I apologize in advance, but this is another one of my rants. It's one of those days. But I'm keeping my head up. And it's my fault for watching it! I'm sure I'll feel better after I'm done typing this post. :)
I'm not sure the show is actually bad for my finances. But if you know how hard (and often) I look for housing options, you might appreciate how frustrating watching that show could be! At the end of the day, it's probably just bad for my (temporary) mental stability. But, either way, I need to stop watching this show. Why is it so hard to stop?!?!
I just turned on the TV and HGTV was on. And House Hunters was on. They were in Texas (I live in NJ, right next to NYC). By the way, why the heck I do not live in Texas?!?! Have you seen those houses?!?!? OMG!!! It would probably be cheaper to buy normal houses for all of our family in Texas than one near our families for us....
Just to put it in perspective, I moved to NYC in 2004. I lived right in the City for five years until I moved to Jersey in 2009. When I first moved to NYC I lived in a "room." No, I didn't share an apartment. I rented a room with a toilet and "kitchen." A 400 sq. ft. studio apartment (for $1700 per month). I lived there for two years. The last year and a half, my now-wife shared it with me. God bless her. Very few people could live in a room with me, far from family for a year and a half and survive.
Let's dig in to the best (READ: most annoying) parts of this episode.
My (least) favorite quotes from the first house ($550,000):
- It's not as big as it seems. It's not quite 4500 square feet.
- It's only 4 bedrooms, but there are a lot of "extra" rooms.
- I'm a little upset that it doesn't have a pool.
- When referring to the wine "closet": "It's no cellar, but it will do."
- This one is only 4200 square feet.
- It's a smaller yard. (umm... what's a yard?)
- It didn't have a pool, but it did have one in the (golf course) community, so that's a decent compromise.
- It's five bedrooms, almost 4800 square feet.
- Where is the grass? Only in a front yard? There is no grass around the pool area and outside kitchen in the back?
- Question: What's that space? (That space was a random "room" at the top of a stairwell that was as big as the $1700 per month apartment I used to live in) Response: It's just kind of flex space. They don't really use it for much. (WHAT?!?!?! Put a toilet, shower head and hot plate and I'll move in!)
- Do the roaches come with the apartment or are those extra?
- Is that an airplane or a train passing by? (the answer is most likely "both")
- The following is all stated from the same physical location while spinning in place:
- Here is the "kitchen area."
- There is the bedroom area.
- There is the living area.
- The bathroom area is in the kitchen area.
- Just so you know, the old lady across the hall cooks a lot of garlic and curry-based dishes - for her twelve cats.
- And, of course, taxes and maintenance are another $2,000 per month.
By the way, they picked number one. They love it. It's very nice. I feel better now (that the show is over). I'm going to wait until tomorrow to post this. I don't like to go to bed or blog angry...
What about you? Does this show make your blood boil or is it just me? I love watching people succeed. The issue I have is when someone says: Our budget is $200,000 and we need seven bedrooms, twelve baths, nine acres of land and, of course, gold-plated walls and granite everything. We've had a hard time finding anything like that for under $225,000.
Any other shows I should avoid?
Ha! It's all good. I'll get there someday. I just live in an expensive part of the country. I have a budget. I save. I earn. I sell. I earn more. I sleep (sometimes). I pay attention to my money. So I'll see you on TV in a few years. (But I won't be looking for 4,000 square feet. Who needs that much space?!?!). And, of course, I put my credit card down and slowly step away from the mall!
Image: Tom Curtis / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
HAHAHA! That's awesome! I couldn't agree with you more. Guess im lucky that i do live in the great state of Texas..home of affordable real estate.
ReplyDelete-MoneyMan
3000 sq feet is already too much for us!
ReplyDeleteLots of housing space is a big benefit when you live in the middle of nowhere. I'd take 2200 sq feet (or less, even) for a place in the SF bay area... though 2200 sq feet in the bay area would cost 5x as much as our current place and be 1/10 as nice (or less).
@MoneyMan - great to hear you're on the good side of my House Hunters frustration! I'll be sure to crash in one of your seven guest bedrooms next time I'm in Texas :)
ReplyDelete@Nicole - I know! I couldn't imagine filling out more than 2200 sq feet. It's interesting to see how far money goes (or doesn't go...) across the country. I guess if you live in the middle of nowhere the space could be helpful to have somewhere to entertain yourself at home and for storage. There are thousands of things to do right outside my door (which I probably would take advantage of more if I wasn't so cheap/frugal (take your pick)). So I'll pretend that "space" is partly mine...
And this is exactly why I love watching these shows. To make fun and go to sleep better. A very much American dream - 7 BR with 7 bathrooms, stainless steel appl, granite counters, updated all, 5 acres with pool...and yes, 3 extra rooms for guests once a year and 2 rooms for dogs and cats.
ReplyDeleteLOL! Avoid This Old House, too.
ReplyDeleteI find that kind of parvenu BS annoying, no matter where the ninnies live. Watching idiots spend their money (or some lender's money) on too much space to house too much junk is...well, the only word for it is "annoying."
Here's th'question: Who wants to take care of 4800 square feet? Plus a pool and a yard full of St. Augustine?
Yeah, I realize that if you can afford a 4800-square-foot shack, you can afford cleaning help, yard help, and a pool guy. But you wanna know what that translates to? It translates to you becoming a part-time manager in addition to your day job: you get to ride herd on these people, you get to pay them and juggle the FICA and taxes, you get to undo the UNHOLY MESSES they make when they do some incompetent thing behind your back. You get to pay to have the floors pulled up and replaced; you get to pay to dig up and replace the tree that died when some moron weed-whacked the bark off all the way around the trunk like a demented beaver; you get to replace the pool cleaner whose theft the pool dude tried to cover up by replacing the thing with an old, worn-out model; you get to throw out (or apply Elmer's glue to) the antique ivory netsukes some ninny dropped on the floor when she was dusting.
If it's not obvious...I speak from experience.
There's a reason you don't live in Texas: So you won't have fools like this as neighbors.
Awesome post - I have experienced frustration like this often when watching HH - but, like you, I can't seem to stop! Look at it this way...would you REALLY want to live in Texas?!? I'll stick w/my 1200 sq.ft. house here in sunny Southern California!
ReplyDeleteOh, I love Househunters....no, actually I hate Househunters but watch it often anyway. I saw this episode. Things that drive me nuts about Househunters:
ReplyDelete1. (Every single person in every single show when looking at every single kitchen) "Oh, we were really wanting granite countertops"
2. "The closets are a little small" (walk in closets usually - about the size of one of our bedrooms)
3. "The bedrooms are a little small"
They always say "a LITTLE small" not just "small". And not "very small".
@olga - I love it! It's funny how everyone on that show says they want space for "guests" and "entertaining." There are a lot of house parties out there I guess.
ReplyDelete@Funny about Money - sounds like you do have some experience! If only the HH producers required everyone to meet with you before putting in an offer! They would have no more episodes to air!
@Deedee. Isn't it crazy? I would definitely love to see a "two years later" episode. I wonder how their attitudes will change when the cameras turn off. My guess is they will be at least "a little" stressed...
I'm happy in my 1,000 square feet. I wonder if I can spend my entire life in under 2,000 square feet. I think my wife may have a say in that one, too, though. I'll keep you posted.
@anon - I'm a big socal fan, too. 1,200 sq. ft. there is just fine with me!
ReplyDeleteThanks everyone for the great comments!
LOL -- that's hilarious! Great post!
ReplyDeleteI live in a small apartment too ... I don't know the square footage exactly, but the width of the kitchen is 2 feet. (In other words, two people cannot stand side-by-side in the kitchen. In fact, an obese person would have a hard time entering the kitchen.)
Unfortuantely, I don't even live in a hip, swank, "this-is-the-center-of-the-world" place like NYC to justify the small space ... I'm in Atlanta. A fun city, but no New York.
As annoying as this show can be, I can't help but to watch it. Bear in mind that I live in Vancouver where the median price for a home (that includes houses, condos, townhouses, etc.) is just shy of $1 million... and then I watch a couple looking at a single family detached house in Texas for 10% of that price... and they complain that it's too small and too expensive. And it doesn't have a pool.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite part is when they finance the closing costs
ReplyDeleteYou have to remember, too, that the job market isn't as hot in Texas as in NYC. That's why house prices fell in some areas and not in others, and why a mansion in TX costs 10% of the amount as a studio in Manhattan.
ReplyDeleteI lived for six years in a 167 sq feet studio in New York's theater district (it was subsidized for low-income) and while it was inconvenient sometimes, I didn't mind it much -- I was near everything, could walk pretty much anywhere and my other expenses were cheap.
ReplyDeleteNow I live in South Florida and the skills I acquired living in my small space I spun into a sideline organizing business. Now I help people in 5,000 square foot houses who are miserably living with all the crap they don't need or use stored in rooms they don't need or use. Meanwhile my husband, our bird and I live in a lovely, low-maintenance 822-square-foot condo with little problem.
I understand for people who have kids and large dogs, they need more room, but I look at those houses and shudder.
I think it's hilarious on HH when newly marrieds or newly graduated KIDS want the home that their parents spent a LIFETIME moving up to. "I want granite, 4 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, hardwood floors, stainless steel appliances, a fenced back yard with pool, a 3 car garage, and a mortgage that will make it impossible to ever change jobs, have children, or take a vacation for the rest of my life!!! Oh...and I don't like the color of this room." (Can you hear the nasally sarcasm in that rant???) LOL
ReplyDeleteDH & I are debt-free since June 2009, including our house! No mortgage. No car payments. No credit card payments! I wouldn't go back to a mortgage for ANYTHING!!! Not even granite countertops! :)
I find the show makes me start to house hunt obsessively, since I live in a cheaper area, and I see people trying to buy tiny apartments for $400,000 (in much cooler cities than mine) and it makes me think "Gee, it's so much cheaper here, I should definitely buy."
ReplyDeleteI was so upset at one episode where this young military couple was moving to San Diego, $300k budget which I'm sure they couldn't really afford. They found only one house that was move-in ready, and then the wife insisted that she would only take it if they got granite countertops ASAP.
I try to learn lessons from the show - like pay attention to what you're fixating on to make your decisions. Will you take a bad neighborhood over a good neighborhood because the house in the bad neighborhood has granite countertops? One couple refused as AWESOME apartment that had been converted from offices, so it still had "exit" signs over the door, but that is a zero-cost remodel to take them down!
The people who buy house on that show drive me nuts. Do they not realize a can of paint is 30 bucks?? And I agrre with the person that said young people nowadays want everything there parents have been building towards for their entire life. (And even though that sentance just made me souond like Grannny, I'm in my 20s) Also the miltary couple might have been able to afford it depending... In the military you get a housing allowance that depends on you area.
ReplyDeleteWe live in a 2000 sq. foot house with 7 people (two adults, 5 fives) - 3 bedrooms, living area, game room, and kitchen. 4 tiny closets and two tiny bathrooms. "Snug" would describe it well.
ReplyDeleteI'd be interested in knowing what their "actual" budgets are (vs. perceived budgets), and, like some have already said, I'd be interested in seeing a "two years later" post - especially in this housing market.
I'm enjoying your blog!
Wow, that's a lot of people for 2000 sq. ft. I bet that got snug really quick...
ReplyDeleteMy guess is they wouldn't have too many volunteers for the follow-up episode... but it would be really fun to see. :)
Thanks! I've been working on a redesign for quite a while now (until my designer disappeared). That took up some time, but I'm just going to focus on content for a while and get to the redesign at some point soon. Happy reading!