Location, Location ,Location

[JediJim]

Been watching Phil and Kirstie on LLL over the years and have to wonder what the point of it is. Yes ,it’s easy watching and you get to see some property porn, but surely if the house hunters themselves don’t know what they want, how can Phil and Kirstie find it?
Typical episode -Tom and Helen want a three or maybe four bed in the suburbs. They have two year old Hettie and now have baby number two on the way. It needs to be near a good school and a short distance from the train station. Tom is an IT manger, while Helen works from home.They have a healthy budget of £550 k but could go higher if the right house comes along.
After looking at about 50 properties, they’ve enlisted our help. Followed by a few silly jokes between Phil and Kirstie.

The point is, Phil and Kirstie ( and the shows researchers) surely can only find the same properties as anyone else could. I mean Zoopla and Right Move can find properties at the touch of a few clicks after putting in your preferred area and needs. Otherwise maybe local estate agents maybe?!
The fact that the house hunters in some cases have already seen the properties or dismissed it after seeing it online proves this. They sometimes admit they already seen it.
Why can’t they show more working class people on more modest ( realistic) budgets? For example Dave who works as a truck driver and his partner Sue who works as a super market worker. They have a maximum budget of £230k. Might be good to see house hunters looking for homes that the average family could afford.

Having said all this I do enjoy the show and like Phil and Kirstie. Just wish it wasn’t always middle class yuppie types who have amazing budgets for 32 year old first time buyers !!

DH and I have hate-watched LLL for years.

DH in particular loathes Kirsty Allsop, largely because of her habit of smugly telling young couples they’ll need room for children ‘one day soon’ (we had years of infertility and ivf). There was an episode where she told a young, single professional woman buying a flat in London that she should have a spare room as she might adopt one day and I heard him yell “FUCK OFF KIRSTY” from the other room .

Much as I love it, I think shows like LLL and Property Ladder are part of the problem with the housing market we have now. Property is viewed as an investment rather than a home to live in (see also the obsession with ‘adding value’ and wanting a ‘project’). Kirsty in particular seems to really look down her nose at couples who don’t want to ‘do work’. Newsflash Kirsty, some couples have a 60 hour working week and no DIY skills

Meant to add that I do actually love it, it’s like a comfort blanket. I particularly enjoy the relationship dynamics you get with some couples - I remember a v meek guy who had married a woman from the US, they lived near Windsor I think. She was very disappointed to find they couldn’t afford a huge ranch-style house for their budget...

I do seem to recall that Phil and Kirstie were accused of being part of the problem with regards to house prices, these property type tv shows. Obviously , they have no say in house prices.
20 years ago you could get a three bed semi in the suburbs for 80k. So even a joint income of 30 k could help with a mortgage.
Houses prices have quadrupled and wages haven’t really gone up that much.
I wish I could have brought a house two decades ago, sadly I wasn’t old enough !

I love LLL but I am more sceptical of it now after seeing an episode where the family wanted a house in Exeter. The grandma couldn’t drive and wanted to be on a bus route to go to the theatre and get around/socialise. They showed them a house on Dartmoor and a house in Taunton, pretending that you could easily bus into Exeter to do those things. Absolute lies and I felt really bad for the family who were made to look unreasonable!

Tom is an IT manger, while Helen works from home.They have a healthy budget of £550 k but could go higher if the right house comes along.

I've only watched the program a few times but anytime I watch Tom is a parttime amateur surfer and blogs about yoga and Helen makes 10 scented candles per week which she sells through Etsy and their budget is 2.5 milion.

I’m also sceptical when they say they want to be in the catchment for excellent schools. One week they had my local area on and said a house was in catchment for a school and I knew full well that it wasn’t. And it wasn’t a particularly good school anyway

I've only watched the program a few times but anytime I watch Tom is a parttime amateur surfer and blogs about yoga and Helen makes 10 scented candles per week which she sells through Etsy and their budget is 2.5 milion.

@walkingchuckydoll that made me guffaw!

Phil and Kirstie aren’t local to the areas they go to, where as the house searchers are usually, although sometimes they aren’t.
One couple wanted to move to the catchment area of a particular secondary school but the child was only about two.

Kirsty is Tory scum a smug twat

They were in our area a couple of weeks ago, looked at a house around the corner from us. They certainly described my area as a lot more hip and happening than it actually is

There's an American show called Hawaii Life that features couples relocating to Hawaii and looking at properties. I prefer it because the buyers are the stars of the show and usually tour the houses alone and do all the commentary. The estate agents only pop up for a few minutes to talk price, etc.

Oh I love LLL.
Sometimes they are able to help further by asking estate agents for properties before they go on the open market, I think once they posted letters through the doors on this particular road a couple wanted to live on to see if anyone would moveS

The reason it’s middle classers is because they want perfection, if you have seen 50houses and don’t like any you have a budget issue and unreal expectations.
Want a project? What’s the fascination with these middle class couples wanting a bloody project? same reason my middle class friends always have to be going vegan, training for a marathon, learning a language- they always have to be doing something, they can’t just be.

on ESC what’s with people in their late 60s wanting to relocate to the middle of nowhere? they could be very lucky & have a happy healthy 20 years but for most people they’re going to have more hospital/ doctor appointments ?

why so huge? It’s only got 5 bedrooms I wanted 7. I’ve seen episodes where they want a 3rd reception room. there’s a downstairs bedroom. Use your noggin.

Yet still I watch ...

Love lll but agree annoying when say top budget is x amount

Like the one the other week. Near me in Kent

590/600

And then didn’t like anything And too far from station when was a 10min walk or could cycle

And then raised think an extra 50k and brought right by station

And Phil rightly said well if you gave me that budget I would have shown you something like this

"We'd have to spend a lot of money to get it up to our standards" is often heard on these programmes. So patronising.

All these couples who want 'café culture'. We're shown some ugly high street full of traffic and a café with one rickety table outside.

I get fed up with all the talk of added value, and a project certainly isn't for everyone, but there was a young man the other week who rejected a house because he didn't like the wallpaper. Surely you would expect that unless it's a brand new house.

Still enjoy watching though!

The most annoying part of all of these programmes is when the presenters are told the top budget is x and they show the person something 50k over that and say it may be worth stretching your budget . Of course we all know you can easily find another 50k from under the mattress / down the back of the sofa . Escape to the country is particularly bad for this .

All these couples who want 'café culture'. We're shown some ugly high street full of traffic and a café with one rickety table outside.

These are the high streets where in most towns where only cafes, hairdressers and charity shops are thriving because the rents are so high and the local independent hardware shop has been priced out of the market by the national companies. I wouldn't want to live anywhere like that.

I hate the kitchen/ diner obsession. Is a separate room that hard to navigate. Oh and Kirsty who things knocking down a wall is as easy as adding a lick of paint.

I hate the kitchen/ diner obsession. Is a separate room that hard to navigate. Oh and Kirsty who things knocking down a wall is as easy as adding a lick of paint.

Literally everyone wants an entertaining kitchen.
"Oh no we cant have this kitchen because you can only fit 8 people in it and we regularly have parties/dinner parties for at least 25 people in a 2 bedroom rented flat"
And yes to Kirsty wanting to knock down interior walls at the drop of a hat!

It's the huge budgets that get me along side their vague jobs/businesses.
Steve and Sarah with a budget if £750k that need a property with workshop for Steve's ceramic business and a large open space to become a studuo for Sarah's Yoga business.
I want to know how you can earn that much money by banging out a few pots and doing some stretches!

CrazyTeaDrinker totally agree. a couple of wks ago the couple had an 800k budget based on “some profit from a flat sale, some inheritance,
A mortgage and 80k in savings”....me and my sister both msged Eachother asking “who manages to save 80k”

I love the fact Kirsty says we can knock down this wall 😂😂

Some people do manage to save 80k quite easily depending on their circumstances , even on fairly average salaries .

Floralnomad there’s nothing average about a wage if you can save 80k

Christ I’ve got zero interest whatsoever in watching an average couple with a low budget buy a 3 bed semi in Stevenage

MUCH more interesting are the bonkers ones with the ludicrous budgets. Property porn in action innit.

Although I really did enjoy the episode with the woman who cried at being shown a house in catford