosing, the husband complained about the size of the refrigerator, but they neglected to open the fridge to show us how small it really was. Notable because it didn't really look all that small. in fact, they seemed to be intentionally vague about whether it was the top and bottom or just the bottom. Nothing to do with the price of tea in China, it was just weird if this was just a script device to give them something to complain about in an otherwise fine house.

Yeah, I wondered if the fridge/freezer was in the top cabinet, which was decent-ish size, or the bottom one, which was indeed small.  But even then, the Brits are still big on buying perishables more often than Americans usually do, so big enough.  I like that they chose the house which was close to the kids' school and not that far, really, from the beach.  I'd love to be a 10-15 minute walk from the beach.

[biakbiak]

51 minutes ago, proserpina65 said:

Yeah, I wondered if the fridge/freezer was in the top cabinet, which was decent-ish size, or the bottom one, which was indeed small.  But even then, the Brits are still big on buying perishables more often than Americans usually do, so big enough.  I like that they chose the house which was close to the kids' school and not that far, really, from the beach.  I'd love to be a 10-15 minute walk from the beach.

As someone who has lived with that the same kitchen (brought to the world by ikea) the top part was the fridge and the bottom part was a freezer . So it was while it wasnt an "American sized" fridge it is about the size of most American apartment refrigerator/freezers. 

Edited October 14, 2016 by biakbiak

[morgan]

I think what confused me about the Arizona to Brighton family was the husband.  He seemed so uncomfortable with the move in general.  He tried to play it off as concern for the girls adjustment, but mom and kids seemed fine.  I guess what made me wonder about him is aren't people on this show generally people who have been there for a bit?  Not necessarily years (we are aquainted with a family who was on HHI a few years ago, they were only overseas a handful of months because of a family situation).  But usually they already at least have been there.  I wonder if he genuinely wasn't happy?  Homesick?  

[proserpina65]

2 hours ago, biakbiak said:

As someone who has lived with that the same kitchen (brought to the world by ikea) the top part was the fridge and the bottom part was a freezer . So it was while it wasnt an "American sized" fridge it is about the size of most American apartment refrigerator/freezers. 

Thanks for the info - so not "too small" really, just not ginormous.

I liked the third house the best because I want my kitchen separated from the rest of the rooms so that I don't have to clean up right away when I have guests.  (Yeah, when I have guests, otherwise I totally would, lol.)  Plus, very close to the beach!  But the first place was a good compromise between his wanting something just like home and her wanting to spend less time on house maintenance.

Yes, she seemed way more comfortable with moving abroad than he did.

[AuntiePam]

1 hour ago, morgan said:

I think what confused me about the Arizona to Brighton family was the husband.  He seemed so uncomfortable with the move in general.  He tried to play it off as concern for the girls adjustment, but mom and kids seemed fine.  I guess what made me wonder about him is aren't people on this show generally people who have been there for a bit?  Not necessarily years (we are aquainted with a family who was on HHI a few years ago, they were only overseas a handful of months because of a family situation).  But usually they already at least have been there.  I wonder if he genuinely wasn't happy?  Homesick?  

I agree.  He seemed to be projecting his own insecurities about the move onto the kids.  Kids that young don't care where they live.  Teenagers have years of friendships to leave behind, and are often leery of new schools, and making new friends.  He had a sort of sad, lost look on his face. 

[meep.meep]

My parents lived in an apartment near the sea.  Do you know what you have to do all the time if you live right next to the ocean?  Wash the windows.  Constantly.

I've seen plenty of British kitchens where that bottom unit would have been the entire refrigerator with a tiny freezer compartment.

[mojito]

I agree that the husband was expressing his own wants under the guise of making the adjustment easy for the little girls. The wife was a breath of fresh air. 

[Thumper]

I would not have wanted that wet Singapore bathroom either.  Hell, I hate squeegee-ing the glass walls in our shower, much less having to dry off the floor, walls, and toilet in a bathroom!

[chocolatine]

26 minutes ago, Thumper said:

Hell, I hate squeegee-ing the glass walls in our shower

I'm glad I'm not the only one who feels that way. :)

[AuntiePam]

Our shower has a curtain.  When we bought the place, my husband said he thought a curtain was "tacky" and he wanted to install a glass or plastic sliding door.  I reminded him what a pain in the ass they are to clean.  A curtain can be tossed in the wash. 

[awaken]

Singapore man had ugly hair, like one of those trolls you spin between your hands so the hair stands up on top. 

 I don't ever think I've heard the phrase "shower lip" before so many times in my life. I am just curious, what does everyone else in the world with lipless showers do with the wet bathroom floor? 

Aruba couple were weirdos. I find it hard to believe she's a minimalist with such bizarre, labor-intensive looking hairstyle, eyebrows, and lipstick. And the nasally voices, omg. "Honey!!"   At least they seemed to really enjoy each other, which was nice to see. 

Edited October 15, 2016 by awaken

[awaken]

Hungary was interesting! I was surprised at the low cost of living, and very glad that she was able to get a new day bed!  

[biakbiak]

5 minutes ago, awaken said:

Singapore man had ugly hair, like one of those trolls you spin between your hands so the hair stands up on top. 

 I don't everything I've heard the phrase "shower lip" before so many times in my life. I am just curious, what does everyone else in the world with lipless showers do with the wet bathroom floor? 

 

Wear flip flops or shower shoes and most definitely do not wear socks.