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Slidell, Lousiana - looks kind of moist

Slidell, Louisana

Last night House Hunters went to Slidell, Louisiana, which is about 30 miles northeast of New Orleans. It is a whole 3 feet above sea level, which would explain why the House Hunters current home got completely ruined by Katrina. Looking at the map, you’ll see this area is a prime target for a storm surge. However the subject of House Hunters love the area except when you have wind gusts of 190 mph and a 25 foot storm surge blasting through your house.

After fixing up the house, the owners want something bigger (and presumably on higher ground which may not be possible in that area). Although the love their current master bedroom and bath, this is offset by the back that when they watch TV in their tiny living room, they have to sit about three feet from the screen.

Of course if the subject House Hunter has a dog, the people will have to focus on that (much more than the kids, who cares about them). “Little Miss Sophie” apparently likes to go for walks while sitting in a baby stroller. Of course there is no chance in hell that I would do that.

The first house was rather non-descript except that is was on a big ol’ lot and the bathroom isn’t as nice as their current house.

The second house was in LaCombe, LA, and it was much bigger, much nicer and much more expensive (never mind the fact that it was well over their budget). This was the first time ever that I heard someone say that they actually liked a gravel driveway (it made it seem more countryish). The kitchen was great especially for a house in this price range. If it was my choice, I would have picked this house. Of course that’s just my ignorance speaking, I have no idea where this thing is, what the neighborhood is like, how long the drive is to work, etc. But it was the nicest house.

Best moment around this house was around the size of the kids’ bedrooms, which seemed to be too small. In typical realtor fashion , it was suggested they could just add on to the house and make the rooms larger. The realtor was then reminded that this house was already out of their price range and there is no extra money for that kind of nonsense.

The third house was notable for the large expanse of tile that was the living room floor. Who the hell thinks that tile in the living room looks good? Not too long ago, the wife and looked at a nice house that had some tile inlay in the family room. The realtor acted like it was something special, but it looked pretty bad to me.

Overall house #3 looked rather dated. Older looking kitchen cabinets, tired looking wire shelves in the closet, torn up looking deck that hadn’t seen Thomson’s Water Seal in 3 years…. Of course this is the one the they picked! AND THEY JUST LOVE THE NEW PLACE!!!!

Henderson, Nevada - looks hot & boring

Last night's episode featured a single guy looking to move out of his parents house and into something in soulless Henderson, Nevada, which is apparently between Las Vegas and the Arizona boarder. When I say 'soulless' I probably have no idea what I'm talking about, since I've never been there, but looked awfully boring on TV.

So this young guy runs some sort of business, which is apparently doing well since he's got enough money to put +$300K on a house. I didn't get the impression that his parents were loaded, so most of this seems to be on him. But the strangest thing about this fine fellow is that he is apparently obsessed with wood floors. Every house he goes into, there is a long discussion about the floors. "Are these wood?"...."no they are laminate, BUT A HIGH QUALITY LAMINATE!" We basically got treated to three different conversations around this. Uh, you are aware that floors can be changed, right?

There really is nothing special about any of these houses and they all needed some real freshening up. The first house had a back yard that looked like a prison yard - really hot and uninviting.

The most amusing thing in the episode was the fact that this guy didn't bother ironing his shirt before looking at the second house. It wasn't like he pulled it out of the hamper or anything. It was a brand new shirt that he just took out of the package with the wrinkle lines and all. Smooth, especially when you're going to be on TV.

During the episode I didn't get a good sense at all that he was going to do much renovation or that he was much of a decorator (he scoffed at the stylish red wall in one home). However in the home that he picked, he did an excellent job fixing the place up. Basically replaced the whole kitchen and the bathroom. Everything was quite stylish and nice. Certainly wasn't expecting that given the jacked up shirt he was wearing earlier.

I like to hear others comments on this episode

Introduction to House Hunters Review

Although it is essentially a stupid show, I’m a huge fan of House Hunters. This show is tremendous. The simplicity of it is very appealing, just a few cameras following around people as they check out three houses. There are no contrived storylines, no manufactured controversy, just straight up home voyeurism. You get the benefits of looking at houses everyday without the having to talk to annoying realtor. Plus there is the added joy of seeing cities better (and worse) than yours and certainly houses that are better (and worse) than yours. Then there is the host Suzanne Whang who seemingly hovers the proceedings from afar. I immediately wondered what else she has done other than House Hunters…and oh Ms. Whang has done plenty more – I had no idea, good for her.

More-or-less, my wife and I watch the show every night at 10pm (eastern). The best part is essentially critiquing the home buyers, realtors & homes on the show. I'm sure other people out there enjoy doing the same thing, therefore I decided to start this blog to discuss the most recent episode, make fun of people/houses and solicit comments from others on an episode.