Anyone Else Catch the Mustachian on HH International

[eljefe-speaks]

The wife and I sat down for an episode of House Hunters international in which a man and his family were moving to Panama. The narrator mentioned that the man was leaving his high-paying job due to an epiphany he had after reading a finance blog. The wife described him as very frugal. At one point he said to the camera, "it's not about what you make, it's about what you spend." He also specifically wanted to avoid buying a car. He wanted to be in walking distance to all his needs.

Can there be any doubt whatsoever that he is a Mustachian?

[terran]

I didn't watch it, but I follow his blog: https://www.routetoretire.com/house-hunters-international-panama/

[jinga nation]

haven't watched the episode (i've never had cable TV but am familiar having seen a few episodes at my parents' house) but I wish Jim and his family all the best.

my only take is from a personal privacy and security standpoint. Jim's been on TV, has a blog stating he's a millionaire, and given his location... that's too much info for some bad guys do do something nefarious, from petty crime to serious stuff.

[Dicey]

Ha! I saw it and wondered if it was someone who was a regular here. Thanks for providing the backstory link. I know that on regular HH, you have to actually be in escrow on a property to be on the show.  All of that, "Which one should we choose?" is manufactured drama. IDK if HHI is the same.but suspect it might be. My Lottery Dream Home also looks to be the same.

[soccerluvof4]

Popular show on HGTV with House Hunters where are they now and also House Hunters renovations. I missed this episode but I have HGTV or DIY on quite a bit more for background. I like Good Bones and few others. So much of the renovations they do would be impossible for someone to do for the cost. Even with your own labor.

[stoaX]

Yup, I saw the episode you're referring to and definitely caught his mention of a "financial freedom blog".  On his website in the "stuff I like" section he does mention MMM but he doesn't single MMM out. 

It was fun to see a real live FIRE family on a mainstream TV show

[Wrenchturner]

Fake news.  No mustache.

[lhamo]

For HH international you already own your house. They want people who purchased within the last 3 years. They pay you a modest amount (I think it was 1-2k) to move your more personal items and some furniture out for the filming. The other units are comps that are still on the market, but I'm guessing rarely units you actually looked at.

I tried to get DH interested in going on the show when we bought our apartment in China, but he didn't want to. The info on how it works came from people in Beijing who had gotten further in the process and were on a local expat mailing list.

Here is an article that summarizes another couples experience:
https://www.google.com/amp/s/slate.com/human-interest/2019/06/house-hunters-true-story-of-being-on-the-show.amp

[bacchi]

He was probably referring to his own blog in the episode.

[Dicey]

For HH international you already own your house. They want people who purchased within the last 3 years. They pay you a modest amount (I think it was 1-2k) to move your more personal items and some furniture out for the filming. The other units are comps that are still on the market, but I'm guessing rarely units you actually looked at.

I tried to get DH interested in going on the show when we bought our apartment in China, but he didn't want to. The info on how it works came from people in Beijing who had gotten further in the process and were on a local expat mailing list.

Here is an article that summarizes another couples experience:
https://www.google.com/amp/s/slate.com/human-interest/2019/06/house-hunters-true-story-of-being-on-the-show.amp

Well, that was interesting! Who knew?  I wonder how they game other shows...

[Jim @ Route to Retire]

Hey, everyone - I'm Jim that this thread is about from the Route to Retire site.  I'm glad some of you like the HHI episode - I can't really talk much about it, but it was a really cool experience to be a part of.  I wrote a little bit about it here: https://www.routetoretire.com/house-hunters-international-panama/

If you haven't seen it, it does look like it's still up on YouTube uploaded by various people.  Try searching on YouTube for:
House Hunters International Lower Costs In Boquete Panama
They're not from HGTV though so I'd imagine they won't be there too long.

I was excited that they wanted to make the FIRE part a little bit of a focus in the episode.  They didn't put in as much as I hoped, but it was enough that maybe it'll kickstart a few viewers with some intrigue to dig into the whole idea a little more.

As far as the blog I mentioned on the show that I couldn't say the name of on the episode, that was actually Joe Udo's site, Retire by 40 (https://retireby40.org/).  It was the first blog I stumbled on that paved the way for me to be able to reach FIRE years later.  Along the way though, I became a little more entrenched in the community and have followed and been lucky enough to meet some other well-known bloggers like Pete himself at FinCon over the years.

Anyway, I just wanted to stop by and say "hi" since I'm a huge fan of Pete and all the Mustachians!

[halftimer]

Thanks Joe, it's nice to hear what your original inspiration was. All the best in your home there

[Dicey]

Joe @retireBy40 used to stop by occasionally, but it's been a while...

How is life in Panama these days, Jim? Are you glad you made the leap?

[Jim @ Route to Retire]

How is life in Panama these days, Jim? Are you glad you made the leap?

With the exception of life during this pandemic, it's amazing.  It's a beautiful 75 degrees every single day here in the mountains and the birds, greenery, and mountains are astounding.  Being outside hiking or just walking around is awesome.  The people are great and very friendly.  It's not horribly cheap day-to-day, but it's still less expensive than the U.S. (plus we only needed to get expat insurance to cover healthcare when visiting the US).

In other words, we love it.  The only hard part we struggle with is missing friends and family, which is especially true as we're on lockdown right now.  We know we're going to stay a second year for sure, but we're taking it year by year.  After that, we might stay another, head to another country, or go back to the US... FIRE is so liberating!