House Hunters - General Discussion

[Kiddvideo]

1 hour ago, rhofmovalley said:

And even kids who know how to swim can drown. I would think a doctor of all people would know the importance of putting a safety fence around a pool. Hopefully they did.

I liked the rerun the other night of the mom with the teenage son in NJ. The son seemed like a really nice kid. I hope he got to fix up that basement.

Oh, sorry! I meant the baby gates on the stairs inside. I agree that patio needs another fence around the pool.

[LittleIggy]

6 hours ago, buttersister said:

The RI episode was sad. Limited-funds middle-aged self-described hot mess divorcée living in an RV desires water view and area cool enough to entice her daughter to visit/stay with her. As opposed to being with Dad? Yikes. She got her water view and I hope her luck improves to the degree that she doesn’t have a homeowner nightmare on her hands.

Obviously she’d bought the house in advance of the show. Question being whether or not anyone pointed out the foundation problem at the time!

I think the RV looked better than the place she bought.

[CattyK]

3 hours ago, CrazyInAlabama said:

If they both need space to get ready in the morning, get a vanity/make up desk for each bedroom, and they can do their hair and makeup in their room.  

I didn’t watch this episode but I always think this when buyers harp on needing two sinks to “get ready in the morning”.    After washing your face and brushing your teeth, I can’t think what else has to be done at a sink.

[Jess14]

8 hours ago, CattyK said:

I didn’t watch this episode but I always think this when buyers harp on needing two sinks to “get ready in the morning”.    After washing your face and brushing your teeth, I can’t think what else has to be done at a sink.

I prefer to do makeup in the bathroom, as the lighting is usually better, but you’re absolutely right that nothing else has to be done at the sink, other than washing your face and brushing your teeth. 

With that said, I would never buy a home that only had one full bathroom or buy a house with a primary bathroom that didn’t have double sinks, but that’s just a convenience and preference thing. I also prefer newer homes anyway, so both of those things are usually a given. For people who have limited budgets and/or are looking in areas with older homes, it never makes sense to me that they expect to get homes with features that were not common when older homes were built.

I did think that the sisters chose the right house. The second home was the nicest, but the location seemed to be ideal in the one that they chose, and it still seemed fairly updated. 

I caught up on the Texas and Rhode Island episodes. I seriously, seriously hope that the RI buyer had a structural engineer look at the house during the due diligence period and did not take the realtor’s word that the changes would be about $10k. The issues with that home seemed quite serious to me. 

As for the Texas couple, I thought the second home was by far the nicest. The one that they bought, while also very nice, seemed a bit dated in the style and all of those Texas stars were tacky to me. However, it was obvious that they would pick that one. No way was the husband settling for anything that didn’t meet his ideal Texas, 4000t sq ft, childhood-like home.  

[Cetacean]

I missed the Michigan episode.  Where were they looking?

[snarts]

5 minutes ago, Cetacean said:

I missed the Michigan episode.  Where were they looking?

Royal Oak. 24 year old twins, both recently out of college, one works in social media they didn't say anything about the other one.  Budget was $350-375k. Currently renting in RO, within walking distance to downtown. One wanted the same area, the other one didn't care.

One option was in Berkley, $365k, larger recently flipped colonial. No deck or patio but updated inside.

Two options in RO, both built in the 1920s. First was really small, tiny bungalow. very tight living/dining/kitchen area with two bedrooms down & one up. $335k maybe?

Second was listed at $305k but larger and more recently renovated. They bought it in a bidding war at $350k.  From the aerial shots, it looked to be just east of Woodward, north of 696, south of Lincoln, behind the condo row. 

[Cetacean]

Thanks for all the information! I am really bummed that I missed it because I was born and raised in Royal Oak. I would have loved to seen my old hometown again. And yes, it is an extremely hot market.

[CrazyInAlabama]

48 minutes ago, Cetacean said:

Thanks for all the information! I am really bummed that I missed it because I was born and raised in Royal Oak. I would have loved to seen my old hometown again. And yes, it is an extremely hot market.

When it reruns, it listed only Michigan and twin sisters to distinguish it from all of the other shows.     So, keep an eye on the cable guide and I bet it will rerun pretty soon.    I really enjoyed seeing all three houses.     

It was called "Disagreeing Sisters in Michigan" Season 207, Episode 13.  

Edited December 3, 2021 by CrazyInAlabama

[rhofmovalley]

13 hours ago, Kiddvideo said:

Oh, sorry! I meant the baby gates on the stairs inside. I agree that patio needs another fence around the pool.

Oh no, I got that! I was just adding to your comment. I've just seen too many tragedies where children have drowned. And while baby gates are a bit of a hassle, hello, baby safety! But I think that comment was producer driven and the dad really doesn't care about the "inconvenience" of baby gates.

Edited December 3, 2021 by rhofmovalley

[Grrarrggh]

4 hours ago, rhofmovalley said:

And while baby gates are a bit of a hassle, hello, baby safety! But I think that comment was producer driven and the dad really doesn't care about the "inconvenience" of baby gates.

But why would they need baby gates, isn't that supposedly one of the reasons parents claim when they require open concept?

[pdlinda]

7 hours ago, snarts said:

Royal Oak. 24 year old twins, both recently out of college, one works in social media they didn't say anything about the other one. 

I was quite surprised that no family members were seen, especially after they moved into the new home.  I recall one mention that mother "was" an accountant so perhaps that meant that she had passed away??  

[StatisticalOutlier]

On 11/18/2021 at 2:38 PM, amarante said:

Obviously I don't know the specifics of your building but in general apartment buildings are not built with higher end finishes.

There is a differentiation in general between buildings that were built as condos and those which were converted in terms of the finishes. 

A residential apartment building would still be built in accordance with fire codes and most buildings have very specific regulations which attempt to prevent the spread of fires from one unit to the next.

Sure.  But I was addressing your comment that popcorn ceilings were done only in cheaper construction like tract homes or cheap apartment buildings, all of which are presumably built to code. 

What makes me think the apartment I lived in that had popcorn ceilings wasn't built on the cheap is that the one unit that caught on fire was completely destroyed but none of the adjacent units had anything but smoke damage.  It was built in 1968, while the apartments in the student ghetto in town, which everybody would identify as "cheap construction," were built in 1969, and when one apartment there catches on fire, it takes the whole building with it.

I'm assuming the two complexes had to adhere to the same building codes, yet somehow  the 1968 apartments were built in a way that made them vastly safer than the 1969 ones, and I'm assuming it wasn't cheap.  And yet they had popcorn ceilings.

[javajeanelaine]

The twins sisters pinged my annoyance of buyers to say they want craftsman but complain about small rooms 

[CrazyInAlabama]

Today's reruns on OWN are hysterical.    First, some episodes are from 2011 and 2012, others 2015, so the prices are much lower, what the house hunters rave about (dark cabinets, stainless appliances, etc) are what the 2021 house hunters want to rip out.  

I agree about the twins in Royal Oak, wanting vintage, and complaining about the size of rooms, and closets, and the size of the bathrooms. 

Edited December 4, 2021 by CrazyInAlabama

[Rootbeer]

On 12/3/2021 at 12:54 AM, CattyK said:

I didn’t watch this episode but I always think this when buyers harp on needing two sinks to “get ready in the morning”.    After washing your face and brushing your teeth, I can’t think what else has to be done at a sink.

I can't think of why two people would want to occupy the bathroom at the same time.

[BrownBear2012]

On 12/3/2021 at 11:44 AM, CrazyInAlabama said:

When it reruns, it listed only Michigan and twin sisters to distinguish it from all of the other shows.     So, keep an eye on the cable guide and I bet it will rerun pretty soon.    I really enjoyed seeing all three houses.     

It was called "Disagreeing Sisters in Michigan" Season 207, Episode 13.  

You can watch it On Demand...these two drove me nuts. 

[BrownBear2012]

2 hours ago, javajeanelaine said:

The twins sisters pinged my annoyance of buyers to say they want craftsman but complain about small rooms 

I think people talk about architectural styles but really don't know much about them. These two barely agreed on anything and I picked up on some tension between them...especially about one claiming the larger bedroom for herself. Definitely some passive agressive stuff going on with that topic!

[CattyK]

27 minutes ago, Rootbeer said:

I can't think of why two people would want to occupy the bathroom at the same time.

Ha!  Good point

[deirdra]

1 hour ago, Rootbeer said:

I can't think of why two people would want to occupy the bathroom at the same time.

Give me a 5'x8' bathroom with one sink and combination tub/shower any day.  You don't get cold in the bath because the room is not cavernous with drafts and you can simply stand up and rinse off any bath residue rather than risk slipping while walking over to a separate shower.

Edited December 4, 2021 by deirdra

[rhofmovalley]

On 12/3/2021 at 2:09 PM, Grrarrggh said:

But why would they need baby gates, isn't that supposedly one of the reasons parents claim when they require open concept?

They chose a split level.  So I think the husband said they would need a minimum of 4 gates.  Which I disagree with.  I see two gates, one for each set of stairs.  When the babies are on one level, block off that staircase.  When they're on another level, block that one off.

We used a pet gate for my cat.  We only had one.  We didn't need one for the top of the stairs and another one for the bottom!

[amarante]

48 minutes ago, rhofmovalley said:

They chose a split level.  So I think the husband said they would need a minimum of 4 gates.  Which I disagree with.  I see two gates, one for each set of stairs.  When the babies are on one level, block off that staircase.  When they're on another level, block that one off.

We used a pet gate for my cat.  We only had one.  We didn't need one for the top of the stairs and another one for the bottom!

Whether you keep the gate open or closed you would still need to have a gate at every top and bottom as people don't take off the gate when they aren't using it. You typically close the gate on the level the baby is when you take them up or down the stairs and then keep the other gate open.

It's actually fairly cumbersome to have to deal with baby gates in terms of opening and closing them.

You don't move the gates around. The only time you wouldn't have a gate is if it is a level that the baby would never be on. For example, my friend's husband had an office in the basement and they only needed a gate at the top of that stair because the baby was never in the office

[Kiddvideo]

Single lawyer in Kansas, one daughter and talked about fostering: I figured her insistence on an older home was the red herring because the 3rd house was a new build, and they always pick the new build. The house she picked was still only 20 years old (as opposed to the 100 year old house), but someone didn’t pick the new build!

[laredhead]

The Charleston, SC woman in last night's episode was a little too much much for me with her overwhelming desire for a small "starter" house with southern charm, wood porches, mouldings (and wainscoting which she couldn't pronounce or ID at first), and charm, charm, charm.  She even included her debutante picture.  I'm from Louisiana, know a few people like that, and a little bit of that attitude goes a long way.  I liked her husband, and he had some practical criticisms of the first house they toured.  The realtor said that the wooden porch/deck could be pressure washed and would look good as new.  Ummm, maybe not.  Wood rots, it needs to be sealed or painted periodically - buyer beware.  

The house they bought, #3, was only 1500 sf, and once a child arrives, that house is going to be too small.  He wanted #2, so they wouldn't have to move again.  He needs to get ready to be moving into a grand house loaded with southern charm in a couple of years.   

[cameron]

Charleston SC suburbs house hunters.  To start with none of those homes were in Charleston proper.  They are all over the different bridges from downtown Charleston.  I'm so over the whole letter writing process with home buyers.  Never wrote one in the 11 or so homes we bought or never received one in the houses we sold.  Definitely a gimmick.  

[laredhead]

Cameron, I think a letter from a buyer would be a turn off for me.  Thank you for the info as to where the 3 houses were located.

[cameron]

3 minutes ago, laredhead said:

Cameron, I think a letter from a buyer would be a turn off for me.  Thank you for the info as to where the 3 houses were located.

I don't need or want to read their sob stories.

[LittleIggy]

2 hours ago, laredhead said:

Cameron, I think a letter from a buyer would be a turn off for me.  Thank you for the info as to where the 3 houses were located.

I know I wouldn’t drop the price of my house because of a stupid letter! 🙄

[chessiegal]

I just watched the SC couple. They seemed okay to me, and the drama seemed producer driven. I liked all the houses. They all had nice kitchens and bathrooms.

I've never heard of writing a letter to get the price down. I thought folks did that in hot markets where there were bidding wars to stand out from other over asking offers.

[rhofmovalley]

1 hour ago, LittleIggy said:

I know I wouldn’t drop the price of my house because of a stupid letter! 🙄

My brother lost out on a house where the bids were equal but the other bidders wrote a sob story letter. So yeah, it does happen and I have to wonder if they got the idea from this show.

 

[Grrarrggh]

2 hours ago, LittleIggy said:

I know I wouldn’t drop the price of my house because of a stupid letter! 🙄

Plus that info could be used by bigoted home owners to keep certain people from buying their house. 

[chessiegal]

28 minutes ago, rhofmovalley said:

I have to wonder if they got the idea from this show.

I doubt it. Seems to have been encouraged by RE agents in hot markets.

[buttersister]

Quote

Of course he also said that wood floors were dangerous which is an utterly bizarre statement which he only mentioned once. 

And he said it in the context of being an emergency department physician! (My carpeted-bedroom ears perked up;-)

[CrazyInAlabama]

I suspect the Charleston area couple were looking for a right now house, not a forever house.    Either they're planning on building equity, looking at where they really want to live, and have a house for now.     Or maybe they intend to stay, start their family, get more experience for him, and then they move on to a higher paying position.   They might have picked the house for a good resale location.  

The are only two ways that I think the wood floors are dangerous, one is if you have mats or area rugs and the edge trips you (I know someone who broke her shoulders - one at a time, about a year apart, and claims she tripped on the edge of the area rug, the first time, and a runner the second), the second is if you run around in socks, and slip on the stairs, or the floor.     

Edited December 9, 2021 by CrazyInAlabama

[mojoween]

I watched tonight because they were in my town in Baldwinsville.  I’m glad they didn’t pick the Sedgwick!

When Michael said of the third house “it looks like they plopped it in a corn field” that made me laugh, because they did.

Also a 20 year old neighborhood is not historic, Tana.

[Cetacean]

Antiques, antiques, antiques, antiquies......

If that had been a drinking game, I'd be in a coma by now.

[CattyK]

20 hours ago, Kiddvideo said:

Single lawyer in Kansas, one daughter and talked about fostering: I figured her insistence on an older home was the red herring because the 3rd house was a new build, and they always pick the new build. The house she picked was still only 20 years old (as opposed to the 100 year old house), but someone didn’t pick the new build!

I was glad she didn’t buy the 113 year old house, I thought she made a good choice.  When she talked about all the love baked into the walls, I got what she meant but wanted to remind her there’s been disappointment, anger, grief too.  

[buttersister]

I’m going to chalk that guy’s I WANT ramblings up to grieving his mother. Although it sounded like getting things how he wants them is his usual.

eta: No wonder she was willing to go to $500k, the $460k they ended up paying was less than half what they sold their DC place for!  $100k more than he wanted to spend?! The cost of living is far lower and they both have jobs. Hope he doesn’t yell at the kids when they go into the formal side of the house. Cause they already go after his knives.

Edited December 9, 2021 by buttersister

[Kiddvideo]

Baldwinsville: Wife’s voice irritated me, and she seemed to say stuff to say stuff. A few of my favorites:

• ”They probably had the bed right here.” Gee, what gave it away, the depressions in the carpet? 
• “It feels really brown.” THATS BECAUSE IT’S BROWN.
• ”I don’t like the color.” “I like the color.” “The colors are right.” “I really like the paint color.” Say ‘color’ one more time, Tana.

Despite my list, I liked them well enough. My personal favorite was the 2nd house (would’ve blown out that sunken living room straight off) but the first house seems like a no brainer for them and their needs.

Does anyone remember their initial bid vs. final price? I’d started tuning out and didn’t catch it. I know it was $100K over their original budget. Tia!

[mojoween]

I think they paid 460,000 and the realtor said that was 70,000 over the initial offer, which was over 100,000 more than what he wanted, but 40 grand less than what she was willing to spend.

Edited December 9, 2021 by mojoween

[cameron]

5 hours ago, Kiddvideo said:

Baldwinsville: Wife’s voice irritated me, and she seemed to say stuff to say stuff. A few of my favorites:

• ”They probably had the bed right here.” Gee, what gave it away, the depressions in the carpet? 
• “It feels really brown.” THATS BECAUSE IT’S BROWN.
• ”I don’t like the color.” “I like the color.” “The colors are right.” “I really like the paint color.” Say ‘color’ one more time, Tana.

Despite my list, I liked them well enough. My personal favorite was the 2nd house (would’ve blown out that sunken living room straight off) but the first house seems like a no brainer for them and their needs.

Does anyone remember their initial bid vs. final price? I’d started tuning out and didn’t catch it. I know it was $100K over their original budget. Tia!

Personally, I didn't like either one of them (mommy/daddy's girl, antiques whiner).

[ECM1231]

11 hours ago, mojoween said:

I watched tonight because they were in my town in Baldwinsville.  I’m glad they didn’t pick the Sedgwick!

When Michael said of the third house “it looks like they plopped it in a corn field” that made me laugh, because they did.

Also a 20 year old neighborhood is not historic, Tana.

I'm a downstater, but always enjoy seeing other areas of our great state. About how far from Syracuse is Baldwinsville? I personally loved the 2nd home as I adore older homes and it had lots of charm. I do think the house they chose was probably the best option for them. It was super close to her parents and seemed to be a lovely area. I kind of side eyed the realtor when she mentioned escalation clause. 60K over asking seemed to be excessive, but it seems like it is a seller's market in many, many areas of the U.S.

[mojito]

15 hours ago, CrazyInAlabama said:

I suspect the Charleston area couple were looking for a right now house, not a forever house.    Either they're planning on building equity, looking at where they really want to live, and have a house for now.     Or maybe they intend to stay, start their family, get more experience for him, and then they move on to a higher paying position.   They might have picked the house for a good resale location.  

The are only two ways that I think the wood floors are dangerous, one is if you have mats or area rugs and the edge trips you (I know someone who broke her shoulders - one at a time, about a year apart, and claims she tripped on the edge of the area rug, the first time, and a runner the second), the second is if you run around in socks, and slip on the stairs, or the floor.     

He seemed to be ready to start a family and wanted something more permanent. She was looking for a small home for just the two of them. Makes me wonder sometimes: do these people discuss their goals before they marry?

[mojito]

Baldwinsville.

"Farmhouse." "Grandmother's table". These two were so bland they couldn't even make their false drama interesting.

What's modern farmhouse? False beams and a "farmhouse" sink?

[Jess14]

I thought the bungalow that the Charleston couple bought was nice, but I definitely think they will outgrow it. I can see both sides though. As someone who has moved homes multiple times in 7 years, I can say that moving isn’t end of the world. If anything, I wish that my husband and I would’ve bought a smaller home for our first purchase. We bought a big house that we could “grow into” and then ended up moving out of state for work before we had any kids. With that said, nothing is wrong with that strategy. We really liked that house, but waiting to buy a bigger house until you actually need it is perfectly reasonable as well. 

I’m always surprised by how high the homes in Charleston are. Usually, the more expensive homes seem to at least track somewhat with areas with higher salaries, but (I could be wrong), but I don’t think that’s the case with Charleston.

[chessiegal]

I was distracted by the Baldwinsville wife's black clump of what I finally figured out was a clump of mascara on her lower left eyelid. It finally went away, but really producers, you couldn't take the time for her to put on her makeup properly? 

[amarante]

4 hours ago, mojito said:

Baldwinsville.

"Farmhouse." "Grandmother's table". These two were so bland they couldn't even make their false drama interesting.

What's modern farmhouse? False beams and a "farmhouse" sink?

You would know it if you saw it. It's essentially just a contemporary home with some use of "natural" elements. I think the most obvious characteristic is for some reason it typically has black mullions and door trim instead of white or wood stained. There are also shower doors with that kind of treatment.

Not that anything new called Arts & Crafts actually resembles a vintage bungalow but theoretically the Arts & Crafts new builds aren't as contemporary looking as they might have pillars - but really for all practical purposes if it has black mullions it will be called Modern Farmhouse :-).

I didn't mind the Upstate New York couple as they obviously chose a house that worked for them both and all of the "shtick" about prices and styles was just for the story line.

I also think that the husband was probably still recovering from the death of his mother and since no mention was made of the father I assume he was also dead. A lot of people have trouble getting rid of physical possessions of their dead parents and so they wind up having to decorate around them even if they aren't really their taste or functional for their current lifestyle. 

Upstate New York house had a place to stash all the inherited stuff and the family also could have rooms that they actually decorated with comfortable furniture. A vintage dining room table may or may not be okay but in general the upholstered furniture isn't particularly comfortable and really isn't meant for lounging around watching television. 

[mojoween]

5 hours ago, ECM1231 said:

About how far from Syracuse is Baldwinsville? I

If you drive on the highway right you can get to the city in ten minutes, but on average Syracuse is about 20 minutes away.

I loved the drone shots of B’ville because it really classed the place up!

Edited December 9, 2021 by mojoween

[Kimboweena]

On 12/8/2021 at 7:55 AM, laredhead said:

The house they bought, #3, was only 1500 sf, and once a child arrives, that house is going to be too small. 

So funny how much square footage people "need" nowadays.  My brother and I grew up in a 1,283 sqft. house, and we survived just fine.

[Cetacean]

6 minutes ago, Kimboweena said:

My brother and I grew up in a 1,283 sqft. house, and we survived just fine.

My family of four had 900 square feet, one bathroom. No bonus rooms, no play spaces.  We put our toys away or just played in our rooms. And we are all productive members of society.  Need and want are two entirely different things.

[deirdra]

2 hours ago, Kimboweena said:

So funny how much square footage people "need" nowadays.  

They are often the same people who complain about the costs of heating, cooling, utilities & property taxes.