House Hunters, please Buy Me: real estate shows

[grumpygirl]

I decided that even if House Hunters is faked I'm still addicted to it because I'm nosy and like looking into other people's houses, especially when they do House Hunters International.

[indygirl]

Ditto to your entire post, GG, especially the HHI love.

[grumpygirl]

indygirl said:

Ditto to your entire post, GG, especially the HHI love.

Really, it's about the nosiness. That's why I still like to go to open houses in our neighborhood and we saw a ton of houses when we were looking and part of that was my insane curiosity about what other people had and if it was better than the last house.

I just love the international ones though because I want to know what the prices are like for the money. The places in Paris are tiny for the outrageous prices. When they say that it's a one-bedroom flat at 500 square feet I always ask Mr. G if it's another size of foot or something because that's just way too small.

[Brookie]

Yeah, I'm still addicted to House Hunters too. I watched a rerun tonight where it was so obvious that they were following a script; the realtor actually flubbed her line.

HHI cracks my shit up. The places these people are shown are ridiculously small and obnoxiously expensive. I remember a show where the buyers sold their property in California and just moved - lock, stock and barrel - to New Zealand, without having bought a house because they liked how it looked on TV and in the movies (great reason to move). The properties they were shown were nothing to look at for what the asking prices were ($400,000 USD plus, IIRC).

[Deleted]

Anyone besides me watching HGTV's Design Star? I watched part of the marathon yesterday afternoon but had to turn it off right at the end of the Fug Wedding. Who got kicked off? Who's left? When is the finale?

I hate the surfer dude who makes sure he is shirtless every time he is on camera. My favorite was Scott although the weepiness was getting a little tiresome.

[Deleted]

It's down to SurferDude (blah) and Kim. Will was eliminated for not having hosting skills, even if his designs kicked butt. Scott was eliminated in an individual challenge for over-accessorizing. I don't know when the finale is because I won't be watching. It's obvious the producers LOVE SurferDude and want him to win. I'm opting out of the toungebath that the finale will be.

[Deleted]

nycole said:

It's down to SurferDude (blah) and Kim. Will was eliminated for not having hosting skills, even if his designs kicked butt. Scott was eliminated in an individual challenge for over-accessorizing. I don't know when the finale is because I won't be watching. It's obvious the producers LOVE SurferDude and want him to win. I'm opting out of the toungebath that the finale will be.

Bleh. He is just so obvious with the "look, I'm being radical". The blue room he did was horrible and the judges raved about it. I was like, "way to waste a bunch of space, dude". He's a tool.

[raqs]

grumpygirl said:

bloo said:

The Trademark crew: Richard is soooo sleeping with Ginger.

I loathe Ginger. She's as dumb as a bag of hair and always has her mouth gaping open like a trout fighting for air. Stupid, mouth-breathing bimbo.

Oh god so much word!

But I agree with whoever said Armondo Montepythonongolongo is a class-A asshole. He also brought his Rottweilers on sites to "speed" along the contractors' workers, like that would make them work faster or something. I always thought he and his brother wouldn't make it as a business partnership - the brother was always irritated at some stupid crap Armondo was up to, especially with the lowball repair pricing.

Leccima investigated for fraud you say? *evil cackle*

[Mugsy]

Okay, I watch a lot of design/real estate shows, and there are several things that bug me:

- The inconsistency on what is necessary to sell a house. On one show, a designer will have an aneurysm about a HO's paint colour choices in their house and insist the entire place be repainted in neutrals or it simply. won't. sell. Then a show like House Hunters will have people touring all sorts of houses with wild paint schemes and just shrug and say, "We'll have to paint this room." In one show they'll say hardwood and ceramic is an absolute must and that floating floors are cheap and tacky; in another show they'll cover a linoleum floor with peel and stick tile and rave about the improvement. I realize each show has its own agenda, but I hate the inherent snobbery at certain things.
- The "women hate TVs" stereotype. They're always having men talking about that newest hot trend - the "mancave" or whatever. Naturally it includes a big screen TV. I'm a woman and would love a big screen TV, but apparently I'm an anomaly. They're always removing them to make houses sell, as if potential buyers will take one look at a living room with a TV and say, "We don't want this house because it has a TV in the living room." Or decorating shows are building big ugly cabinets to cover the TVs up. Why? No one covers up their stove, even though it's just as esthetically (un)pleasing as a TV and it's not always in use. Plus, the ultimate irony - these are TV SHOWS.
- My third beef is that so many people pronounce realtor as ree-la-tor. Even actual realtors. Arrgh.

[Deleted]

I saw an article in the paper today that Colin & Justin's Canadian show starts tomorrow, I believe on HGTV Canada. Very much looking forward to it!