House Hunters - General Discussion

[Grrarrggh]

8 hours ago, KLovestoShop said:

I cannot begin to tell you how much I despise these lazy ass, healthy, young people who complain about having to climb stairs.  I’ve never been able to climb stairs because of having polio at age 2.  Every time a HH kvetches about stairs, I just want to climb through the TV and beat the crap out of them.  

I didn’t like either of the Houston couple.  He with the no stairs and plate covers having to be white, and the wife who is afraid of gas stoves and worrying about the kids’ bedrooms being on a different floor.  Grow up you pain in the butt snowflakes. 

Why did he need such a huge space for his gaming.  I’ve always found adult gamers to be suspect because they can play hours on end, to the detriment of their family.  Another sign of being a lazy ass. 

I almost felt sorry for that wife. Her man-child husband seemed to not spend any time with those kids, but then again maybe that's part of why should couldn't think up any reasons to love him. Certainly not a great father for her eldest daughter. What was up with her fear of gas stoves? 

[Kohola3]

8 hours ago, KLovestoShop said:

Why did he need such a huge space for his gaming.

As soon as that became evident as the theme I turned it off.  Selfish moron.

[Empress1]

16 hours ago, amarante said:

It doesn’t matter if the heat is dry or wet. When the temperature is 115, you don’t want to be outside.

PREACH. I visited a friend in Tucson in summer ONCE and never went back in summertime (I was a student so had to visit on breaks). It was horrible. 115 is too hot, period.

I hated that AZ couple. When the husband sat in the car and pouted because of the house's price, I was through. And as has been said, their whole rental income plan made no sense.

[doodlebug]

18 hours ago, amarante said:

I also couldn't imagine why anyone would purchase a shabby single family home in which looks like a working class neighborhood for either their own vacation home or as a potential Air BnB. I can't imagine they are going to furnish it with any kind of style given his cheapness and the reality that she actually thought any of those were places one would want to vacation in or would others would want to rent. 

And then they went for the one that was the furthest from Scottsdale - I must be missing something because again, who is the market for renting homes like that in that area. Was their friend, the realtor, pulling numbers out of her ass when she claimed it would rent for $175 per night? 

Given that they don't live there, they are going to have to pay someone to maintain the property as well as handle any rentals so a free standing home versus a condo makes no sense. 

I agree, I've vacationed in the Scottsdale area on several occasions and there is no way I would rent a shabby, poorly designed home in the middle of nowhere when there are so many beautiful options that are close to amenities.  When I stay in an AirBnB, I want something that is nicer than what I have at home.  Unless they were planning to tear those places down and rebuild, there is no chance that any of those houses would ever be attractive to people wanting short term vacation rentals.

I don't know what that episode was about, but it seemed that those two were not only unpleasant but also delusional.

3 minutes ago, Empress1 said:

PREACH. I visited a friend in Tucson in summer ONCE and never went back in summertime (I was a student so had to visit on breaks). It was horrible. 115 is too hot, period.

I hated that AZ couple. When the husband sat in the car and pouted because of the house's price, I was through. And as has been said, their whole rental income plan made no sense.

I visited Israel this summer.  On the day we went to the Dead Sea, it was 110F, I kid you not.  Yeah, it was a dry heat, so it only felt like it was 105F.  Very refreshing.  Nobody in Arizona with any sense plans to do anything outdoors in the daylight hours during the months from May through October.

[LittleIggy]

Ditto re: the bitching about stairs. Be glad you can go up and down stairs, asshole.  I too hate the grown men wanting some huge space for playing video games. What was especially galling here was that the husband prioritized his game room space over her work space. 🙄

[Ohwell]

1 hour ago, Grrarrggh said:

What was up with her fear of gas stoves? 

Explosions?

[Empress1]

10 hours ago, KLovestoShop said:

I cannot begin to tell you how much I despise these lazy ass, healthy, young people who complain about having to climb stairs.  I’ve never been able to climb stairs because of having polio at age 2.  Every time a HH kvetches about stairs, I just want to climb through the TV and beat the crap out of them.

The only time I agreed with a hunter about stairs was a young guy who had had four knee surgeries already - he was a former athlete (not professional). His wife was like, fuck that, I want stairs (she thought a two-story house was safer than a one-story). She won, but I was team husband. Odds are good he's going to have more problems with his knees as he ages.

But these folks who are just too lazy to walk upstairs? Yeah, no.

And the game space vs. the office space was a no-brainer - she worked 100% from home, she needed an office.

45 minutes ago, Ohwell said:

Explosions?

She said she was afraid of burning the house down. Her husband pointed out that you could burn down a house with an electric stove, and her retort was "haven't done it yet!" Which one could also say about gas stoves.

[NYGirl]

OMG I just came here to bitch about the Houston woman's voice!  She didn't come up for air the whole episode!  Please bring back snarky narrator...please.  Holy moly her voice was so annoying.  Did she smile once during the episode?  Just once?  And the husband?  No words...  I liked him at the beginning and felt sorry for him living with her but as the episode went on I hated him just as much.  

[pep4]

Jersey Shore:  Couldn't stand how repeatedly rude that guy was to the realtor.  I get that he was hamming it up the whole time to please the producers (like the phony cat tube bullcrap) but the rudeness seemed like part of his personality.  "Would you like to see the garage?"  "Duh!"

[chessiegal]

This is the second night in a row they are showing "new" shows I swear I have seen before. The cat tube thing rang a bell.

[Pickles]

The Jersey Shore guy. Did he have serious eye issues? They looked crossed. 

[Mittengirl]

Why was it important for the cats to have access to the garage?

Did they end up with the first house?  Because I would swear I saw a cat flap on the door to the basement(?).

[edie3]

Am I just getting crankier in my old age, or are the clients becoming more irritating?

[amarante]

1 hour ago, edie3 said:

Am I just getting crankier in my old age, or are the clients becoming more irritating?

You are getting crankier as the gestalt of the show has always had house hunters who are irritating in all kinds of different ways since the days of Suzanne Whang when there was no asking or purchase price.

[laredhead]

I didn't like any of the Jersey Shore houses.  I hope they cleaned that white carpet before they moved in.  There is no way I would ever install white carpet in a room that has an outside entry.  Speaking of outside entry, that was a really weird entry space, as noted by the HH's when they arrived.  It probably was a porch at one time, and no one took the time or $$ to raise the floor level when they enclosed it.  

I remember the damage that Superstorm Sandy caused in that area.  Would those houses flood in another storm like that?  I'm not familiar enough with the area they were in, but when I see a sand dune across the street, I'm assuming that a big storm could wipe that out and you would really have a water view with water in your house.   

[AuntiePam]

9 hours ago, Mittengirl said:

Why was it important for the cats to have access to the garage?

Did they end up with the first house?  Because I would swear I saw a cat flap on the door to the basement(?).

They ended up with the one that husband considered to be Colonial.  I think it was the first house.

A relative had a cat tube but it led nowhere.  It just ended.  It was transparent and flexible, and just a way for the cats to be outside. 

Me, I wouldn't want the cats to have access to the garage -- too dangerous.  Anti-freeze on the floor, power tools, sharp objects, and what's to keep the cats from crawling up under a truck hood and napping on a warm motor?  Or getting up inside the wheel well?  You'd have to count cats every time you moved a vehicle.

[Broderbits]

4 hours ago, edie3 said:

Am I just getting crankier in my old age, or are the clients becoming more irritating?

I think that the clients on most of the HGTV shows have become much more irritating, entitled, and demanding. Apparently the network thinks that's not a bug, it's a feature; but usually it causes me to change the channel after about 5 minutes.

[CrazyInAlabama]

I'm suspicious that the 'new' house hunters that seem familiar are recycled Beach Front Bargain Hunt or something similar.    I know I've seen the Jersey Shore cat tube one before.    HGTV has done the same thing with Mexico Life, and HHI, and some others.  

Letting the cats have access to the garage was bizarre, for exactly the reasons outlined by other posters.    

Edited September 5, 2019 by CrazyInAlabama

[pep4]

43 minutes ago, CrazyInAlabama said:

I'm suspicious that the 'new' house hunters that seem familiar are recycled Beach Front Bargain Hunt or something similar.    I know I've seen the Jersey Shore cat tube one before. 

I guess the cat's out of the bag now.

[Kohola3]

7 hours ago, edie3 said:

Am I just getting crankier in my old age, or are the clients becoming more irritating?

Absolutely.  The entitled brats with bizarre demands (hot dog room, hidey hole, 16 rooms with windows facing the street for Christmas trees) have increased alarmingly.  There were always bickering couples, to a point, but it's gotten out of hand.  All for entertainment value, I am sure, but I don't find it the bit entertaining. 

The first weird "must have" I hear is when I hit the off button.

[Grrarrggh]

5 hours ago, Kohola3 said:

Absolutely.  The entitled brats with bizarre demands (hot dog room, hidey hole, 16 rooms with windows facing the street for Christmas trees) have increased alarmingly.  There were always bickering couples, to a point, but it's gotten out of hand.  All for entertainment value, I am sure, but I don't find it the bit entertaining. 

The first weird "must have" I hear is when I hit the off button.

I think the producers makes sure to hype up any strange things they want or disagreements they have. And you have to kind of agree with them, because unless they're looking at interesting houses or are incredibly charming it can get quite boring seeing the same couple looking for the same house over and over and over. It's why I won't watch Property Brothers anymore. You can't tell the difference between houses. 

[NYGirl]

I'm noticing that the disagreements are getting out of hand lately.  Not every couple has different tastes.  Seriously it goes to steps or no steps, colonial or ranch, masters on first floor and masters upstairs, etc.  It's ridiculous.  And then the realtor will say. "this one is for Tommy", or this one is for Sarah.  Like it's a competition

[LittleIggy]

22 hours ago, Mittengirl said:

Why was it important for the cats to have access to the garage?

That was weird. Why not just cattify (a la Jackson Galaxy) the house with shelving they can have fun with?

[LittleIggy]

Austin: The husband seemed nice, but I couldn’t stand the wife and her dog obsession. I love dogs and their dogs were  adorbs, but, seriously, having whole rooms devoted to them was ridiculous. I would never waste my time watching her videos (shilling for the dog food company?).

[MsTree]

Are the producers of HH purposely getting more vague? Do they realize the "Jersey shore" is many miles long? Anyone know approx. what area they were looking in?

[Kenzie]

I don't think this has ever been asked before: Does anyone else find the opening music jangly and annoying? I always fast forward through it.

[topanga]

5 hours ago, LittleIggy said:

Austin: The husband seemed nice, but I couldn’t stand the wife and her dog obsession. I love dogs and their dogs were  adorbs, but, seriously, having whole rooms devoted to them was ridiculous. I would never waste my time watching her videos (shilling for the dog food company?).

I lost it when she said that the dogs’ concerns were more important than her husband’s commute to work as a nurse anesthetist. What is wrong with people. 

I did like the house they chose. I didn’t realize that Austin had gotten so expensive, however. 

3 minutes ago, Kenzie said:

I don't think this has ever been asked before: Does anyone else find the opening music jangly and annoying? I always fast forward through it.

Eh, it’s grown on me. And it makes me excited about whatever house porn or crazy HHs I’m about to watch. 

[laredhead]

I liked the graphic comparing the cost of the Austin houses and the monthly notes for each.  Each one had a different interest rate, and I couldn't see if the final note reflected a down payment percentage amount. 

All of the houses were nice, but I really thought they would go for #3 that was attached (barely) to another house.  I would have liked to have seen an overhead view of those houses to get a better idea of how each one had private yard space, and where they were attached.  I guess Austin is a bit more liberal with their zoning than other areas to allow houses like that to be build as infill in existing neighborhoods.  Reminded me of the front/back houses we saw in a recent Nashville episode.

I totally got it with the house that had the HVAC in a closet instead of the attic where it would have been quieter.  My house has such a low roof line that the HVAC system has to be in a closet just inside the front door.  It can get pretty loud when the fan for the A/C is running on high speed in the summer.  As for the lack of a deck or concrete patio outside the back sliders, that is really a pet peeve of mine.  A remodeler/flipper will spend $$ in places for cosmetic bling, but then skimp on practical things that are really necessary.  it's almost like they have spent everything, and at the very last they realize they are out of $$ and aren't going to spend a few hundred dollars more to make something usable.   I wanted to see his coffee bar all set up in the new place.  Was glad to have a couple that didn't snipe at each other throughout the entire episode for a change.

[amarante]

I would actively avoid buying a flipped house if I could because the sole intent of most flippers is to spend the least money possible in order to hook naive buyers into purchasing the home. I just finished a remodel and once you do that you realize all the ways that you can "cheat" and cheap out.

Beyond the obvious of your paying a premium for someone else's taste which is generally going to be the lowest common denominator - Hello white Shaker cabinets :-), the actual functional design is generally the least expensive and less functional choice. I pause on kitchens and almost all of the "remodeled" or new builds have doors on the lower cabinets versus large drawers for pots, pans and dishes which is the cheaper and less functional choice. Similarly the showers and bathrooms are done with the least expensive tiles - have pressure balance valves and similarly cheaper finishes. Or they now have a free standing tub squeezed into a space where it was never meant to be - fast forward a decade and those will have become the garden or Roman tubs of this decade.

I also found the Jersey Shore episode to be frustrating since they there was absolutely no hint of where on the very large Jersey coast the homes were located. There is a HUGE difference between the cost and desirability of various Jersey Shore communities and except for one that was located vaguely across the road, there wasn't even mention of distance to an actual beach. 

Edited September 6, 2019 by amarante

[CruiseDiva]

22 minutes ago, amarante said:

Or they now have a free standing tub squeezed into a space where it was never meant to be - fast forward a decade and those will have become the garden or Roman tubs of this decade.

I'm with you on that! We had a 'garden' tub in our 1987 master bath and got rid of it last year. It had only been used twice in 30 years. In its place is now a huge shower with a bench seat. The space where the old shower was is now a big closet with shelves for linens and a rod for hanging bathrobes.

It will be a challenge to clean around the floor behind those free-standing tubs. I shudder to think of the grunge that will accumulate there. My friend's 100-year old house has an original claw foot tub and she says that keeping the floor clean around and under it is a chore.

[Kohola3]

1 hour ago, CruiseDiva said:

It will be a challenge to clean around the floor behind those free-standing tubs

I always think the same is true of those sinks that look like bowls.  You'd have to get in there with a q-tip to clean around the base. Bathrooms are dirty places - think of the soap scum, whiskers, hair, etc that ends up underneath there.  And while not as difficult as a tub, still a stretch to clean around the back.

[Ohwell]

8 minutes ago, Kohola3 said:

I always think the same is true of those sinks that look like bowls.  You'd have to get in there with a q-tip to clean around the base. Bathrooms are dirty places - think of the soap scum, whiskers, hair, etc that ends up underneath there.  And while not as difficult as a tub, still a stretch to clean around the back.

I never liked those bowl sinks, mainly because I can imagine bonking my forehead on the edge of the bowl while trying to wash my face.

[amarante]

17 minutes ago, Kohola3 said:

I always think the same is true of those sinks that look like bowls.  You'd have to get in there with a q-tip to clean around the base. Bathrooms are dirty places - think of the soap scum, whiskers, hair, etc that ends up underneath there.  And while not as difficult as a tub, still a stretch to clean around the back.

Vessel sinks are another terrible design choice for a "working" bathroom. Not only are they difficult to clean around but they make cleaning the counter in general more difficult because you have to use the palm of your hand to get any "debris" from the counter instead of just swiping into the sink which preferably (at least for me) is an under mounted sink :-).

They also use up a lot of valuable counter space and are more difficult to use.

I don't like them as an aesthetic choice for the most part except in very rare instances where it works as part of the overall design. In most remodels they just look as if they are plunked down there because someone thought they were "on trend".

[amarante]

I can't figure out who the market is for "raw" dog food. My mother used to cook for our dog but raw food would seem to be the easiest thing in the world and not need a "distributor" - purchase a slab of meat - cut it up and let your dog enjoy. I might be missing something in terms of how you "prep" raw dog food.

I love dogs but there was something "off" about the dog vlogger - probably because I don't have that much interest in following someone who films their dogs hanging out. I mean there are a finite number of minutes in a day and unless there is something truly unique about a "dog video" I have little interest and I doubt whether a professional vlogger is providing interesting content on a consistent basis. Now Rosenberg The Dog on instagram is a truly followable dog because the relationship he has with his "father" is so wonderful and his wife styles them in such wonderful father and son outfits :-).

[jcbrown]

I was amused that the description of the Austin episode described the woman as being "an up-and-coming dog vlogger," as though that's a genuine occupational category. Also, get off my lawn.

[ECM1231]

14 hours ago, topanga said:

I lost it when she said that the dogs’ concerns were more important than her husband’s commute to work as a nurse anesthetist. What is wrong with people. 

I did like the house they chose. I didn’t realize that Austin had gotten so expensive, however. 

Eh, it’s grown on me. And it makes me excited about whatever house porn or crazy HHs I’m about to watch. 

Yep. My son moved there  from NYC 5 years ago after having kept track of their housing prices for a while. He realized then that it was now or never and he'd be priced out. He actually paid 10K over the asking price (which my husband was upset about) b/c he lost out on low-balling the first house he bid on.  The prices have gone up tremendously in his area, so I'd assume it is probably the same all over.  His taxes are around 5K and I don't know if some would find that high or not but compared to Long Island, and Westchester NY and some NJ areas, that is quite reasonable. He paid 260K for  a small 3 br, 1 bath home but his lot is large for a city, at least by NYC standards.  He could easily sell for 360K or more right now. Living where I live even that is considered very reasonable. It's just that when I watch HH and see other parts of Texas, even 300K seems like a lot for Austin. In other areas of Texas 300K would get you a mansion. My son did say that if he had purchased a half-hour drive away he could have gotten a home twice the size for the same price he paid, so I guess location, location, location is true.  I haven't seen the episode you mentioned but most of the Austin episodes I have seen the homeowners' budget is way over 400K but as we have mentioned here, they are not always in Austin proper. 

[amarante]

I don't know anything about Texas real estate prices but I had some friends from Austin and they were so unlike the typical Texas - or at least the typical stereotypical Texas. I think Austin is a blue sea in what was once a very red State although now it seems to be trending purple in some areas :-).

The culture of Austin seems to be very artistic and reminds me of how Athens, Georgia also had an alternative type of culture years ago. I would imagine having the influx of students attracted to the respective universities who then want to settle in the town has a lot to do with it.

In my experience, the kinds of people who are attracted to places like Austin are also more interested in being in certain locations versus being willing to locate far out in the suburbs in order to get a larger home per se. That kind of desire to be closer to the city would drive up the price of homes located within a reasonable distance of the city life.

[chessiegal]

And tonight's "new" HH episode is brought to you by a repackaged Hawaii Life. By my count, they've only had 1 new HH this week - Thursday. 

[StatisticalOutlier]

12 hours ago, laredhead said:

I liked the graphic comparing the cost of the Austin houses and the monthly notes for each.  Each one had a different interest rate, and I couldn't see if the final note reflected a down payment percentage amount.

That graphic made no sense.  I don't know anything about mortgages, but why would they use three different rates for their comparisons:  4.375%, 5.5%, and 4.875%?  The middle one is the outlier, and it's the duplex, which is also generally an outlier--would that have an effect on the interest rate?  What about the other two that are regular houses--why the different interest rates?

I know someone who sold her house in Austin a couple of weeks ago.  It's in the hills west of Austin with a pretty view, but everything has to be driven to (i.e., unattractive to hipsters).  It was on the market at $650,000, and it immediately got a full-price cash offer, but contingent on the buyer selling his own house.  Within two days, it had two offers at $665,000, and one at $680,000.  At its appraised value, taxes were $12,500/year with the homestead exemption.  At the $680,000 purchase price, the taxes would be $13,700/year with the homestead exemption.

And I posted probably last year about a friend who sold his house in an old money Austin neighborhood as a tear-down for over $800,000.  According to the appraisal district records (I can't bear to go actually look at whatever monstrosity they put on that lot), the new house has a garage apartment that is 370 square feet and appraised at $225,000.  The garage apartment. 

It's insane.

As for the show, as much as I love those gigantic sliding doors that open up a whole wall, it's stupid to have that in Austin.  Southern California?  Yes, yes, a thousand times yes.  But the bugs in Austin are terrible.  Even sitting on a deck, it's a good idea to have a fan going to blow them around so they don't land on you.  And you open up a whole wall to let them in the house?

Not to mention that it's been 100 degrees every day this week.  And that's a humid 100 degrees, that cools down only to the mid-70s overnight--I wouldn't want to bring that inside my house.

[chessiegal]

I thought it's been well known for some time that Austin is a totally different (more expensive) market than the rest of Texas. After all, they're very proud of their "Keep Austin Weird" motto.

Edited September 7, 2019 by chessiegal

[ECM1231]

12 hours ago, amarante said:

I don't know anything about Texas real estate prices but I had some friends from Austin and they were so unlike the typical Texas - or at least the typical stereotypical Texas. I think Austin is a blue sea in what was once a very red State although now it seems to be trending purple in some areas :-).

The culture of Austin seems to be very artistic and reminds me of how Athens, Georgia also had an alternative type of culture years ago. I would imagine having the influx of students attracted to the respective universities who then want to settle in the town has a lot to do with it.

In my experience, the kinds of people who are attracted to places like Austin are also more interested in being in certain locations versus being willing to locate far out in the suburbs in order to get a larger home per se. That kind of desire to be closer to the city would drive up the price of homes located within a reasonable distance of the city life.

Yes, to all the bolded. Their city motto is "Keep Austin Weird." It's a funky little city.  It rivals Nashville as the music capital of the U.S.  As for the last bolded, again very true. In my son's case he could not wait to get out of suburbia (I'm a 50 minute train ride into midtown Manhattan) and almost as soon as he graduated college he left for the trendy part of Brooklyn (Williamsburg).  Shared a ridiculously small space with a ridiculously high rent with 2 others but  after a while he realized he was getting older and wanted to stop making a landlord rich. At that time any decent apartment  in a decent area of Brooklyn (forget Manhattan's real estate prices) was well over 700K. He had to leave and he's always been a creative and musical person so Austin was the perfect fit for him. He loves the weather and is very active with hiking.  His friends have visited and several have even relocated b/c they like it so much and NY is just getting too expensive.

Edited September 7, 2019 by ECM1231

[ECM1231]

8 minutes ago, StatisticalOutlier said:

I know someone who sold her house in Austin a couple of weeks ago.  It's in the hills west of Austin with a pretty view, but everything has to be driven to (i.e., unattractive to hipsters).  It was on the market at $650,000, and it immediately got a full-price cash offer, but contingent on the buyer selling his own house.  Within two days, it had two offers at $665,000, and one at $680,000.  At its appraised value, taxes were $12,500/year with the homestead exemption.  At the $680,000 purchase price, the taxes would be $13,700/year with the homestead exemption.

Hah! That goes to show how little I know about Austin. Guess my son lives in the poor section of town. LOL  He lives in South Austin...took me about 20 minutes or so to drive to where University of Texas is downtown and the Capitol Building.  What seems crazy to me is their lack of zoning rules and regulations. It seems as if it's the wild wild West and anything goes.  

[Grrarrggh]

6 hours ago, ECM1231 said:

Hah! That goes to show how little I know about Austin. Guess my son lives in the poor section of town. LOL  He lives in South Austin...took me about 20 minutes or so to drive to where University of Texas is downtown and the Capitol Building.  What seems crazy to me is their lack of zoning rules and regulations. It seems as if it's the wild wild West and anything goes.  

Parts of Dallas, Houston and San Antonio are more expensive. And it all depends on how much driving you're willing to do, like most metro areas in any state.

[StatisticalOutlier]

13 hours ago, ECM1231 said:

Hah! That goes to show how little I know about Austin. Guess my son lives in the poor section of town. LOL  He lives in South Austin...took me about 20 minutes or so to drive to where University of Texas is downtown and the Capitol Building.  What seems crazy to me is their lack of zoning rules and regulations. It seems as if it's the wild wild West and anything goes.  

Back in the 1980s, there was a friendly rivalry between north and south Austin (the river downtown dividing them), greatly promoted by a newspaper columnist named John Kelso, who proudly lived in South Austin.  South Austin was where rednecks parked cars in their yards--that sort of thing. 

But even with the "schism," everybody was an Austinite.  I still remember the first time I heard someone on the radio identified as "So-and-so from North Austin."  I thought, "It's over."

Austin does have zoning, and it's of course a huge battle because of development, especially since the focus became infilling.  But south Austin was always wilder than north Austin when it comes to conformity. 

BTW, Houston really doesn't have zoning--there are no regulations on land use at all.

[El maestro]

It scary that Austin is starting to look like a franchise of San Francisco in Texas.

Houston is full of people who want to live in Austin, but they say cost of living and salaries are better in Houston that there.

[laredhead]

Going back a few episodes to the couple from Houston who bought a weekend/vacation house in Rockport, Texas, and I haven't seen any comments about that episode.  Yes, it was another Beachfront HH episode rebranded to a regular HH.  I usually erase those interlopers, but when it said the house was in Rockport I was interested to see what the area looked like after it was devastated by Hurricane Harvey in 2017.  You can never get a true sense of where anything is on HH because they aren't very specific, but I thought they would at least mention the storm, but they didn't.  The couple were not annoying, and the episode was pretty boring, but I find 99% of the beachfront episode boring because the houses tend to all look alike.  In this case the couple bought an older house that evidently survived the storm because it was a few hundred feet from the water.  I thought they would probably go for the brand new condo right on the beach.  I'm thinking maybe Rockport is now going to be "discovered" by vacationers, and this condo has obviously been constructed since the storm.  I another one hits, that new place is probably going to end up flattened and in the water, or the entire first floor will be flooded.  The couple probably made the best decision not to buy it.    

[CrazyInAlabama]

Actually, Austin prices are very expensive, even for fixer uppers.    Dallas is getting very pricey too, and Houston.    Houston's biggest sales features since Hurricane Harvey is 'never flooded'.

Austin has so many companies moving in there, including part of Amazon, so I'm thinking the prices are only going to keep going up. 

The biggest issue for me when they recycle the beachfront episodes is they're full of product placement.    The Rockport house was interesting.   

Edited September 8, 2019 by CrazyInAlabama

[Empress1]

On 9/6/2019 at 10:02 PM, amarante said:

In my experience, the kinds of people who are attracted to places like Austin are also more interested in being in certain locations versus being willing to locate far out in the suburbs in order to get a larger home per se. That kind of desire to be closer to the city would drive up the price of homes located within a reasonable distance of the city life.

The wife said she wanted to be where the "cool kids" were, which set my teeth on edge (though I wouldn't be interested in a large suburban house either, as a single person).

[javajeanelaine]

I must have missed it but what did lazy butt Houston husband do for a living?

[El maestro]

I don’t like the beach episodes, the same I dislike Caribbean episodes in the international HH: they all look the same to me.