House Hunters - General Discussion

[ByaNose]

2 hours ago, MooCat Pretzel said:

The LA wife bugged me.  “What are these floors,” she asked.  “Laminate,” the realtor replied.  “Ugh.  I don’t like laminate,” the wife complains.

Wait.  What? How can you dislike something that you don’t even recognize???  Do you even KNOW what laminate is or could be?!  No?  Then you can’t go on national television and complain about it.  🙄

Although, I was kind of shocked that laminate was being used considering the price of the home. Who knew rich people were just like me using laminate flooring. LOL!!!

[Grrarrggh]

3 hours ago, ByaNose said:

Although, I was kind of shocked that laminate was being used considering the price of the home. Who knew rich people were just like me using laminate flooring. LOL!!!

They're not rich people, they're flippers or developers who have scammed people into believing that is what they should want. 

[amarante]

8 hours ago, ByaNose said:

Although, I was kind of shocked that laminate was being used considering the price of the home. Who knew rich people were just like me using laminate flooring. LOL!!!

The home In Los Angeles is a starter home and rich people aren’t the target demographic buyers. It is the equivalent of whatever a basic starter home in your area would be with laminate floors and other builder grade type of finishes. 

4 hours ago, Grrarrggh said:

They're not rich people, they're flippers or developers who have scammed people into believing that is what they should want. 

Houses 2 and 3 were definitely flips but not really scams. The cost of hardwood would not have been justified at the price point in terms of having a sufficient profit margin. The area could not justify investing costlier finishes because it wouldn’t have raised the purchase price sufficiently to justify the investment. If the same house were in a more desirable location, it would have been flipped with hardwood because it would have sold for considerably more money. 

[CrazyInAlabama]

On Flip or Flop, they used laminate a lot.    

On HH in Melbourne FL episode tonight, I have to laugh when the wife and realtor agree that a fence will keep out gators.  No it won't, and snakes will love to wrap around fencing, and joining the family in the pool.    The snakes can just wait for the gator to rip out the screened pool enclosure, and then they can all have a pool party.     

Then, when the realtor says what price they can have the perfect house built for, in their current neighborhood, but they would have to live in a furnished apartment for 9 months, they freak out.     To get a place that is absolutely perfect, for the right price, then they get to stay in a very nice apartment with amenities.      You would have thought the realtor said they would have to live under a bridge for 9 months. 

So they go with the over budget, huge house #3, that they want to change a bunch of things about.     

Edited April 7, 2021 by CrazyInAlabama

[LittleIggy]

Alligators climb fences?

[Bastet]

2 hours ago, LittleIggy said:

Alligators climb fences?

Yes, but it's not common; freaky as fuck, but not common.  Like most, they're opportunists, and a fence is usually enough to prompt them to look elsewhere.

[snarts]

15 hours ago, CrazyInAlabama said:

So they go with the over budget, huge house #3, that they want to change a bunch of things about.     

#3 was $680k, exactly their budget,  In the end they mentioned making some cosmetic changes over time. The house really did have 95% of what they were looking for, much more than the other two options and was only 5 minutes from their old home & her mother.  Seemed like a win/win, as I got the feeling they made a mint on the sale of their old home.

[Grizzly]

I didn't understand why they couldn't live with her mother for 9 months while they built their dream house. 😜

[chessiegal]

I didn't understand why they couldn't live in the apartment the agent said was available for 8 months. They kept talking about living out of a suitcase. That's what you do in something like an extended stay hotel. But you don't have to live out of a suitcase in an apartment.

We spent 2 weeks in extended living hotel that included a kitchenette last time we moved because of settlement date issues. In addition to $1,000 per week hotel, we had to pay for storage of all our stuff while we waited to move in.

If they would have to pay for 8 or 9 months of storage, I can see not wanting to do that.

[Angeltoes]

20 hours ago, CrazyInAlabama said:

On HH in Melbourne FL episode tonight, I have to laugh when the wife and realtor agree that a fence will keep out gators. 

I live in the same county as Melbourne.  I, too, laughed at them being surprised about the gators.  You usually don't see them but they're not rare.  I used to work at the space center which had several bodies of water.  One of my coworkers came out to his truck to go home and noticed one was laying under it.  My coworker sprinted back into the building and called Fish & Game who came to relocate it.  Another time, in the same area, another one turned up.  I watched the removal process and it took several grown men to get a rope around the alligator to get it immobile so they could move it.  That thing was PISSED.  

[Grizzly]

Dallas. I have to laugh every time the realtor refers to his clients as "millenials". As if he's so much older than they are. Wonder if Auggie had brain surgery? I did not like the white house so glad they didn't pick it.

[ByaNose]

Melbourne, FL house was nice. $680,000 is way pricey but then they said they were going to redo the counters which means in code a kitchen gut job. LOL!!!!

[40Love]

On 4/1/2021 at 4:54 PM, LittleIggy said:

I don’t get the popcorn ceiling hatred either. Unless you constantly stare at the ceiling, how would it bother you?

 

My popcorn ceilings have glitter and sparkles in them. 🎵"They shine pretty like a diamond" 🎵Hehe! ..and I love them.  😍

[CruiseDiva]

1 hour ago, 40Love said:

My popcorn ceilings have glitter and sparkles in them. 🎵"They shine pretty like a diamond" 🎵Hehe! ..and I love them.  😍

Mine don't sparkle, but I don't mind them. I just welcome friends to 1987 when they drop by. 😍

[Dehumidifier]

Columbia, SC. "I want to have a cookout where we have meat and not just a house." Should be the motto of house hunters everywhere! Alas, it's the friend that said it, not the hunter.

[Grizzly]

Columbia, South Carolina. I did not grow up the way Latrese did so I can't speak to her need for brand new. Therapy might be cheaper. Kid already has her own room and bath, she won't care about a house. My husband and I both have decent jobs and I don't think we could qualify for 359k. How could she? $1360/month is doable but then our mortgage company makes us escrow house ins and property taxes in the payment too.

And what is wrong with brand new carpet? Impressed she made a good financial decision.

[deirdra]

8 hours ago, 40Love said:

My popcorn ceilings have glitter and sparkles in them. 🎵"They shine pretty like a diamond" 🎵Hehe! ..and I love them.  😍

In Alberta they are known as "Ukrainian planetarium ceilings"

Edited April 9, 2021 by deirdra

[topanga]

On 4/7/2021 at 10:45 PM, Grizzly said:

Dallas. I have to laugh every time the realtor refers to his clients as "millenials". As if he's so much older than they are. Wonder if Auggie had brain surgery? I did not like the white house so glad they didn't pick it.

I love that everything the wife complained about, Auggie said, “It’s fine.”

And, yeah, the entire episode, I keep wondering if he’d had a brain tumor removed or some other kind of head injury. 
 

1 hour ago, Grizzly said:

Columbia, South Carolina. I did not grow up the way Latrese did so I can't speak to her need for brand new. Therapy might be cheaper. Kid already has her own room and bath, she won't care about a house. My husband and I both have decent jobs and I don't think we could qualify for 359k. How could she? $1360/month is doable but then our mortgage company makes us escrow house ins and property taxes in the payment too.

And what is wrong with brand new carpet? Impressed she made a good financial decision.

She annoyed me. Although she reminded me of the actress Octavia Spencer, so I didn’t completely hate her. 

I think the problem with a lot of first-time home buyers these days is that they want absolutely everything and refuse to accept that they might not be able to get it in their first home. I feel sorry for the daughter. She’s going to grow up feeling entitled just like her mother.

 

[CoppersMom2021]

2 hours ago, Grizzly said:

Columbia, South Carolina. I did not grow up the way Latrese did so I can't speak to her need for brand new. Therapy might be cheaper. Kid already has her own room and bath, she won't care about a house. My husband and I both have decent jobs and I don't think we could qualify for 359k. How could she? $1360/month is doable but then our mortgage company makes us escrow house ins and property taxes in the payment too.

And what is wrong with brand new carpet? Impressed she made a good financial decision.

definitely has some issues that therapy would fix more than a brand new house. I was amazed that she considered a house that meant a 3 hour total commute to/from work when all she talked about was spending time with her daughter. And the fourth bedroom for a child she doesnt have yet? Girl...

2 hours ago, Dehumidifier said:

Columbia, SC. "I want to have a cookout where we have meat and not just a house." Should be the motto of house hunters everywhere! Alas, it's the friend that said it, not the hunter.

I love that he kept telling her she was gonna be house poor! I said that during my house hunt b/c I refused to have a house but nothing in it b/c all my money went toward a mortgage 

[CrazyInAlabama]

The Columbia SC houses were awful.     A 90 minute commute is absurd, and you know it's 90 minutes one way, at 3 a.m. on Sundays, and probably well over two hours or more on a weekday.  You can't tell me that there weren't 4 bedroom 2 or 3 bath homes, even some with two suites with en suite baths, closer to where the woman worked.    The real estate agent was so right, no point buying a huge house, and not having enough to maintain and furnish it.      I had to shake my head at the single homeowner's view that she needed four bedrooms, because she was thinking of having another kid or two.   

I looked at realtor dot com, and there are plenty of 4 bedroom, 3 bath houses in that area, many are new, and some have to be closer to work than that house was, they were also cheaper than what she said her budget was too.    Get a house a lot less than what she bought, and replace the carpeting with wood, or LVP.   Many had huge main bedrooms too.  

Edited April 9, 2021 by CrazyInAlabama

[Grizzly]

4 hours ago, CrazyInAlabama said:

I had to shake my head at the single homeowner's view that she needed four bedrooms, because she was thinking of having another kid or two.   

Girlfriend better hurry up, she said she's 33.

Edited April 9, 2021 by Grizzly
Spelling

[ByaNose]

17 hours ago, topanga said:

I love that everything the wife complained about, Auggie said, “It’s fine.”

And, yeah, the entire episode, I keep wondering if he’d had a brain tumor removed or some other kind of head injury. 
 

She annoyed me. Although she reminded me of the actress Octavia Spencer, so I didn’t completely hate her. 

I think the problem with a lot of first-time home buyers these days is that they want absolutely everything and refuse to accept that they might not be able to get it in their first home. I feel sorry for the daughter. She’s going to grow up feeling entitled just like her mother.

 

First off, I actually thought it was Octavia Spencer. I thought it was one of those celebrity helping family members buy a house shows. The mother seemed to have good intentions but that daughter looked like she could care less about her bedroom. Hopefully, they’ll be very happy in their new home. 

[Empress1]

The SC hunter really did look like Octavia Spencer. She could play her sister.

22 hours ago, Dehumidifier said:

Columbia, SC. "I want to have a cookout where we have meat and not just a house." Should be the motto of house hunters everywhere! Alas, it's the friend that said it, not the hunter.

I loved him! I thought he was really funny, and he had sense. When she asked it the garage on the first house was two-car, I asked myself "how many cars does she have?" and then he said it!

19 hours ago, CoppersMom2021 said:

I was amazed that she considered a house that meant a 3 hour total commute to/from work when all she talked about was spending time with her daughter.

I've had a 90-minute commute. It sucked. It affects your quality of life - all I did was work and commute. I can't imagine signing up for that when you have a kid, particularly one who isn't old enough to stay home alone, when there are closer options. Like if you work in San Francisco and can only afford something that far outside of the city, that's one thing, but if you can afford something closer to where you work? Take the closer option. 

[Kiddvideo]

Southern California: I know RN’s make decent money, but damn. Two kids, a SAH father, a $450k home...$90k above budget. I figured it was theirs when they opened the cellar door, and it already had stuff in it. Maybe he’s unemployed temporarily bc of the move. I’d feel like less of a loser, but that’s my issue.

[cameron]

South Carolina house hunter needs her head examined.  Gaston is just south of Columbia which means she is going  to have a horrible commute everyday.  Interstate 26 is a killer traffic commute under the best of circumstances.  And don't get me started on who would want a home screen projection setup in their master bedroom.  And while her agent seems nice; who uses a part time agent when they are looking for a home.

Edited April 10, 2021 by cameron

[Spunkygal]

On 4/8/2021 at 9:10 PM, Dehumidifier said:

Columbia, SC. "I want to have a cookout where we have meat and not just a house." Should be the motto of house hunters everywhere! Alas, it's the friend that said it, not the hunter.

Reading between the lines, I think he was hinting that he was tired of bringing the crab cakes every dang time! 🤣

[Grrarrggh]

On 4/9/2021 at 10:52 AM, CrazyInAlabama said:

The Columbia SC houses were awful.     A 90 minute commute is absurd, and you know it's 90 minutes one way, at 3 a.m. on Sundays, and probably well over two hours or more on a weekday.  You can't tell me that there weren't 4 bedroom 2 or 3 bath homes, even some with two suites with en suite baths, closer to where the woman worked.    The real estate agent was so right, no point buying a huge house, and not having enough to maintain and furnish it.      I had to shake my head at the single homeowner's view that she needed four bedrooms, because she was thinking of having another kid or two.   

What 90 minute commute? It was an hour each way. I am wondering if she's automatically assuming another parent won't be part of her next (and current?) child? Otherwise, wouldn't that parent possibly want to buy a bigger house with her?

[CrazyInAlabama]

The third house she bought was an hour commute, but the second house was 90 minutes each way.   

I'm wondering if the insistence on four bedrooms, and three baths, was because someone was going to live with her, and be fulltime childcare?    

Edited April 10, 2021 by CrazyInAlabama

[CruiseDiva]

19 minutes ago, CrazyInAlabama said:

The third house she bought was an hour commute, but the second house was 90 minutes each way.   

I live in Georgia and we travel to Charleston a couple times a year. I just couldn't wrap my head around the wide area she was looking at houses in, especially if the automobile manufacturing plant she works at is BMW in Greer, SC. If she's working at the Volvo plant it's near Charleston and a home in the Summerville area made more sense, but that's an expensive area to buy a house. In either case, her commute from south of Columbia will be terrible, especially if she's using I-26. The traffic on that interstate is horrific at almost any hour of the day with many semis headed to and from the port in Charleston and when it rains I-26 is a nightmare. Girl is so dumb. I predict a foreclosure on her home purchase within a few years.

[cameron]

2 hours ago, CruiseDiva said:

I live in Georgia and we travel to Charleston a couple times a year. I just couldn't wrap my head around the wide area she was looking at houses in, especially if the automobile manufacturing plant she works at is BMW in Greer, SC. If she's working at the Volvo plant it's near Charleston and a home in the Summerville area made more sense, but that's an expensive area to buy a house. In either case, her commute from south of Columbia will be terrible, especially if she's using I-26. The traffic on that interstate is horrific at almost any hour of the day with many semis headed to and from the port in Charleston and when it rains I-26 is a nightmare. Girl is so dumb. I predict a foreclosure on her home purchase within a few years.

She is certainly working in the Volvo/Mercedes plants which is a decent commute to Summerville.  Greer would be forever a drive.

[amarante]

I was ambivalent about the S.C. HH. 

She seemed like a lovely woman but her choice made no sense - the commute seemed wretched especially as a single mother raising a daughter entering her tweens. I had a long commute for about 2 years and I felt like all I did from Monday to Friday was drive - work - drive home and collapse to get ready for the rest of the work week. 

I also didn't understand why she felt a fourth bedroom was necessary. Wasn't she even hopeful that there would be a significant other living with her and so the housing needs might change all together. And how the hell could she expect to raise an infant if she was commuting three hours a day with no mention of family being close by to pick up the slack in an emergency. 

I was shocked that she mentioned savings at the end because from the way her realtor friend was talking, I assumed she might have a lot of credit card debt. 

[Pine]

Maybe South Carolina house hunter is looking at CrabCakes as a good father......  🙂  I did like his personality and sense of humour a lot.

[debbie311]

On 4/2/2021 at 12:37 PM, amarante said:

I recently remodeled and got rid of the popcorn ceiling. It was expensive because it also included expensive asbestos removal by an approved company and then the ceiling had to be primed so that it would look perfect.

Popcorn ceilings bring down the whole room even if you aren't staring directly at them. They are dirty and collect dust and if you paint them, removal is even more difficult. I can't overstate what a difference it makes in terms of brightening up the look and feel of my home - and people look at ceilings more than they think. Every time you walk in a room you are looking at the ceiling - not to mention lying in bed or on a sofa. Subliminally it sinks in and just depresses the look of the room.

The reason people mention it when looking at homes is because it is something that demonstrably makes a home more unattractive and it's a factor just as much as a disgusting bathroom. I did a gut remodel so everything was taken down to the studs but I could live with a clean bathroom in good shape that wasn't completely up to date before I would live with a popcorn ceiling again.

ETA - Almost all popcorn ceiling has asbestos in it because it was considered to be a positive construction material when installed. So it is NOT a DIY job unless you are completely stupid or don't give a crap about either your family or the environment. The ceiling has to be discarded in a hazardous waste site which also adds to the cost. Granted I lived in a high cost of living area, but between removing the asbestos tainted popcorn and having the ceiling done so it looks smooth and beautiful it was probably about $8 or $9 per square foot. So do the math and you could be spending $10,000 or more to do the job.

Also removing popcorn ceiling is the kind of project that needs to be done before you move in because all of the furniture in every part of the house needs to be moved - everything taken off the walls because the asbestos remediation people won't work if there is anything in a room. They will seal off rooms to contain it which don't have the popcorn but generally popcorn is running through all the rooms except possibly bathrooms and kitchen. Even drywall can contain asbestos - my understanding is that some of the "tape" used also contains it so legally it is supposed to be tested before it is removed.

Ditto to everything here.  Growing up in the 60's in California, they were "the thing." They're awful. We bought a house with popcorn ceilings and had the popcorn professionally removed before moving in.  Expensive but so worth it.  I would also do without an updated kitchen or bathroom if I had to make the choice between that or popcorn ceilings.

[Grizzly]

Is "owner's" suite really any better than "master" bedroom?

[Grrarrggh]

37 minutes ago, Grizzly said:

Is "owner's" suite really any better than "master" bedroom?

For women who don't want a master or even have a male living in their home, let alone their room.... 

[topanga]

4 hours ago, Grrarrggh said:

For women who don't want a master or even have a male living in their home, let alone their room.... 

But can’t we be the masters of our own domains?

i liked the Maryland couple tonight. They weren’t annoying despite being a bit demanding. 

[CrazyInAlabama]

The kid's bathroom in the townhouse they bought was incredible!    Bright yellow, painted on fish, and some kind of fish stuck on the walls.   That was a lot of work, and in their place, I would have to remove every bit of it.    I bet it took at least two coats of primer, and paint to cover that bathroom too.     I really like the house they chose. 

In my opinion, if called the master bedroom/bath is no longer correct, the primary is a decent alternative.   I would call it what it really is, "mortgage payer's suite", or "bill payer's suite". 

Edited April 14, 2021 by CrazyInAlabama

[deirdra]

16 hours ago, Grrarrggh said:

For women who don't want a master or even have a male living in their home, let alone their room.... 

Black people don't like masters either.  So realtors now call the rooms "owner's suites" or "bedroom #1".

[Crashcourse]

1 hour ago, deirdra said:

Black people don't like masters either.  So realtors now call the rooms "owner's suites" or "bedroom #1".

Really?  That's news to me.  

[CrazyInAlabama]

Yes, the former master bedroom is now the Main or the Primary (I still like Bill Payer's room).

So on the Tampa area episode,  the woman's fiance just died of cancer, and her friend says she can meet a man in her new community now?   How insensitive.     I'm really hating her designer friend.  The woman wants a place with amenities, and a golf cart community, and this single family doesn't have any of it.  Also, she wants turnkey, and the friend wants remodeling.  

[Grizzly]

22 minutes ago, CrazyInAlabama said:

Yes, the former master bedroom is now the Main or the Primary (I still like Bill Payer's room).

So on the Tampa area episode,  the woman's fiance just died of cancer, and her friend says she can meet a man in her new community now?   How insensitive.     I'm really hating her designer friend.  The woman wants a place with amenities, and a golf cart community, and this single family doesn't have any of it.  Also, she wants turnkey, and the friend wants remodeling.  

The friend wants to do the remodeling. Wonder if she'll do it at cost?

[CoppersMom2021]

14 hours ago, CrazyInAlabama said:

Yes, the former master bedroom is now the Main or the Primary (I still like Bill Payer's room).

So on the Tampa area episode,  the woman's fiance just died of cancer, and her friend says she can meet a man in her new community now?   How insensitive.     I'm really hating her designer friend.  The woman wants a place with amenities, and a golf cart community, and this single family doesn't have any of it.  Also, she wants turnkey, and the friend wants remodeling.  

I was just annoyed with the buyer saying “Im Italian so I like to cook.... Im Italian so I like red roofs...”  Just say I like these things. 

14 hours ago, Grizzly said:

The friend wants to do the remodeling. Wonder if she'll do it at cost?

 

[KLovestoShop]

Did not like the Tampa friend at all.  I wanted to scream, “bitch, this isn’t your house, so shut the F up”.  Plus, she looked to have had a lot of plastic surgery which made her face look so fake.  A couple of things bothered me about the HH.  Everything was “cute” and she didn’t seem to be concerned about a lot of the basic things a home buyer needs to be concerned with.  And while it might have been part of the producers commentary, I just can’t understand why you would base the purchase of a house on whether or not it is golf cart friendly for her dog. I wonder if the community where her townhouse is located is like a vast majority of golf cart communities where the average age of the homeowners is 65 and older.  That would hardly be conducive to restarting her romantic life (which was terribly nasty to suggest to one who’s fiancé recently died).  

[CoppersMom2021]

3 minutes ago, KLovestoShop said:

Did not like the Tampa friend at all.  I wanted to scream, “bitch, this isn’t your house, so shut the F up”.  Plus, she looked to have had a lot of plastic surgery which made her face look so fake.  A couple of things bothered me about the HH.  Everything was “cute” and she didn’t seem to be concerned about a lot of the basic things a home buyer needs to be concerned with.  And while it might have been part of the producers commentary, I just can’t understand why you would base the purchase of a house on whether or not it is golf cart friendly for her dog. I wonder if the community where her townhouse is located is like a vast majority of golf cart communities where the average age of the homeowners is 65 and older.  That would hardly be conducive to restarting her romantic life (which was terribly nasty to suggest to one who’s fiancé recently died).  

“Every house Ive been in comes with a backsplash”. Well, laddie da! Thats not the case in every home on the market. 

She just said a lot that annoyed me but I also wish they didnt mention the deceased fiance every few minutes. The host saying it after commercial breaks, her saying she doesnt want to do renovations because of that... it was too much. 

[Empress1]

20 hours ago, Crashcourse said:

Really?  That's news to me.  

They started doing it during the uprisings last year. As a Black person I think it's stupid, frankly - performative. It doesn't do anything. I don't care what the biggest bedroom in my house is called; I care that my house is almost certainly going to be devalued because I own it, and if I have my white friend stand in for me and take down everything that indicates that a Black person lives there, it'll be appraised higher. Do something about that. (Not you, @Crashcourse) 

[KLovestoShop]

49 minutes ago, Empress1 said:

They started doing it during the uprisings last year. As a Black person I think it's stupid, frankly - performative. It doesn't do anything. I don't care what the biggest bedroom in my house is called; I care that my house is almost certainly going to be devalued because I own it, and if I have my white friend stand in for me and take down everything that indicates that a Black person lives there, it'll be appraised higher. Do something about that. (Not you, @Crashcourse) 

While it’s not nearly as bad as it is for blacks, we Hispanics get a similar treatment. I’m Hispanic on my dad’s side and when his family members moved into more upscale neighborhoods, people expected to see roaming gangs of Latin Kings, Mariachi bands at all hours and 10 beat up pick up trucks that they call Mexican Limos.  And then you have them thinking the 15 kids will never attend school.   Very sad, but true. 

[buttersister]

I'm sorry that Tampa woman's fiancé died. I'm also sorry that I had to watch her and the WTF? friend shop for a house. At one point I had to pay too much attention to tell them apart. But the plastic surgery did help--to tell them apart, not the "designer" friend's face. 

[chessiegal]

My husband's comment on the Tampa woman and her friend was that he wondered what they really looked like, because they seemed to be applying make-up with a trowel.

[amarante]

The comment about the backsplash was odd - especially since it already had the 6" splashguard installed. It is really terrible design to put a backsplash over the 6" back plate. It is done but that doesn't make it look right - you have a backsplash OR the 6" thing - not both.

[DonnaMae]

I'd like to know the story behind Abbey Glen.  What a strange name for a dog.