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My favorite HGTV show is House Hunters International. What's your favorite episode? (merged)

CalGalTraveler

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I have a friend whose daughter wrote a sentimental letter and got her on one of those "crasher" shows. They came in and redid...I think her living room?...in one day, while a friend distracted her. She said it was awful--they just yanked out everything and did (of course) a really crappy job of building a new room, because they only had about eight hours. All her precious things that she had decorating her living room, including valuable books and artwork, had disappeared when she walked back in to be surprised. She had to struggle not to cry on camera. (Later she found her things all thrown into cardboard boxes with no protection and tons of construction debris and plaster on top of them.)

So that's why the homeowners cry when they unveil the renovation! :)
 

DaveNV

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I have watched many episodes of House Hunters, but eventually tired of self-centered wives who had to have giant closets, and granite countertops. And the silly people who disregarded an otherwise decent house because it didn't include a refrigerator.

I agree. People who reject a house because appliances are older? Makes no sense. They'll pass up a half-million dollar property, where a few thousand dollars will replace the outdated appliances. Easily done. And then they'd have it all. But they can't see it. Same thing with wall colors - hell, paint is cheap!

Dave
 
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beejaybeeohio

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To make for entertaining TV I think that House Hunters sets up the searchers so that they appear to have opposite needs. Some people do seem to fit their role naturally, e.g. demanding, ignorant, etc.
 

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I would also love to know what the condos HOA fees are when they are showing condos.

I usually look at the info. of the show to see where the location is. You cannot renovate a home here with $40,000. A new gutted/kitchen here starts at $40,000.

In Italy, kitchens are really tiny and most of the owners take their cabinets with them when they move....odd but they do or used to.

I would love follow-up stories/a few years down the road. Are they sill with the house, were they affected by hurricanes, did they make out with renting (second home).

I hate that the maximum budget for a couple is set and the realtor always shows homes that are way above the budget (of course one offers a lot less). But can they all really afford/get approved for more. Some buy way above the budget.

I wish the show did not repeat/waste time recapping the story after each commercial. I wish they would use the time to explore the area more, the couple's history, etc.

I love Say Yes to the Dress (Kleinfeld and Atlanta). Got hooked on it way before my daughter got married. We went to Kleinfeld for her dress and met Shane and Debra (saw saw of the seamstresses from the show too).

So many buyers do complain over silly things - something as silly as they don't like the paint color. I thought almost everyone painted anyway before moving in. Just seems like a minor detail to point out as a reason not to buy a home. The homes are huge compared to ours/especially mine :D.

I get it, it's a show. They need to change things up a bit, add some drama to make it interesting. I love to look at places we have been to or would like to visit. Also great to get ideas for our own homes. We can always learn something too. We need some newer episodes :)
 

wackymother

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I would also love to know what the condos HOA fees are when they are showing condos.

I usually look at the info. of the show to see where the location is. You cannot renovate a home here with $40,000. A new gutted/kitchen here starts at $40,000.

In Italy, kitchens are really tiny and most of the owners take their cabinets with them when they move....odd but they do or used to.

I would love follow-up stories/a few years down the road. Are they sill with the house, were they affected by hurricanes, did they make out with renting (second home).

I hate that the maximum budget for a couple is set and the realtor always shows homes that are way above the budget (of course one offers a lot less). But can they all really afford/get approved for more. Some buy way above the budget.

I wish the show did not repeat/waste time recapping the story after each commercial. I wish they would use the time to explore the area more, the couple's history, etc.

I get it, it's a show. They need to change things up a bit, add some drama to make it interesting. I love to look at places we have been to or would like to visit. Also great to get ideas for our own homes. We can always learn something too. We need some newer episodes :)

I think they did eliminate the recapping after each commercial. They removed the narrator.

Regarding the budget, it always bugs me when people want huge, beautiful, modern places for ridiculously low prices. Sometimes it's people moving from Manhattan or LA to much less expensive places. I just saw an HHI episode where a couple was looking in Kolkata, after having lived in...I think London, somewhere expensive like that. The couple had a very modest budget, so they saw a couple of places that were too expensive, but honestly, I would have been like "This apartment is like a palace...I can't believe how cheap it is!!!" I wouldn't have taken it if I couldn't afford it, but I would still have been impressed!

There was a series--House Hunters Renovation?--that revisited people later on. But I think all the episodes were in the United States.
 

isisdave

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HHI disregards a lot of things. On rentals, they never ask "how long are you going to live here" which makes a big difference, both in budget ... you can stand an extra $100/month for a year but maybe don't want that level for longer ... and the cost of furnishing an unfurnished apartment, which matters a lot depending on how long you're planning to be there. And they rarely consider commuting cost. I remember one in Galway where the person chose the place that was $50 less, even though it was 15 miles farther away. Gas is $7/gallon in Ireland.
 

amycurl

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I think instead of House Hunters International, it should be called, "What do you really need: a new house or couples therapy?" The audience would then vote American Idol style, and the couple would have to abide by the results. ;)
 

SmithOp

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I remember a show where people swapped houses and did a makeover on each others place, some were really atrocious, bet they couldn't wait to redo it.

Sent from my SM-G970U using Tapatalk
 

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I remember a show where people swapped houses and did a makeover on each others place, some were really atrocious, bet they couldn't wait to redo it.

Sent from my SM-G970U using Tapatalk

Trading Places?
 

wackymother

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HHI disregards a lot of things. On rentals, they never ask "how long are you going to live here" which makes a big difference, both in budget ... you can stand an extra $100/month for a year but maybe don't want that level for longer ... and the cost of furnishing an unfurnished apartment, which matters a lot depending on how long you're planning to be there. And they rarely consider commuting cost. I remember one in Galway where the person chose the place that was $50 less, even though it was 15 miles farther away. Gas is $7/gallon in Ireland.

They often do cover that in HHI--how long the people expect to be there. (Or how long the show is presenting them as planning to be there, since it's definitely got elements of fiction.) And they do talk about furnished places versus unfurnished places.

Sometimes the buyer/tenant looks at an apartment that is so, so clearly someone's personal home with a ton of personal possessions and very specific taste and lots of furniture, and the buyer will say, "And it comes with the furniture?" And the realtor says, "Yes, everything you see." They NEVER choose those places--obviously it's some friend of a friend letting them film at their home.
 

DaveNV

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I remember a show where people swapped houses and did a makeover on each others place, some were really atrocious, bet they couldn't wait to redo it.

Sent from my SM-G970U using Tapatalk

You mean like when Hilde stapled thousands of fake flowers all over the bathroom walls and ceiling, completely covering everything? It was horrifying to even watch. I kept picturing the poor homeowners trying to remove things and repair all those staple holes. :eek:

Dave
 

1Kflyerguy

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I like a lot of the house hunting shows, such a property brothers, Hawaii Life, etc. I have watched a few episodes of House Hunters, but never watched it with any regularity. I also enjoy the Flip shows like Flip or Flop, Dessert Flippers, etc..

I got bored with the Crasher shows, particularly after i realized how cheap they do things.. I read a few article that said those shows often only paint the side of the house the camera can see...

I can't stand any of the shows where the clueless homeowners try to do the full renovations themselves, and the end up cutting the wood too short, accidently cutting live wires, etc.
 

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Trading Places?

Close. It was Trading Spaces. They actually brought it back 2 or 3 years ago but it just wasn’t the same. I loved the original.
 

JudyH

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We’ve recorded and watched hundreds of House Hunter Internationals. I met a woman traveling a few years ago who took some seminars offered by Adrian Leeds. She was pretty high pressured in her sales approach.
I like to Google some of the buyers and see where they are now or what their business is. I wish they would return to some of the properties so we can see how they are renovated.
 

amycurl

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Correct. Trading Places is a brilliant, illustrative lesson in how the commodities future markets work, disguised as a Christmas movie starring Dan Ackroyd, Eddie Murphy, and Jamie Lee Curtis.
 
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artringwald

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Oh, yeah! I forgot about My Lottery Dream Home. I like that one too. Partly because a lot of the lottery winners have fairly modest expectations and are being really careful with their money, so you see some very inexpensive homes in out-of-the-way places, and the host seems genuinely excited and enthusiastic about them.

Four of us went to a nice restaurant for dinner, enjoyed the meal, and since we were one of the last seatings, chatted with our server for awhile. Less than 2 weeks later, DW called me into the family room. She was watching My Lottery Dream Home and said "isn't that our server from the restaurant"? It was, Google helped me find an article about her. She won Minnesota’s $11.7 million Hot Lotto jackpot, bought a very nice house, but enjoyed being a server at the restaurant, and enjoyed spending some of the money to help others.

 

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Forgot to mention - I like watching Tiny House too. It's amazing what they do with so little space. I also wonder with many of these people how long they live in one/if they are still living in one a few years down the road.

Would love one for a "second home" near the beach :)
 

wackymother

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Forgot to mention - I like watching Tiny House too. It's amazing what they do with so little space. I also wonder with many of these people how long they live in one/if they are still living in one a few years down the road.

Would love one for a "second home" near the beach :)

That one I'm not a fan of. So many of the buyers seem so unrealistic! I saw one where a woman was planning on hauling her tiny house back and forth across the country, over the Rockies, every six months. And she bought a huge tiny house!

The other one that got me was a family.of...I think six, parents and three boys and the oldest child was a girl of about 11 or 12. The parents were looking at the tiny houses, and one had like a tiny bunk basically in the space over the refrigerator. The parents were all, oooh, this will be perfect for our daughter, she will have so much privacy!
 

AnnaS

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That one I'm not a fan of. So many of the buyers seem so unrealistic! I saw one where a woman was planning on hauling her tiny house back and forth across the country, over the Rockies, every six months. And she bought a huge tiny house!

The other one that got me was a family.of...I think six, parents and three boys and the oldest child was a girl of about 11 or 12. The parents were looking at the tiny houses, and one had like a tiny bunk basically in the space over the refrigerator. The parents were all, oooh, this will be perfect for our daughter, she will have so much privacy!

So many are really unrealistic to me...but who knows what lifestyle/how they lived prior. I find many interesting. One person, one person and a pet and or a couple, okay. More than that.....not so sure. There are not many "families". Would love to know the average ownership of one and if they stay put or are constantly moving.
 

WinniWoman

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They are so unrealistic. The costs of the renovations seem so under priced. They remodel an entire home for like $50,000 including a kitchen, master bathroom, etc, all high end. LOL!

And I still don't get where many of these people get all their money unless they inherit it or win the lottery.

Last night we were watching Lake Front Getaways and this young couple from NJ was buying a second home up to $475,000 in North Carolina. They wanted a BIG home to entertain people that they said would come down to visit with them. I always wonder what do they do for a living or where do they get this kind of money. Plus if they work how much time off do they get? They already had their boat and wanted to buy jet skis and kayaks, etc.

That's another thing. All these people buying these homes are always worried about entertaining. How much entertaining are they doing? They have kids and they work. I imagine weekends would be busy for them. I don't get it. And then many are moving far away from their home states and think these people are going to visit them constantly? LOL! They all seem to have huge extended families and millions of friends. Ha! Ha!

Then there are the homes in places like Canada where a shack goes for like $800,000 and they have a huge remodeling budget to get it up to par. SMH...
 

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I actually liked Sandra Rinomato who was the original host of HGTV's "Property Virgins" back in 2006. Does anyone remember that show?

Sandra always appeared to be right on top of things and knew what she was talking about.....


.
 

Panina

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I actually liked Sandra Rinomato who was the original host of HGTV's "Property Virgins" back in 2006. Does anyone remember that show?

Sandra always appeared to be right on top of things and knew what she was talking about.....


.
I loved that show too, she was real.
 

Panina

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They are so unrealistic. The costs of the renovations seem so under priced. They remodel an entire home for like $50,000 including a kitchen, master bathroom, etc, all high end. LOL!

And I still don't get where many of these people get all their money unless they inherit it or win the lottery.

Last night we were watching Lake Front Getaways and this young couple from NJ was buying a second home up to $475,000 in North Carolina. They wanted a BIG home to entertain people that they said would come down to visit with them. I always wonder what do they do for a living or where do they get this kind of money. Plus if they work how much time off do they get? They already had their boat and wanted to buy jet skis and kayaks, etc.

That's another thing. All these people buying these homes are always worried about entertaining. How much entertaining are they doing? They have kids and they work. I imagine weekends would be busy for them. I don't get it. And then many are moving far away from their home states and think these people are going to visit them constantly? LOL! They all seem to have huge extended families and millions of friends. Ha! Ha!

Then there are the homes in places like Canada where a shack goes for like $800,000 and they have a huge remodeling budget to get it up to par. SMH...
Possibly they don’t include the price of the contractor, just the material as some shows provide more perks then others. Also they might have reasonable priced contractors. I know when I renovated my studio I supplied the material and only hired the contractor to do the work. I had prices ranging from 24,000 to 85,000 for the same work. Actually someone I knew recommended the lower priced one and I was extremely happy with the work.

Lots of times the finish home looks high end but are not, just great choices that come together beautifully, but lower prices picks. For example on many of the shows in the last year I see tile that have seen in the store running .99 to 1.29 a tile. When I renovated my studio I used lower priced picks too yet it had a high end look.
 

Talent312

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... All these people buying these homes are always worried about entertaining. How much entertaining are they doing?...
And then many are moving far away from their home states and think these people are going to visit them constantly?...

I'd rather not have a home that's "good" for entertaining or housing guests.
I don't want to keep my house clean & ready for family + friends.
I don't want people traipsing thru our rooms, wanting food+drink.
I like my privacy... I prefer to be able to wander around in my undies. (TMI?).

.
 

wackymother

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I was looking for that meme that says something like "You never feel as unpopular as when you're watching HGTV." Because ALL the buyers have huge crowds of fun-loving family and friends!
 
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