House Hunters - General Discussion

[laredhead]

1 hour ago, Mediocre Gatsby said:

He mentioned how often they come over, so I'm sure they DO help, but it seemed like he talked more about his obligations to them than the other way around. 

The husband said that in the Indian culture it was the son's obligation to help the parents, but I am sure that having them close will be of benefit to both families.  He also said that when a son got married the parents would traditionally move in with the son & his new wife/family, but the wife last night vetoed that.  I think having them close by will fulfill everyone's needs/wants.   

[Grizzly]

Topsail Beach, NC. How many kids? Good grief. How did she climb to the top of the corporate ladder with all that maternity leave? They want to be beachside but not have the house on stilts? A hurricane could wash them out. David's spit take when hearing 1.6 million was hilarious. Could someone make a meme out of that?

[Orcinus orca]

10 hours ago, laredhead said:

I just watched the Raleigh episode, and have to admit my eyes were misty at the end.  My grandson is autistic, and I could understand the desires of the HH's.  

It was definitely a sad story and has aged the grandmother so much.  At first I thought they were mother and son until they showed the wedding pictures.  Losing a daughter and then taking in a special needs grandchild has to be brutal.

[CrazyInAlabama]

12 hours ago, Grizzly said:

Topsail Beach, NC. How many kids? Good grief. How did she climb to the top of the corporate ladder with all that maternity leave? They want to be beachside but not have the house on stilts? A hurricane could wash them out. David's spit take when hearing 1.6 million was hilarious. Could someone make a meme out of that?

SEven children from 18 to less than a year.    I'm wondering if they will be able to build under the house for her office?   I've heard that the stilt houses aren't allowed to have permanent living areas under the house.     I hope there's a back up generator for that elevator.    At the price point for the house they bought, is there really budget left for the big pool the wife demanded?   

What probably bothers the 18 year old is having people assume that the baby is his kid, not his 17 year younger sibling. (I had a friend who was from a big family, they moved during high school, and people assumed the last baby was her kid, not her mother's).

Edited August 25, 2023 by CrazyInAlabama

[cameron]

5 hours ago, CrazyInAlabama said:

SEven children from 18 to less than a year.    I'm wondering if they will be able to build under the house for her office?   I've heard that the stilt houses aren't allowed to have permanent living areas under the house.     I hope there's a back up generator for that elevator.    At the price point for the house they bought, is there really budget left for the big pool the wife demanded?   

That 18 year old  has to be really mortified that he has a 7 month sibling.  They really should stop cranking out those kids.

 

Edited August 25, 2023 by cameron

[laredhead]

Topsail Beach episode, the wife must make a very good salary, and I'm wondering what rank the husband was when he left the Marines after 20 years.  The entire time I was watching the episode, I kept wondering how much property insurance was going to be on any of those houses.  It only take one strong hurricane to wipe them out.  With their oldest child being 18, there are college expenses to think about with that one, and the other 6 behind him or her.  So many questions! Re the back up generator, if the house is severely damaged, that elevator will be of no use even with a generator.  The generator (if there was one) and AC units weren't visible in any of the photos, but they would definitely be elevated to avoid flooding, but wind doesn't care how high anything is.  South Louisiana here, and we hold our breaths every storm season.   

[cameron]

30 minutes ago, laredhead said:

Topsail Beach episode, the wife must make a very good salary, and I'm wondering what rank the husband was when he left the Marines after 20 years.  The entire time I was watching the episode, I kept wondering how much property insurance was going to be on any of those houses.  It only take one strong hurricane to wipe them out.  With their oldest child being 18, there are college expenses to think about with that one, and the other 6 behind him or her.  So many questions! Re the back up generator, if the house is severely damaged, that elevator will be of no use even with a generator.  The generator (if there was one) and AC units weren't visible in any of the photos, but they would definitely be elevated to avoid flooding, but wind doesn't care how high anything is.  South Louisiana here, and we hold our breaths every storm season.   

In their wedding picture, he was wearing an enlisted uniform.  Unless they sent him to OCS, he retired as an enlisted marine.

[Orcinus orca]

4 hours ago, cameron said:

In their wedding picture, he was wearing an enlisted uniform.  Unless they sent him to OCS, he retired as an enlisted marine.

Possible but not probable that he would stay 20 years as an enlisted man.  Not a lot of forty year old corporals out there.

4 hours ago, laredhead said:

The entire time I was watching the episode, I kept wondering how much property insurance was going to be on any of those houses.

There are a number of insurance agencies pulling out of hurricane-prone areas.

[CrazyInAlabama]

9 hours ago, cameron said:

In their wedding picture, he was wearing an enlisted uniform.  Unless they sent him to OCS, he retired as an enlisted marine.

For enlisted and NCOs too (I think NCOs) there are huge reenlistment bonuses when they reenlist, depending on their job.  If he saved that, hazardous duty pay, and they lived in base housing, they could have saved up a bundle over the years.   Some people are huge savers from salaries, or bonuses.    

I worked for the military as a civilian for many years.  I've met a lot of enlisted who had college degrees, some up to Ph.D. level.  They want to stay in their NCO or enlisted roles, or Warrants, not become an officer.  

Edited August 25, 2023 by CrazyInAlabama

[Vivigirl10]

On 8/21/2023 at 3:37 PM, amarante said:

Anyone who buys a home with gray floors at this point is really making an error. They were trendy for awhile which was bad enough but at this point it is the end of the trend.

Amen.  Let's up the stakes and add gray floors and a sliding barn door.  My two personal favs.  🤢

I'm late to the party but I have to go back to the Dallas episode.  That wife is in for a world of hurt, I'm afraid.  Baby obsession is annoying enough but this gal has scripted a film of the rest of her life in her head.  It's part of life that things don't go as planned.  What would a person like this do?  What is going to happen when she doesn't instantly get pregnant, or can't conceive at all?  What if she has a girl when she really wants a boy first and then that girl is anti-social, doesn't play well with the imaginary neighborhood children, and likes dirt bikes versus TX cheerleading?  What happens when the perfect husband cheats and walks out on her in ten years?  Her delusion was next level.  Bad enough, he seemed to buy into it too. 

Good luck to her neighbors.  I hope they understand their roles.   

[cameron]

2 hours ago, Orcinus orca said:

Possible but not probable that he would stay 20 years as an enlisted man.  Not a lot of forty year old corporals out there.

There are a number of insurance agencies pulling out of hurricane-prone areas.

A lot of military personnel start their service as enlisted and retire that way especially if they don't have a college degree. Nothing wrong with that.

Edited August 25, 2023 by cameron

[StatisticalOutlier]

On 8/24/2023 at 1:13 PM, Crashcourse said:

I think the Amelia Island woman patted herself on the back too much.  ...  So, I say, get over yourself.  I also wonder if she can pay the mortgage by herself if she and the boyfriend break up.

At the end, she crowed about buying a house without being married.  Which is also made a lot easier if you don't have to come up with a down payment. 

She said they didn't decide to have her boyfriend move in until the house was under contract, but I do wonder.  Or, well, maybe they decided to have her boyfriend move into that particular house once that particular house was under contract.  Possibly the same decision they would have made with any other particular house.

She's 24 years old, which is just two years out of college.  And she works for the Convention and Visitors Bureau, which doesn't strike me as one of those places that offers young inexperienced employees huge salaries, and yet she bought a $400,000 house.

But she got approved for the mortgage.  Which now has me wondering just how much of a down payment her parents paid.

Basically, I didn't like her.  And while I liked the drop-down window in the kitchen door, I thought Florida was notorious for mosquitoes and other bugs and that's why the pools all have those big ugly screened rooms around them.  I wouldn't think people would leave unscreened windows open.

 

[Crashcourse]

16 minutes ago, StatisticalOutlier said:

She's 24 years old, which is just two years out of college.  And she works for the Convention and Visitors Bureau, which doesn't strike me as one of those places that offers young inexperienced employees huge salaries, and yet she bought a $400,000 house.

But she got approved for the mortgage.  Which now has me wondering just how much of a down payment her parents paid.

Her backstory left me wondering about just how much her parents put towards the house purchase.  

[rhofmovalley]

3 hours ago, Crashcourse said:

Her backstory left me wondering about just how much her parents put towards the house purchase.  

I think it's great her parents paid the down payment for her. If I could have done that for my son I would have.  But she shouldn't be going on about how she did this home purchase all on her own because she didn't. And I don't know if the boyfriend is paying rent but I would hope so. 

[Mediocre Gatsby]

I have YouTube TV, which picks up HH and HHI episodes without me doing anything (insert my self-serving "I'M SO PROUD OF MYSELF FOR BUYING YOUTUBE TV" sermon here!) but the one from tonight is in Indiana and from the episode numbering, it seems to be new. I didn't get the Topsail Beach episode that I've read about here, which is the downside of it not being a real DVR kind of product. 

I loved this Indiana family AND the realtor that the HHunter has known since they were kids! I loved the daughter! No snarky comments about what they wouldn't be able to live with. Nothing about how impressed visitors would be with the entryway. They're obviously a super close family. You can tell that even when they're grown with their own families, those kids will be coming back to this house for holidays. I loved the house they picked in their current home town. 

The mother who left them the money had been living with them (doing the cooking, the house hunter said) which must have been a comfort to both of them. 

I'm really happy for them. I found myself smiling a lot during this episode. 

Edited August 26, 2023 by Mediocre Gatsby
"hunter" has an "r" in it

[cinsays]

5 hours ago, Mediocre Gatsby said:

I have YouTube TV, which picks up HH and HHI episodes without me doing anything (insert my self-serving "I'M SO PROUD OF MYSELF FOR BUYING YOUTUBE TV" sermon here!) but the one from tonight is in Indiana and from the episode numbering, it seems to be new. I didn't get the Topsail Beach episode that I've read about here, which is the downside of it not being a real DVR kind of product. 

I loved this Indiana family AND the realtor that the HHunter has known since they were kids! I loved the daughter! No snarky comments about what they wouldn't be able to live with. Nothing about how impressed visitors would be with the entryway. They're obviously a super close family. You can tell that even when they're grown with their own families, those kids will be coming back to this house for holidays. I loved the house they picked in their current home town. 

The mother who left them the money had been living with them (doing the cooking, the house hunter said) which must have been a comfort to both of them. 

I'm really happy for them. I found myself smiling a lot during this episode. 

yes, i really loved that family, seemed very loving and all very pleasant and down to earth.  no needing the grand foyer that shows they made it comments,  which gets old real quick.

just watched the one with the kosher family of 7.  she's a stay-at-home mom and he is a mentalist and they could afford a home in the 700's? i would assume there are no benefits with that kind of career, so seems kind of risky if there is a health emergency of any kind.  they seemed like nice people but i didn't like any of the houses they looked at.

 

[cinsays]

watched the one with the couple in Colorado who wanted to be close to the ski resort.  didn't like any of the homes they looked at but guess they made the right decision for them so they could walk to the slopes.  the parking situation for all of them seemed bad for all of them and that there was an ice storm that took out their stairway before they even moved in would have really scared me.

they had 2 huge dogs - anyone know what breed they were?  didn't seem like the house was big enough for them and no outside fenced area for them

[Crashcourse]

I loved the Indiana family.  It was so refreshing not having anything for me to snark on.  

[laredhead]

I liked the Indiana family as well.  The mom had owned a house previously, and I do hope that she realized that doubling the size of her previous house was going to mean larger utility bills, more $$ to replace a roof when necessary, etc. all of the "fun" things that home ownership brings.  Some of the first time HH's we see, seem to be clueless about maintenance and all they want to do it "host", enjoy a spa bath tub, or spend 95% of their time walking to coffee shops and bars.  I kind of thought she would choose the 3rd house, but she went with the one with the large dining room which was more important to her than a grand entrance to impress her friends and family - good for her.

Kind of a funny story with regard to foyers and impressing visitors.  I live in a mid century house built in 1957.  It's in a nice neighborhood, but nothing "grand".  It is the style of house that became popular when floor plans featured a lot of windows facing the back yard, and very few windows facing the front yard.  One Christmas I had a party, and one of the people who arrived and had never been to my house, walked in the front door, stopped and said very loudly - Wow, I never expected this.  I took it as a compliment, but he may have meant it the other way such as "this is a lot nicer than I thought it would be" - lol.  Actually, the view is toward a fireplace, and a wall of windows overlooking the back yard, and yes, it's a nice view, but I wouldn't call it grand, and I did not buy the house to impress anyone.  That's as close to a grand entrance reaction that anyone has ever experienced in my house.  That is one wish that would never be on my house hunting list.     

[StatisticalOutlier]

6 hours ago, cinsays said:

watched the one with the couple in Colorado who wanted to be close to the ski resort.  ... that there was an ice storm that took out their stairway before they even moved in would have really scared me.

The were in Lake Tahoe.  I watched it the first time around and remember that stairway collapsing before they even moved in.  I guess you can look at it as pre-disastered or ominous.

3 hours ago, Crashcourse said:

I loved the Indiana family.  It was so refreshing not having anything for me to snark on.  

The only thing I can come up with is the daughter, especially in the THs, wouldn't open her eyes--they were little slits.  She reminded me of Napoleon Dynamite.

[cameron]

While the Indiana family was really nice and grounded; I felt kind of sorry for the daughter.  Didn't seem to have much of an outside life and really attached to the Mother.  Hope I am wrong about that.

[Crashcourse]

The daughter was in college, and I think she said she'd only be visiting twice a year, so I assume she has a life and friends.

[Mediocre Gatsby]

15 minutes ago, Crashcourse said:

The daughter was in college, and I think she said she'd only be visiting twice a year, so I assume she has a life and friends.

The daughter goes to college 90 miles away and comes home at least twice a month. That did seem like a lot, and I did worry a bit when the mother talked about how much she relied on that daughter to help her make decisions (especially when it was revealed at the end that she wasn't even the oldest, as I assumed, but was the middle child). 

But she kept jumping in with projects she could do on the house, so for whatever reason, she's really attached, still. 

I noticed her "closed eyes" expression, too, and I thought, she'll have to get rid of that before she starts teaching kids! 

[cameron]

40 minutes ago, Crashcourse said:

The daughter was in college, and I think she said she'd only be visiting twice a year, so I assume she has a life and friends.

It was actually twice a month.

[CalicoKitty]

16 hours ago, cinsays said:

watched the one with the couple in Colorado who wanted to be close to the ski resort.  didn't like any of the homes they looked at but guess they made the right decision for them so they could walk to the slopes.  the parking situation for all of them seemed bad for all of them and that there was an ice storm that took out their stairway before they even moved in would have really scared me.

they had 2 huge dogs - anyone know what breed they were?  didn't seem like the house was big enough for them and no outside fenced area for them

I hope they are good at snow shoveling.  This past winter was very hard, and many places in Tahoe had roofs that collapsed from snow.  People were paying thousands of dollars for roof snow removal.  Snow was up to the second floor windows at some places.  Some ski resorts had about 100 feet of snow.  If a sheet of ice destroyed their stairs they should be prepared for more repairs this coming winter.  (I live in the valley 20 minutes from Tahoe, and we had record breaking snow this past winter.  Tahoe and other communities were smothered!)

I have no idea how they will provide for their dogs in the winter.

[amarante]

Frankly I thought the Indiana HH was making a poor decision by buying a huge family house when it appears that her family is almost grown and on the way out.

Besides the cost of purchasing a home, it also costs more for utilities and I would assume property tax as well as maintenance in general.

And for what purpose - if the kids are launched as adults parents shouldn't want them to remain at home unless there are unusual circumstances. 

If the kids remain in the area, why would she need bedrooms for them to say in? When I moved out I stayed in the same general vicinity, and so almost never would have stayed overnight at my parents house.

Indiana is a relatively low cost of living area so I assume that apartments are affordable unlike some areas like Long Island where apartments are so expensive that it is an economic necessity for some new graduates to move back home. 

I also thought there might have been an unhealthy dynamic with the girl who was on the hunt - between saying how much she relied on her AND the girl coming back twice a month to visit. I went to college a bit further away than that but it was drivable for a weekend theoretically - but I went back for Thanksgiving, Spring Break and Winter Break. I had zero desire to go back home on the weekend when I could have fun at college and I think my parents were probably relieved to have the house to themselves :-)

[chessiegal]

I'm an only child, and I loved coming home on weekends when I transferred to a college close to home. I was dating a guy from my high school who commuted to college, and he would pick me up at school and take me home. More convenient for dating plus I loved being in my own room. I did not take well to dorm life. Different strokes.

[cameron]

1 hour ago, amarante said:

Frankly I thought the Indiana HH was making a poor decision by buying a huge family house when it appears that her family is almost grown and on the way out.

Besides the cost of purchasing a home, it also costs more for utilities and I would assume property tax as well as maintenance in general.

And for what purpose - if the kids are launched as adults parents shouldn't want them to remain at home unless there are unusual circumstances. 

If the kids remain in the area, why would she need bedrooms for them to say in? When I moved out I stayed in the same general vicinity, and so almost never would have stayed overnight at my parents house.

Indiana is a relatively low cost of living area so I assume that apartments are affordable unlike some areas like Long Island where apartments are so expensive that it is an economic necessity for some new graduates to move back home. 

I also thought there might have been an unhealthy dynamic with the girl who was on the hunt - between saying how much she relied on her AND the girl coming back twice a month to visit. I went to college a bit further away than that but it was drivable for a weekend theoretically - but I went back for Thanksgiving, Spring Break and Winter Break. I had zero desire to go back home on the weekend when I could have fun at college and I think my parents were probably relieved to have the house to themselves :-)

My thoughts exactly.

[Crashcourse]

20 hours ago, cameron said:

It was actually twice a month.

Ok, ok, I just remember hearing "twice."  Even so, she won't be lonely, and she probably has college friends. 

3 hours ago, chessiegal said:

I'm an only child, and I loved coming home on weekends when I transferred to a college close to home. I was dating a guy from my high school who commuted to college, and he would pick me up at school and take me home. More convenient for dating plus I loved being in my own room. I did not take well to dorm life. Different strokes.

I went to a local college and lived at home because I could not imagine living in a dorm with strangers.  I never regretted it.  I had plenty of friends at college but looked forward to going home after classes.  

[snarts]

Indiana: Even with the inheritance. it made little sense financially for her to move at this stage in life.  IMHO, the money would've been better spent on higher education/trade school for her three children.  Then again, we don't know but maybe money was set aside for them already with their Dad's life insurance proceeds?

Also not going to judge the daughter for coming home 2x/month.  Prolly comes home to do laundry and obviously wasn't going to miss the HGTV cameras. 

Raleigh: Yes, it was a sad story but I'd still like to know their age difference. I kept focusing on her terrible wig and eyelashes, and his jewelry. Did she say he uses a flat iron on that hair?

 

[mojito]

Raleigh

I was impressed when they looked at the loft and designated it as a room for Camden. They also talked about a room off the kitchen where he could play and they could hear him. Grandmother/mother showed no tendency to be a helicoptering parent! (Yeah, I know she's parented before, but this kid's circumstances were special and I could see even a seasoned parent becoming a major worrywart.) So kudos to her.

[mojito]

47 minutes ago, snarts said:

Raleigh: Yes, it was a sad story but I'd still like to know their age difference. I kept focusing on her terrible wig and eyelashes, and his jewelry. Did she say he uses a flat iron on that hair?

They showed a picture from when they first met. She definitely aged differently than he did.

[amarante]

3 hours ago, Crashcourse said:

Ok, ok, I just remember hearing "twice."  Even so, she won't be lonely, and she probably has college friends. 

I went to a local college and lived at home because I could not imagine living in a dorm with strangers.  I never regretted it.  I had plenty of friends at college but looked forward to going home after classes.  

Most kids in college don’t live in dorms after freshman year. 

I lived off campus in an apartment with friends I had specifically chosen and it is a great way to learn independence while still not being completely in one’s own. There are great life skills to be learned like really budgeting, chores, responsibility for bills including utilities. 

[chessiegal]

51 minutes ago, amarante said:

Most kids in college don’t live in dorms after freshman year. 

Not when I went to college. Plus my parents couldn't afford an apartment. Dorms all the way.

[rhofmovalley]

10 minutes ago, chessiegal said:

Not when I went to college. Plus my parents couldn't afford an apartment. Dorms all the way.

Me too. I lived in the dorm for freshman and sophomore years. My son did freshman and junior year in the dorm.  And even though my son's school was only about 35 minutes from home he didn't come home much and pretty much never came home to spend a weekend. He was all about that on campus life. And we were very close (still are although he's married now).

Topic? I missed a few episodes and need to catch up. 

[Orcinus orca]

5 hours ago, Crashcourse said:

I went to a local college and lived at home because I could not imagine living in a dorm with strangers.

My family couldn't afford it so I lived at home.  Grew up to be a fully functioning adult so it is what it is.

[StatisticalOutlier]

9 hours ago, amarante said:

And for what purpose - if the kids are launched as adults parents shouldn't want them to remain at home unless there are unusual circumstances.

She said she sees them coming home to live, for at least a little while.  She didn't say whether that's what she wants, but I suspect it is. 

[Mediocre Gatsby]

Dorms are almost always more expensive than apartments because of the mandatory meal plans. But some students would rather not be bothered with thinking about meals, and apartments can sometimes be farther away from classes.

I grew up in a house with 8 people and one bathroom - the dorm ratio of roommates and bathrooms was much better than at home! I went a thousand miles away, while my twin brother lived at home and commuted. The Indiana kids were like that; the older son came home very infrequently, they said when they were assigning bedrooms, while we know that the daughter comes home frequently.  

I did wonder about the Indiana lady not even mentioning downsizing, though, even just as a throwaway "I know people sometimes downsize when their kids go away to college, but I don't want to" remark. 

[Vivigirl10]

21 hours ago, amarante said:

And for what purpose - if the kids are launched as adults parents shouldn't want them to remain at home

This was what I was scratching my head over the whole episode.  I don't care how often a kid comes home to visit from college, that's perfectly fine.  And I understand many young people return home for a brief period after college to search for a job or save money.  But the Mom seemed completely focused/convinced that they would all return home full-time to live after college and the family would be reunited to continue as it had before.  Did she not want them to go out on their own into the world?  It seemed kind of an odd expectation.   

I do have to say I judged the daughter initially and fully expected her to educate us old folks on everything we didn't know that she did.  And she didn't turn out to be that way at all.  They were super pleasant.

I really liked the home they chose.  It had great light and there was just something warm/homey about the house that came across even through the t.v.

[Crashcourse]

16 hours ago, amarante said:

Most kids in college don’t live in dorms after freshman year. 

I lived off campus in an apartment with friends I had specifically chosen and it is a great way to learn independence while still not being completely in one’s own. There are great life skills to be learned like really budgeting, chores, responsibility for bills including utilities. 

Well, that situation worked for you, and that's fine.  I was perfectly happy to come home after classes.  Different strokes, ok?.  

[rhofmovalley]

3 hours ago, Kiki620 said:

Did she not want them to go out on their own into the world? 

One of my friends wanted her two adult sons to move back home and live with her and her husband forever. She cried and said she would give anything to have them go back to being babies again. She said they didn't have to work or go to school, just please come home. She was delighted when one of her sons broke up with his girlfriend and asked to move back home. Never mind that he was devastated, SHE was ecstatic. Then he and the girlfriend made up and she was back to crying. Very odd.

Those episodes always have me scratching my head. Like the one where the woman was going on and on about what her son would want in a house despite the fact he'd moved out a couple of years before. And completely disregarding what her husband would want. 

[amarante]

17 hours ago, Orcinus orca said:

My family couldn't afford it so I lived at home.  Grew up to be a fully functioning adult so it is what it is.

There are kids who go to commuter colleges because of the cost of living away from home - either in a dorm or in an apartment off campus.

However - unless one is going to college in a super expensive place, apartments are generally much cheaper than the total expense of dorms. Beyond the cost of the dorm room, you generally have to be on a relatively expensive food plan which costs more than buying food at the store and cooking it in one's apartment.

 

[StatisticalOutlier]

20 minutes ago, amarante said:

relatively expensive food plan which costs more than buying food at the store and cooking it in one's apartment.

That's true.  Hot Pockets are quite economical.

[jcbrown]

I grew up about 25 miles south of Martinsville, where the Indiana mom's current house was. When I was growing up, it was primarily known for its racism and the presence of the Klan. I don't blame her for wanting to leave, but the amount of money she spent to buy in basically a suburb of Indianapolis seemed astonishing to me, from what I know of the area. Prices must be higher to  accomodate people who work in Indy.

[buttersister]

Couple in Atlanta listed as new, but repackaged. Mister, stfu about livestock.  Yep, they bought the giant mold-ridden, shot roofed, Kanye-style place. She, who flips and “didn’t want to come home to a project” is gutting practically everything. And putting goats in the side yard. Sigh, can’t we go back to simple house hunting without these bullshit backstories and fake drama?

[laredhead]

No comments yet on the Florida couple (he former military - she a real estate agent) from last night's double episode.  Obviously property in Florida is very valuable because they bought a 1,400 sf 1970's house in need of probably total renovation to meet her standards, and the yard floods frequently after rains because of the runoff from the neighbors.  Oh, and it's about a mile from the Everglades according to a blurb at the bottom.  Great highway for alligators and the giant pythons that are everywhere in the glades now.  She mentioned that alligators can climb fences, and yes, they can.  However, the fence they were leaning on was a 3 rail wooden fence with very wide spaces between the rails.  That fence was good for nothing except maybe acting as a light barrier to keep a horse confined.  The drainage fix is going to be expensive - voice of experience here!  One of the last scenes showed her in boots up to her knees wading in the back yard while the dog frolicked in the water.  Oh, this really is one that I would love to see the final results.  

She kept reminding us that she was the professional in the HH, and he needed to relinquish control.  He was a perfectionist, and by his own admittance, liked to be in control.  Sounds like a few problems ahead on the reno project to me.    

[CalicoKitty]

1 hour ago, laredhead said:

No comments yet on the Florida couple (he former military - she a real estate agent) from last night's double episode.  Obviously property in Florida is very valuable because they bought a 1,400 sf 1970's house in need of probably total renovation to meet her standards, and the yard floods frequently after rains because of the runoff from the neighbors.  Oh, and it's about a mile from the Everglades according to a blurb at the bottom.  Great highway for alligators and the giant pythons that are everywhere in the glades now.  She mentioned that alligators can climb fences, and yes, they can.  However, the fence they were leaning on was a 3 rail wooden fence with very wide spaces between the rails.  That fence was good for nothing except maybe acting as a light barrier to keep a horse confined.  The drainage fix is going to be expensive - voice of experience here!  One of the last scenes showed her in boots up to her knees wading in the back yard while the dog frolicked in the water.  Oh, this really is one that I would love to see the final results.  

She kept reminding us that she was the professional in the HH, and he needed to relinquish control.  He was a perfectionist, and by his own admittance, liked to be in control.  Sounds like a few problems ahead on the reno project to me.    

That woman was so obnoxious I had to change the channel.  I'm wondering how many houses she sells.  If I was looking for someone to sell my home, I would immediately find someone else after our first meeting.

[buttersister]

Yeah, he was a control freak—allegedly. $5 says his part was enhanced. She rules that roost.

[CousinAmy]

The wife who took her husband's brain with her to look at $2M Florida homes - who played the part of Logan's brain? She came along to represent his interests, but I didn't understand if he had assigned a proxy? Was she Logan's sister? That was a very strange relationship. 

 

But it was one of the few episodes where basically, money was no object, so at least we got to some fabulous spaces. 

[laredhead]

Gulf Shores episode last night was interesting to me, because waaaay back in the 80's a group of friends and I used to vacation there a week at a time for about 7 or 8 years.  We stayed in what we thought were large houses at the time, right on the beach, and each house had some space between it and the next one. If I remember correctly, the most expensive house we ever rented was about $1,400 a week - lol.  Shared with 5 or 6 people, that was a very affordable vacation for each of us.  Now, I wouldn't recognize the place with 2, 3, 4 and sometimes 5 story houses built close to each other, and stretching down the beach as far as you can see.  

Having said, that, I want to add that I don't think that couple is going to live there year round, and that house will become a rental during the times they aren't there.  When the realtor pointed out no closets in some bedrooms, and I noticed that one of the primary bedrooms had 2 small closets, it's obvious those houses are not designed for permanent living because renters don't bring tons of clothes to the beach, or a lot of personal possessions to store year round.  My SIL and her husband rented one of the giant houses last year, and she hosted all of her children and grandchildren.  I think there were about 14 people there.  I would have wanted an elevator and a generator (elevated like the A/C compressor).  The husband kept harping on wanting to feel the Gulf spray in his face, and all I kept thinking was how that spray was going to feel when a hurricane hits that area, which it will.  Insurance is very expensive on the coast now, and that couple must make a good living in Wisconsin real estate.  The house they bought was pretty nice, but I didn't think for a minute they were moving from Wisconsin on a permanent basis.  

Glad I'm not the only one who thought the other episode with the 2 women, one of which was playing Logan's part, was a bit weird.