House Hunters International - General Discussion

[PrimeTuner]

On Fri Aug 02 2019 at 3:14 AM, eel21788 said:

I wanted to smack that guy. Show me one city anywhere in the US where you can get a 1-bedroom apartment for $600/month! Pay more or quit complaining!

Agreed. 9 years ago I was living in El Paso, TX and paid around that much for a one bedroom apartment but that was 9 years ago and El Paso is one of the cheapest cities in the US. At the same time, some niceish but still pretty mediocre 3 bedroom houses in town were renting for $1200 a month or more. 

[PrimeTuner]

On Fri Jul 26 2019 at 7:25 AM, SmithW6079 said:

I thought the Madagascar wife was a big "C." Five minutes in, and I hated her. "I want it to feel like we're living in the US in Madagascar." But later she says she's lived all over the world, and she loves immersing herself in different cultures.

The second house: "We do have lights and running water, don't we?" Fuck you, you prejudiced, entitled American.

The Chile husband? What a douchebag asshole. He was unpleasant from the start. I loved that the "relocation consultant" obviously hated him. The wife was no winner either.

He looks like he'd be a terrible neighbor -- he even made a remark that alluded to neighbors having to call the cops on their loud parties.

Haven't seen that episode but my position is that's a reasonable view provided you can afford to live like that and that standard of comfort is available in the country you're moving to. Madagascar doesn't strike me as a country where US style comfort can be found anywhere. It's just too poor and I can't imagine there are many expats living there either. Whereas in much of SE Asia, such expectations are not unreasonable provided your budget is flexible. 

[sempervivum]

(Someplace) to Sydney- I missed the first 3 minutes, so not sure where the house hunter came from (can't remember her name, either). It seemed obvious that 'Flinders', her chinless male friend, wants to be more than a friend. The place she chose was stunning, even if she does have to take the smaller bedroom, and it had no storage, a small bathroom and a sub-par kitchen- but what an amazing terrace and ocean view. 

[Pickles]

1 hour ago, sempervivum said:

(Someplace) to Sydney- I missed the first 3 minutes, so not sure where the house hunter came from (can't remember her name, either). It seemed obvious that 'Flinders', her chinless male friend, wants to be more than a friend. The place she chose was stunning, even if she does have to take the smaller bedroom, and it had no storage, a small bathroom and a sub-par kitchen- but what an amazing terrace and ocean view. 

That house hunter had lived in several different countries. She said she did quality control for a chocolate company. 

[Kohola3]

9 minutes ago, Pickles said:

That house hunter had lived in several different countries. She said she did quality control for a chocolate company. 

How do I get that job?  And is chocolate a thing in Romania, her native company.

[Ohwell]

5 hours ago, sempervivum said:

It seemed obvious that 'Flinders', her chinless male friend, wants to be more than a friend.

Poor Flinders, I think he was definitely friend-zoned.

[biakbiak]

3 hours ago, Kohola3 said:

How do I get that job?  And is chocolate a thing in Romania, her native company.

Chocolate is a thing in a lot of places.

[Kohola3]

1 hour ago, biakbiak said:

Chocolate is a thing in a lot of places.

I guess I was thinking more along the lines of famous chocolate like Belgian or Swiss.  Never heard of Romanian chocolate.

[biakbiak]

On 8/2/2019 at 11:52 AM, TVForever said:

Shoot,if a friend or family member was getting a place in another country where I'd like to visit, I'd be happy to sleep on an air mattress. No need to get a whole separate guest room on my account! I'm always yelling that at the TV when I'm watching HHI!

The reason I like having a guest room isn’t really for the guests comfort but my own so I don’t have to have my living room taken over and modify my routines. It’s just an added bonus that they also like it.

[QQQQ]

2 hours ago, biakbiak said:

The reason I like having a guest room isn’t really for the guests comfort but my own so I don’t have to have my living room taken over and modify my routine

I'd be happy with a guest bedroom or air mattress. I'm getting tired of having to go home with strangers at bar time when visiting friends around the country.

[doodlebug]

21 hours ago, LittleIggy said:

Playa del Carmen: How can the hipster morticians afford to retire? Especially since they had lived in SF. Can’t imagine it is easy to save money there.

Sydney: Dude really wanted to get in the HH’s knickers. 😏

Settlement from his near fatal accident, I presume.

[DonnaMae]

They were morticians? 😮  I thought she was a bit controlling. 

[chocolatine]

I thought Flinders was creepy with his proclamations of love for a woman who is clearly not into him. She seems like the kind of woman who "tolerates" the presence and affections of a man she's not attracted to until one who she is attracted to comes along, and he probably interprets that as encouragement.

As for chocolate quality control, she said her job is to make sure that the product that ends up on store shelves is the same quality as the product that leaves the factory, so it sounds like her work is mostly focused on logistics and supply chain and there's not much tasting of chocolate involved. And it doesn't seem to be very well-paid since her housing budget was so low.

Edited August 5, 2019 by chocolatine

[LittleIggy]

1 hour ago, doodlebug said:

Settlement from his near fatal accident, I presume.

I must have missed the part about the near fatal accident. I hope they invested the  settlement to have income to live on.

[doodlebug]

1 hour ago, LittleIggy said:

I must have missed the part about the near fatal accident. I hope they invested the  settlement to have income to live on.

He was involved in a serious motorcycle accident which they said caused them to re-assess their priorities and they decided to leave SF and move to the Caribbean.  She mentioned getting the phone call from the hospital trauma center that he'd been in a serious accident and was there.

[TVForever]

18 hours ago, Kohola3 said:

How do I get that job?  And is chocolate a thing in Romania, her native company.

Wondering the same! Chocolate quality control AND living around the world doing it? For money?

[biakbiak]

9 hours ago, TVForever said:

Wondering the same! Chocolate quality control AND living around the world doing it? For money?

There are all sorts of jobs out there. Based on her age and that she lived in France for a number of years before Sweden and Luxembourg it wouldn’t surprise me if she moved to France to go to school, one of the perks of being a part of the EU is easy of moving and working.

[SmithW6079]

22 hours ago, LittleIggy said:

I must have missed the part about the near fatal accident. I hope they invested the  settlement to have income to live on.

He called JG Wentworth. 😀

Edited August 5, 2019 by SmithW6079

[ECM1231]

On 8/3/2019 at 12:04 PM, sempervivum said:

(Someplace) to Sydney- I missed the first 3 minutes, so not sure where the house hunter came from (can't remember her name, either). It seemed obvious that 'Flinders', her chinless male friend, wants to be more than a friend. The place she chose was stunning, even if she does have to take the smaller bedroom, and it had no storage, a small bathroom and a sub-par kitchen- but what an amazing terrace and ocean view. 

I came in a few minutes late, too. I missed why she would have to take the smaller of the two bedrooms. I'd assumed the lease was going to be in her name and she was looking for a flatmate, which she did eventually find. As the leasee why would she not have her choice of bedrooms? Or was it to make it more desirable for a roommate?  I agree that the place she chose was gorgeous, if a bit farther away from the action and Finders. 

Edited August 5, 2019 by ECM1231

[Kenzie]

2 hours ago, ECM1231 said:

I came in a few minutes late, too. I missed why she would have to take the smaller of the two bedrooms. I'd assumed the lease was going to be in her name and she was looking for a flatmate, which she did eventually find. As the leasee why would she not have her choice of bedrooms? Or was it to make it more desirable for a roommate?  I agree that the place she chose was gorgeous, if a bit farther away from the action and Finders. 

Poor Flinders. I haven't seen a case that bad of unrequited puppy love from a grown man in a long time. If she had been a Milk Bone dog biscuit he couldn't have been drooling more!

Edited August 6, 2019 by Kenzie

[awaken]

Lol, my son and I are still laughing about Flinders!  That was one of the weirdest HH’s in a while. He so clearly was trying out for the role of “flat mate”!  The chinlessness, and the big teeth made me unable to look away!  

[LittleIggy]

Accra: In my mind I kept hearing Ofeibea Quist-Arcton say “Ah-crrah!” 😆 That market looked awesome. Wonder  what kind of business he was starting?

[MartyQui]

Accra:  he developed an app that helps small business owners make decisions.  It sounds interesting (and they won a funding prize last year, so it sounds real, not like some of these stories).  I really liked them both, and the apartment they chose...I couldn’t have lived with the orange sherbet walls in the first apartment!  And the third was beautiful but seemed a little isolated for her.

[WI GIRL56]

Adrian was on again last night.  I adore her.  She was helping a 40 yr old move from Tampa to Paris.  The client was so low key almost timid. Adrian kept steering her out of her desired neighborhood, Marais.  Even though the layout was different I liked the apartment she rented.

Edited August 7, 2019 by WI GIRL56

[doodlebug]

2 minutes ago, WI GIRL56 said:

Adrian was on again last night.  I adore her.  She was helping a 40 yr old move from Tampa to Paris.  The client was so low key almost timid. Adrian kept steering her out of her desired neighborhood.  Even though the layout was different I liked the apartment she rented.

Adrian is always a pleasure to see on the show, so practical and down to earth which is exactly what that woman needed last night.  She had romantic fantasies about living in the Marais based on vacationing there.  Adrian rightly brought her back to earth and reminded her that living in the city full time is a far different experience than being a tourist and that getting better value for the money spent on housing was ultimately going to give her a better experience than living in the expensive touristy area.  BTW, Paris is really not all that large and has an excellent Metro, the Marais is quite accessible from most of the city and one doesn't have to live there to go out to eat or shop there.  The place the woman chose was only a 10 minute walk to the Marais, an excellent trade-off for a nicer apartment at a far better price, IMO.

[sempervivum]

Tampa to Paris- I don't get the big deal about the bathroom being accessed through the bedroom (with the place she chose). My extended/modest-income family always uses a bedroom for coats during visits, so everyone sees the bedroom anyway.

Now, the kitchen being on the ground floor, with really no eating space-that's a bigger problem to me. It would be annoying having to carry hot plates of food up a flight of stairs during a party.

I was also baffled by the bathroom in the third place, with the separate toilet room. Didn't it seem that the bath would have been roomier if they had just removed the wall and put the toilet in the bathroom?

[Pickles]

2 minutes ago, sempervivum said:

Tampa to Paris- I don't get the big deal about the bathroom being accessed through the bedroom (with the place she chose). My extended/modest-income family always uses a bedroom for coats during visits, so everyone sees the bedroom anyway.

Now, the kitchen being on the ground floor, with really no eating space-that's a bigger problem to me. It would be annoying having to carry hot plates of food up a flight of stairs during a party.

I was also baffled by the bathroom in the third place, with the separate toilet room. Didn't it seem that the bath would have been roomier if they had just removed the wall and put the toilet in the bathroom?

If the Tampa lady was having guests visit overnight, she probably didn't like the idea of them trooping through her bedroom if they needed to use the bathroom in the middle of the night. That's the thought that occurred to me.

[buttersister]

Knowing how this show works, I’m assuming that Adrian is there to feature her brand/businesses and that Tampa woman had already rented the place in the 12th. Otherwise, once out of the Marais, surely Adrian would have produced a larger place with a better bathroom. 

[Bronx Babe]

That Tampa-to-France woman unfortunately looked like Aileen Wuornos to me.

Very disconcerting, to say the least.

Edited August 7, 2019 by Bronx Babe

[chessiegal]

We've been to Paris twice - stayed at the Hotel Elysees. Great location.

[proserpina65]

5 hours ago, sempervivum said:

I was also baffled by the bathroom in the third place, with the separate toilet room. Didn't it seem that the bath would have been roomier if they had just removed the wall and put the toilet in the bathroom?

Separate toilet rooms are very common in Europe.

2 hours ago, buttersister said:

Knowing how this show works, I’m assuming that Adrian is there to feature her brand/businesses and that Tampa woman had already rented the place in the 12th. Otherwise, once out of the Marais, surely Adrian would have produced a larger place with a better bathroom. 

Not necessarily.  Even out of the Marais, apartments can be quite expensive in Paris.

Edited to note that a quick Google found me a one-bedroom apartment in the 11th Arrondisement (within walking distance of the Marais) for 1200 euros.  It's in an historic building with no lift, has a tiny galley kitchen, a decent size bedroom and bathroom, and a wee little living/dining area.  It's cute, but I'm not sure I could fit in that kitchen by myself, let alone have anyone else in there.

Edited August 7, 2019 by proserpina65

[KFC]

Usually when the House Hunter provides their backstory as "on a whim, I'm selling everything and moving halfway across the world with no job to pursue my dream of living in X," I just assume it's a fake plot. The House Hunter usually *does* have a job lined up, and their fear of "what am I gonna do for income???" is just added for dramatic effect.

So out of curiosity I looked up the Tampa-to-Paris woman, wondering what her job was in Paris, but it seems like she really did just move to Paris without a job there already. Color me shocked. That is indeed a gutsy/risky move.

[Ohwell]

2 hours ago, chessiegal said:

We've been to Paris twice - stayed at the Hotel Elysees. Great location.

I've traveled to Europe as well but I'm not gonna show pictures of my feet to the world.  Besides, no one would know for sure that they're mine.  LOL

[Irlandesa]

3 hours ago, proserpina65 said:

Not necessarily.  Even out of the Marais, apartments can be quite expensive in Paris.

Yep.  And both of the other apartments she was shown were apparently within walking distance of the Marais. Those would be expensive and you wouldn't get that much more space. The buildings were also old.  The farther out towards the banlieues you get, at least on HHI, there are more modern buildings visible.

Edited August 7, 2019 by Irlandesa

[jcbrown]

I rolled my eyes in the beginning when she told her friend what they were drinking. What she said was not "hot wine" it was "hot glass." 

Always nice to see Adrian.

[LittleIggy]

13 hours ago, Pickles said:

If the Tampa lady was having guests visit overnight, she probably didn't like the idea of them trooping through her bedroom if they needed to use the bathroom in the middle of the night. That's the thought that occurred to me.

With the Marais apartment, the entrance was directly into the bedroom area. I liked the place she picked. That little dog was tote adorbs! Wonder if the HH is still there. She would have to get a job eventually.

[LittleIggy]

Ho Chi Minh City: I usually love foreign accents, but Tayla’s drove me nuts. So annoying. Seems they found expats to hang out with.

[Dewey Decimate]

South Africans in Australia: Between the woman's voice and the man's bizarre hair, almost unwatchable.

Chocolate QC in Australia: I never thought Ron Weasley could get more pathetic, but here we are.

Paris: I really need a disclaimer at the beginning of these dog episodes stating that all homeowners have consented to animals scratching, jumping on, and rubbing their scent glands on all furniture and possessions before I can actually enjoy them.

Tattooed Morticians: Pleas stop talking about how "I've worked so hard all my life" when you look 40-ish maybe. Unless you've been assembling iPhones since the age of four, STFU and count your blessings. Silently.

Domenica: I would never choose to live in a place with a constant summer-like climate, but that agent was a tall, cool glass of water.

[sempervivum]

10 hours ago, LittleIggy said:

Ho Chi Minh City: I usually love foreign accents, but Tayla’s drove me nuts. So annoying. Seems they found expats to hang out with.

Exaggerated Oz nasal accent + vocal fry - how did the boyfriend stand it!

19 hours ago, proserpina65 said:

Separate toilet rooms are very common in Europe.

I know. But wouldn't it seem that the landlord would make it more rentable if the toilet room wasn't so small that anyone over 150 lbs. can't even get into it?

[chessiegal]

Vietnam - complaints about oven and bath tub. Get on Amazon, order a Breville countertop convection oven and a plastic mat for the tub. I can roast a chicken or bake cookies in my Breville oven. We had to put a mat in our one bath tub shower combo because it is slippery as hell.

[MaKaM]

17 minutes ago, sempervivum said:

I know. But wouldn't it seem that the landlord would make it more rentable if the toilet room wasn't so small that anyone over 150 lbs. can't even get into it?

Or at least swap the toilet and shower? Put the toilet in the room with the sink, turn the whole toilet room into a shower, and at least it makes a bit more sense than pottying and then having to go into another room to wash your hands. Or move the dividing wall to the other side of the sink. Showering doesn't require a sink.

[proserpina65]

23 minutes ago, MaKaM said:

Or at least swap the toilet and shower? Put the toilet in the room with the sink, turn the whole toilet room into a shower, and at least it makes a bit more sense than pottying and then having to go into another room to wash your hands. Or move the dividing wall to the other side of the sink. Showering doesn't require a sink.

That requires money for renovation, and presumably the apartments get rented easily enough without doing that.  Especially in the historic areas of Paris.

[Mu Shu]

Thuh Muhhhray! Thuh Muhhraaay! I want to line in Thuh Muhhhhhrrrraaaay!

that women annoyed me to no end. Who lives in Tampa and never had an oyster? Sure Jan, you’re adventurous as hell. 

[biakbiak]

On 8/8/2019 at 9:22 AM, proserpina65 said:

That requires money for renovation, and presumably the apartments get rented easily enough without doing that.  Especially in the historic areas of Paris.

No to mention changing the plumbing in an historic building is expensive as fuck and might not even be possible since it would impact more than just the apartment.

Edited August 9, 2019 by biakbiak

[proserpina65]

4 hours ago, Mu Shu said:

Thuh Muhhhray! Thuh Muhhraaay! I want to line in Thuh Muhhhhhrrrraaaay!

that women annoyed me to no end. Who lives in Tampa and never had an oyster? Sure Jan, you’re adventurous as hell. 

She was annoying, but as someone who lives on the Eastern Shore of Maryland and hates seafood, I can easily see her never having had an oyster.  I find the appeal of eating something which looks like snot to me inexplicable.

[QQQQ]

Accra, Ghana: She was the WORST. If they are still together in 6 months, he's a fool.

[LittleIggy]

Germany: Nice to see Kevin, aka Baby Elvis, again. He is so cute. The boyfriend was hot. Loved his accent. They picked the most logical flat. The house was awesome but too far away. Everyone’s reactions to the weird futon-ish thing were funny.

[SmithW6079]

Ghana: I really admire people like the boyfriend. With his background in the Peace Corps, of course he's not that into "stuff." He sounded like he was committed to living in Africa and making a go of it. The girlfriend was awful. Wonder if they're still together.

Ho Chi Minh City: I liked the couple. I didn't notice anything weird about the way she talked, other than her South African accent. They were respectful of each other, and I liked how at the end, the boyfriend says the move was a chance for them to make friends as a couple, not just her joining his set.

Ecuador: Turned it off as soon as the wife said, "I'm told I'm a control freak," and the next shot is the husband basically saying, "No comment." No thanks. 

Germany: Ugh. That boyfriend was a controlling asshole, with his surly comments about other people speaking German or how nothing was what he liked. The kicker was the story about his refusal to get a cat because of "allergies," which was later revealed to be a lie.

The girlfriend sounded like someone with low self-esteem who fell for the first guy who showed her some attention. Girl, I hope you dump his ass sooner rather than later. At least they chose the city apartment despite all his whinging.

[Pickles]

I also didn't like the Germany boyfriend. I don't know if he was being a jerk for a storyline or what. At the end, he seemed more normal and happy with their choice. But, during the episode he was not likable at all. Much whining about pretty much everything. He even said how he and the gf would have to foot the bill to put visitors in a hotel. No, I certainly don't think that is an expectation! If people want to visit, they need to have the money to do so. I am not footing someone's hotel bill. I think that was totally made up for the show. He revealed his true self with the cat story. Lying that he had allergies. Good luck to the gf.

[Kohola3]

1 minute ago, Pickles said:

If people want to visit, they need to have the money to do so. I am not footing someone's hotel bill. I think that was totally made up for the show.

I agree that if someone chooses to come to visit knowing I don't have room for them, I don't need to pay for their lodging.  I also agree that it was made up.