House Hunters Return – Where Are They Now?

I have a beef!

I read about House Hunter’s International online, and saw some negative comments about the show. Some people are posting that the stories are fabricated! WHAT!! One person went on to say that many of the young people move to other countries without any real knowledge of the country they are moving to; not the politics, economy, money or even the language. And they buy property on a whim!! Well, that’s part of the fun, right? Some people start a new life by throwing a dart at the world map. Our family tried to make an educated decision, based on personal experience and as much research we could find on the topic online. Did we make the best decision we could? I have no regrets so far.

Some question the integrity of the show. Our TV version of our story was accurately depicted for a 45 minutes program. It is television and it really impossible to cover the story in its entirety because it took us a year to get to France.

Some question how people make money when they move to their new country. Most episodes vaguely touch on the topic of work, yet never give specifics. Production companies may not be allowed to promote the people on their TV shows, no direct advertising is anyways.

They may actually leave out the working end of the story on purpose. It is called House Hunter’s and not Incomes Abroad. Imagine for a second that I start a new business in France and by some miracle it takes off. I tell 26 million people on TV about it, then, dozens of people follow suit. What happens to my family? Alternatively, lets say I fail, yet people only see the start of the business and think it really is easy and follow suit. They too fail. It does not seem a good ending to the story if you ask me.

Some people on the show buy holiday homes and yes, some people just want to be on their favourite TV show. There is some of that. In our case, our family’s decision to move across the world to start a new life, it may come across as casual and cool, however it is anything but!

The stress that comes with an international move will put phenomenal amounts of added pressure on your marriage. Not many people can withstand that kind of unstructured unknown that we put our family through when travelling and moving. It is not for the weary. It is for the person that believes that no matter what life presents you, you can make a living anywhere, doing whatever it take to stay afloat and at whatever mental cost. Humility is necessary. Leave your ego at home.

Starting in a new country, you may have to start at the bottom and work your way up. If you think that your new country is waiting for you and your awesomeness, it is just not so. I remember a friend moved to Canada from Hungary, a teacher, and she honestly thought she would go to Canada to show them how to teach. She believed whole heartedly Hungarian school was so superior that her goal was to revamp the Canadian school system. She did not speak English. Her views came across as archaic and academic, far too conservative for Canada and a little pretentious to believe that her contribution was not just important but necessary.

When moving to your new country you must assimilate and respect the place you are moving to. I have said if before, France did not send us an invite and any struggles we may have because of language, has been brought on my ourselves. We want to stay here as France offers us something different than we had back home. The French take it for granted, yet our village has strong community, universal traditions and deep rooted values.

France was difficult to navigate. We were learning a new language, figuring out legalities much different from North America and we factored in all the unique characteristics of our family. Do not take it lightly. We had intense struggles and came up to brick walls many times. Persistently, meticulously we trucked forward. Eighteen months in, we look back at how far we have come and it is astonishing. We knew nothing. And the more we go along we realize we still don’t.

Where are they now? is an offshoot of the super popular TV show House Hunters and they try to fill in the blanks. People want to know if our house choice came with little regret well after the cameras turn off. Did they renovate, as they wanted to? Did they find a way to make a living as they planned? Did they go back home after a short period of time or did they flip the house and upgrade after home after renovations? These questions are answered in HH’s Where Are They Now?

Hundreds of people contact us each month, dreaming of a similar lifestyle change and want to know where to start. The TV show will share our progress.

Of course, reality TV can feel scripted. They have a job to cover a story in 45 minutes. An accurate depiction of what house hunting in France is like. In our case they did a good job. Of course it is not prefect. If I ever say quirky again it will be too soon or if Alfonz tells me something has potential I don’t know what my reaction will be.

We looked at more than three houses. Of course we did. Nevertheless, you coming along to see all the houses would actually be a show on its’ own. The Hamori’s endless house search in the Languedoc and throughout Europe. Narrowing down the hunt for you on reality TV is the best way to tell the story. Not the whole story of the before, just the happy ending.

Next week we are shooting the after story. Eighteen months later, the cameras return and shed some light on the question, Where are they now? Are we still lucky in the Languedoc?

Of course many of our readers already know where we are. You follow our blog, magazine articles and perhaps even read the first drafts of our book. You know our story is real. So do not believe everything you read online. House Hunters has been a fabulous experience for our family. And for Capestang, a village that thrives on tourism with holiday rentals and canal boats, exposure to North America can only be good for business.

We did liquefy our life in Canada to find a life based on time. More time together meant less time working. We did our best balancing our life to incorporate our children. Raising them with the belief that what you love to do is just as important as what you do for a living and if by some miraculous chance they overlap, well that’s the best story isn’t it.