Original subtitles

[Drew] I always love clients bringing us a new challenge.

-Always, do you? -- [mumbles] -Well, you know, it depends

what the challenge is. -[Jonathan] Yeah.

Garret and Malia, two boys, sounds like a fun family.

-[Jonathan] Well, they want four bedrooms. -[Drew] Yeah.

And that's pretty much all we know.

No. Location, location, location.

All that matters.

[Jonathan] It's always location, location, location.

[theme music playing]

♪♪

♪ Ba-ba-ba-da-da ♪

♪ Ba-ba-da, ba-ba-da-da ♪

[theme music continues]

[theme music fades]

[both] I think so.

[Malia] We are in Redondo Beach in the South Bay of Los Angeles.

I grew up in Hawaii, and being near the beach

and the ocean is so important to me.

[Garret] I grew up in Colorado,

which is a completely different environment.

Came out here for school and met Malia, and we've been

in the South Bay ever since.

-[both laugh] -[Director] Off to a great start.

That's -- that's normal.

So our first home we purchased in Lawndale, which is still part

of the South Bay, but a little bit further inland.

Plenty of space for us and one child, but we're looking

for some -- some more space.

Selling it, we had -- I think, what, 14, 15 offers.

-[Garret] Well above asking. -100 over asking price.

Um, but then we soon realized that we had to now be

in the other position and now be a buyer in such a crazy market.

Yeah, so we've been renting for months now.

It is tough just knowing that we're paying rent

when we could be investing it into a home. -[Malia] Investing it.

It's been month after month and weekend after weekend just

searching and searching and [exhales] here we are.

We need help.

♪♪

We're definitely at our wit's end, just kind of managing

the process, and so I think the brothers

can kind of help us see the things that maybe

we can't see -- to kind of get us

across the finish line would be huge.

We're not interrupting a romantic picnic in the park,

are we? -[Garret] Hey, what's up?

-[Malia] Hello. -[Drew] How you doing?

-[Garret] How's it going? -Good to see you.

-It's good to see you. -Hey.

Hey, John.

We needed some help, and you guys popped up.

Yeah.

-You know, we just came to play. -Tic-tac-toe?

I am good at everything. Yes.

And very competitive.

Actually, the one thing he's not good at,

Family Feud, we discovered. -Oh.

-[Jonathan] Terrible. -Excuse me.

-It was me, actually, I'm really bad at that. -Yeah.

-[both laugh] -That's OK.

[Jonathan] Well, give me a little lowdown.

What is it you're looking for? What kind of a house?

What are your needs?

Before we talk about the wishlist of niceties.

Sure.

So we have two boys, six and three.

So we're looking for enough space to fit us all.

We both work from home.

So I would say four-bedroom, backyard is big for me.

And we're, like -- this area --

We have a lot of friends who live close by as well

with similar age groups. -Yeah.

All the schools in Redondo Beach are great.

A lot of people come to Redondo Beach

because of the school system. -[Malia] Mm-hmm.

Absolutely. It's a big reason of why we're

looking to stick in the South Bay.

The beach doesn't hurt as well.

[Jonathan] I mean, that's a nice bonus on top, the cherry on top.

-Yeah. -You really want to be in this area.

I love the beach. I love the beach life.

I need the salt.

But it all depends on budget, right,

and what you're looking for?

And if you've got to stretch the budget a little bit,

you might have to go a little further outside of exactly

where you want for schools. -Yeah.

-Right. -Because you're paying so much for the area, not just

for the house and the lot itself.

It doesn't need to be move-in ready.

I think we're willing to put in the work.

We thought we'd have a home by now, much, much sooner.

But again, like, getting outbid,

there's so many families looking,

and we're just -- -[Jonathan] Yeah.

People are willing to go well over asking price.

You guys are already aware of how challenging the search is

going to be. -Yeah.

-Yeah. -[Drew] And if we show you

a house that's not exactly what you want,

no beaching and complaining about it.

We have one lined up today.

It's just a few minutes from here,

if you want to hop in with us. -Awesome.

-[Garret] Let's do it. -[Malia] That's great.

[Garret] For home budget, I would say with the sale of our last home,

we've been looking around 1.5.

I would say we're comfortable going up to about 1.75,

uh, for the right house, but...

Sorry, I don't think -- wait, cut, cut.

-1.75? -You think?

-For the right community? -It would be --

it would put a stretch on us, and it would...

Maybe, like, 1.7. Max.

[Drew] It's just a crazy market.

It's so competitive in the South Bay area

because there's nothing out there. -[Malia] Yeah.

[Drew] This house, it's not South Bay,

but it's 15 minutes to the beach.

That's not bad.

[Garret] That's a very good neighborhood.

So if you're looking for a good family neighborhood,

tons of kids, amazing access to schools.

-[Malia] That is -- that would be convenient. -Right there, I see it.

-[Jonathan] Yeah. -[Malia] Perfect, perfect.

But what I do like, so you've got a nice, big-sized lot.

-It's a corner lot. -[Garret] I like the corner lot.

[Malia] Yeah, one less noisy neighbor.

[Jonathan] This is listed for 1.59,

so it's really a good price.

I think you could get it down from that as well, put in some

money into it, and just make it exactly what you want.

-So I assume the competition's a little less... -[Drew] Yeah.

...compared to some of the areas we've been looking at?

[Drew] Exactly, we can get the price down a little bit on this.

It's -- it's been on the market a little bit.

[Garret] Mm-hmm.

[Drew] I don't know. I'm trying to read --

So right now, I'm thinking you're not sold on this house.

There's no beach. [laughs]

-I just don't know this area very well, to be quite honest. -[Malia] Yeah.

It's just, yeah, different from what we've looked at so far.

-But hey, I'm open to anything at this point. -It's not South Bay.

[Drew] Yes, this is further from the beach.

But in reality, this is showing you how much more your dollar

can stretch. -[Garret] That's fair.

[Jonathan] Think of how easy your mornings would be.

-It would be quite easy -- cup of coffee, go across the street. -That's true.

Walk yourself to school, kids.

-[Garret] Just look both ways. -[Drew] Yeah.

[Jonathan] Go in, take a look around.

-Ah. -[Garret] All right.

[Malia] You walk straight into a closet.

Yeah, watch the walls. They'll hit you in the face.

[Malia] I like a grand entrance, and that's...

[Jonathan] Do me a favor.

Can you have some grand vision?

-Yes, I will try. -[Jonathan] OK.

This has all of your square footage on one level.

[Drew] Is this a four-bedroom?

[Jonathan] Four-bed, two-bath, 2,050 square feet.

-[Malia] Yeah. -In fact, with the price that you'd be able to get this

house, you could even raise the ceiling heights and take

the full height of the attic space. -[Malia] Yeah.

Hey, you know what that would do?

That would give a grand entrance.

-It would be a grand entrance. -Mm!

Look how far back this goes. It's big.

-Oh, OK. -[Drew] This is one of the bedrooms.

-This is kind of weird. -[Malia] OK, yeah.

Between your living room and kitchen, you have a bedroom

where it's just connected. -Yeah, that keeps going.

[Garret] Is this a bonus office here?

-[Drew] Yes. -[Garret] OK.

-[Malia] Yeah. -I mean, that's obviously

something that we definitely need.

[Malia] Office is great.

[Drew] Come on to the kitchen when you get a second.

First thoughts on this kitchen?

[Garret] I mean, it's all very plain.

[Malia] It's a little small, but at least it kind of is

a bit more open. -[Garret] Yeah.

I mean, this is the family room over here.

-[Malia] Yeah. -Mm-hmm.

Because you have a second living space, you could have

that as your formal living room, whatever you want.

The idea of expanding the kitchen over here could be

a great thing, but in reality, it's nice, especially when

you have two little kids,

to have two separate living areas.

I mean, it's a little hospital-y,

but yes, I think it has something to work with.

That's because it's white on white on white right now.

There's so many that are "renovated," but you're paying

a fortune, but it's not the way you would have renovated it.

-Right. -[Malia] Yeah.

[Drew] They've literally just done a really quick fix to paint

cabinets white and painted the original tile countertops,

and sink.

-I want you to see past the current stage... -Mm-hmm.

...and see what's potential.

Renovated, these are a gold mine.

You do realize this house, exactly as it is,

in your perfect ideal neighborhood,

that area you want to be,

is probably $300,000 more? -I know.

-As-is, right? -Sure.

If this -- if this were in the South Bay,

I would be like, "Yes, let's do it, let's go."

I think that's where I'm hesitant.

We trust you fully, Jonathan, but I'm trying

to picture it. I'm not quite sure.

And so it's, you know, how many concessions

do we want to kind of make in the process? -[Jonathan] Exactly.

Let's look at the rest of the house.

I mean, let's look outside to the garage.

Definitely curious.

I think inside, it is a blank canvas.

-We could make this anything. -[Garret] OK.

-[Jonathan] This is the enclosed porch. -Whoa.

[Jonathan] Doesn't look great from the outside,

but it is actually pretty big.

You've got a nice yard space back here.

You've got a great area here for a patio,

and then the garage does have access from the alley.

[Garret] No, I appreciate you guys bringing us out here and trying

to kind of expand the areas in that we're looking,

because we've been looking for about a year now,

and we've struck out in Palos Verdes and Torrance

and some of the other South Bay areas.

So I can definitely see what you see in the home

and kind of the canvas that it is, but --

If this were in the South Bay, I would say, "Yes, let's go

for it right now." It's a little out of my --

out of our bubble. -[Drew] Wait, you keep coming back to this.

-So... -[Malia] Yeah.

-...it's not an option? -[Garret] Yep.

-[Malia] Yeah. -[Drew] Jonathan and I are gonna try to find some places,

but we have been looking, and it's really hard.

We're looking for the diamond in the rough,

something that can at least take a little bit of renovation

and make it clean and livable for you,

because within your budget, we just can't find a lot.

This is tough.

I really have to hone in and try and figure out where

we can find them houses to look at in the South Bay area.

You know, it's just, you know, with prime location,

you're putting more money in, and when that one property

pops up, we've got to be ready to pounce on it,

otherwise they're gonna be in the exact same boat they've been

over the last year -- keep missing out, right?

♪♪

[Drew] Thanks for being patient, you guys.

Like we said, houses don't come on the market

very often in this area.

[Malia and Garret] Yeah.

[Drew] But I think we found a contender.

[Garret] The fact that you found a place

in Redondo Beach, honestly. -[Malia] I love it.

-[Drew] This is it over here. -[Garret] Wow.

-[Malia] It's beautiful. -[Garret] Yeah.

-Ta-da! -[Garret] Wow.

-Pretty cute. -[Malia] Oh, my gosh.

-Welcome. -Pretty great -- great curb appeal, it looks awesome.

I mean, it looks big.

[Malia] We didn't know this street existed.

What's your first impression?

-[Garret] Honestly, yeah, this is awesome. -There's trees.

-It's quiet. -It's almost like it's made up.

They're walking their cute little golden retriever.

Hi.

-[Drew] And it's got beach. -It's our dreamland.

And it's got beach.

You guys are, like, beaming ear to ear.

You like this area. I can tell.

The beach is just a straight shot down.

The kids' park that we always go to is walking distance.

Yeah, it's this crazy little pocket that we never knew of.

This place here, 1965, it has 2,100 square feet,

four bedrooms, three bathrooms. -[Malia] Awesome.

Keeps you in the same school district

that you wanna be in.

Yeah, I don't know how we -- if we can afford this.

-It's listed at 1.4, so it's under your max budget. -Wow.

[Drew] However, it has had a lot of work done.

-It's not gonna sell for 1.4. -Yeah, understood.

[Jonathan] It's almost like dangling this carrot.

They listed intentionally low.

-Yeah. -[Garret] Yeah.

I mean, what would you say it's likely gonna go for?

It would probably go a couple hundred thousand

above at least. -Wow.

But if you like it and want to put an offer in, then we also

can just find out how many offers there are,

and that helps us understand the interest. -Right.

-[Drew] All right, -let's check it out. -[Malia] Let's do it.

[Jonathan] Yeah, after you.

-[indistinct] -[Garret] All right.

[Garret & Malia] Wow.

[Garret] Wow. All right.

-[Malia] Office. -[Garret] We got the office space in there.

-[Drew] Yeah. -Guest room.

-Family room to the left. -[Malia] Nice family room.

[Garret] A lot of space.

[Malia] Our kid room.

Especially having two little kids, it makes so much sense

having a separate space that they can go and yell... -Yeah.

-...and scream in. -[Malia] Yeah, we got a three-year-old.

[Drew] Yeah, and then down this wall, there's living area, dining area.

-Look at this flow. -[Malia] Nice.

-[Garret] Another big space. -[Malia] Yeah, love.

Kitchen not so big, but would this work for you?

-[Malia] Little tight. -[Garret] It's a little bit tight and probably

a little darker than I would do myself. -[Malia] Dark, but it's --

[Garret] I mean, it seems like it's been recently updated.

I mean, this is --

this is doable.

I mean, you can easily move in.

This is a giant space.

I mean, they're probably using this as a kids' play area,

but all the furniture is over on that side.

-This is a great space. -[Malia] Yeah, it's a lot of space, yeah.

You could still have a dining table here and then expand into

a beautiful big kitchen with an island.

-Yeah, I love the ceilings and kind of the natural wood... -Yeah, the natural wood.

-...on top. -[Drew] What's your gut reaction here?

Is this a house you would say, "Yes, we could live in this"?

-[Garret] 100%, yeah. -Yes, yeah.

I think there's a couple things that we might change or not --

have different preferences for,

but it seems like you can move in right away.

It has the fundamentals of everything we want.

Well, so you don't have much of a yard.

Yeah, so when I was looking at the listing photos, I noticed

the yard was a little tight in the back.

Is that OK for you guys?

Yeah, as long as there's a place for the kids to --

to play, I think the front yard is fine.

-[Malia] It's fenced off. -I'll be right back.

This is the listing agent calling.

[Garret] OK.

[Jonathan] Even the floor, so these are pre-finished.

[Drew] Hello.

[Drew] Oh, hi.

I'm literally in the house right now, yeah.

A little frustrating, because we're literally here

at the house.

I actually think my clients would put an offer in on this.

Well, what did it sell for?

OK.

A bully offer is basically when somebody comes in

with a really strong offer. It's clean.

You don't have a bunch of conditions.

They'd rather just pay more now to get it.

Especially in a market like Redondo Beach, which is

extremely sought after. -[Malia] Oh, this is lovely.

Yeah, it's just frustrating, because they literally know

we're looking at the house.

Why would you not let us at least bring an offer forward?

Hey, guys. Hey, come on in for a sec.

[Malia] Yeah.

I have really frustrating news, actually.

Just spoke with the listing agent.

-Yeah. -They sold the house.

-What? -[Garret] No.

-Like, it's gone. -Yeah, it's a firm sale.

They had a bully offer come in. It was very high.

It sold for over 1.6.

[Jonathan] That still would have been...

I mean, I would have said, if you guys were gonna do

an offer, it would be around 1.6,

because that's a good price. -[Malia] Yeah, we -- we --

[Jonathan] But for them to take that without even looking

for competing... -[Malia] We could counter that.

It's frustrating, but it's the homeowner's decision

to make, right? -[Garret] Wow.

-[Malia] There's, like, nothing. -[Drew] There's nothing we can do.

And there's no conditions to fall through,

so it's gone. The house is gone.

There's no point touring the rest of this house, so...

[Malia] It's ridiculous.

We weren't even given a chance to make a [bleep] offer.

So, I'm sorry, but it's like, we've been giving

everything up, we've been rushing to see these showings,

and we didn't even get a chance.

It's frustrating to finally feel like you're making

a little bit of progress in the search, only to have it

dangled in front of you and then pulled back, so...

back to square one.

♪♪

[Drew] In a market like this, in this area that's so hot, you wanna

be the person who gets in and sees the listing

before it's even up.

They love this neighborhood, and I was literally just

knocking on doors.

I talked to a couple of agents in the area, and I talked

to a couple of neighbors that came out, and they said,

"Well, I think so and so's looking to sell."

And that's all it was.

I think it's kind of hilarious that you're looking

out the window right here at the house

that they really fell in love with.

These sellers have been here for a while.

They saw the house across the street listed

and started thinking about selling themselves.

They just haven't put it up yet, and I hopefully can get

this locked down before it actually goes up.

-Hello. -[Drew] Deja vu?

I know.

-This looks familiar. -Right?

I mean, that house is still not available, so just so you know.

-[Malia] OK. -But this one is.

[Malia] Wow. I like the yard.

-It's a cute little garden. -[Drew] Yeah.

It's a nice sized corner lot.

It has four bedrooms,

two bathrooms, just over 2,000 square feet.

OK.

They're letting us in. We're gonna have a peek.

It's supposed to be listed for 1.325,

which is well under market value. -Yeah.

I don't want to waste any time.

It's in this neighborhood, so...

[Drew] It's in this neighborhood. Hey, you know what?

If you do like it, let's work that bully thing in our favor

because we can just say, "Here's our best and final.

What do you think?" -[Malia] All right.

-You want to get inside? -Sure.

[Drew] Come on.

[Malia] I'm trying not to get my hopes up, but yes.

[Drew] Have you ever lived in a split-level before?

[Malia] Um, I don't even know what that is.

[Drew] You'll see when we walk inside.

It's not just one flat level. Come on in.

[Malia] Ah, yes.

[Drew] Yeah, the stairs split as soon as you come in.

-[Malia] OK. -[Drew] So we go down to,

like, a sunken living room area. -[Malia] OK.

And then up to the bedrooms and whatnot.

[Malia] It's an interesting layout.

I wouldn't know what to do with the space.

[Drew] Don't get scared just because of the stairs.

Overall, this house is pretty great.

Carpets, interesting.

That looks like it's been there a while.

[Drew] Yeah, you have cheap carpet up on the stairs,

tile at the front, and then you have this flooring here.

It looks like an engineered hardwood maybe.

[Malia] Yeah, yeah.

[Drew] You could swap out all the floors, obviously.

I would get rid of the carpet.

Yeah, this has the wooden exposed beams that I like,

space for the kids.

But you don't have a second living space or family room

in this house like you do across the street.

Yes -- we'd need to figure out storage for all their stuff.

But I think a lot of the rooms are actually gonna feel

a little bit bigger.

Like, even the kitchen over here, this is a lot bigger than

what you were working with across the way.

[Malia] It's a little cramped.

The kids could easily just get stuck.

You know it's cramped when you're putting these little,

like, baby bumpers at my head level, you know it's cramped.

But the house has

a nice big footprint here for the kitchen area.

There's one bedroom downstairs, which you could use

as an office. It's actually pretty big.

[Malia] OK.

[Drew] Upstairs, three bedrooms, one bathroom.

[Malia] That would give us plenty of space.

I mean, I think this is perfect.

-Garret would love this. -[Drew] Look at this yard.

[Malia] Wow.

And this is exactly what we've been wanting in a backyard.

[Drew] It feels like a little vacation spot.

-[Malia] Yeah. -How are you feeling?

Because you don't look like you're as sold on this house

as you were across the street.

Yeah, I mean, it's a lot of work inside, but honestly,

now that you've brought me out here, it's got plenty of space

for the kids. -[Drew] Yeah.

[Malia] I need to talk to Garret.

Um, but I think at this point, I mean, we'd love to be

the ones to get ahead and actually put in an offer.

-Before it goes on the market? -Yeah.

-[Drew] Yeah. -Yeah.

If you can get Garret on a video call right now,

show him the place.

I really think if you're gonna put an offer in, we need

to be able to tell them right away.

-OK. -[Drew] The houses here sell fast.

-[Malia] Yeah. -[Drew] So good luck.

[Malia] Hi.

All right, do you wanna see this place?

All right.

I'll give you a little tour.

[Drew] I don't want to get her hopes up because the house

right across the street sold for 1.6, over 1.6.

So very easily, they could say, "No, we wanna wait and see

how much this house goes for." But if the listing agent is

being honest with their client, a split-level home is not

as valuable as a typical layout for most families.

And so that means that this house should not sell

for the same amount that the one across the street did.

[Drew] It's a big, huge room.

You could put a dining table here, you could have a massive

kitchen expanded, and then this wall, you could open up

and have, like, instead of this table, you could have

a breakfast bar seating that opens to the main area here.

I'm just saying, from my little experience,

but your dollar will stretch a lot further with this

renovation than other ones where you need

a lot more structural work.

I can't lose another one.

I feel 1.5 might be enough to stimulate their interest.

Well, you said you'd be willing to go up to 1.7

to make it perfect.

200 grand is gonna give

you what you need for the renovation.

[Drew] I'm gonna write the offer up now.

We'll get it over to them right away and I'm going to call them

right now because I want them to know it's coming.

-OK. -OK, all right.

We got this. We got this.

I am trying my best not to envision our future here,

but at the same time, you have to be,

you know, you have to be envisioning your future if

you're willing to put in your entire life savings.

So we walked through the property.

Um, my clients love it.

I mean, it's a great neighborhood.

It's a great home. We want to put an offer in.

[Malia] The home itself, like, it definitely needs a little

work, the stairs, the kitchen, but it has

everything that we -- that we need.

I -- yeah, I can't call it a dream home.

Um, [chuckles] I think,

if we were to figure out the kitchen and the flow

of all that, that would be big for us.

They just wanna come in with the absolute best they can

afford, and they wanna make an offer at 1.5.

We're not worried about conditions.

We're not worried about anything else.

They just want to get settled into a home with the kids.

I just hope that we can actually get our offer in

and make a deal before this goes on the market,

because this will be the exact same situation as

across the street.

Multiple offers, it's gonna go for well above list.

♪♪

Hey, it's Drew. How you doing?

Oh, I'm great.

And you will be much better once you hear what

I'm calling about.

The one time being a bully pays off.

You got the house!

No, I'm not joking.

I would not joke about this.

I know how stressful this has been.

I literally just got the text from the listing agent.

So, congratulations! You got a house!

-OK, I'll talk to you soon. -[Garret] Thanks, Drew.

♪♪

[Jonathan] Malia and Garret have signed

off on Drew's plan for the kitchen.

So we have our breakfast bar going in here.

OK, so blow through this wall so you can really see it open.

-[Amos] Peninsula there. -[Jonathan] There's no room for an island.

-[Amos] Right. -[Jonathan] And then building

in a nook in the corner, that's a good use of that space there.

And this is gonna be a new window, so we're gonna cut

out the window where your breakfast nook is.

That's my hope, is having as much light coming through as

possible, because right now it does feel very closed off

and janky with the staircase.

[Amos] Yeah, we are eliminating the fireplace.

[Jonathan] That'll give us way more options for storage

and furniture layout. The only issue is right now,

which maybe we need to talk to Malia about,

the bottleneck here at the front door.

We would get that rail out of there,

one big step across here.

It'll invite people in to the living room, and then

we've got space to do whatever we want over here.

-OK. -[Amos] Continue on with demo?

[Jonathan] Yeah, let's do it.

♪♪

All right. Hey, we have company.

-Hello, good timing. -Hello!

-Well, hello -- [indistinct], grab a seat. -Come around.

Ooh, here.

-[Jonathan] Talk a little finish. -[Garret] Yeah.

-You got the house, so big celebration in order for that. -Whoo.

But that's only the start of this journey because we have

a lot of work to do in a very short period of time.

-Right. -First of all, we need to know, what are your priorities?

I mean, we'd love to see it beautiful and nicely designed,

but I think our number one priority is just function.

Did you just eye roll when you said that?

I trust that you will make it beautiful.

That's why I'm not worried about that.

But for us, it's just like function, kids, clutter, chaos.

Like, bleh.

We've got a decent amount of stuff.

I'd say it's a lot of kids' stuff.

We have so many things we can't even --

we don't even know. -[Garret] Yeah, we've started

to put some stuff in the garage that's set aside.

Sort of like, how can we tuck some of that away?

[Malia] It's just like constant clutter.

We just need good storage space.

Storage is obviously a good thing.

-We're doing all new cabinetry in the kitchen. -[Garret] Right.

We're looking at different options of what we can do.

And the idea of tucking a banquette into the corner is

really cool. Well, guess what?

That gives you room for a tall pantry cabinet with way more

storage to help with clutter, all while blending seamlessly

into the overall design.

And to bring in some new light,

we can install a new window above the banquette.

The bench seating plays double duty with large drawer storage

tucked underneath.

Anywhere we can get extra cabinets would be great.

[Malia] Awesome.

Let's utilize every square inch possible

so that everything's nice and clean.

-Yes. -Cool.

You've got dead space under the stairs.

We can open that up, put flooring in, add some

shelves and baskets to keep shoes organized, and a door

to keep things looking neat and tidy.

[Garret] That sounds good.

We can also consult with a professional organizer

to help sort and manage some of the chaos.

All right, let's do it.

From an aesthetic standpoint, keeping in mind that

we're gonna look at all durable products. -[Garret] Mm-hmm.

[Jonathan] Do you see anything here that jumps out to you?

I'm personally, like, a cleaner look, so I like the ones

that are a little bit simpler.

I think, in general, we like

more natural-looking tones. -Yeah.

-I don't mind a little texture.

I like the clean, but I would probably lean towards this.

[Jonathan] So you like this kind of realm here with some veining in it?

-[Malia] Yeah. -OK.

Here, give us a little -- pull through there and have

a little look.

Tell us wall color, what you're thinking, and then for accents

in this space. -[Garret] Oh, wall color.

-[Malia] Oh, wall color. -[Jonathan] Go for both.

[Garret] It's like a test.

Nobody likes looking through a fan deck under pressure.

Uh, I know, this is a lot.

[Garret] I'm probably white on the walls.

-[Malia] Yeah, yeah. -[Garret] Very light.

Very light -- light and bright with the walls.

Like cabinet, I wouldn't necessarily want a dark

cabinet, but I do like these kind of blues and greens all

in a row. Not heavy dark.

It's farmhouse coastal. Did we make that up?

There could be farmhouses on the water.

Because he's, you know, Colorado farmhouse,

Hawaii coastal. -We can put that in the design.

But I would say, like, we do love the beach, so things

that can kind of bring that coastal beach feel. -Yeah, natural wood tones.

-I mean, we can also do real stone. -Mm-hmm.

[Jonathan] In the entry, we can even do a terrazzo.

We can do, you know, a little of anything.

We'll pull it together, and then we'll see which things

actually work together. -Cool.

-OK. -And above all else, storage.

-Yes. -[Malia] Yes.

-[Jonathan] OK. -[Malia] Yes.

♪♪

[Jonathan] I don't know a single person alive who has ever not heard

the saying, "storage is key." You can't have enough storage.

We have a family of four. They have a family of four.

I know how much a family of four needs for storage.

And as the kids get bigger, the needs only get greater.

I just think that you can't have enough closets.

We'll frame it out, and we'll just make it just

like a couple of adjustable shelves or something.

But, uh, we're in pretty good shape.

-We've got the fireplace ready. -Close this up.

So that all came off pretty good.

Electrical's done.

I wonder if we -- because we're capping...

-Yeah, we'll cap -- -Cap off on top.

-On top of the chimney? -I'm wondering if,

I mean, if there's any chance of a draft or anything coming

down, I would still insulate

in this section as well, just behind the drywall.

-Just a little. -For a little bit of rigid --

Well, we got insulation, so we could do that.

-That's not a problem. -Yeah.

So this is just gonna be blank wall, smart work.

-Yeah. -31 inches?

Mm-hmm.

It's not often that we actually get rid

of a fireplace without putting another one back.

So it'll just be a drywalled corner.

This is a smart use of this space.

The way it was configured wasn't optimal, and this just

gives them so much better use for seating over here.

Way more options for how to do the furniture.

[Drew] I know this has been a stressful process.

They've looked at a ton of houses.

They've lost out.

They had their hopes up, and they were crushed.

So it's important for us to get them in there.

These guys went through hell and back to find a home,

so I just want them to be super happy.

♪ Bless you, bless you, ah, ah, ah ♪

♪ Ah-h, ah-oh ♪

♪ Ah, ah, ah, bless you, bless you ♪

♪ Ah, ah, ah ♪

Hi, guys.

-Oh, hey. -Your timing could literally not have been

more perfect. -Great to see you.

-Good to see you., good to see you, -Good to see you again.

-This is... -Welcome to the party.

[Jonathan] Have you seen the chaos in the garage and all the stuff?

[Nicole] I've seen the chaos,

and I've seen some photos from the rental.

-OK. -I'm here to help sort through and edit all of the toys

and figure out what is the right system

that is easily maintained.

Something that's functional but also beautiful.

It has to look great with the design.

So we have a lot of options.

There's space over there that we can put a cabinet.

The one category that's probably gonna be

pretty big is arts and crafts.

-And that doesn't always look beautiful. -[Jonathan] Yeah.

So if we can have cabinetry just to contain paint

and things like that. -Yeah, you know what?

Because we don't really have, when I'm thinking,

we don't want that in the pantry.

[Nicole] One idea to keep it aesthetically pleasing is

to use an opaque woven basket to contain all of the toys.

It's functional and looks great.

For arts and crafts, an acrylic turntable

with separate compartments for paintbrushes,

markers, and crayons.

And it's clear so you can see what goes where.

And labeled jars for supplies so the kids know where stuff

goes when you kindly ask them to clean up after themselves.

Even as a grown up, I'm like, I can't remember where

everything's supposed to go, but we have it all beautifully

labeled, and then every time we're refilling,

it's so easy. -Yes.

-Yeah. -My job is to make sure

that the system is flawless, it can be maintained long

after I'm gone, and that the whole family

can use it.

♪♪

[background chatter]

[Drew] During the tours, Malia kept saying how she wants

the entrance to have some sort of visual interest that just

welcomes you in and drops the jaw.

And I think we can do that with this house.

I mean, a terrazzo floor there would be stunning.

They would absolutely love that.

But also, I think the right railing can help

open that up a bit.

Something visual that pulls you into the space and makes

you feel welcome, that's what you wanna have.

Way better. Oh, did I not get low enough?

-No, that works. -Hold on a sec.

-Let me have a little kick. -[Jonathan] Good morning.

[Drew] Boink. Boink.

-What's happening? -Yo, making some nice clean --

I mean, the hardwood should run all the way in here.

So that's -- hey, hey.

I made the executive decision to remove that stud so we just

run the hardwood all the way in.

Do you want,

instead, to do the tile?

I think we're light on tile, so...

[Jonathan] Well, we're done with that, right?

-Because the tile's finished. -Yeah.

-[Amos] But... -Oh.

-I'll clean this up, Drew. -Oh, guys.

Hold on, hold on, hold on.

What's with the...? There's no bullnose or anything

on the top level.

Hold on.

This is supposed to match the lower level, right?

Well, just... It never looks

totally right.

Oh, what's with the pattern?

That does not look good.

What's with this whole blank section?

Yeah, why is it so bare? Is that -- that's just the way it came?

That's -- oh, yeah.

When they were laying that, they should have...

looked at the pattern it was creating.

[Drew] No, actually, that looks awful.

-Oh. -Look at how stark it is here.

Like, this looks good.

They've kind of matched it up, but this...

Even the color looks off.

[Jonathan] They should never have used a blank tile like this.

That should have been off-cut. Oh, I think that's...

And that's the first thing you see when you walk in.

[Jonathan] We ordered this online, and I don't remember any

of the tiles being half blank. Hold on, let me see.

-[indistinct] -You said -- do we have any more of the...

[Amos] I think there's a few pieces of tile left, but not much.

There's three pieces.

[Amos] We can demo the tile, but Jonathan's asking about

a nosing to match

this nosing. -[Drew] So...

I...

[Drew] Well, that automatically is better,

because you're basically cutting the stairs.

[Jonathan] Yeah, cut this corner right here,

like that, and all of a sudden,

this pattern would blend perfectly with the other tile.

And then for this, I know we have more of our bullnose

in here. Hold on a sec.

Ah, that's over here, Jonathan.

-[Jonathan] Is it? -[Amos] Yeah.

[Jonathan] So will we cut the tile back, though, the extra couple

of inches? -Yeah.

Which, of course, is not ideal.

Yeah, exactly.

[Amos] Oh, that looks actually a lot cleaner.

[Jonathan] So that will look a lot better.

It never looks good to have

indifferent materials exactly in line with each other.

♪♪

Don't chip the paint.

In...that.

Look at your butt. It looks ridiculous.

-Who cares? -Dusty butt.

-Tell me the story of -- -No, don't sit on me!

-Oh, my god. -There we go, all right.

I did not pay for this.

-[Garret] Presley. -[Malia] Presley, Marlin!

[Garret] You guys wanna come over?

-[Malia] See the boats? -Yeah.

No, it's so close, like...

-[Malia] Wow! -And then it turned.

[Garret] Oh, you thought they were going to crash

into each other? -Oh, near-collision?

[Garret] As you can see from our kids, like,

they just love this park.

They love being by the beach.

They love collecting things at the beach.

So we spend a lot of time out here.

We don't have any family locally,

so it has been a lot on us.

It definitely is a bit of an island.

Our jobs are very busy.

We have two kids starting school.

It's certainly a lot these days.

Yeah.

Society's not really made for two working parents

and without family around.

And having grown up in Hawaii and having community and family

all around, it was definitely a big shock coming here.

But that is also why this area, you know,

it's become our community that we hope to stick around with.

♪♪

♪ Ooh, ooh, ooh ♪

♪ Sunshine is electric ♪

♪ Walking out to the beach, perfection ♪

♪ Looking out at the ocean ♪

♪ Waves roll in magical motion ♪

♪ Clear blue skies ♪

♪ The reason why we head down south for the tropical life ♪

♪ Ooh, the hot, hot sun ♪

♪ Laughing, relaxing, and ocean fun ♪

♪ Ooh, wherever you run ♪

♪ Bask in the glory of ocean fun ♪

There's a surprise here, because obviously we do

the drawer storage all the time.

There's secret storage. The base of this table.

[Drew] Oh, awesome! Oh, for arts and crafts stuff.

-[Jonathan] Yeah. -[Drew] Oh, amazing!

[Jonathan] The extra little organization.

This is gonna be a little treat for them.

♪ Ooh, the hot, hot sun ♪

♪ Laughing, relaxing, and ocean fun ♪

-Yes. -Oh, yes.

We are ready to get into the neighborhood and get back to --

back to the South Bay.

Just, I mean, to start to, like, be settled down,

get to know our neighbors. -Well, well, well.

Hello, hello.

-[Malia] Oh, hello! -You ready?

Either we're gonna absolutely hit the mark,

or you guys are gonna hate everything. -Hello -- I know --

-What's up? -Hey!

I'm very, very excited for you guys.

-[Malia] We are. -We're super excited as well.

Look at this smile.

-I can't even -- I don't -- I can't even function right now. -Ear to ear...

I mean, in another world, it could have been that house

you were moving into. -[Garret] Very true.

-[Malia] I know. -Very true.

I think you picked the better house.

I think you did. Tell them.

The things that you did not like about this house before --

the layout, the split-level, I actually think makes it

a more unique and beautiful home than some other standard

houses in the neighborhood. -We're super excited.

-We can't wait. -Take a deep breath.

[heavy exhales]

-Let's get you in this house. -All right, let's check it out.

[Malia] I'm so ready.

-[Malia gasps] -[Drew] Step right in.

[gasps] [laughs]

Oh, my God! Oh, my God.

[Drew] This is all for you and the kiddos.

[gasps] [laughs]

Oh, my God! Oh, my God.

-What? No, no... -[Garret] I did not expect this.

-I did not expect this at all. -[Malia] This is -- what?

Where are we? OK [laughs].

-Are you brain-glitching? -I think so.

-I'm malfunctioning. -I don't even know what to look at first,

what to take in first. -[Malia] I'm malfunctioning.

-Oh, my gosh. -[Garret] I mean, the stairway does have a great look.

-I mean, what you guys did with it is... -I'm shaking.

-...it looks so much better than what it was. -Doesn't it look amazing?

Your first impression is so nice.

[Malia] Oh, my God.

[Drew] It's so open.

This flow of the stairs, see what Jonathan was talking about

before, just opening this up a little bit.

-[indistinct] -[Garret] Yeah, you didn't even really notice coming down.

-[Drew] Beautiful new floors. -[Jonathan] Yeah, what do you think?

-[Malia] Love -- love this. -[Garret] Floors are incredible. I love this at the start.

-The tile, it looks great. -[Malia] I love everything.

Oh, my God.

We haven't had, like, a setup, like, a place

for the whole family. This is incredible.

-I honestly... -[Malia] Oh, my gosh.

[Jonathan] What's going through your head right now?

[Garret] I don't think this is our house.

I'm just, like, just the flood of everything

we've been through to get here.

Like, we have a cuddle couch now.

[Garret] Yeah, I mean, this is nice.

-Cuddle couch. -[Malia] We wanted it for the kids.

-Movie night. -Yeah, the whole family.

-That feels good. -Oh, my gosh.

You guys, not only can you cuddle up, but you can

cuddle and craft. -[Malia gasps] Oh, my gosh.

-Wow, look at that. -[Malia] Look at that.

[Garret] That's amazing.

[Jonathan] We know that nothing is more important for families

than having storage.

Some of it comes through furniture, and some of it comes

through better use of your existing spaces.

[Malia] Oh, my gosh. We have our own little --

[Drew] Look at that -- so you have some baskets.

Each of you have a basket for shoes.

[Malia] Storage in there. Oh, my gosh.

[Garret] I didn't even notice that coming in.

[Drew] We have kids' stuff tucked away and organized.

-Oh, wow. -So you can see you have the trains, you have the cars

with the baskets.

Oh, my gosh. This is real.

[Jonathan] This was a stressful search for a home.

It's not easy to find a house in this area.

I mean, so many people we know dream of being in this area,

and somehow the stars aligned and you made it happen.

-Well, at first they didn't. -[all laugh]

Here, there's a house.

Nope, you're not gonna have that house.

I think we've still been honestly coming to terms

with the fact that we got here

in the beach area that we've been wanting.

And honestly, now that we have a house here as well,

it's pretty overwhelming. -Oh, no, now you're gonna cry!

We've both, like, we've worked so hard, and, like, we met here

in the South Bay, and we don't have our, you know,

family here. It's truly, it's us.

-It's us and the kids, and this is the start of just... -[Drew] Yeah.

...our lives, like...

[laughs] I'm just --

Yeah, and honestly, I feel like I've had this,

like, anxiety in the pit of my stomach for, you know,

12 months now, and it's just kind of, like, settled.

-Yeah. -[Garret] It is honestly incredible.

I can't believe it's -- it's our dream home.

Yeah.

Like, I can't believe you can just see outside.

[Jonathan] You can literally see all the way through.

-[Garret] Yeah. -How cool is this breakfast bar?

[Garret] Amazing!

-Yeah, OK, I haven't even, like, soaked this all in yet. -I know.

Like, I love the countertops. It's not too veiny.

Is she looking more lovingly at the counter than she is

at you? -It's OK.

I hope it's temporary, but...

Look, you matched with the green there.

I know.

Honestly, the color of the cabinets is perfect.

-[Malia] It's honestly perfect. -Look at this right here.

-[Malia] Oh. -[Garret] Wow.

Mama likes it.

[Jonathan] You guys have not only what's a beautiful kitchen,

but it's packed with technology as well.

I love the fact that you're not wasting counter space

with your microwave and your storage drawers.

-[Malia] Look at all that space. -[Garret] That's crazy.

[Malia gasps] Oh, and look at the farmhouse sink.

Oh, and this is our dishwasher.

-[Garret] Dishwasher... [indistinct]. -I didn't realize.

This is a gorgeous kitchen, guys, compared to what was

here before. -[Garret] This is like night and day.

[Malia] I'll actually like cooking now.

-[Garret] I know. -[Drew] Yeah.

[Garret] There are some amazing touches in here.

[Malia] This is like our dining space now.

-[Garret] This matches. -[Malia] We've been dreaming of a nook.

-[indistinct] -[Malia] And the window! There's a window here.

[Garret] I know. It's crazy.

So not only did we squeeze in a beautiful fridge.

-[Malia] Wow. -[Jonathan] Check out all the storage.

-[Malia] Oh, my gosh. -Look at that.

Talk about amazing.

The kids can then choose their drawers just for them.

[Garret] Wow. That's awesome.

[Jonathan] But that's not the coolest one.

-[Drew] No. -Oh, gosh.

-[Malia] Oh! -Push on that.

[Malia] Yes! Yes!

-I think I know what this is. -Push on it right there.

[Malia] OK. [gasps] Storage!

-[Garret] Wow. -That's just for the kids.

-[Malia] Yay! -Arts and crafts.

Boom.

And then open the drawer in the front.

So you have literally anywhere we could possibly think.

[Malia] Oh, wow. These are big.

[Garret] They're big. It's great.

The natural wood on the floors, the tables.

And honestly, it feels, like, roomy for just

kind of being tucked away. -Yes, I love that storage.

It is. It's a lot of space.

It doesn't feel like a little afterthought.

You can actually get six people around this pretty easy.

-[Malia] Yeah. -[Drew] If you were buying this

kitchen already finished, it would not be

within your budget. -Right, yeah.

This is honestly incredible. [laughs]

I don't think I've seen you smile this much since

I've known you. I love it.

-I'm in disbelief. -[Garret] Thank you, guys.

This is honestly more than we could have ever dreamed of.

This is crazy.

We've been through a lot with our home-buying journey.

I mean, money and living in Southern California has --

it's always been tough. I am glad that we stuck it out.

It is pretty incredible what kind of aligned together for us

to end up here.

That anxious feeling's kind of gone.

-[Malia] Everything's just so... -[Garret] Well thought-out.

[Malia] Yeah.

[Garret] And it's got a nice beach feel that we definitely wanted.

We met in the South Bay.

We're now building our family here, and it's something

I have always...

dreamt of, and we are never moving again.

[both laugh]