OK, so there's this couple on "House Hunters" . . .

[Brigid]

Last edited Tue Jul 16, 2013, 06:09 PM - Edit history (1)

Looking for a condo in the Lincoln Park area of Chicago. They want to spend a maximum of $300K. Good luck with that!

[olddots]

1. House Hunters was a nice little diversion from dramaic "reality " shows

The show has become dramatic like all reality shows and that pisses me off because it's fun to look at other places to live .The real estate agents
and clients seem to be reading a script now .

[Spike89]

2. My wife doesn't believe the buyers all want stainless

It drives her crazy--they all say the same thing, they want updated stainless appliances, granite counters, and an open floor plan. I'll grant that stainless and granite have their appeal (though I don't like how smudgy stainless can be, especially with kids). It does seem that many of the "amenities" that people talk about as really important seem very minor when compared to the huge (and unchangeable) things like neighborhood, layout, and lot.
My pet peeve are the people who keep focusing on the paint colors--for crying out loud, you can paint the whole interior of the house for less than it would cost to put in a single stainless steel fridge--and in an empty house, it isn't much harder to do.

[Arugula Latte]

6. That drives me nuts. Look past the paint. Look past the wallpaper.

Jeez, people, those are called "cosmetic" for a reason.

[Spike89]

3. Oh, the "scandal" has affected me more than I expected too

When I first heard that not all the choices were actually valid options (some were already sold, others never for sale, and some not really in the price range mentioned)--I was "meh, so what...I just like looking at the houses" But, watching the show now, I find myself skeptical about whether a house is "real" and rather than trying to guess which one the buyers want, I'm trying to guess which one was really for sale.
I don't know if they changed and no longer use "fake" houses. I do wish they'd actually set the time frame though--housing prices are so volatile and one of the best things is seeing what $$$ buys in different markets, but when you don't know if you are looking at houses that sold in 2008 or 2013, comparisons aren't useful.

[Brigid]

4. I will never forget one episode from several years ago.

This woman was looking for a house for herself and her seventeen-year-old son. She finally chose the biggest, most expensive house of the three. It was absolutely gorgeous, but in a year, after her son left home, she was going to be rattling around all by herself in that big, high-maintenance behemoth. I would love to know if she still has that house.

[avebury]

5. The show is totallly staged.

A son and daughter-in-law were on the show and they had already bought their house when they were asked to do an episode. They then had to participate in a mock house hunt for the show. They had to use a few change of clothes and scenes could be reshot. It kind of bothered the wife as she now had to make negative statements about a house they already chose while making positive comments about other houses. It left a bit of concern about whether or not they bought the right house.

[Arugula Latte]

7. Interesting.

I always wondered about that.

On the show they always choose from three houses, which seems arbitrarily constraining.