House Hunters - General Discussion

[Empress1]

3 hours ago, cameron said:

Last night's couple from Ct.  If ever there was a prime example of opposites attract, they would qualify.  Thought she was totally insufferable.

Me too. I couldn’t stand her. Just dripping with privilege and condescension.

[Dewey Decimate]

I am so embarrassed for myself and my fellow Nutmeggers by that entitled CT wife. Girlfriend, put down the blush and buy a pair of pants that fit. I'll even give you a Kohl's coupon.

And just so I'm not snarking only on her appearance, I had to rewind to confirm that she actually said about her husband something like "he's all about form and function. I don't care if anything has a function, I just want it to look good!" Um, doesn't she mean form VERSUS function, not form AND function?

Holy moly, was the Oregon midlife crisis lady auditioning for Portlandia? I miss that show. 

[kirklandia]

10 hours ago, Dewey Decimate said:

Holy moly, was the Oregon midlife crisis lady auditioning for Portlandia? I miss that show. 

Portlandia and I have been spending many quality hours together the last couple of weeks - it's all there on Netflix!

This episode from Season 5 is a hoot!  (Don't miss their explanation of escrow.)

[CrazyInAlabama]

The Connecticut couple finding a vacation place in Florida were so irritating.    You could tell from the beginning that whatever the wife wants, she gets.  

The Portland woman made me so glad I don't live in Portland.     I didn't like her friend telling the house hunter what to do.  Suggestions are one thing, but the friend was bossy.  If the house hunter wants to rent two basement apartments, then it's her decision, not her friend. 

Edited March 21, 2020 by CrazyInAlabama

[cameron]

23 minutes ago, LucindaWalsh said:

@kirklandia  I watched Portlandia over a three month period and loved it. I haven't watched the whole mid life HH episode yet but I loved her pig tails. I recently started wearing my hair like that on occasion because they are comfortable, more so than a pony tail. I am 53 and don't give a flip if anyone laughs. It started when I would be fixing my three and six year old granddaughters' hair each morning on the couch. They had to start doing mine and it was an ahh haa moment. And I am not a girly girl (I had boys) at all so it is weird. I loved the house she picked and the  way she decorated it.

I did hate her makeup. She was very pretty but there is a way to do an extended eyeliner and what she did ain't working. She didn't even need to do it and she would have looked better. She reminded me of Anne Burrell in a do your own thing way. 

Hated her eye makeup and I question her age also.  Think she is at the very end of her 40's or over.  Also her speech.  Did she think that was cool/rad in her words.

Edited March 19, 2020 by cameron

[Grrarrggh]

Yikes. It's scary and disappointing to read all the hate for the woman moving to Portland. 

[Grrarrggh]

The Portland woman made me so glad I don't live in Portland. 

I did hate her makeup. She was very pretty but there is a way to do an extended eyeliner and what she did ain't working. S

Hated her eye makeup and I question her age also.  Think she is at the very end of her 40's or over.  Also her speech.  Did she think that was cool/rad in her words.

[Pine]

Haven't seen the Portland, Oregon episode yet.  But, the CT house was one of my all time favourites.  Hated the couple, that poor guy.  Loved the house.  That rambly old colonial, was a nightmare.  It needs to go back to a more original form.  

 

[LittleIggy]

Portland: That woman looked like an off-duty drag queen.

[cameron]

9 hours ago, LittleIggy said:

Portland: That woman looked like an off-duty drag queen.

 

9 hours ago, LittleIggy said:

Portland: That woman looked like an off-duty drag queen.

Funny.

[DonnaMae]

1 hour ago, cameron said:

 

Funny.

Those two pony tails would be okay on a child but looked ridiculous on a woman of her age, plus those earrings didn't help her appearance.

[Empress1]

Black female married couple in Philly: the house my dad grew up in (Philly row house) had a skylight in the bathroom, so that made me smile. In addition to being a pit, the third house was half the square footage of the other two so it wouldn’t have made sense for them.

[buttersister]

Was concerned when I saw a few paint cans in the corner of a room in house 3 (aka the pit). Realtor must have known it was empty and available as a decoy.

[juliet73]

On 3/18/2020 at 11:25 PM, Dewey Decimate said:

I am so embarrassed for myself and my fellow Nutmeggers by that entitled CT wife. Girlfriend, put down the blush and buy a pair of pants that fit.

Her outfit was hideous!  Her pants were way to high and very unflattering and she wasn't thin or young enough to pull off that crop top.  Her wardrobe improved a little as the show went on, but she really needs to accept her body type and dress more accordingly.

 

On 3/19/2020 at 3:49 PM, cameron said:

Hated her eye makeup and I question her age also.  Think she is at the very end of her 40's or over.  Also her speech.  Did she think that was cool/rad in her words.

I agree with everyone else that her eye makeup was awful.  

I'm over 40 and "rad" is still a regular part of my vocabulary but even I was annoyed at how much she used the word.  But I'll take rad over AMAZING any day! 

 

Glad the Philly couple chose the first house.  It was beautiful and the price was right!

[ByaNose]

18 hours ago, Empress1 said:

Black female married couple in Philly: the house my dad grew up in (Philly row house) had a skylight in the bathroom, so that made me smile. In addition to being a pit, the third house was half the square footage of the other two so it wouldn’t have made sense for them.

I couldn't tell what part of Philadelphia the row homes were in. The Northeast? South West Philly? I had cousins in the Northeast who had a skylight but that was 30 or 40 years ago.

[chessiegal]

9 minutes ago, LucindaWalsh said:

Caught a 7:30 pm new episode in I think Nashville? The couple got engaged at the end. Was that a repeat disguised as a new one?

Was that the one where the guy at the beginning emphatically states how handy he is? I recorded it because my guide said it was new, but when I recognized the guy, I deleted it.

[PugMum]

10 Minutes in and I want to smack the s..t out of the mom! Buy the house you want. Maybe acrossl the country so her visits are few and far between. I hope she buys the house she wants and tells her mom to stay in a hotel when she visits. Sorry, not sure how to edit. This is the one from Greenville SC. And, what's the obsession with fireplaces? I think they can be aesthically pleasing, but I live in Ohio and we never use ours. I just look at them as taking up wall space.

 

 

Edited March 25, 2020 by PugMum

[KLovestoShop]

I really wanted to smack the crap out of the South Carolina mom.  It’s not your house, you snippy bi#ch, and leave your daughter alone.  I really, really dislike any butinsky mother on these shows.  And I really hated mom when she said the guest room wasn’t big enough for her.  The daughter would be crazy if she let her mom visit for more than a couple of days. 

Edited March 26, 2020 by KLovestoShop

[chessiegal]

Yeah, that SC mom was a major PITA. I knew she would pick the first one that had nothing but a piano in it that everyone seemed to pretend wasn't there. And why did all three of the fireplaces have to work? That made no sense. Loved the house - it was adorable.

Didn't like the young couple in Louisiana. They said having a baby at 19 made them have to grow up faster. Seemed to me she still had a ways to go. Very vain too - wanting a house she could show off. 

[CrazyInAlabama]

The Chicago new episode with the woman with two young daughters was awful.    The woman got everything she wanted, the boyfriend husband didn't get anything, except a place to build his own office.     Why do I suspect the boyfriend husband (according to another poster, who apparently was actually paying attention to the show, when I wasn't) was putting down everything on the house too?    She should have bought the one in the burbs, and he should have bought the city place he liked.   

The 24 year old insurance agent in Tampa, who's taking mom along on the house hunt is hysterical.    He should have left mom at home, and bought what he wanted.    The first house that was a cheap redo by flippers would be a big mistake to buy, especially with the painted laminate counters, and tile, the pool that needed replaster or more. Was that the one he bought?     That house was at the top of the price range, and needed thousands in pool remodeling, or replacement, all counter tops and tile replaced in kitchen, and both baths.    It was a disaster, and a bad flip job. 

 I liked the third house, not the first or second.    

Edited March 28, 2020 by CrazyInAlabama

[buttersister]

New ep: Dr. Tool and his wife and two daughters in Chicago. Suburbs. It was fun to see the house in Bronzeville. (They weren’t paying for private school for the girls.) Sauganash is a nice area, but the historic district is much lovelier than those mid-century moderns. Hey, I’m mid-century modern! 😂 

Any guy who complains on national TV three times about his wife snoring? Is a tool. 

They weren’t married? Ack, run, honey.

Edited March 27, 2020 by buttersister

[chessiegal]

What is this - annoying mother week? Tampa mom was another PITA.

[msmarjoribanks]

2 hours ago, CrazyInAlabama said:

The Chicago new episode with the woman with two young daughters was awful.    The woman got everything she wanted, the boyfriend didn't get anything, except a place to build his own office.     Why do I suspect the boyfriend was putting down everything on the house too?    She should have bought the one in the burbs, and he should have bought the city place he liked.   

The 24 year old insurance agent in Tampa, who's taking mom along on the house hunt is hysterical.    He should have left mom at home, and bought what he wanted.    The first house that was a cheap redo by flippers would be a big mistake to buy.  

That episode was, among other things, annoying because it was so transparently fake.  No one looks for houses in Vernon Hills, Bronzeville, and Sauganash.  No one with 2 girls of those ages would not be talking about schools as a main consideration (and if they were in private that in reality would have been mentioned).

So I took it as obvious that they were going to the 'burbs, and wished the (awful, IMO, but new-build, totally open, all white kitchen are all things I actively dislike) 'burbs house had been compared with other houses that are options in the 'burbs.  Plus, the commute thing was dumb as Vernon Hills has the Metra.  Unless he works somewhere Metra inaccessible, which was not explained.

Sauganash is cool (although too far for me, and I don't have a short commute), and the place was obviously impractical for them.  Also MCM is not really a common Chicago style.  If they'd been serious about trying to find a city/'burb compromise they could have found a great place in that area for $750K or under, but of course they were not. Also the husband (whatever) wanting a white kitchen in that house was ridiculous.  The wood there fit, white would not have.

Bronzeville was obviously a non serious option. They weren't a family who was going to move there.  The whining about the kitchen by the husband (or whatever) was pathetic (yuck, so Y2K), though, and the wife won points with me for liking it (despite her poor judgment (IMO) in wanting new construction, a jetted tub, and open open open). I do wonder why the roof deck in that place wasn't larger, seems like it would have been easy to make it so.

Edited March 27, 2020 by msmarjoribanks

[LittleIggy]

Louisiana: Was the wife getting an online degree? She didn’t mention commuting to school. BTW, I teach part time at a university and just started to teach my class online over WebEx. Takes getting used to!

[cameron]

10 hours ago, msmarjoribanks said:

That episode was, among other things, annoying because it was so transparently fake.  No one looks for houses in Vernon Hills, Bronzeville, and Sauganash.  No one with 2 girls of those ages would not be talking about schools as a main consideration (and if they were in private that in reality would have been mentioned).

So I took it as obvious that they were going to the 'burbs, and wished the (awful, IMO, but new-build, totally open, all white kitchen are all things I actively dislike) 'burbs house had been compared with other houses that are options in the 'burbs.  Plus, the commute thing was dumb as Vernon Hills has the Metra.  Unless he works somewhere Metra inaccessible, which was not explained.

Sauganash is cool (although too far for me, and I don't have a short commute), and the place was obviously impractical for them.  Also MCM is not really a common Chicago style.  If they'd been serious about trying to find a city/'burb compromise they could have found a great place in that area for $750K or under, but of course they were not. Also the husband (whatever) wanting a white kitchen in that house was ridiculous.  The wood there fit, white would not have.

Bronzeville was obviously a non serious option. They weren't a family who was going to move there.  The whining about the kitchen by the husband (or whatever) was pathetic (yuck, so Y2K), though, and the wife won points with me for liking it (despite her poor judgment (IMO) in wanting new construction, a jetted tub, and open open open). I do wonder why the roof deck in that place wasn't larger, seems like it would have been easy to make it so.

Actually thought that Vernon Hills would be an ideal place for young family.  Never heard of Sauganash and I lived in Barrington for ten years.  Bronzeville definitely off the table.

[cameron]

10 hours ago, msmarjoribanks said:

That episode was, among other things, annoying because it was so transparently fake.  No one looks for houses in Vernon Hills, Bronzeville, and Sauganash.  No one with 2 girls of those ages would not be talking about schools as a main consideration (and if they were in private that in reality would have been mentioned).

So I took it as obvious that they were going to the 'burbs, and wished the (awful, IMO, but new-build, totally open, all white kitchen are all things I actively dislike) 'burbs house had been compared with other houses that are options in the 'burbs.  Plus, the commute thing was dumb as Vernon Hills has the Metra.  Unless he works somewhere Metra inaccessible, which was not explained.

Sauganash is cool (although too far for me, and I don't have a short commute), and the place was obviously impractical for them.  Also MCM is not really a common Chicago style.  If they'd been serious about trying to find a city/'burb compromise they could have found a great place in that area for $750K or under, but of course they were not. Also the husband (whatever) wanting a white kitchen in that house was ridiculous.  The wood there fit, white would not have.

Bronzeville was obviously a non serious option. They weren't a family who was going to move there.  The whining about the kitchen by the husband (or whatever) was pathetic (yuck, so Y2K), though, and the wife won points with me for liking it (despite her poor judgment (IMO) in wanting new construction, a jetted tub, and open open open). I do wonder why the roof deck in that place wasn't larger, seems like it would have been easy to make it so.

He was actually her husband of 5 months in Chicago.

[Vivigirl10]

Quote

Didn't like the young couple in Louisiana. They said having a baby at 19 made them have to grow up faster. Seemed to me she still had a ways to go. Very vain too - wanting a house she could show off. 

Me either.  Well, he seemed absolutely fine, it was her that was the problem.  She was 21 and wanted the type of house you finally get at 40.  All on his dime.  She needed her Mom close and on call to take the baby away to spare her the stress of juggling school and the child.  But wanted hubby to have to drive over an hour at the drop of a hat for his on-call job.  

[msmarjoribanks]

51 minutes ago, cameron said:

Actually thought that Vernon Hills would be an ideal place for young family.  Never heard of Sauganash and I lived in Barrington for ten years.  Bronzeville definitely off the table.

Sauganash is in the far NW of the city, it's nice.  A friend of mine (with a young child) recently moved there, and I considered looking there (and searched options there on Redfin), but we wanted to be in a slightly less suburban-feeling part of the city.

I still don't get why they didn't even mention the metra or explain the commute thing better.

I think Vernon Hills is a fine choice for them (especially since it clearly is where the girls were in school, where their family was, it was obvious they would pick it) but would have preferred the decoys be actual contenders showing what else was available at their price point in the area, rather than pretending they were considering moving to totally disparate areas of Chicago and showing 2 other houses they obviously were never going to pick.

[javajeanelaine]

Re: Louisiana couple

The husband was definitely the more mature of the two.  Plus, I was annoyed by the SAHM

 trying to assert her preference for location when he had an on call job.

[amarante]

The commute for the Chicago duo was a complete non-issue. Surprise surprise that he *learned* he could do his job completely remotely from home. I know nothing about Chicago neighborhoods but I fast forwarded and knew they would going to buy house number two.

Tampa Mama's boy - are there really no better alternatives in a HH's wish list? The space for the pool table was way too small as you could actually use a cue stick from two sides of the table. But painted tile and laminate in the kitchen and bathroom - and cheaply painted kitchen cabinets - that would be a completely non-starter. 

[msmarjoribanks]

On 3/25/2020 at 4:42 PM, LucindaWalsh said:

Caught a 7:30 pm new episode in I think Nashville? The couple got engaged at the end. Was that a repeat disguised as a new one? It had a very infomercial feel to it as if the real estate couple had bought a whole episode of ad time from House Hunters and the hunters were actors. They bought a very yucky house. I hated the layout. I hate having a square room with the living room, a breakfast corner and kitchen all in that square with the kitchen island being on an angle in one corner facing out. She ruined those cabinets by painting them white. The whole place looked builder cheap. The other house with the blue door was equally unappealing to me.  Both had horrible layouts.

What I fell in love with was that last house! It was a solid built updated older colonial brick house with a great yard in an established neighborhood. The floor plan had no wasted space like most of the new sparkly homes have. 

The couple was annoying as heck and I would be very irritated if someone asked me to marry them on an infomercial. Her ring was ugly.

Agree.  I actually liked both the second and third and hated the first.  I wondered if there was some location factor not discussed.

[LittleIggy]

Aberdeen, SD: The coach and his wife were a nice couple. I knew that second house wasn’t an option, but I thought it was so cool.

[chessiegal]

I wonder what will happen to tv shows like HH when 6 months from now they've shown all the new shows they have in the can. Of course, HH does lots of repeats. Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune stopped recording new shows over a week ago. They have enough new shows to air through May 29. I can't imagine any shows of this type are now filming new shows.

[awaken]

16 minutes ago, chessiegal said:

I wonder what will happen to tv shows like HH when 6 months from now they've shown all the new shows they have in the can. Of course, HH does lots of repeats. Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune stopped recording new shows over a week ago. They have enough new shows to air through May 29. I can't imagine any shows of this type are now filming new shows.

I’ve wondered the same about filming shows, films, etc. there’s going to be an overall dearth of new material when they run out of already-recorded stuff!  

[buttersister]

So Island Life is HH on an island in the US? This may have been a rerun tonight, but an attorney, her adult son and her mom were all going to live on some island in NY state, I think. Anyway, for a sandwich gen shero, mom seemed pretty tic-free. If she commented on the small size of a room it wasn’t as a big complaint, but more a matter of fact. Her son, “faced with” a tiny bedroom said he’d look around the house for another spot to set up a work area. No whining.

Plus they kept enjoying lobster rolls and fried seafood! 

Unsurprisingly choosing the nicest turnkey not near the beach, mom, son and Bubbe all seemed so happy at the end. No bs, angst or drama. What a relief.

[CrazyInAlabama]

My guess is that they will never run out of episodes.     They will just keep reruns going endlessly, and renaming Island, Beach, Hawaii, Mexico, episodes as House Hunters, and HHI episodes.   

The HH reruns this morning are hysterical.   For example, the Humble, Texas couple are really trying for fame, but not in a good way.   He doesn't want two story, she wants mid-century (but calls a 2 story 70's cookie cutter cracker box MCM), she says a gas stove will burn your house down, and he has to have a gaming room, and wants the dining room for that.     I'm just glad they live a few states away from me, because they're insufferable.    Another house hunter that doesn't want the kids on another floor.   They chose the 2 story, cook cutter place, with a gas stove she's afraid to use.    

Another hysterical one from today's HH reruns.   Detroit, and the hunters walk in the back garden, and the woman says "I think they had a water feature".    It's a tarp covered giant fountain.      Guess which house they bought?   

Then the hideously irritating house hunter moving to Bloomington, IN.    She's moving her parents in, and both want worm farms.   Then she wants to have numerous feral cats living around the house, even in a house in town.   Bet the neighbors will be thrilled about that.       What an entitled twit she is.     

The Island ones can be rereleased as either Caribbean, HH International, or regular House Hunters.     The Hawaii ones often end up as a regular HH, and then end up on a Hawaii themed one.   My guess that's a reason they got rid of the narrator, because now you can't tell what series an episode was originally filmed for.  They've already shown a bunch of the Beach Front Bargain hunt shows into House Hunters.    Some of the HHI have been changed over, and listed as new on the Mexico Life series.   

Edited April 5, 2020 by CrazyInAlabama

[LittleIggy]

Palm Springs: That place they bought was butt ugly. What were those structures out back? I’m no real estate expert, but I knew their budget was way too low to get something nice in Palm Springs.

[chessiegal]

If you watch the show Desert Flippers with the husband and wife who flip houses in Palm Springs, you can get a nice house for much less than what I would have thought.

[LittleIggy]

2 hours ago, chessiegal said:

If you watch the show Desert Flippers with the husband and wife who flip houses in Palm Springs, you can get a nice house for much less than what I would have thought.

I don’t care for flipping shows. I’ll watch Good Bones because of Mina and her mom.

[juliet73]

20 hours ago, LittleIggy said:

Palm Springs: That place they bought was butt ugly. What were those structures out back? 

I agree about the house being ugly and I guess they realized it was too much work to fix up because it's back on the market for $75k more than what they paid for 6 months ago.  

https://www.redfin.com/CA/Palm-Springs/15880-La-Vida-Dr-92262/home/5713210

The structures in the backyard are privacy fences.  The house has an attached casita (which they didn't show in the episode).  It makes more sense when you see the aerial view pics from the listing.

[Ohwell]

So the Palm Springs guys were flippers?

[juliet73]

3 minutes ago, Ohwell said:

So the Palm Springs guys were flippers?

From what I read from the listing and what I saw on HH, they installed brand new HVAC, new upgraded solar ready electrical panel and painted the living room wall and the front door orange and painted purple and pink accent walls in the bedrooms.  Everything else looks the same as when they toured it.  So I would say no as a flip. 

[Grrarrggh]

11 hours ago, LittleIggy said:

I don’t care for flipping shows. I’ll watch Good Bones because of Mina and her mom.

They used to be enough for me, but not so much any more. Their houses are almost carbon copies of each other. 

[LittleIggy]

1 hour ago, Grrarrggh said:

They used to be enough for me, but not so much any more. Their houses are almost carbon copies of each other. 

I haven’t watched enough GB episodes to be tired of their aesthetic yet!

[LittleIggy]

2 hours ago, juliet73 said:

I agree about the house being ugly and I guess they realized it was too much work to fix up because it's back on the market for $75k more than what they paid for 6 months ago.  

https://www.redfin.com/CA/Palm-Springs/15880-La-Vida-Dr-92262/home/5713210

The structures in the backyard are privacy fences.  The house has an attached casita (which they didn't show in the episode).  It makes more sense when you see the aerial view pics from the listing.

From the listing, it doesn’t appear that they put in a bathtub that the guy with a walker said he needed.

[Mittengirl]

That post in the middle of the kitchen would have put me off right away.  And I am sure it will for most prospective buyers.

Why wouldn’t they extend the privacy fences all the way to the back of the lot?  The tiny concrete “patios” they have now look like prison exercise yards.

[CrazyInAlabama]

It looks like the Casita with the back patio door, is actually the former garage.     A lot of the MCM redos have the post by the kitchen.   From what I remember there is something about the structure that means you that beam supports much of the roof load.       I'm surprised that the one bedroom is so pink, I think it should have been more neutral.      I do like looking at Palm Springs houses, and this one looks nice.  

I think it would have looked great to have a peninsula going out to the post from the wall.      Or somehow extend the lower cabinets out to the post.      I remember a lot of the house hunts in Palm Springs, and there are definitely some more expensive, and nicer areas to live in.   

Edited April 5, 2020 by CrazyInAlabama

[laredhead]

Regarding the post in the Palm Springs house, many times owners remove load bearing walls to have a more open concept and instead of spending extra money to install a load carrying beam in the ceiling, they will install a post to support the weight.  The post could have been integrated into the end of a counter, but they stopped the kitchen cabinets short of the post.  I agree it was in a very awkward position, and detracted from the design.  I would just figure out a way to extend the cabinets which would be cheaper than installing a ceiling beam.  The view of the mountains from that house was nice, but the back yard needed some major help from a professional landscaper.  With the price of that house being so low, I wonder what the surrounding neighborhood looked like.  

I also like watching the Palm Springs episodes  It's like going to another world of housing styles, and I love MCM. 

[CrazyInAlabama]

The new HH tonight is a 19 year old, new college graduate, and moving to Austin.     She did a program in high school where you do community college, and high school.   She finished  high school at 17 with an Associates degree, then did her last two years of college.     I really like the house hunter, but I hope her mother is ignoring bad features just for the show.        I hate the two story condo she looked at first, because of the work it needs, but with the washer/dryer hookup, and wall added to the bedroom, the value will really go up..     I like her real estate agent too.   

I think the old real estate rule about location being everything is true, so I hope she finds something downtown.    I think once the washer/dryer hook up is added, the $10k price will be nothing compared to what that will add to value.   

The second downtown condo was ridiculous.   The condo fee was huge, and the bedroom not even having a window means it's not a real bedroom either.   I'm glad the house hunter passed on that one.   The suburb house would only work with a lawn service, and a roommate or two, and would be great in 5 or 10 years for the house hunter.    

Edited April 7, 2020 by CrazyInAlabama

[dbell1]

Austin 19 year old and clingy mom. Reminds me of why people move so far away from family. You could tell there was no way she was buying that overpriced suburb house.  Smart kid going for the condo. Backyards are for later in life. As a single mom, I’d be thrilled if my son moved out. Of course he’s 24, so there’s that. 😶