The Great House Giveaway

LittleMax

hazyjo said:

I actually think it's good. Just watched most of them in the last week.

They actually give the selling and fees figures at the end, not like Homes Under The Hammer, and show you never know what you're getting at auction. I might refer our usual visitors there who say "I've watched HUTH and want to buy a property to do up".

(And 'Damon' was one of my first major crushes so I prob have a soft spot.)

My new guilty pleasure - also helped by Simon O'Brien
Agree re the fees - HUTH should certainly show these.  Apart from the putting strangers together bit, I think it is a good concept and really does show the importance of having your business head on not doing the house for yourself.  It also shows how hard it really is for not much gain.  When you look that some of these are working full time on the property and getting family to put in a lot of graft as well, the profit isn't much to show for 6 months work.

Davesnave

AdrianC said:

Davesnave said:

Car crash TV perhaps, but I've seen the real thing. It isn't pleasant viewing when the partner has obviously upped and gone long ago, the water is dripping through the roof, you have to pass through the non-existent conservatory to go upstairs and you're forced to help the vendor push his car at the end  because he can't afford a new battery! Horrendous, (and he still refused our realistic offer, the Richardhead!)

...at that point, did you start to feel your sympathies lying with the ex?

Yes....but not if she'd agreed to the insane floor plan! Like the property we eventually bought, I was angry so much effort and money had been thrown at making the place so bad, reducing what we could offer with so much demolition in mind.

The vendor here was realistic, so we lost interest in the other one. Its vendor also got real another 6 months later, when he sold for £20k less than my estimate of its worth.

Titus_Wadd

I couldn't believe the lass who had a carpenter BF who could "help", but then presented a bill leaving them only a few hundred quid in the kitty!  Then disappeared never to return.

What I do like is that they show the difficulty getting trades people to do the work, or even give quotes for the jobs they can't tackle themselves.

My son and his GF moved in with us recently to save for a house and they are glued to it!  If anything it's given them a bit more confidence to buy a house that needs a bit of work.  They didn't quite believe me that they could barter down the cost of a work top off cut or just change the doors if the carcasses are fine.  I think (like many 20-30 somethings they hope to buy a mini version of Mum and Dad's home...one that came from 35 years of mortgage payments and started with a house with no plumbing in the kitchen).  Now they're excited to decorate their place when they get it, realising there's no point paying for someone else's "look" if they plan to paint throughout anyway. 

It's a great show for showing them they could tackle many jobs; when I tell them this they haven't been convinced!

LittleMax

Very true @Tutus_Wadd - I think growing up I had seen my parents tackle everything themselves, so knew it was possible, I'm not sure as many people do things themselves these days.  But how I wish we had had Youtube and the internet... our trusty Readers Digest DIY Manual was all we had! 

AdrianC

LittleMax said:

But how I wish we had had Youtube and the internet... our trusty Readers Digest DIY Manual was all we had! 

At least you knew the RD manual had had some form of editing, and was produced by people with a vague clue of what they're on about... which doesn't always apply to YT or t'internet.

uralmaid

I have to admit I shall still watch it - as it acts as a good stress reliever shouting at the telly (whilst sat here waiting for the useless solicitors and estate agents involved in our sale and purchase to get their act together)

sst1234

It’s very interesting tv and throwing two people together with mismatched skillsets is definitely done to add drama. Like someone saying that they bring ‘design skills to the table while the other person is a skilled tradesperson. Sure you think you can pick wallpaper and tiles so that somehow makes you worthy of half the profits in the same way as the person who will fit the kitchen, bathroom and fix the leaking roof. If it was just one person doing it and taking the profit, I think that success rate would be higher. 

That said, most contestants haven’t helped themselves so far, frankly just not putting the work in. The guy who renovated with the two bickering women was great, he single handedly made that project and showed how it’s done. 

EmmyLou30

I'm a dozen episodes in so far. Interesting show and a couple seem to have fallen foul of a faltering market with brexit and stuff which I felt sorry for as they did work hard. But all the other failures seem to stem from the two strangers having a major falling out, one side not pulling their weight, or both not pulling their weight!! They seem to fail to try and understand the local market and make ill-advised layout changes or just don't put the effort it blaming their other job, other commitments etc for not being able to put the hours in - which they would have known when they signed up so no sympathy from me there! Maybe if they incurred the loss themselves they'd make more of an effort?   

DayDreamerandGeneralWaster

I have been catching up, some of them make utterly stupid decisions.  It has made me think l can save money by planning and doing jobs myself though.

caeler

The format has the chance to be great but I agree, it feels like it’s more about the relationship breakdown of the people involved rather than the property. It’s getting annoying.