House Hunters - General Discussion

[CruiseDiva]

4 hours ago, laredhead said:

When they first walked through the house they ultimately chose, no mention was made of that huge porch like room at the back of the house, and I wondered why they didn't show it.  At the reveal, you could see it again just off the kitchen area, but nothing was said about it.  Wonder if it was a porch, or a finished room?  It looked really big.  The only house that stood out to me was the Victorian which I knew was a no go, and just tossed in to fill the need for 3 houses to be shown.  Did they choose the house with the large bathtub where the wife was planning to spend a lot of time?           

That was a really big screened in porch/sunroom. With all those children I bet they get a lot of use out of it. It was odd that they never mentioned it--it was a great feature on that house.

No, she didn't get the bathroom with a big tub. If I remember correctly, their bathroom had a combo tub/shower and she whined that it would have to be renovated. She also whined about the kitchen that was perfectly functional and that lower counter area was a actually table height for chairs where her youngest children could sit to eat. That seemed practical to me for a family with six young 'uns.

[laredhead]

CruiseDiva - she whined a lot.  Would like to see that house in real life on a real estate listing.

[Grrarrggh]

I don't like parents who whine about not having enough money/time when they CHOOSE to have six children. No one forced you to have all those kids. 

[Bastet]

8 minutes ago, Grrarrggh said:

I don't like parents who whine about not having enough money/time when they CHOOSE to have six children. No one forced you to have all those kids. 

I was just reading through the posts about that episode (I didn't see it) and thinking the same thing -- they'd have more money to spend, and need a smaller house to begin with, if they hadn't decided to contribute so heartily to the overpopulation crisis.  There are fewer positions on a basketball team than there are kids in that family!

[Mu Shu]

On 9/21/2019 at 9:07 AM, Kohola3 said:

Anybody that buys beachfront on the Atlantic coast is nuts.  Might as well just set fire to the money.  And people building and rebuilding in those vulnerable areas are the cause of the increase in everyone's insurance rates.  Hurricanes are becoming increasingly fierce and long lasting and that' snot going to change so give up that dream and look for something on water inland. 

Even the Great Lakes (hurricane free) are experiencing higher and higher lake levels that are swamping places right on the shoreline with the worsening, sustained NE and SE winds.  I know, I live on Lake Huron.

Where would you have us move? Hurricanes affect inland areas, so the entire Florida Peninsula is at risk.

per Max Mayfield, hurricane expert with no political agenda, hurricanes are not getting worse. They come in cycles. The strongest landfalling hurricane in the US is still the Florida Labor Day hurricane of 1935 or Camille in 1969.  Plenty of Cat 4 storms including Galveston 1900 and Okechobee  1928.  To this day, there have been only four hurricanes to make landfall on the US at cat 5. ( Labor Day storm, Camille, Andrew, and Michael) Katrina and Wilma both weakened to Cat 3 before hitting the US. My first hurricane was Andrew, and we took the leading edge of the eyewall. We are still here. 

Now let’s talk about how 225k will get you a 2 bed/2bath condo with ugly carpet and ugly yellow wood work in Davenport Iowa. And how Coal Valley, Il has become a “boutique “ community.  Holy crap, when did that happen? 

Edited September 25, 2019 by Mu Shu

[Grrarrggh]

2 hours ago, Mu Shu said:

Where would you have us move? Hurricanes affect inland areas, so the entire Florida Peninsula is at risk.

per Max Mayfield, hurricane expert with no political agenda, hurricanes are not getting worse. They come in cycles. The strongest landfalling hurricane in the US is still the Florida Labor Day hurricane of 1935 or Camille in 1969.  Plenty of Cat 4 storms including Galveston 1900 and Okechobee  1928.  To this day, there have been only four hurricanes to make landfall on the US at cat 5. ( Labor Day storm, Camille, Andrew, and Michael) Katrina and Wilma both weakened to Cat 3 before hitting the US. My first hurricane was Andrew, and we took the leading edge of the eyewall. We are still here. 

The hurricanes may not be getting worse, but they're landing on places built in the floodplain and into areas with more concrete than natural areas. Plus there are more hurricanes. 

[Mu Shu]

27 minutes ago, Grrarrggh said:

The hurricanes may not be getting worse, but they're landing on places built in the floodplain and into areas with more concrete than natural areas. Plus there are more hurricanes. 

There really aren’t more hurricanes than in the past. Since Katrina hit, they’ve gotten more coverage. Puerto Rico and the Bahamas were crazy lucky for years as was Domenica. Cuba gets hammered quite often and bounces right back. You hear little about hurricanes in Cuba because Cuba has excellent preparedness.

Most hurricanes don’t make landfall. Even when they do, the eyewall is a small portion of the storm. The eyewall is where the hurricane force winds live. The rest of the storm is tropical storm force winds. There’s a ton of misinformation about hurricanes out there. I was bored after Wilma and went with my neighbor to pick up water. There were reporters there glooming and dooming about all the “devastation “. Damage was light, no one in my area was dumb enough to die, but they were flat out lying about all the damage that didn’t happen and all the people who really weren’t left homeless. 

Everglades City took the eyewall of the second US landfall of Irma. Really bad flooding, but the fleets went out a week later to start stone crab season. We are pretty good at this, and we pay rates to reflect the risks. 

[Kohola3]

9 hours ago, Mu Shu said:

Where would you have us move?

Not asking anyone to move. Suggesting that buying on the water there is a bad idea.  

But I knew someone who died in Katrina so I don't look quite so cavalierly at hurricanes as you seem to. I'm not sure how you'd describe devastation but death fits in there in my opinion.

Edited September 25, 2019 by Kohola3

[cameron]

Davenport Iowa couple.  Her voice and over extended nails drove me crazy.  No furniture in the home that they moved into.

[Pickles]

Did they say that the Iowa condo had been sitting empty for five years?? That would be a red flag for me.

[nokat]

I usually think someone came in to money when they are buying houses way over their pay rate.
 

[laredhead]

Pickles, yes I believe the realtor said that property had been vacant for 5 years.  It could have been tied up in an estate matter with bickering heirs.  Another possibility is that the owners could have been in a nursing home for a while.  There is a house about 2 blocks from mine that belongs to a couple in a nursing home.  It has been vacant for at least 5 years.  Someone mows the yard, and recently there was some roofing work done on it.  The couple has a son, but he doesn't live there.  Those of us curious about it, are assuming that if it was sold, the nursing home would attach all of the proceeds, and leave the son with nothing to inherit.  That's just our theory, but we could be wrong.  It's a shame though, because the house could be occupied by someone who will care for it daily.   Looks like the HH's got a good deal on their choice.      

[jcbrown]

7 hours ago, Pickles said:

Did they say that the Iowa condo had been sitting empty for five years?? That would be a red flag for me.

I wondered why they did not address that, too. It's not a good deal if it ends up being a white elephant you can never sell. Though they didn't say how long it had been on the market, did they?

The amount of makeup that woman in Iowa was wearing was crazy.

[laredhead]

As I was watching the episode last night about the couple wanting a real house instead of an RV or movable tiny house, I thought all of those tiny house people should be watching as well.  This couple had a very nice, large 5th wheel with 400 sf of space, but they both said that after 2 years of traveling, dust, dirt, set up/take down, they were ready for a house.  Kind of refreshing to see the other side of the coin where the romance of life on the road isn't as great as first thought, even with a very nice RV.

I liked that neither of them complained about not having grass in the yard as is so often the case of Arizona HH's.  The 2nd house looked like the owner had moved the in the 70's and had never done a single update, including that sculpted carpet - yech.  

None of the houses stood out as spectacular to me, but the prices were pretty reasonable compared to some that have been featured with 1200 sf and a price tag of $300,000+.  I don't think I'm cut out to live in that area, because everything sort of looks the same, and it's hot and dry.  Give this southern girl a little humidity - lol.   

[StatisticalOutlier]

9 hours ago, laredhead said:

As I was watching the episode last night about the couple wanting a real house instead of an RV or movable tiny house, I thought all of those tiny house people should be watching as well.  This couple had a very nice, large 5th wheel with 400 sf of space, but they both said that after 2 years of traveling, dust, dirt, set up/take down, they were ready for a house.  Kind of refreshing to see the other side of the coin where the romance of life on the road isn't as great as first thought, even with a very nice RV.

The story didn't add up.  She said she hadn't had a bath during the two years they were living in the trailer, but also said they'd been on the road for eight months, and gone to five states. 

Also, when they said, "I think that's our campsite" or whatever, they weren't driving through an RV park, and where they showed it set up, it was just a parking lot.  Not sure why they didn't just rent a site at one of the one million RV parks in Phoenix for this purpose.  Unless it was from January to April, in which case they are all filled to capacity.

And for the record, they make satellite dishes that are mounted on the roof, and you press a button and it points itself.  It obviously won't work in tree-y area, but most RV parks have at least certain sites where roof-mounted satellites will work, and it's particularly not a problem in Nevada, almost all of Arizona, and big parts of California, Oregon, and Washington.  Dude would have saved himself a lot of trouble by getting one of those, if he was so vexed by the manual one.

Most people suggest that if you're going to be sitting still a lot, like moving for work assignments of a few months, then a fifth-wheel is a good choice because they're more home-like than a motorhome.  But they take more set-up than a motorhome, and as you could see, the slide-outs in a fifth-wheel usually make the interior unlivable unless they're extended.  That's not ideal for travel because it's a lot harder to comfortably stop somewhere for the night and catch a few winks.

For traveling, which is what it sounds like they wanted to do, a motorhome is easier. 

And the piece of advice you will ALWAYS hear is to take it slow and don't treat it like a vacation because you'll wear yourself out. 

I think they made some poor choices for the lifestyle they intended to have. 

Also, I can verify that traveling at a five-big-states-in-eight-months pace has gotten infinitely harder in the last few years because so many more people are doing it, thanks to people who support themselves by pimping that lifestyle in blogs and on youtube.  You have those increased numbers, as well as people who think that living in a trailer is cheaper than an apartment or house, and do it in RV parks instead of mobile home parks.  At the same time, RV parks are disappearing because the land they are on is becoming valuable as cities expand outward.

All of this adds up to a lot more planning than it used to take to secure RV sites as you travel.  Gone are the days when, especially in a gigantic fifth-wheel, you could easily meander.

[laredhead]

The HH Morro Bay episode was really a beach house hunting episode, but I didn't mind it because it was Morro Bay.  In 1972, my husband and I drove the coast highway from Los Angeles to San Francisco on a vacation trip.  We stopped at a hotel in Morro Bay after dark to spend the night, and I will never forget seeing the Morro rock early the next morning.  It was rising out of a ground fog, and I had never seen anything like it before.  I had also never seen the Pacific Ocean, and I was so taken with that part of the U.S.  Last night's episode brought back so many wonderful memories.  The couple seemed so nice, and were obviously still in love with each other after many years of marriage.  Glad they were able to make a long time dream come true.   

[LittleIggy]

Columbus, OH: If the husband had mentioned coffee shops one more time I think I would have gone 🤯. And his stupid gaming! 🙄

[chessiegal]

Why has HGTV moved HH an hour later most nights? It's my 10 pm mind-numbing get ready to go to sleep time. And then on Friday night no HH or HHI at all! Instead a My Lottery Dream home marathon. Yuck!!!

[chessiegal]

Article in the Washington Post on HH. I didn't realize it's been on for 20 years. I've watched from the beginning.

20 Years of House Hunters

[buttersister]

“... unscripted programming ...”  LOL! Thanks for the link, chessiegal. 

[snarts]

On 9/29/2019 at 8:25 AM, chessiegal said:

Article in the Washington Post on HH. I didn't realize it's been on for 20 years. I've watched from the beginning.

20 Years of House Hunters

Yep, I remember watching House Hunters for the first time the morning I was to meet my realtor for my first house hunt.

The doorbell sound from the original intro always made my dogs bark.

[Empress1]

My TiVo cut off (the show that aired before House Hunters ran two minutes over); which house did the Georgia couple pick?

[Pickles]

13 minutes ago, Empress1 said:

My TiVo cut off (the show that aired before House Hunters ran two minutes over); which house did the Georgia couple pick?

The one with the pool.

[jcbrown]

3 hours ago, Empress1 said:

My TiVo cut off (the show that aired before House Hunters ran two minutes over); which house did the Georgia couple pick?

Mine, too, and I came here to ask the same thing. What the heck, HGTV?

3 hours ago, Pickles said:

The one with the pool.

Thanks!

[chessiegal]

I've noticed HGTV is running shows past their end times. I guess if I record I need to add time at the end.

[Kohola3]

1 hour ago, chessiegal said:

I've noticed HGTV is running shows past their end times. I guess if I record I need to add time at the end.

At least for my cable company (and I don't know if that's what makes the difference) I automatically add one minute to the end time of every single program I DVR.

[amarante]

HGTV has routinely run overtime by about 30 seconds or a minute for as long as I can remember.

Most of the time it matters little since I fast forward through all of the crap anyway and so the DVR is just cutting off the very last segments when they are typically having a BS gathering of friends and family. It's quite noticeable as sometimes my DVR will record back to back episodes and the first 30 seconds or so will be the last of the program before.

There was an episode this week that really started late - about two minutes in and it was still on the last segment of the preceding program and so it cut off the reveal of which house in that episode.

[jcbrown]

46 minutes ago, amarante said:

HGTV has routinely run overtime by about 30 seconds or a minute for as long as I can remember.

Most of the time it matters little since I fast forward through all of the crap anyway and so the DVR is just cutting off the very last segments when they are typically having a BS gathering of friends and family. It's quite noticeable as sometimes my DVR will record back to back episodes and the first 30 seconds or so will be the last of the program before.

There was an episode this week that really started late - about two minutes in and it was still on the last segment of the preceding program and so it cut off the reveal of which house in that episode.

Right--I always fast forward through much of the crap and I don't care if I miss the end bit with the family or whatever. I do like to see which house is chosen, though!

[Empress1]

50 minutes ago, amarante said:

HGTV has routinely run overtime by about 30 seconds or a minute for as long as I can remember.

Most of the time it matters little since I fast forward through all of the crap anyway and so the DVR is just cutting off the very last segments when they are typically having a BS gathering of friends and family. It's quite noticeable as sometimes my DVR will record back to back episodes and the first 30 seconds or so will be the last of the program before.

There was an episode this week that really started late - about two minutes in and it was still on the last segment of the preceding program and so it cut off the reveal of which house in that episode.

Yeah, House Hunters always cuts off for me and I don't bother to add time because it usually just cuts off the hunter being excited about the chosen home, and as you say, if there are several episodes in a row, the first 30 seconds to a minute of the previous episode are captured in the next episode. Last night it was egregious - when I watched it this morning I was like, why am I fast-forwarding through this much of an entirely different show? So I actually did add two minutes to the end time. We'll see if I need it.

[Babalooie]

I liked the GA couple.   They were picky at times, but they always had a fun sense of humor.

A pool will be nice for the family and those  long hot summers, but dad will find out it's no picnic to keep up maintenance on it.  Teach the kids how to take care of it as you are learning.

[cameron]

Guess the realtors don't know how to dress in Cookesville, Tennessee.  While she seemed very nice, looking professional wasn't big on her list.

[Ohwell]

5 hours ago, cameron said:

Guess the realtors don't know how to dress in Cookesville, Tennessee.  While she seemed very nice, looking professional wasn't big on her list.

I question whether she was even a "realtor."  

[Blergh]

I think the Cookeville Couple should have agreed on how many kids they intend to foster before picking out the house!  The place they picked seems as though it could be too small for more than two kids (and have they ruled out having bio kids later on?). 

[BookWoman56]

2 hours ago, Blergh said:

I think the Cookeville Couple should have agreed on how many kids they intend to foster before picking out the house!  The place they picked seems as though it could be too small for more than two kids (and have they ruled out having bio kids later on?). 

I was only half watching at the end, but didn’t they go with the compromise house that was under budget? I don’t remember much about that house. Loved the acreage on the first house but hated the log cabin style. Thought the larger house in town would have been the best bet, and she could have kept working for a year before starting with foster kids or they could have rented out the apartment for a couple of years to balance out it being over budget. I don’t recall any mention of why they planned to foster, but that could be a deliberate choice on their part not to have bio kids or they may be unable to do so. Not that it makes any difference in figuring out what their housing needs are. It was refreshing to hear a couple who plan for a family consider the logistics of the floor plan calmly, instead of the usual extremes of going for a floor plan suitable for parties and not much else, or insisting through clenched teeth that all bedrooms be right on top of each other, because the kids must never be out of sight until they leave home. 

[chessiegal]

3 hours ago, Ohwell said:

I question whether she was even a "realtor."  

She is a real estate agent in Cookeville, TN.

Here's her web site:

Eleanor York - real estate agent

[Ohwell]

29 minutes ago, chessiegal said:

She is a real estate agent in Cookeville, TN.

Here's her web site:

Eleanor York - real estate agent

She could have dressed professionally, knowing she was going to be on tv.  That blouse she's wearing in that photograph looks wrinkled.

[KLovestoShop]

On 10/1/2019 at 8:53 AM, Empress1 said:

My TiVo cut off (the show that aired before House Hunters ran two minutes over); which house did the Georgia couple pick?

Same here.  For some reason, the previous show ran longer, so the HH show ran over the recording time by about 50 seconds.

[laredhead]

At the end of the Cookeville episode the husband was naming all of his family members who said they are moving to Cookeville.  I wonder if he was serious?  If so, what on earth do they do that they can just pull up stakes and move from where they are to Cookeville? 

The house they chose wasn't as large as the wife wanted, but the lot is large enough that they can always add on to the house if the family outgrows the present house.  There wasn't much room in that living/dining/kitchen all in one room, and I don't remember there being a "bonus" room in that house where one could retreat to for some quiet time.  I guess the bathroom or bedroom would have to suffice.  The kitchen was really small in that house.  

The log cabin house was totally a red herring, and looked like maybe it was a weekend or vacation house to me.    

[Empress1]

8 hours ago, laredhead said:

At the end of the Cookeville episode the husband was naming all of his family members who said they are moving to Cookeville.  I wonder if he was serious?  If so, what on earth do they do that they can just pull up stakes and move from where they are to Cookeville? 

I wondered that too. I also wondered how the couple chose it, given that they didn’t seem to know anyone there. It seems like a kind of random choice - did they vacation there and fall in love with it? 

I commend them for making such a drastic lifestyle change in order to build the life they want.

[laredhead]

Then there was the Chicago couple last night with the wife who is a food blogger, and evidently high maintenance and a shopaholic from comments she made on the show.  The husband reminded me of the actor Tim Kang in looks and in some of his mannerisms and the way he talked.

Here's the deal; when you tell a realtor that you want 4 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms, and a beautiful kitchen, and you aren't willing to spend over a certain amount of money, don't berate the realtor when he/she tells you that your budget is unrealistic for what you are demanding, and the realtor shows you places that fit your budget but not the number of rooms you want.  What was with the wife's mother needing her own bathroom?  The wife said the mother stayed there 2 days a week to babysit.  I think sharing a bathroom with a 1-year old isn't too much to ask.  I guess free babysitting merits a personal bathroom.

The vintage house they looked at had some beautiful original features and woodwork.  It did need some TLC, but I agreed with the husband about not painting that gorgeous paneling.  There are buyers who will appreciate it and not desecreate it with white or gray paint.  I hope someone buys it and gives it the love it deserves.  I don't remember a thing about the house they bought other than it was white, white, white and had no personality whatsoever.  Oh yeah, it had kid toys all over the living room in the reveal because everyone has to be on one room these days.

Lastly, when did marriage become a competition.  The last quip by the wife of "I won" said as she sat smiling smugly, was just so unnecessary.  I can never remember my mother or father saying "I won" about anything other than a board game, and they didn't have the best marriage in the world.  I do wish couples would be more respectful toward each other at least on national TV.       

[chessiegal]

Yeah, the wife in Chicago was insufferable. Exactly how much money does she make from her blog? $100 a month or year? And why do these women need all these clothes and shoes? Where does a SAHM wear them?

Granted, I'm retired, but even when I was working I had maybe 10 pairs of shoes, enough outfits to not show up at work in the same clothes everyday. I don't get it.

[Ohwell]

I can't even feel sorry for Chicago husband because he knew she was high maintenance before he married her.  She seemed to think she was all that.  Couldn't stand her.  

[doodlebug]

3 hours ago, Ohwell said:

I can't even feel sorry for Chicago husband because he knew she was high maintenance before he married her.  She seemed to think she was all that.  Couldn't stand her.  

Yeah, when the highlight of the courtship is that he built a walk-in closet for her, it should've been a clue that she was going to be a needy chick.  And all her complaining that the kitchen had to be just so because she needed to be able to take pictures of food for her blog was just ridiculous.  Most food photos on the internet show absolutely the barest minimum of the surroundings because the point is the food, not the counter or island or table.

[chessiegal]

Found her royal highness of food blogging. She has experience working in magazine publishing.

Soo Park

[topanga]

22 hours ago, BookWoman56 said:

I was only half watching at the end, but didn’t they go with the compromise house that was under budget? I don’t remember much about that house. Loved the acreage on the first house but hated the log cabin style. Thought the larger house in town would have been the best bet, and she could have kept working for a year before starting with foster kids or they could have rented out the apartment for a couple of years to balance out it being over budget. I don’t recall any mention of why they planned to foster, but that could be a deliberate choice on their part not to have bio kids or they may be unable to do so. Not that it makes any difference in figuring out what their housing needs are. It was refreshing to hear a couple who plan for a family consider the logistics of the floor plan calmly, instead of the usual extremes of going for a floor plan suitable for parties and not much else, or insisting through clenched teeth that all bedrooms be right on top of each other, because the kids must never be out of sight until they leave home. 

yes, they chose house #3. I can't remember all the details, but I remember liking the 2nd house best. It was at the top of their budget, but it was in an actual neighborhood, and I think it had a nicer kitchen. 

I liked this couple. They seemed nice, and they were kind to one another. I also wonder why they're choosing to adopt/foster and not have biological children. It's none of my business, of course, but I'm curious. 

4 hours ago, laredhead said:

Here's the deal; when you tell a realtor that you want 4 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms, and a beautiful kitchen, and you aren't willing to spend over a certain amount of money, don't berate the realtor when he/she tells you that your budget is unrealistic for what you are demanding, and the realtor shows you places that fit your budget but not the number of rooms you want.  What was with the wife's mother needing her own bathroom?  The wife said the mother stayed there 2 days a week to babysit.  I think sharing a bathroom with a 1-year old isn't too much to ask.  I guess free babysitting merits a personal bathroom.

This has become one of my new pet peeves: The couple that demands a huge bedroom/bathroom/walk-in closet/suite/wing for their parents. Granted, if your parents will be living with you and have health needs, you want to make sure their living quarters are accessible.

However, if they're able-bodied and/or relatively young, they need to take what they can get. Especially if they're only going to be spending the night occasionally. Why do they need a luxury apartment inside of your house?

OR, if you do want luxury accommodations for your parents, stop complaining about price. Stop whining about a house being at the top of your budget. 

I'm sure a lot of the complaining is producer-driven, but it bugs me nonetheless. 

[chessiegal]

23 minutes ago, topanga said:

I also wonder why they're choosing to adopt/foster and not have biological children. It's none of my business, of course, but I'm curious. 

They addressed this only by saying they made a decision to adopt rather than have biological children. Good for them! I think her work with special needs children probably had something to do with it.

[Empress1]

1 hour ago, topanga said:

I also wonder why they're choosing to adopt/foster and not have biological children.

The wife worked with kids with special needs so I wonder if her work made her more attuned to such issues. I have an acquaintance who adopted her daughter out of foster care as a single woman and she works in special ed (her daughter doesn't have special needs).

2 hours ago, doodlebug said:

Yeah, when the highlight of the courtship is that he built a walk-in closet for her, it should've been a clue that she was going to be a needy chick. 

Demanding and superficial, yeah. He even said something like "I know it sounds silly but a closet has special meaning for us."

1 hour ago, topanga said:

This has become one of my new pet peeves: The couple that demands a huge bedroom/bathroom/walk-in closet/suite/wing for their parents. Granted, if your parents will be living with you and have health needs, you want to make sure their living quarters are accessible.

However, if they're able-bodied and/or relatively young, they need to take what they can get. Especially if they're only going to be spending the night occasionally. Why do they need a luxury apartment inside of your house?

Yes. Her parents can share a bathroom with the toddler two nights a week. Absolutely make accommodations for anyone with mobility issues who is going to be spending regular time there, but she didn't mention anything about that - she just wanted them to have their own bathroom, for no real reason.

Edited October 3, 2019 by Empress1

[doodlebug]

32 minutes ago, Empress1 said:

Yes. Her parents can share a bathroom with the toddler two nights a week. Absolutely make accommodations for anyone with mobility issues who is going to be spending regular time there, but she didn't mention anything about that - she just wanted them to have their own bathroom, for no real reason.

And, if there are such mobility issues, don't blame the realtor if she cannot find a perfectly adapted up-to-date property in your price range.  If someone has mobility issues, you can probably find a place with a first floor bedroom and bath; but you're probably going to have to install ramps, widen doorways and adapt the shower yourself after you purchase the home.

[amarante]

I thought the Chicago couple chose a terrible option - It really is not convenient to have all the bathrooms on the lower level without even a powder room in the living area level.

Again, I find it inscrutable when the buyers have what is a theoretically large enough budget and none of the options seem desirable for the family.

The blogger lost me on any kind of taste or style when she went into the kitchen in the Tudor home and whined that it wouldn't photograph well when it had that awesome stove and retro looking refrigerator.

Having just finished a remodel of my kitchen, I bet the refrigerator was a Big Chill because I am not aware of any other brands that are currently doing that retro style. A Big Chill refrigerator is of course obscenely overpriced for what it is but it is way more expensive than any of the stainless steel models that HH generally find the cat's pajamas. There is never any kind of understanding that a stainless model can be the bottom of the barrel quality and relatively cheap. 

Also in general the "new construction" kitchens for the most part are not well designed as they are using the very cheapest type of cabinetry.

Chicago husband was absolutely correct  that if you remodel you can get exactly what you want in terms of both style and function. 

[Empress1]

11 minutes ago, amarante said:

Also in general the "new construction" kitchens for the most part are not well designed as they are using the very cheapest type of cabinetry.

You can also tell that sometimes they're designed with fashion over function in mind, which for me would be a no-go (I'm an avid home cook).