House Hunters International - General Discussion

[Irlandesa]

1 hour ago, StatisticalOutlier said:

I would think that knowledge of idioms would be an indication of fluency, and would be a requirement to teach it.

It depends.  A person might not know the meaning behind some idioms even if they are native as they can sometimes be region specific. 

 

[aghst]

7 hours ago, StatisticalOutlier said:

I love they way they always show giant tangled arrays of utility lines in Bangkok.

I've seen it in Vietnam too.

Worry about the safety of those things, in a big storm or if there was a big fire.

I guess they won't invest in trenching those lines under the street or running conduits there.

[Dehumidifier]

I felt bad for the kids dragged off to Wales, a land without vowels. Imagine how confused they will be when they come back to the US, where vowels abound.

https://www.walesonline.co.uk/lifestyle/fun-stuff/14-welsh-place-names-no-6263550

14 Welsh place names with no (English) vowels

Check out our collection of 14 towns and villages in Wales with names bound to befuddle unsuspecting English tourists

Edited January 1, 2021 by Dehumidifier
Spelling

[Dehumidifier]

On 12/31/2020 at 12:46 AM, LittleIggy said:

Yoda, is that you? 😏

I know nothing about the Yoda character. What does that mean?

[LittleIggy]

2 hours ago, Dehumidifier said:

I know nothing about the Yoda character. What does that mean?

Yoda is a famous, beloved Star Wars character who has a distinct way of speaking.

[Dehumidifier]

2 minutes ago, LittleIggy said:

Yoda is a famous, beloved Star Wars character who has a distinct way of speaking.

I'm pretty sure I saw Star Wars but don't remember much about it. Now ask me about the first Star Trek series...

[chessiegal]

Vietnam - are digital nomads really a thing? Looks like cars in Vietnam don't need seatbelts since no one is wearing them.

[Kimboweena]

Vietnam - did you know they are digital nomads? 😂

[buttersister]

Digital nomads? LOL! People writing novels in Starbuck's (pre-pandemic). HHI buyers asking for a home office because they can work from anywhere. Right, lots of websites telling singles or adventurous child-free couples to get jobs that feature remote working and then--take off to some cool place. Cause you'll have much better ideas and be so much more productive! Hope the WiFi in Vietnam is as good as the Cayman Islands and Dubai. 

And the realtor's now his gf! Or did his gf play the realtor? Ha.

Edited January 6, 2021 by buttersister

[ML89]

9 hours ago, Kimboweena said:

Vietnam - did you know they are digital nomads? 😂

I did not know that ::Johnny Carson voice::

I loved the "other digital nomads can come over" - dude, just say you're putting together a TikTok/instagram/social media influencer house. We get it.

I also thought it was hilarious that he went on about how he'd done great in sales and realized he needed to be on his own and then his business partner is all "I have to keep him on task."

Edited January 6, 2021 by ML89

[Koalagirl]

Vietnam - According to his FB page he’s still there.  

[Grizzly]

Adrian is the only Parisian charm I need. Glad the woman realized she had all of Paris outside her door and picked move in ready.

[LittleIggy]

Why were they buying a place in Paris if they were still working and living in Oslo? Why not wait?

[sempervivum]

10 hours ago, LittleIggy said:

Why were they buying a place in Paris if they were still working and living in Oslo? Why not wait?

Yeah, I thought the same thing. Wonder if his parents wanted them nearby-at least for part of the time-and were helping them out with the purchase price? By now, they're probably working remotely fulltime in Paris anyway.

Will be interesting to see how well the real estate values in places like this hold up post Covid. 

[aghst]

2 hours ago, sempervivum said:

Yeah, I thought the same thing. Wonder if his parents wanted them nearby-at least for part of the time-and were helping them out with the purchase price? By now, they're probably working remotely fulltime in Paris anyway.

Will be interesting to see how well the real estate values in places like this hold up post Covid. 

I'm guessing it was filmed before the pandemic.

Otherwise they wouldn't have crowded into that tiny elevator.

Oslo doesn't seem to be the place where you'd save a lot of money.  Norway is suppose to be one of the most expensive places in which to live.

I don't know what the square footage of the apts. but the prices weren't bad.  Not a bad location in Paris.  Not as expensive as the Marais, which most Paris episodes seem to feature.

BTW, if anyone want to see some gorgeous photography of Paris, check out Emily in Paris.  The show itself is so-so but they capture some beautiful cinematography.

 

 

On 1/6/2021 at 12:19 AM, buttersister said:

Digital nomads? LOL! People writing novels in Starbuck's (pre-pandemic). HHI buyers asking for a home office because they can work from anywhere. Right, lots of websites telling singles or adventurous child-free couples to get jobs that feature remote working and then--take off to some cool place. Cause you'll have much better ideas and be so much more productive! Hope the WiFi in Vietnam is as good as the Cayman Islands and Dubai. 

And the realtor's now his gf! Or did his gf play the realtor? Ha.

I wonder what kind of events they're holding.  Is he giving seminars or some motivational schtick?

Or maybe he wanted a large house with all those beds so he can rent out the rooms for Airbnb for people visiting for his events.

 

[buttersister]

7 hours ago, aghst said:

Is he giving seminars or some motivational schtick?

Yes;-) Or rather, selling seminars or some motivational schtick.

[biakbiak]

Also, because the back story on these things are always bullshit it’s entirely possible that they came upon the opportunity to buy this specific place and went for it. A ton of real estate deals in Paris happen without the place ever even hitting the market through friends and acquaintances. 

With his parents close by it would also be extremely easy to rent it out as an Airbnb and make money and still have access to it when they wanted to be in Paris. 

 

[Grizzly]

Glad the Vikings had enough of a sense of humor to turn "nature" into a drinking game.

[Bluesky]

On 12/31/2020 at 5:15 PM, LittleIggy said:

I’m amazed that she teaches English, and I work in the TESOL field. Schools usually want native speakers. That’s why you see so many Americans on HHI who got a job teaching English. If I were Thai sending my kid to a school to learn English, I wouldn’t want her teaching my kid.

Is the guy still wealthy? If so, why such a low rent budget?

When I saw that the episode was set in Thailand, I was hoping for Lala, the fun real estate lady.

If I was learning English I would want her to teach me.  Slow enough to understand, good enunciation, no twangy or Odd accent, grammar was fine.   Her pauses were from her translating a word in her head but she did it. 
 

You have to wonder what they call wealthy when he was splitting the rent with a teacher and his share was only $500 per month. 

[Grizzly]

Ipswitch, Australia. I thought he looked much better with the beard. Don't say that too often.

[Grizzly]

Dublin. Cute couple but if they're both in the automotive industry, why can't Amy get a job at his company? The third place was a no go but the really nice place was so much over the budget. So of course they get the place by the sea.

[LittleIggy]

Ipswich, Oz: That Queenslander was awesome! Couldn’t she have worn some decent jeans? The ripped up kind should be left to teens, IMO.

[Bronx Babe]

10 hours ago, Grizzly said:

Ipswitch, Australia. I thought he looked much better with the beard. Don't say that too often.

And the wife looked like Kathy Bates.

[StatisticalOutlier]

On 1/7/2021 at 8:57 PM, Grizzly said:

Glad the Vikings had enough of a sense of humor to turn "nature" into a drinking game.

Agree.  In the Vietnam episode, I remember being thankful I didn't turn "digital nomad" into a drinking game. 

Usually, I use "I mean" as my drinking game.  The good thing about that one is that the narrator never uses it, unlike "digital nomad," which everyone was saying.  But even without that advantage, I think "I mean" will still win every time.

 

On 1/9/2021 at 6:16 PM, Bluesky said:

If I was learning English I would want her to teach me.  Slow enough to understand, good enunciation, no twangy or Odd accent, grammar was fine.   Her pauses were from her translating a word in her head but she did it.

But there were words she simply didn't understand, and twice her partner said he often didn't know whether she didn't hear what he said or didn't understand what he said.  That makes me wonder about her general command of the language. although I don't know how much command is necessary to teach English in a non-English speaking place. 

And I don't know about any accent because I'm from the U.S. and consider American English to be unaccented.  But a person from England or Australia would obviously disagree.  I did think the HH had an accent that wasn't American, British, or Australian.

I've always loved the segment in PARIS JE T'AIME where Margo Martindale plays a U.S. post office employee reading aloud the essay she wrote for her French class about her visit to Paris.  I can't understand anything native French speakers say, but could actually follow her slow, deliberate, monotone delivery.

[chocolatine]

On 1/5/2021 at 7:57 PM, chessiegal said:

Vietnam - are digital nomads really a thing?

 

On 1/7/2021 at 11:21 AM, aghst said:

I wonder what kind of events they're holding.  Is he giving seminars or some motivational schtick?

Or maybe he wanted a large house with all those beds so he can rent out the rooms for Airbnb for people visiting for his events.

That business model sounds like a millennial pyramid scheme where they make money off of naive suckers who pay to attend their "events." That's why the more practical business partner was pushing for the house with the larger yard, so they could fit more people. The HH probably had the idea that they could make additional money by subletting the rooms short-term, but it seemed like the "events" are the core business and the partner wanted him to focus on that.

On 1/15/2021 at 12:18 PM, StatisticalOutlier said:

I've always loved the segment in PARIS JE T'AIME where Margo Martindale plays a U.S. post office employee reading aloud the essay she wrote for her French class about her visit to Paris.  I can't understand anything native French speakers say, but could actually follow her slow, deliberate, monotone delivery.

I love that segment so much! Especially when she visits the Montparnasse cemetery and talks about  "la tombe de Jean-Paul Sartre et Simon Bolivar" (Jean-Paul Sartre is buried with Simone de Beauvoir). I watched the movie with my Parisian then-boyfriend, and he loved it too.

[MartyQui]

Leiden: the woman was SO annoying!  All the yelling and “enthusiasm”. I would have pushed her off the houseboat if I were the realtor.

[chessiegal]

Awww... I thought the Leiden couple were a refreshing change. I told my husband no one gave them the script that they were supposed to be negative and nasty to each other.

[Cetacean]

24 minutes ago, chessiegal said:

Awww... I thought the Leiden couple were a refreshing change. I told my husband no one gave them the script that they were supposed to be negative and nasty to each other.

I thought the same.  For a change they really did seem to like each other and there was no "guilt card" forcing the choice.

[aghst]

Floor the Dutch realtor who's been in a couple of other episodes sounds Irish at times.

She may have spent time in Ireland?

The woman HH had a weird energy, yelling often, especially about fireplaces.

[Grizzly]

Tulum. I can't get past all the hideous outfits. Not sure if I like Carmen or not. Ok, she fosters dogs, she's all right.

[Grrarrggh]

Loved that dress Floor was wearing throughout the episode. Wonder where I could get it? 

[chocolatine]

1 hour ago, aghst said:

The woman HH had a weird energy, yelling often, especially about fireplaces.

I noticed that too and wondered if she's like this when she's working as a nurse. I'd be a little put off if I were one of her patients and she yelled around me like that. But otherwise I liked her and her beer-brewing boyfriend.

I loved the inside of the houseboat, but that "outdoor space" on the small, wobbly platform with no railing looked dangerous. I'd probably fall into the canal at least once a week if I lived there.

Edited January 21, 2021 by chocolatine

[TVForever]

11 hours ago, MartyQui said:

Leiden: the woman was SO annoying!  All the yelling and “enthusiasm”. I would have pushed her off the houseboat if I were the realtor.

 

11 hours ago, chessiegal said:

Awww... I thought the Leiden couple were a refreshing change. I told my husband no one gave them the script that they were supposed to be negative and nasty to each other.

I liked the couple, but I too found her energy super weird. I finally figured it was probably a bit of nervousness in front of a camera.

By the way, my favorite was definitely the houseboat!

[sempervivum]

13 hours ago, Grrarrggh said:

Loved that dress Floor was wearing throughout the episode.

Yes, she looked gorgeous. I can't imagine wearing sky-high wedges to tramp around the city and climb miles of steep staircases, though.

Leiden looked smaller than it really is, I think because there aren't many high rise buildings. Really charming.

[MartyQui]

Leiden:  I did like them as a couple...I wonder what she’s like in real life.  It did say she found a job as a nurse, which seems odd, since I don’t think she spoke the language?  The microwave/combo oven must be like a toaster oven?  That outdoor space was gorgeous!

Re Floor’s dress...it was so pretty, but when she was riding the bike I kept waiting for it to get caught in the spokes!

Edited January 21, 2021 by MartyQui

[chocolatine]

1 hour ago, MartyQui said:

Re Floor’s dress...it was so pretty, but when she was riding the bike I kept waiting for it to get caught in the spokes!

All Dutch people are expert cyclists from birth. They can ride in any kind of outfit/shoes.

[Crashcourse]

17 hours ago, chocolatine said:

I noticed that too and wondered if she's like this when she's working as a nurse. I'd be a little put off if I were one of her patients and she yelled around me like that. But otherwise I liked her and her beer-brewing boyfriend.

I loved the inside of the houseboat, but that "outdoor space" on the small, wobbly platform with no railing looked dangerous. I'd probably fall into the canal at least once a week if I lived there.

I'm glad they didn't get the houseboat because he might have gotten so annoyed with her "enthusiasm" that he might have pushed her into the canal.  

Seriously though, while she seemed nice, she acted like a 12 year old on a sugar high.  If I remember, they'd only been together for about six months so I wonder if she'll start to wear on his nerves over time.   (That guy was probably thinking "Damn, I wish I lived alone so I could get with Floor!".)

[Grizzly]

Wiesbaden Germany. Poor Kevin is drinking already. This couple is going to drive him crazy.

Edited January 22, 2021 by Grizzly
Spell the town right.

[snarts]

Wiesbaden, Germany - no surprise which house they chose when her Red Chevy was already in the driveway...

[aghst]

Did she have another job besides plus size modeling on social media?

I don't know, maybe if you move to Germany, try something else besides barbecue.

How often will they be barbecuing?

The guy wasn't plus sized so maybe he just liked to grill.

Still if you're moving to Germany there are other things to occupy the time, like travel to other parts of Europe?

Not sure why the kid needed to go to Germany to advance his basketball career.  If the kid was any good, he'd already be in the AAU circuit and college recruiters would be circling like vultures.  Maybe the kid will get a growth spurt.

[Lemons]

On 1/21/2021 at 2:23 PM, MartyQui said:

Leiden:  I did like them as a couple...I wonder what she’s like in real life.  It did say she found a job as a nurse, which seems odd, since I don’t think she spoke the language?  The microwave/combo oven must be like a toaster oven?  That outdoor space was gorgeous!

Re Floor’s dress...it was so pretty, but when she was riding the bike I kept waiting for it to get caught in the spokes!

English is pretty standard there but maybe she got a job catering to tourists.

[chocolatine]

4 hours ago, aghst said:

Did she have another job besides plus size modeling on social media?

IIRC, she said she's a government contract specialist. The social media stuff and, as she put it, "brand ambassading," is in addition to that. It didn't sound like the husband has a job, since they only talked about her commute. Normally I'd be skeptical about how much money a middle-aged "influencer" can make, but they seem to be doing very well if they can afford to pay $4,300/month in rent with her as the only breadwinner.

5 hours ago, aghst said:

Not sure why the kid needed to go to Germany to advance his basketball career.  If the kid was any good, he'd already be in the AAU circuit and college recruiters would be circling like vultures.  Maybe the kid will get a growth spurt.

Basketball is not that big in Europe (nowhere close to how big soccer is), so the competition isn't as tough as in the US. He's probably "Europe good" but not "US good."

[LittleIggy]

Wiesbaden: KEVIN! My boyfriend! 😍What was the rest of the show about? 😆

[Grrarrggh]

31 minutes ago, chocolatine said:

Basketball is not that big in Europe (nowhere close to how big soccer is), so the competition isn't as tough as in the US. He's probably "Europe good" but not "US good."

Actually basketball has shot up in popularity over the past decade in Germany and Europe as a whole. A number of players are entering Euro pro teams instead of American universities to skip the ridiculous NCAA age rule. 

[biakbiak]

14 hours ago, chocolatine said:

The social media stuff and, as she put it, "brand ambassading," is in addition to that. It didn't sound like the husband has a job, since they only talked about her commute. Normally I'd be skeptical about how much money a middle-aged "influencer" can make, but they seem to be doing very well if they can afford to pay $4,300/month in rent with her as the only breadwinne

It appeared they were both career military given that they met there, the ages of their children, and her saying this is the first time they really handled the logistics themselves because the military had taken care of it before, so in addition to her job, they both most likely put in their 20 years and have military pensions. 

Edited January 23, 2021 by biakbiak

[laredhead]

There was an update on HHI tonight, like a "Where Are They Now" episode on HH.  This was a woman whose husband passed away, and she moved from East Hampton, NY to Tulum, Mexico.  Very interesting, and gave a lot of details about her present life.  She now owns her own business, and is active in dog rescue and fostering dogs.      

[sempervivum]

Speaking of dogs, last night's Bangkok episode was only noteable because of the pets. She wanted him to have a separate space for his photography equipment, he just wanted 'space'. The made the right choice, and the scene at the end, with them on the balcony cuddling their 2 rescues was heart warming.

[aghst]

There were some people on the streets of Bangkok where they were walking who were masked up.

But the House Hunters  and the agent didn't mask up though they did keep a distance.

I guess the show is going to pretend there isn't a pandemic because they don't want to show the House Hunters or the agent with masks on.

[Grizzly]

South Korea. This guy is so annoying! No view is good enough. The realtor should have Andrew point on a map where he's willing to live. But I do envy his ability to walk up to a stranger and start talking.

[edie3]

25 minutes ago, Grizzly said:

This guy is so annoying!

He got on my last nerve! He thinks very highly of himself.