Househunters / Househunters International

They see many more than just four.
The show edits them down to only cover three.

Yeah - I'm guessing that they look at many houses - once/if they find one that they want to buy they pick the next best two and go back and video the show.

I thought I read that sometimes they pick one, and then find 2 others to look at as well.

I think I remember reading that the searching family has already found/decided on their new home and the others in the running are simply set up as "alternates" for show purposes. If you watch you can often see furnishings in one of the houses they look at and then see the same furnishings in the tag at the end that shows them settled in their new home.
Nothing is real any more.

Thanks. That makes sense.

Also, lessons I have learned from this show:
Don't move to Nepal
Don't move to Manila

I don't watch the US version, but the International version fascinates me. It's really interesting to see how people live in other countries.

Being an expat, I've received a few e-mails from casting people on the International version asking if I'd like to be on. They're always looking for people who already own a house, or have one under contract. They sometimes just rent furniture and temporarily re-furnish the apartments to make them look different. I'm in the middle of buying a place, so I e-mailed them a few weeks ago, but they had already found people for another Amsterdam episode. Too bad. I think you get something like $5,000 plus a DVD copy of the show.

I always hated the "We're looking for a vacation home on a tropical island" episode. I am much more interested in the typical house of Scotland, Turkey, Greece, Egypt, etc. than yet another tropical island.

YCantAngieRead said:

I don't watch the US version, but the International version fascinates me. It's really interesting to see how people live in other countries.

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Like having the washing machine in the bathroom.

I'm fascinated to see what people can afford in places other than Los Angeles. Not that I'd move to Kansas City, but for $250,000 they bought a $2Million house if it were here. Crazy.

(Or, maybe we are the crazy ones for trying to make it here)

I am a spoiled American, I get that, but the International episodes fascinate me as regards pricing. You see them looking at homes in a country like Belarus and the cost of what I would consider less than acceptable housing is very, very, very high.
A teeny apartment with a hotplate and a grimy bathroom can be four or five times what my larger home on a relatively park like property cost.
It amazes me.

My favorite episode is one in Rhode Island where the couple argues over a $300 frame set pool. The husband thought it would be great, while the wife was worried about the maintenance cost. I think I thought it was funny because it was such a trivial thing, but they made a big deal about it.

The Flush said:

My favorite episode is one in Rhode Island where the couple argues over a $300 frame set pool. The husband thought it would be great, while the wife was worried about the maintenance cost. I think I thought it was funny because it was such a trivial thing, but they made a big deal about it.

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That's Rhode Island for ya.

drumorgan said:

I'm fascinated to see what people can afford in places other than Los Angeles. Not that I'd move to Kansas City, but for $250,000 they bought a $2Million house if it were here. Crazy.

(Or, maybe we are the crazy ones for trying to make it here)

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+1

But then I look outside at our January 75 degree weather, and say, "Oh, yeah, that's why".

TiVo'Brien said:

Like having the washing machine in the bathroom.

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Or right in the kitchen amongst the cabinets there, as typical in the UK.

Or that in some places, the "Bathroom" is more or less a whole wet room, with toilet, sink, and shower faucets, with a drain in the floor. Or Japan, where there is a group of rooms for the one "Bathroom" we traditionally know. In Japan, they have the sink/laundry (usually a top load washer), toilet room (with hand washing sink, or automatic toilet), and bathroom, with a tub, drained floor, and comfort system or even spa tub.

Myself, I like watching episodes in greater Europe, other tha Spain, Portugal, Italy, Greece, and sometimes France, and watch most current and former English colonies, and much of southeast Asia. I also avoid much of the Carribean and Latin America.

At a friend's house this week. Her husband works on reality TV shows. And, I learned something new about Househunters. Sometimes when they can't find three similar houses to "hunt", they get a friend's house that is not even for sale and pretend it is one of the choices.

I'm shocked.

drumorgan said:

At a friend's house this week. Her husband works on reality TV shows. And, I learned something new about Househunters. Sometimes when they can't find three similar houses to "hunt", they get a friend's house that is not even for sale and pretend it is one of the choices.

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I read an article about that just the other day.

What I (as someone who has lived overseas) hate about the HH International show is when Americans move overseas, yet expect American-style homes. I was actually embarrassed recently watching an episode where the husband was Norwegian, the wife American, and they were moving to Norway.

The wife was so stuck up about having an "American" home. There was one thing she said where even the (Norwegian) realtor looked pissed off and offended, though I can't remember what it was.

They ended up building a new home (way, WAAAAY over budget) so she could get some of what she wanted.

If that's the one I remember they looked at a couple of really interesting homes- I think one was an old monastery or maybe nunnery with woodwork to die for.
What's the point of living in another country if you simply beam in a typical USA suburban home? That's one thing many American buyers dream of having- a home with a history.
Being offered it and scrunching up your nose in disgust blows my mind.