House Hunters

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Moemg

Gone but not forgotten
Joined
Jan 2, 2007
Messages
11,447
Location
Sarasota,fl.
I am an HGTV fan especially House Hunters but lately I've wondered where they get these couples . It is either very young couples still paying their student loans looking at $600,000 houses and complaining about the granite color or it is international buyers looking at $400,000 second homes and they look like they could not afford bowling money . Is it me or have other HGTV fans noticed this ? Martha ? Old Babe ? Orchid Flower ? Finance Dude ( I know you are a secret watcher )? Rich ( I'm sure your wife watches ) ? Ha ( I'd include you but I'm sure you are watching " Dancing with the stars "
 
Spouse has just about given up on it. I'm shocked, shocked I say, by what $225K will buy on the Mainland, and so the inevitable whining ("Aw, honey, the in-ground infinity pool doesn't have a hot tub!") is more than I can handle.

Even Groundbreakers isn't the same since Joe Washington left. About the only shows that really spark her interest are Holmes on Homes and Divine Design.
 
I'm convinced all the House Hunter programs were taped prior to 2007 and these folks are still "shopping in the bubble". That's the only way I can explain what appears to be a major disconnect with reality.
 
I like to watch House Hunters International, I really don't enjoy the domestic version.

What puzzles me, is 9/10 of the women in these shows will be bitching about the size of the kitchen and the fact that it doesn't have a granite benchtop. Now I would think if I was living somewhere like Paris I would not even be bothered that it didn't have an "American kitchen" as I would be planning on eating out. It's not really surprising the amount of them that buy a house in the tropics and quickly try to redecorate so it looks just like back home in the US.

I think the only reason I watch is so I can see what housing is like in other countries and the cost. My favourites are the European countries, especially Paris, but it seems more of them these days at central american/carribbean.
 
We always laugh about the first time buyers who have an "entry level" budget and complain that homes are too small or have an outdated kitchen or have a commute that's too long or on a noisy street or have no view of the water or....
 
I've seen it a few times and always feel short of breath while watching.
The same feeling I might have if I saw someone running unaware toward a cliff or possibly an obscenely drunk person running on the interstate. The couples do seem delusional, debating some color scheme as if it were important when they are about to bury themselves in debt that they may never emerge from.
 
REWahoo said:
I'm convinced all the House Hunter programs were taped prior to 2007 and these folks are still "shopping in the bubble". That's the only way I can explain what appears to be a major disconnect with reality.
Click to expand...


I've thought the same thing !
 
DangerMouse said:
I like to watch House Hunters International, I really don't enjoy the domestic version.

What puzzles me, is 9/10 of the women in these shows will be bitching about the size of the kitchen and the fact that it doesn't have a granite benchtop.
Click to expand...


Me Too , If I could afford a second house anywhere I'd be thrilled that it had running water and a bathroom .
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Moemg said:
I am an HGTV fan especially House Hunters but lately I've wondered where they get these couples . It is either very young couples still paying their student loans looking at $600,000 houses and complaining about the granite color or it is international buyers looking at $400,000 second homes and they look like they could not afford bowling money . Is it me or have other HGTV fans noticed this ? Martha ? Old Babe ? Orchid Flower ? Finance Dude ( I know you are a secret watcher )? Rich ( I'm sure your wife watches ) ? Ha ( I'd include you but I'm sure you are watching " Dancing with the stars "
Click to expand...

Yeah. I find myself checking the year of the show on our satellite guide, to see if the people are pre-crash buyers. I can't believe the young couples who insist on stainless steel, granite counters, three plus bedrooms and two plus baths.
 
There was recently an ad on a particular international forum I frequent from House Hunters International. They were looking for people that were searching for a home in a particular country to be on the TV show. You didn't have to commit to buying any of the properties, just have to let them follow you to a few different houses for the show. The pay, I believe, was $1,200.
 
Yeah, it must be that they were filmed before the housing bust. I watch My First Place (this show actually shows how much down payment people are shelling out along with their mortgage rate) and nobody is paying 20% down, which I thought was pretty much required nowadays.
 
DW watches these shows. I got disgusted with the nose in the air attitudes after on or two shows. So instead of flinging obscenities at the TV along with slippers, I moved on to listening to radio or CDs using headphones. In another part pf the house.

By the way the "flip this house" shows disappeared too Did not like them either. Most who got involved had no idea of the amount of work needed. Oh and all those "no money down" schemes seemed to thin out as well.
 
DW could write the scripts. She has a thing about the attitude of "entitlement" commion in early 40-somethings and, for some reason, the first-timers in their late 20s. FWIW she thinks many are still leveraging wayyyyy too much, though it is harder to get a loan, etc. At the very least, they will be locked into double-income lifestyles for a long time whether they want that or not.
 
Moemg said:
Me Too , If I could afford a second house anywhere I'd be thrilled that it had running water and a bathroom .
Click to expand...

I was thrilled that my first house had that!

I now work with several people who didn't have indoor plumbing growing up. Those guys have no sense of entitlement.

DW watches the TV show but also asks the question "What are these people thinking?" When we were dating one of the "hmmmm...." moments came when she said "The trouble with loans is that they always want you to pay it back".
 
Moemg said:
I am an HGTV fan especially House Hunters but lately I've wondered where they get these couples . It is either very young couples still paying their student loans looking at $600,000 houses and complaining about the granite color or it is international buyers looking at $400,000 second homes and they look like they could not afford bowling money . Is it me or have other HGTV fans noticed this ? Martha ? Old Babe ? Orchid Flower ? Finance Dude ( I know you are a secret watcher )? Rich ( I'm sure your wife watches ) ? Ha ( I'd include you but I'm sure you are watching " Dancing with the stars "
Click to expand...

Hmm....to watch that show, I would need cable TV, which I have been able to live without for 21 years and counting.......:)

A lot of shows like that are full of spoiled kids masquerading as adults because that helps ratings........
 
ziggy29 said:
"House Hunters: Foreclosure Edition"
Click to expand...

I would like to see them run these as a three-part series:

1. House Hunters- focus on the house selection process.
Could be unqualified first-time buyers, spoiled brats with a sense of entitlement, second homes, downsizers, etc.

2. Mortgage Morass- focus on qualifying the buyers, throw in a few unscrupulous brokers, unstable banks, uncooperative assessors, overworked closing agents and fly-by night inspectors for drama.

3. Follow-up Follies- revisit the folks who went thru the process. See how they are holding up a year or two later. Might even provide a pool of qualified applicants for Judge Judy or Divorce Court
 
The wife and I stopped watching house hunters.

I guess the realization that is really was possible to get a fairly new three bedroom house in many parts of the US for $300K was just too much for us to handle. ( as we sat in our fixer upper which set us back much more)
 
I used to watch "house Hunters" a lot and I don't remember being particularly shocked at RE prices or people's expectations. It seems like a lot of the houses featured were in California, so I figured that's how they did things over there.
 
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