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I think this show is a perfect example of exactly WHY our economy is having serious real estate problems.
I don't blame the people involved for having over-blown expectations since they didn't know any better..........but I remember the wise words of my own Dad when I consulted with him about the possibility of buying a house with no money down (since I was a single parent after a divorce and he was a tax attorney).
He told me IF I didn't have at least 15-20% of what I wanted to buy saved up as a down payment....I was only fooling myself if I thought my income would support the taxes and upkeep a home takes beyond the actual mortgage payment. I might get into a house....but I would end up losing it because I had no over flow in my income. He was right. I am sorry for all the young people out there who didn't have a wise parent to lead them BEFORE they got in debt beyond their means.
I seen a new trend with some of the newer episodes - the 18yr old college student who needs his/her own space, so with mom & dad's help, are looking for a 4 bedroom house with ocean views and and private japanese garden in the backyard, budget of $500K!
Well that was just for TV, you know most 18 year old can't afford that. But overall I like the show. I don't know why, I just like how they pick one and it's always the wrong one I pick for them!! LOL!
Have you seen that one yesterday, set in Mobile, Alabama? The couple wanted to downsize (but have at least 4 bedrooms) and the lady kept saying "oh but this room is too small" LOL. They ended up with a house I would not qualify small, with a 3-car garage...
Have you seen that one yesterday, set in Mobile, Alabama? The couple wanted to downsize (but have at least 4 bedrooms) and the lady kept saying "oh but this room is too small" LOL. They ended up with a house I would not qualify small, with a 3-car garage...
yep-my hometown. Guess some people's idea of downsizing differs from the actual definition.
Totally agree. As a pet owner, I would never buy a home that did not accommodate the needs of my dog as well as everyone else in the family.
Amen.
When we bought our first home, we turned down several homes that had postage-stamp backyards (common in the NJ town we lived in). We ended up buying a small raised ranch on a 50 x 100 lot (a double lot in that town) which gave us a nice front yard and a large back yard, and we and our dogs (two then, four by the time we moved) were very happy there.
Now we have over an acre -- we moved to a three-year-old house in Florida two weeks ago. The house (a 3/2) is huge compared to what we had before, and while some people may think it's too large for two childless adults, it's nice to have things we never had before -- like counter space, two bathrooms, a guest room, a dining room, a garage, and a walk-in closet in the bedroom. We will miss having a basement for storage, but the two spare bedrooms will make up for that.
Has anyone ever noticed that the women never have a purse with them while looking in houses? What's with that? We always have our purses with us. There is really important stuff in our purses. What if we sneeze or have a chap stick attack?
I never carry a purse any more -- I use a fanny pack. I like having my hands free, and I was always afraid I'd leave my purse somewhere.
The recent show with the couple looking in Silicon Valley at a million and a half to two million dollar homes was shocking. The homes were what we would pay about $150,000 for in my town. And then they put in $100,000 in for improvements.How much do these people earn a year???? Why spend so much for so little? They had to be in that neighborhood--big deal--so go to another neighborhood and get something nicer for less. Even wealthy people should have respect for value.
I laugh at the buyers who want granite and stainless, want hardwood floors, don't like the colors the rooms are painted, and want the whole house for a song -- especially if they're first-time homebuyers. They have such a sense of entitlement. Have they ever heard of doing it themselves? Whatever happened to DIY projects?
Our first house was a mess -- it needed 13 new windows (they were jalousie-style, the owner was dying in a nursing home, and the lawyer handling the sale couldn't find the cranks for any of them) and a new roof off the bat. The only appliance it came with was a stove -- which was an old horror, so we replaced it (but I cooked on it from February, when we moved in, until December, when we got a new one in time for Christmas). The rooms were painted horrible colors, and we repainted them ourselves. It had filthy carpeting in a sculptured gold -- we pulled it up (ourselves) and had the floors in every room sanded down and topped with polyurethane. The kitchen was a mess (whoever built the cabinets never put runners or drawer guides in, so the drawer boxes rubbed against the frames, creating sawdust. Whenever I wanted to use a pot or a pan, I had to wash them first), and the walls were covered with bathroom tiles in an ugly shade of green, with pink sanitas -- we painted them a pale peach with white trim, and painted the cabinets a glossy white. The vanity was a rotting plywood mess topped with yellow and white tiles -- we ripped it out and put in an oak vanity with a blue cultured marble top. The front door was old and ugly, so we replaced it with a steel door.
Every year we did something, large or small, to improve our home. We fenced the front yard in 1992, put down a new vinyl tile floor in the kitchen in 1993, converted from oil to gas in 1994, put in a new toilet in 1996, put in a new back door and storm doors front and back in 1999, redid the kitchen ourselves in 2000 (and we still consider that 10 days in August the best vacation we ever spent!), put vinyl siding over the old wood clapboards on the eaves and the enclosed back porch in 2001, painted the living room and hallways in 2002, put in a new tub and shower surround in 2004, took down old trees in the back yard that did nothing but shade the whole yard and kill anything in the garden), refenced the back yard and put in a concrete block patio in 2005, and landscaped another part of the yard pretty much every year from 1994 to 2006 (we love roses, and put in a new rose bed every year). Now we're in Florida, and while the house is pretty new (built in 2006 -- we moved in two weeks ago yesterday), we have projects in mind to make it what we want.
A house is an ongoing project. It always needs something done to it. For cryin' out loud, make it yours instead of wanting to have it handed to you for a pittance.
Kathy - hear hear. my house came with a kitchen with nothing but a rusty cast iron sink in it (plus 6 doors and 2 windows), horrendous paint colors, ugly vinyl tile in the kitchen, ugly carpet on top of ugly vinyl tile on top of plywood on top of the original wood floors, needing a new roof, some new windows, etc. in 2 years we've painted, landscaped the yard a bit, put on a new roof, restored the original windows (they're fine, it's the vinyl replacement windows the previous owners put in that need to be replaced), tiled the kitchen and put in counters and appliances, pulled up all of the carpet and some of the plywood/tile, etc etc etc. i wouldn't trade the experience and the satisfaction of restoring a beautiful old house for all the granite countertops in the world!
also, my house cost less than the downpayment on most of the houses you see on house hunters. but i do live in pittsburgh.
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