As our current industry-wide miasma deepens, many people from both within and without have pointed arched fingers of blame to individuals and sectors far and wide. But for all of the criticism leveled at the likes of brokers, appraisers, regulators and borrowers, there is one culprit who has not been criticized: reality television programming.
I am not talking about the home repair and interior design programs – those shows are entertaining and benign. I am talking about programming relating to real estate transactions.
Some of these programs involve teams who flip homes, and other shows find young couples who rush into the responsibility of buying a home, often with brokers and lenders greasing their wheels to homeownership. These productions telescope the entire process into quick, seemingly sweat-free scenarios where everything gets wrapped up amid big smiles in a tight 30-minute frame (with eight minutes set aside for commercial interruptions, of course).
I have major problems with these programs. The flipping shows truly annoy me, with their celebration of get-rich-quick schemes coordinated by people who buy rundown homes in crummy neighborhoods, make superficial improvements such as a slapdash paintjob and a few new appliances, and then resell the home almost immediately at ridiculously jacked-up prices. Considering how much mortgage fraud is the result of flipping schemes, it is astonishing that television shows cheer on these practices as shrewd business opportunities.
The house-hunting shows are just as problematic. They stubbornly insist that homeownership is for everyone, regardless of whether people can carry this enormous financial and emotional responsibility on tight incomes. I can recall one program where a married couple just barely recovering from bankruptcy locked on the thought that they needed to buy a home, despite the painfully obvious fact they were barely staying afloat and had more than a few expenses relating to their two kids, three dogs and the wife's ailing mother.
What is particularly irksome about this type of program is its pathological hatred of renting. Considering that many of the couples featured on the shows are in their twenties with limited savings and tight budgets, the idea of pushing mortgages on them is dubious. Of course, programs that emphasize fiscal responsibility, building personal savings and budgeting to live within one's means might not be a television network executive's notion of compelling viewing.
These programs originally became popular in the earlier part of the decade, when the housing boom roared into ascension. Incredibly, they are still on the air and, from what I can gather, they remain popular despite today's stalling economy and soured housing market.
Admittedly, many people are watching these shows strictly for amusement instead of inspiration, and perhaps these shows actually had no impact on driving the forces that resulted in the current crisis. Nonetheless, I believe these shows continue to send the wrong message. Homeownership is not a game, and trivializing the process without exploring the true scope of buying or selling a house (or in the case of the flippers, buying and selling the same house) is not helpful to anyone.
But, then again, I shouldn't really complain about the corrupting influences of TV viewing. After all, I'm addicted to ‘Family Guy’ (giggity giggity!)
– Phil Hall, editor, Secondary Marketing Executive
(Please address all comments regarding this opinion column to hallp@sme-online.com)
