Original subtitles

-This is funky. -Yeah, it's kind of fun.

I didn't mean funky, like fun, like a fun way. This was an outdoor space. Oh.

We've been married for about two years,

and recently I was relocated from brooklyn, new york

to charlotte, north carolina.

Yes, I came along with.

Absolutely beautiful.

Not so much my style.

Moving from new york to north carolina

is already challenging enough.

I can't be 30 minutes outside the city.

Oh, that's very colonial.

-I love that. -Mm-hmm.

Mediterranean, italian, french villa.

-Um, gaudy. No. -[ laughs ]

we're in charlotte, north carolina.

That doesn't make any sense.

Yeah, but why do we have to follow everybody else?

Oh, dude, you're killing me right now. [ laughs ]

[ doorbell rings ]

♪♪

♪♪

there's not tourists

stopping in the middle of the street, looking up.

You walk around, and there's nobody around here.

I'm the chief operating officer of cybersecurity

at a local bank.

And I'm the ceo and designer

for an american luxury footwear company.

-No subways. -Right.

-No buses. -No tourists.

So william and I have been together for about five years

and married for about two.

I'm the balloon, he's the string. [ laughs ]

that is true. I don't want you to blow away.

[ laughs ]

[ laughs ] and he keeps me anchored.

Recently, I was relocated from brooklyn, new york

to charlotte, north carolina.

What I really like about charlotte, north carolina

so far is there's tons of people coming in

from all walks of life.

The airport is super simple to get in and out of.

-[ laughs ] -[ laughs ]

yeah.

So you can get the heck out of here.

And that's it. That'll be great.

-It will be great. -I hope.

-It better be. -[ laughs ]

so I was thinking, um...

Ooh, that was strong! [ laughs ]

-I know. I was like... -[ trills ]

but you know, when you think about, like, you know,

bang for our buck and how far our money could stretch,

that's amazing about charlotte. -Yeah.

I mean, we were, like, in a 900 square foot apartment,

and what?

It cost us a fraction here.

So what we're looking to spend on a house is around $750,000.

It's okay if we go over depending on

if it has what we need.

I mean, let's not get crazy,

but it has to have exactly what we want and need. Right.

You know, I know we've been talking about having kiddos.

You want two. I want one.

We'll figure it out, but...

No, absolutely, and we should have, you know, 3 bedrooms,

plus, you know, we always have visitors.

You know, I want to go traditional.

Like colonial, colonial revival.

No mediterranean, italian, french villa?

-Um, gaudy. No. -[ laughs ]

we're in charlotte, north carolina.

That doesn't make any sense.

Yeah, but why do we have to follow everybody else?

Oh, dude, you're killing me right now. [ laughs ]

you know, I want my man cave.

The whole house is a man cave.

Two men are living there.

I want my own space.

I want to have my kegerator,

and I want to be able to watch my movies.

A kegerator? Really? Are you in college?

And we definitely need a pool because that's...

-What do you need a pool for? -No, we definitely need a pool.

It's 100 degrees here in the summertime.

I think we should get something that opens up to the backyard,

so it looks like it's a completely

open space, you know.

Oh, that would be nice. Like...

Kind of opens right up to the pool.

We're not gonna find that in a colonial, though,

just so you know.

Of course we're gonna find that in a colonial.

We're not gonna find that in some italian gaudy structure.

Yes, we will. [ laughs ]

♪♪

okay. What do you guys think?

I mean, I like the trees.

Would you consider this a colonial?

I think we could call it a colonial.

Yeah, I love the brick. Absolutely beautiful.

Not so much my style.

This place makes me feel like I'm in the boondocks.

This is definitely not the ideal location.

Moving from new york to north carolina

is already challenging enough.

I can't be 30 minutes outside the city.

There's a two-car garage with a great room

above that we could let allyn have. Awesome.

-My personal space. -Your personal space.

I love that.

Nice double door entry.

Yeah, I like the double doors.

-You know, it's my thing. -Yeah.

Yeah, it is. Look at this brick walkway.

-Brick accent, yeah. -Yeah, nice.

Nice foyer. I like the crown molding.

We could put our christmas tree right there. You could.

[ laughs ] that's a great area for the christmas tree.

It's a little bit smaller than I had anticipated

for a dining room, but I like the fact

there's a door that blocks off the kitchen.

Very nice for entertaining.

-Yeah, it's a nice size. -Double oven.

I like the countertops.

The blue coloring is really nice.

I'm not really liking the cabinets,

the color of the cabinets.

I think you could easily paint those.

It doesn't have an island, either.

I really want something,

like, kind of in the middle, versus... More open?

-Yeah. -This is different.

This little corner. It's like, you know.

Like a breakfast nook or something, I guess.

It could be island-ish if stand on either side.

There is an eat-in kitchen,

and a great view of the backyard.

-Of my pool. -[ laughs ] yes.

You and this pool that you would never use.

He keeps talking about this pool.

He never swims in the pool.

-Pocket door. -Oh, wow.

-Yeah. -I love pocket doors.

-Look at that! -Neat details in this house.

-Oh, wow. -Wood-burning fireplace.

Allyn: More brick. I love the brick.

What do you think about the size?

Would your furniture fit in here?

Yeah. I think it's a little small

if this is the main entertainment room.

-Right, right. -It might be a little small --

mm. ...But I like the fact that it has doors going out to the...

-Okay. -Oh, look at this.

This entire room, like, leads out into this.

Is it a three season porch?

Tracey: So this is not heated or cooled.

-This deck wood is interesting. -Yeah, yeah.

Let's go check out the pool. I brought my bathing suit, too. [ laughs ]

really great outdoor living.

-This is beautiful. -I love the yard.

I'm not a fan of the pool, frankly.

I just don't think we'll ever use it.

Why would you think we'll never use the pool?

Because you've used it, like, maybe, I don't know,

once in the five years I've known you?

Well, new york isn't the pool capital.

The best thing about this house is the pool.

I could live in it all day long.

I'm ready to go in now if I could.

So this is a full bath.

-Okay. -Back here is the master.

Oh, I like that the master's on the first floor.

-Yeah, that's great. -Yeah.

-I don't like the carpet. -I know. I know, but...

-We could pull it up. -You could pull it up.

This is the only place we've seen it on the first floor,

so that'd be really easy. -Yeah.

-Okay. -Master bath.

It's been renovated.

William: Nice size shower. I like the skylight.

Allyn: But the bathroom is even a little smaller

than I think we would like.

Okay, so there's another bedroom on this level.

William: Yeah. I would love it as an office.

You know, one thing I would have never thought

I liked was this whole mix between brick and wood. Yeah, yeah.

-It looks really nice. -It works here, right?

Yeah, yeah.

-Formal living room. -Oh, wow.

-Nice. -Okay.

-Mm-hmm. -I love the big window.

Yeah. Beautiful bay window.

-Really love the staircase. -It's pretty.

I like how it's split like this.

Wow, that's interesting.

Kind of a reading nook, I guess.

-Yeah, I'm not a fan. -Not feeling that, okay.

-Okay. -This is a really nice size.

Yeah, it's cute, with the slanted ceiling and...

-Very cool. -Yeah.

Jack-and-jill bathroom.

-Oh, nice. -Oh, I like the two sinks.

Nice size shower.

Again, not a fan of the carpet, but... Right.

It's only three rooms, right, that have it?

So far, the master, these two bedrooms -- okay.

...Then here's a hall bath.

-Oh, nice. -Oh, I really like this.

I like how it has two different entrances.

And then this could be either an upstairs master

or perhaps your personal space.

-Yeah, I can see it. -And it's got two closets.

Oh, wow.

♪♪

allyn: Well, I absolutely love the tree line

coming up the driveway.

-Yes. -I thought that was gorgeous.

And that brick, I thought that was really amazing as well.

Right, right. It definitely is your style.

I'm a little surprised I like this house as much as I do.

-I am, too. -Right?

I mean, it doesn't necessarily have all the history

and the character -- -right.

...But there's so many other things.

Definitely love the pool.

It's the number one thing that I love about it. Right.

It's a little far from the city.

-Right. -It was a little bit of a drive.

I would still like to see, like, maybe something

a little mediterranean. -Okay.

That's the style that I like.

♪♪

it's a gorgeous neighborhood.

-It's really pretty. -Oh, that's very colonial.

-I love that. -Mm-hmm.

♪♪

william: So it looks like a nice neighborhood.

It's a gorgeous neighborhood, very historical.

Your style. [ laughs ]

yeah, I love the traditional neighborhood.

I love these beautiful tree canopies.

-Wow, look at that house. -It's huge.

-Holy cow. -Oh, that's very colonial.

-I love that. -Mm-hmm.

I love that we're three minutes from downtown,

but this is definitely not the mediterranean style house

I'm looking for.

Tracey really nailed it with this one.

I love the style of this house.

-Hi, trace. -Hey, guys.

-Hey, tracey. -Good to see you.

Nice to see you. How are you? Great.

Traditional colonial for allyn.

Built in 1920,

so it's got really cool architectural features.

It currently does not have a garage -- oh.

...But we've got some room in there where --

I think that might be a deal breaker.

-Two cars and a motorcycle. -I know, I know.

I know, but let's see if you like the house -- okay.

...And then we can work on getting you a garage.

Look at this grand foyer.

This is gorgeous.

10-foot ceilings.

I mean, even the floors. Look at this wood.

-They're beautiful. -It's amazing.

Yeah, the crown molding in the doorway is really nice.

That's pretty cool.

Tracey: That's what you get with a 100-year-old home.

You're just not gonna find this kind of detail

and woodwork in newer construction.

They don't make them like this anymore.

Yeah, you're telling me.

It's really not quite my style, but it's really beautiful.

So finding the perfect house for william and allyn

is actually really tricky

because they want totally different things.

This is the formal living room.

This fireplace is amazing.

Isn't it beautiful?

This is a huge room.

William: Tracey, why is there a shower

and bathtub in the living room?

I wondered that also, but maybe at one point

this was used as a bedroom.

-Oh. -Maybe this was the closest.

Okay. Probably want to look at sprucing it up.

I like the 1920s tile, though. That's pretty cool. [ laughs ]

it's horrible, but that's okay. [ laughs ]

so what is this room for? This is really small.

Kind of a study.

Have your fire going, some wine, read a book.

I mean, look at this fireplace.

Yeah. It's all cracked and... [ laughs ]

-charming. -But it's 100 years old.

I mean, that's what I love about this house.

That's exactly what we're looking for.

It's colonial, traditional.

What you're looking for. [ laughs ]

wow. I love this.

We could have a huge thanksgiving dinner,

christmas dinner.

Hey, william's turning the corner.

-And you spoke too soon. -Yeah.

I'm not feeling this kitchen at all.

Flooring and the cabinets and the countertops.

There's a lot of work that needs to be done.

This kitchen is horrible.

I thought william was gonna turn around and walk out.

Allyn and william are looking for a lot in a home.

This house may not have everything they're looking for,

but we can get a good deal on this house

and they can make it their own.

Oh, wow. What's this outside paneling?

-This is funky. -No, it's kind of fun.

I didn't mean funky in a fun, like, a fun way. This was an outdoor space.

-Oh. -It's an odd room.

Probably was originally the outdoor screened-in porch.

Outdoor paneling would have to go.

We'd have to tear that wall down and make this is a great room,

but that's a lot of work.

Money pit.

Oh, I don't know about this deck.

I knew you were gonna have something to say about that.

-Quarter of an acre. -Nice.

And you see there's a space for a garage.

-I see. -Okay.

There's an alleyway in the back where you could access

the garage when you build that later.

But that's a big expense.

That's something that -- yeah.

A big expense we don't want to do,

and then the back of the house has no windows.

Like, I wanted an open floor plan

where it opens up to the backyard and the pool.

-Here we go with the pool again. -[ laughs ]

I think there's room for that.

When it comes to william and this pool,

I just don't get it.

The guy hasn't swam in two years.

Do you think this is the same wood

that's used in the flooring?

All original.

That's pretty remarkable.

Yeah. Oh, wow. This is a nice size.

Tracey: A lot of windows, good light.

There's three bedrooms up and two jack-and-jill bathrooms.

-I like the floor. -Isn't the tile awesome?

Yeah, it's great, and the iron tub.

I don't know about the tub.

-Oh, I love the tub. -Yeah.

Yeah? I don't know about it.

Like, I kind of -- we'll see.

Wow, this room is a little small.

A lot of windows, though.

It's attached to the master, so it would be a great nursery. [ laughs ]

I was kind of hoping for a kegerator

and some personal space. -Hold on. Hold on. It's coming.

I don't know about this nursery thing.

Oh, here we go. Another jack-and-jill.

Yeah. It's weird. I've never seen two before.

-Not digging the floor. -What?

I love the black and white checker.

Yeah. Well, we'll see.

-The master suite. -Wow.

This is probably bigger than my first apartment in brooklyn.

[ laughter ]

is this workable?

So that was at one time functioning,

but they probably haven't used it in years.

Well, I absolutely love all the fireplaces in this house.

I think that's fantastic.

Oh, look. A walk-in.

Oh, wow. That is small.

-[ laughs ] -[ laughs ]

♪♪

allyn: Look at this attic.

There's a lot of potential here.

Yeah. Look at the wood floors.

We can get these resurfaced. It'd be beautiful.

No, I mean a lot of potential.

-I'm thinking kegerator. -Of course you are.

I'm thinking bucket seats.

I could have a flat-screen television or projector

in that corner.

♪♪

I love the historic neighborhood.

This house is traditional, it's colonial,

right up my alley.

Well, it's not really my style.

We have to do a lot of work in the kitchen,

and there's no garage. -Yeah, I agree.

I mean, that kitchen is almost a nonstarter.

I know it's gonna cost a lot to do everything you want,

a lot to renovate,

but I think we can get a good deal on this house.

I guess something to consider.

♪♪

-it looks like it's stucco or... -It is stucco.

-Palm trees... -So what do you think?

I mean, we're out in the middle of nowhere.

♪♪

this is beautiful.

I absolutely love the tree line,

and that lake is absolutely gorgeous.

The lake is amazing in the backyard.

-It looks like it's stucco or... -It is stucco.

The palm trees, I mean, we're out in the middle of nowhere.

My least favorite thing about this house

is definitely the stucco.

It's something out of the '80s, "miami vice."

definitely not my style.

Hey, guys. Hey, ashley. How are you doing?

So, what do you think?

Definitely william's style of home. [ laughs ]

where exactly are we?

-We are at lake wylie. -Lake wylie.

It's kind of on the border of charlotte,

and north carolina and south carolina.

This home has a mediterranean style.

It's kind of floridian. It's like a california home.

It's not your traditional home that we typically see,

so it was a hard find

knowing this is something they were looking for.

I haven't seen any mediterranean homes in charlotte,

so I'm really excited to see this one.

This is the not the ideal location,

but I might be able to deal.

I like how high the ceilings are.

-I love it. -Marble tile floor.

I like the marble.

Yeah, I'm not a fan of the marble floor.

You know, I like, like, dark, rich woods.

I'm not a fan of the carpet at all.

The view is nice,

I give you that, but this room is really awkward.

Is this like a formal dining room or...

Well, I think this would be more of your formal dining room -- okay.

...And then being the bar is there, you could set it up

this as more of like your formal living room,

so it'd be a nice room for entertaining.

Yeah. Sit down and grab a martini.

-Yeah, it sounds good. -[ laughs ]

I stepped inside this house,

and the first thing I thought was,

"wow. Can we tear it down and start all over?"

and the living room bar with the carpet, what is that?

I think it's...Wow.

The ceilings are, like, 15 feet tall.

Windows everywhere. The house has a great layout.

We could probably congregate about 25 people, maybe 70.

[ laughs ]

-the master. -All right.

-Is this a sliding glass door? -That sure is.

Where does it lead to?

Well, you get fresh air. It's better than a solid wall.

Or how about a window?

I love how they carried the high ceilings in this room, too.

And it has a lot of great light.

-Wow. -This is an interesting house.

Look at this indention into the wall.

It's a little art deco-y or something. I don't know.

-Art deco. -I love it.

Yeah, not my style at all.

I love that we're in, like, all the trees.

Like, we're in the middle of a forest,

and then the lake is right there, which is beautiful.

Yeah. Let's keep looking.

Ashley: This master bath is very spacious.

William: What a great view from the bathtub -- yes.

-...And the shower. -Yes.

There's definitely a lot going on in this bathroom.

You're kind of exposed, and then you've got the bathtub.

What's that all about?

Well, you're behind that wall, so nobody can see you.

But you're in the middle of everything.

Like, you're gonna be in the tub

and you're saying hi to the folks in the lake?

-Who can see from here? -Yeah, I guess.

All right. Nobody can see from there. [ laughs ]

well, there's another bedroom right around the corner here.

-Okay. -This is the main floor bath

that everybody would use if they were visiting. Okay.

And this could be used as a little bedroom

because it has a closet,

and possibly an office if you needed it as an office.

Oh, this would be a great office.

Could we keep the slot machine? [ laughs ]

♪♪

allyn: I love these cabinets. I love the dark wood.

William: Yeah, I'm not a fan of the dark wood

on the black marble.

I think it makes it look too small and too dark.

You could always change the countertops. Yeah, yeah.

Yeah. Well, I like the countertops.

I like the cabinets. You know, I love a good island.

William: I just want to see this.

-This is awesome. -All right.

You don't have your pool, but you have a lake view.

We have a giant nature's pool.

Yes. That's right.

The view is nice, I have to admit.

It is very nice.

There's a couple bedrooms and a bath up here,

so let's go check it out. -Oh, perfect.

You know, I like a good staircase.

And this is extra wide, which is nice.

Oh, it is extra wide. I just noticed that.

Okay, so what is this room here?

Ashley: This is just a nice little landing area.

Maybe a room for a desk, a tv.

-Yeah. -Just a hangout area.

-So this is bedroom number one. -Okay.

Okay, it's a little small.

The sliding glass door and the windows are really nice.

Ashley: The jack-and-jill bath.

Oh, okay. Very nice.

Which if you have two children, they could share this bathroom

and each have their own room. -Oh, that's nice.

They share the bathroom and they share the balcony.

-Yeah. -Oh, I do like that.

♪♪

the mediterranean look is my favorite.

Like, I really, really love that look.

I really love the lot.

The tree line is beautiful.

I'm not into mediterranean,

so the stucco house is not really my style.

The windows are great. The views are amazing.

All you see is trees and water.

We don't need a pool when we have nature's pool

in the backyard. -That's true.

He's right. He's right about that.

Everything is nice, maybe a little bit of work.

My man cave, didn't find that in this house at all.

Yeah, right on top of the stairs. You didn't, yeah.

-Yeah, that little nook? -Yeah, exactly.

That's not enough room for him.

My personal space is right there behind the bar,

so I'm good. -There you go. There you go.

♪♪

we saw a ton of homes.

We did, and I'm not exactly sure how in the world

we're gonna, like, make a decision. Yeah.

It's a little nerve-racking.

That red brick house is one of the few homes

that we saw with a pool and a garage.

The price was $717,000.

$717,000.

Traditional, you know, looking brick, red brick.

Not quite my style.

Tons of carpet.

I think you feel like it's an easy fix,

but that was kind of a, you know, not my favorite.

It's a little ways from the city.

I don't want to be stuck in the suburbs

after coming from new york. I'll go crazy out there.

Let's talk about the colonial.

That was at, I think, $675,000.

$675,000, the colonial, yep.

I loved the colonial.

It had the history, the character.

It's, what, almost 100 years old.

I mean, it is beautiful. It's very grand.

I like the fact that it was only, like,

three minutes from downtown.

Like, literally in the city.

It had, you know, a room for your own space up in the attic,

but there was no garage and no pool.

Yeah, although I don't think you're gonna ever use

the pool, frankly, but yeah. -[ scoffs ]

the mediterranean. The mediterranean, which I love.

-Which I did not. -[ laughs ]

-$650,000. -$650,000, yep.

Yeah, it was beautiful.

I mean, the house, it needed some work.

It was on the lake.

I mean, I like that part about it.

I love the slope of the lot, the trees.

I really, really liked a lot.

And still quite a ways from the city. Yep.

♪♪

I'm pretty excited.

It's gonna go great in this dining room. Yes.

William: So we put an offer in about four months ago.

They didn't accept the offer right away

because we put such a low bid in.

As the weeks were going by,

they were lowering it little by little.

Tracey kept calling us, saying,

"hey, they lowered it another 20," another whatever.

And we're like, "nope. There's too much work to be done in it.

If we don't get our offer, we'll find something else."

the house was listed at $675,000,

and we ended up getting the house for $520,000.

Yeah.

This is gonna be the library. What do you think?

I think it would look super cool if we had some bookshelves

kind of rounding out the entire room. Okay.

There's so much character in this house.

It actually gives us some capacity and some room

to restore it to its original grandeur.

Well, I think it's already there, but...

Okay. Well, then why are we spending

a quarter of $1 million for renovations? [ laughs ]

well, it's not the staircase or the floors, it's the kitchen. Okay.

So tell me which ones you don't like.

That's usually the easiest to get rid of.

-Okay. -Yeah, I'm not a fan.

Don't like this one.

I think there are some things that we're gonna do

that will actually expose

even more of the original grandeur of the house.

-How about that? -Perfect.

-Great. -[ laughs ]

some of the changes that we plan to do

is renovate the entire kitchen.

We're gonna tear down two of the walls,

make it a huge great room.

A view to the pool that we'll have.

We're gonna add a garage with an apartment

above it in the back, and then we're gonna build

your personal space up in the attic. We are.

You know, at first we wanted to do it in a year.

We think that's being a little naive. A little.

It's probably gonna be a three-year project.

-Hey. -Hey!

-How are you? -Well, come in.

Oh. Congratulations.

-I'm so excited for you guys. -Thank you so much.

You know, we talked about since even before

we got married possibly adopting,

so now that we have a large enough home... Yes, kids.

It's scary and it's exciting all the same time.

And it's really changed my view of charlotte.

-Sorry. -What...

-You okay over there? -Yeah, yeah.

All: To charlotte!

-To new neighbors. -Oh, yeah.