International House Hunters. Seen it?
Every week, I will watch repeat after repeat of couples looking houses in different countries. From multi-million dollar beach houses in Costa Rica to villas in Italy, I would like to think that I live vicariously through these individuals. Always making my top choice of the three home options they are given during the show. Alas, when I turn off the TV, I come back to reality, and realize that I still live in a house in Gainesville, Florida. But the other night, I was even more captivated by the TV show when I saw that Israel was the country of choice for the hour-long episode. The show involved a Jewish Orthodox family from New Jersey who was interested in moving to Jerusalem.
The family’s budget: $2.5 million on a house.
Needless to say, it was unlike any of the other homes I had seen in the other episodes. Older and less spread out, I wasn’t sure if this was a common trend for homes in Israel or just the houses that were shown. Eventually, the family picked a home that had multiple bedrooms, a couple of staircases, a playroom that was converted into a basketball room, a large kosher kitchen, and a spacious backyard. A typical house for Israel?
Taken aback, I was actually surprised by the house she chose. Even though the house had some typical middle eastern design such as printed tiles and stone walls, the house had a very modern twist to it. For instance, the remodeled kitchen reminded me of an advertisement out of IKEA. Coming from a person who has never been to Israel, taking an insider’s peek at the design of houses gave me a different perspective of where people live in Jerusalem…or I guess, where the really wealthy people live in Jerusalem.
Oh…and I’m guessing you’d like me to tell you how much the final cost of the house was?
$2.35 million
