Waterside Bargain Hunt

I finally got a new cell phone. After my Samsung started draining the battery in less than a day even with a new battery, I picked up a $20 refurbished LG to get by on. It was better than the broken one but couldn't hold a good signal. If I had three bars showing before making a call, it would drop to 1 bar or zero bars when the call went through. The "qwerty" keyboard wasn't a true qwerty layout, making it extremely difficult to type on. I looked at many phones, but the good ones were too expensive. I found a decent one for $249, but that's a lot for a phone and I'm not rich. I prayed about it of course.

Finally, Amazon put their Amazon Fire Phone on sale for $189. The timing was right. It came with a "free" year of Amazon prime right as my $79 promo year was about to expire. I ordered it. I'm still waiting on the SIM card I also ordered to get here to see if it'll work out. I may have to send it back if the battery isn't good enough. I'm already concerned about how fast it drains, but that may be because it's searching for service that's not there yet or because it takes a few days to get the cache organized. One of the best features is Gorilla Glass 3. No more screen protectors! 13MP camera with flash. Big screen. 2GB of memory with 32GB of storage. Can you tell I've never had a really super cell phone before? :)

Anyway, a couple of shows I like are Beachfront Bargain Hunt and Lakefront Bargain Hunt. They're in the vein of House Hunters except on the water. I record them and usually watch them during breakfast. The general concept is a couple is looking for a house right on the water at a bargain basement price. Instead of a million dollars, they want to pay something like $200-350K or whatever. It's different from couple to couple. They sit down with a real estate agent and go over a list of requirements. The agent then shows them 3 or 4 houses(or apartment/condo/townhouse), and they pick one. I'd love to live on a lake or overlooking some water, so I like to watch and dream.

I like seeing the houses and the locations. Some of them are quite nice. However, I've noticed something that gets on my nerves. When the couple goes over the list of requirements, they usually have something that's not negotiable, such as the price or proximity to town or being on the water. When the agent shows them around, he or she always takes them to properties that don't match the non-negotiable item(s). A house that's over budget, a house with too few bedrooms, a house that's not on the water(the main premise of the show!), a house that's not in the target location, etc. As a viewer, it puts me under stress. I immediately want to fire the agent. However, most of the buyers choose the property that lacks the one critical item on their list. For example, on the Lakefront Bargain Hunt I watched today, the man with a boat picked the house that had no boat dock or lake access.

A while back there was a scandal surrounding House Hunters. A woman who was on the show revealed that in order to be allowed on the show the buyer has to already be under contract for a property. The rigamarole with looking at houses is fabricated solely for the show. The outcome is predetermined. I wonder if these waterfront shows are the same. Going against the critical feature creates tension in the viewer during the show. Denying the character what he or she wants is a technique used in fiction. It holds tension for the duration of the show. However, it denies the viewer a payoff. When the buyer fails to get the right house, I find it to be a letdown. After seeing so many people ignore the house that's under budget and has everything they want to pick one that's over budge and is lacking, I find myself not caring which house they get. But I still watch it. :)