[willrun4chocolate]

<p>This couple is buying a second home somewhere warm.  Their budget is between 2 and 3 million dollars.  I can't even imagine having that much money.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I have spent way too much time watching TLC and Slice TV.  I have decided though it is way more fun to watch Holmes on Homes and Holmes Inspection when you no longer own a house that you have to worry will pass a home inspection if you decide to sell it.  Watching those shows use ot make me very anxious, now i just sit in my rental apartment and sigh  a sigh of relief.</p>

 

[yar]

<p>Oh I love the other "house hunter" shows where you've got a young couple going out for their first home.  Money's tight, so their budget is limited to ......$350,000.   WTF?  Where do people get the income to support these kind of loans?  What ever happened to starting off with the 2br ranch in the dicey neighborhood?  I love to hear them complain that they don't like the color of the granite countertops.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>yar</p>

 

[Grizzly]

<p>When we were travelling to visit my folks this fall we saw one about a young professional from Houston who had a really tight budget, she couldn't spend more than 130k. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>I guess I don't know the US markets but I thought she'd be hard pressed to find a hovel but she's going around demanding pools, cathedral ceilings and walk in closets.  She got what she wanted. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>What's so special about Houston, or conversely, why the heck is property so inexpensive there?</p>

 

[willrun4chocolate]

<p>I watched a guy this weekend who was 6.6, walk through every door and commented on how low it was.  How it wasn't made for people like him.  Uh it's a door and 98% of them are a standard height.  If you are 28 and have been 6.6 for at least 14 years, and you haven't figured out that door height and width is pretty standard there is a problem.  Now a shower stall with a low shower head I understand but a door?  Every single door?  They weren't looking for amazingly expensive properties that you might expect a beautiful big entrance way, but normal houses.  I'd still bet that the interior doors in Donald Trump's house are still pretty standard height.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I also love when they look at well maintained houses with some upgrades and complain about the fact the kitchen doesn't have a new  $20,000 reno.  Uhm if I put a $20,000 upgrade in my kitchen I wouldn't be selling it for 10 years, which is exactly how old most of those kitchens are.<br><br>
 </p>
<div class="quote-container"><span>Quote:</span>
<div class="quote-block">Originally Posted by <strong>yar</strong> <a href="/t/75920/so-i-am-watching-house-hunters-international#post_2022766"><img alt="View Post" class="inlineimg" src="/img/forum/go_quote.gif" style=""></a><br><br><p>Oh I love the other "house hunter" shows where you've got a young couple going out for their first home.  Money's tight, so their budget is limited to ......$350,000.   WTF?  Where do people get the income to support these kind of loans?  What ever happened to starting off with the 2br ranch in the dicey neighborhood?  I love to hear them complain that they don't like the color of the granite countertops.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>yar</p>
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[willrun4chocolate]

<p>TONIGHT, the couple is leaving the brutal Canadian winter of</p>
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<p>Victoria BC Canada.  Uhm yes, they have brutal winters, and showed pictures of that time they got snow 3 years ago.  LOL.</p>

 

[yar]

<p>Griz - Texas homes can still be gotten relatively on the cheap.  We never really had a big housing bubble (and so prices have not fallen too dramatically in the last year or two).  There are two main reasons for the lack of a big run-up in prices.  1. Just about every Texas city was once surrounded by large ranches - meaning they are now surrounded by vast tracts of open, developable land.  2.  Texas home builders have long had access to virtually unlimited supplies of immigrant (read that as "cheap") labor.  For these reasons, you've never been able to sell your Texas tract-home for a huge profit - as it has always been competing with bargain-priced new construction, just down the road a piece.  So Texas cities sprawl out to tomorrow, but the unending supply of new construction keeps prices down.  Meanwhile, the cathedral ceilings and master suites with jet tubs and large walk-in closets have become too commonplace to mention.  Oh - and people have generally wised-up to what a pita the in-ground pool is - to the point that they are as often a drag on home value as they are an asset.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>yar</p>

 

[muzicgrl]

<p>That is the low end of what it takes to buy pretty much any house here. You would likely be horrified by our house search.<br><br>
 </p>
<div class="quote-container"><span>Quote:</span>
<div class="quote-block">Originally Posted by <strong>yar</strong> <a href="/t/75920/so-i-am-watching-house-hunters-international#post_2022766"><img alt="View Post" class="inlineimg" src="/img/forum/go_quote.gif" style=""></a><br><br><p>Oh I love the other "house hunter" shows where you've got a young couple going out for their first home.  Money's tight, so their budget is limited to ......$350,000.   WTF?  Where do people get the income to support these kind of loans?  What ever happened to starting off with the 2br ranch in the dicey neighborhood?  I love to hear them complain that they don't like the color of the granite countertops.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>yar</p>
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[yar]

<br><br><div class="quote-container"><span>Quote:</span>
<div class="quote-block">Originally Posted by <strong>muzicgrl</strong> <a href="/t/75920/so-i-am-watching-house-hunters-international#post_2023432"><img alt="View Post" class="inlineimg" src="/img/forum/go_quote.gif" style=""></a><br><br><p>That is the low end of what it takes to buy pretty much any house here. You would likely be horrified by our house search.<br><br>
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<p><br><br>
So - seriously - what do people do?</p>
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<p>yar</p>
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[muzicgrl]

<p>Save money, live frugally,  rent for a long time, and not buy a place unless there is a couple with 2 incomes. I didn't wait to start shopping for a place until my 30s because I love renting....there is no way in hell I could buy a place (any place) on just my income. Plus incomes by definition are higher in places with a really high cost of living.<br>
 </p>
<p>A 300K house is a house payment of less than 2K a month. Rent for a 2 bedroom apartment around here is more than that.<br>
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<div class="quote-block">Originally Posted by <strong>yar</strong> <a href="/t/75920/so-i-am-watching-house-hunters-international#post_2023446"><img alt="View Post" class="inlineimg" src="/img/forum/go_quote.gif" style=""></a><br><br><p><br><br>
So - seriously - what do people do?</p>
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<p>yar</p>
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