Point taken, but Mr. Sollisch strikes me as a tad bit elitist. "How much money can these people possibly make?" he shouted at his wife, while he watched people "...put their tacky, run-of-the-mill tract homes on the market for twice what they paid and then went out and bought houses with price tags too obscene to repeat." The nerve of those peasants!

So is HGTV guilty of anything? I don't know. I've never seen any of the shows. I do know that we were lucky to move into this area when we did. Our tacky, run-of-the-mill tract townhouse barely holds us, and I don't have a workshop, den, or garage, but we have an affordable mortgage, and can set money aside for things like travel. But even tacky, run-of-the-mill tract townhouses were wildly expensive out here even three years ago, and the families who moved in here back then have my sympathy. On the other hand, people who deliberately bought more home than they needed, or were trying to flip houses for a quick profit, I have a hard time feeling so bad about.

HGTV can certainly take some of the rap for stroking the green monster, but people still have to be responsible for what they do to themselves.

I blame the Fed and the government. The Fed for handing the banks too much money. Too much supply and for the existing demand resulting in falling prices (interest rates). Consumers responded as they always do when given free money, they spent. The government then gave people free homes. Banks were all too willing to lend because they faced no losses and didn't need to put any capital down (when a loan is insured by Fannie or Freddie the risk-weighting is zero for a bank - meaning they don't need to put any capital down to cover for losses).

My point is that while there is a personal responsibility aspect to this story the main culprit is government. If the government is willing to give people a free ride, don't be surprised when people accept it.

Mr. Quinn sums up my views on this pretty well:

"If a poor person has no home, no vehicle, and no prospects; then a bank tells them that they can buy a $300,000 home, drive a $55,000 Mercedes SUV, and live like people on TV; why wouldn’t they say yes? What is their downside? If you have nothing and “The Man” offers you the American Dream, you’d actually be foolish to say no. Now that they have lost the home in foreclosure and the repo man has taken the Mercedes, they are exactly where they were a few years ago with no home, no vehicle and no prospects."

http://seekingalpha.com/article/103202-the-shallowest-generation

There is plenty of blame to go around. Yes, the federal government. Yes, the banks who wanted a quick buck (most, but certainly not all of them). But in the end Brian is right: individual responsibility. "Stop me before I borrow myself into the poorhouse"?

I have an otherwise very conservative cousin who bought a 6000 sq. ft. house. What for? That's something like three times the living area my family has, and we have rooms we rarely use!

What is it? A desire to have a different living area for each day of the week? A yearning to pay massive utility bills? Just what is the hidden motivation behind the McMansion mentality?

There's way to much H and not enough G in that network, that's for sure!

Bradley -

The answer you seek is once again the green-eyed monster.

Mr. Jones has a 5,000 sq. ft. house, and a new Lexus. In order that I may show that my social standing is higher than his, I must have a 6,000 sq. ft. house and TWO Lexi.

This all goes back to when they were in grade school, and they got picked on for wearing their older brother's hand-me-down clothing.

I'd be interested in knowing the professions of these buyers. How many of them are engineers or accountants versus, say, sales execs and managers.

For the record, I've got an 1,100 sq. ft. house and a Volkswagen.

At the height of the boom a few years ago, my GF and I were looking at houses in Southern NH. Before I knew it we were in a new construction 2,800 sq ft home, granite, great room, etc etc.
The price was somewhere in the mid $500's.
While the GF was contemplating kitchen appliance
options I wandered down to the completely empty basement.
Looking at the vast space I was thinking, "I could build a fucking hockey rink down here". That's when it hit me how insane we were to be looking at this type of house. I put my foot down and we ended up not buying anything. We could have afforded it but if we'd bought it we'd be about $100-150K under water right now.
I was determined to wait for the market to bottom before moving. I'm still waiting.

So is HGTV guilty of anything?

They're guilty of having frequently shallow, often boring and sometimes annoying content carefully compressed between long stretches of commercials. You know, just like pretty much every TV channel and nothing that can't be solved with a channel changer, DVR or off switch.

When I first read that article I laughed along with the author. I've watched the shows he mentions and wondered how this young couple with entry-level jobs could seriously consider buying houses priced at the GDP of a small country.

And it's always the same couple (fat or thin): schlubby guy who wants room for a big screen and a beer fridge with a wife who insists the kitchen will be her territory and he should stay out of it. Where do they find these couples?

Despite the tongue planted firmly in cheek, does the author make a point? Perhaps.

I remember reading an article a while back that said that the civil rights movement never really got off the ground until television came along. Black people watching "Leave it to Beaver" and "Father Knows Best" saw lifestyles that they wanted. White people saw news reports (like "Harvest of Shame") that showed them the lives of the "others" in society. Thanks to television, they weren't just reading MLK's words in the paper; they were hearing his impassioned elocution.

I must have ... TWO Lexi.

Why should you have to settle for two Ford Foci?

"I blame lack of personal responsibility."

I blame lack of common sense and stykle sense and market sense. Example: I live in a nondescript Craftsman in Tacoma, three bedrooms , built in 1911. Fine. We have jazzed it a bit. We may eventually even put in a little half bath on the first floor, someday, contrary to the the normal Craftsman pattern of one bathroom upstairs. But no matter how many times the realtor in the program wrinkles her nose and insists that customers are looking for a "master suite", there will be NO bathroom off the master bedroom. The three bedrooms can damn well use one bathroom.

For a while there we might have gotten around $400K. whoppee; that was then, this is now. Easy come, easy go. So we didn't spend a bunch of equity run-up that would have vanished overnight and left us upside down. We will not be putting in granite counter-tops - concrete maybe, but no granite, and we will not put in $60,000 worth of kitchen cabinets or any such similar nonsense, because that would price us right out of the neighborhood. Prospective buyers should be happy we have gotten the gangs cowed into submission and call it good. Anyway we will probably be there till we die, so I could but in a Chinese counter sink if I wanted.

"There's way to much H and not enough G in that network, that's for sure!"

And that is just so true, Monica!

Well, to be fair, anyone with a really great house isn't going to go on House Hunters. Sorry, but booking those shows is a nightmare. The network wants cute, articulate, media-genic people with spark, but they end up having to chose the family with the most teeth.

And higher-end houses and real estate agents don't want to bother with this sort of show. I was usually depressed after watching.

The other thing that drives me nuts about HGTV is these couples who buy the most expensive house on the list, the one the announcer always says is "a bit over their price range" (like, $40-50,000 over) and then they go back SIX MONTHS later and the couple has completely remodeled the kitchen, with high-end stainless steel appliances and granite countertops. How the hell did they do that, if they overspent on the house to begin with?

Makes me glad I have my 880 sq. ft. condo. Plenty of room for me and the cat, and the house payment isn't much more than I would have paid in rent, which is also offset by my tax deduction. Yeah, it has formica countertops and the bathroom and kitchen could be updated, but it's clean and I've painted it and it's cheap to heat.

Jim, I'm a big gardener and so hyjacking this topic a bit. Paul James' show, Gardening by the Yard, has been canceled, taking the one truly awesome G show off HGTV. This move isn't publicized yet of curse, but I heard him speak back in fall, saying he'd recorded his final shows.

Back to housing, after I was divorced in 2001, the bank wanted to approve me for much more house than I felt I could afford. So what? I didn't act on it. I bought a modest 900-sq foot 1960s ranch home in the "poor" part of a well-off Uni town. It cost less than many condos in town and it's next to a park and creek--perfect for a nature nut like me.

I've also (gasp!) lived within my means my whole life and have enough savings that I can take a year off work and focus on a long dreamed of personal project.

Oh, and I'm not a rich corporate person. I make $55,000 a year and am my sole support (no others contributing to my household).

Being without health insurance, however, will suck.

The minute I knew about making money by flipping houses, you could be certain that trend was over.

I don't blame HGTV, it's good to know about what's possible, even if you can't afford it. My wife and I have a good income, and we certainly can't afford the things they show on HGTV. Sixty thousand dollar bathrooms? That's half of what my entire house cost.

To answer the question about where the 20-30 somethings get the money for the houses they are looking at on HGTV, I always assumed it was Mommy/Daddy ponying up a significant downpayment.

On the HGTV shows, they are too "design focused" for me. Too many times while watching some bathroom renovation I'll say something like "good luck moving that radiator, that's going to be a pain in the ass" only to have the next segment show the radiator magically moved and the heavy topic of what color towels go with the new color scheme being discussed.

My favorite show is Property Ladder on TLC. That's the one with Blonde Babe Kirsten dressing down newbie flippers who think they know more than her. Some of these people are so arrogant, clueless and unlikeable that you end up rooting for the house not to sell.

I haven't seen a new show in a while so they may not still be making it.

Sean, they still make it. And I root for ALL the houses not to sell. How can you want people that dumb to make money?

SOmetimes I ge tgood dieas there that I can cheapen down for my own house. Usually, not, though.

And yeah, how DO those couples redo the entire house in 6 months???

"Where I live, a large doghouse would be out of my reach"

I just walked home from an errand, passing the Ferrari Lamborghini Bentley dealership. I did stop in and look at the $2,500 espresso makers at the local kitchen store, though.
Shiny.
Not sure what they're charging for a doghouse here but if the dog drinks coffee I'd be double-hosed for sure.

HGTV, eh?

So that means it's Alton Brown's fault I've packed on a few pounds, right?

Not necessarily, but you CAN blame AB for all the new kitchen gadgets you bought.

>>>My favorite show is Property Ladder on TLC. That's the one with Blonde Babe Kirsten dressing down newbie flippers who think they know more than her. Some of these people are so arrogant, clueless and unlikeable that you end up rooting for the house not to sell.

Oh yeah, like the moron who a) thought he could just tell the contractors what to do and wander off all day and b) insisted on putting a bathroom in the attic, complete with a shower that only someone under 5'5" could use (it followed the slope of the roof). I died laughing at that one!

Monica,

Not only that show, but Curb Appeal and a lot of others. I think the real reason is that the sponsors are the big biowx home improvement stores that make their money on stuff that goes onto the inside of houses more than the garden stuff.

"So that means it's Alton Brown's fault I've packed on a few pounds, right?'

No, Paula Dean's!

""So that means it's Alton Brown's fault I've packed on a few pounds, right?'

No, Paula Dean's!"

If I tried her recipes it would be a few dozen pounds.

I actually have a big problem...I love decorating. I'm 23, living in a two family in Quincy, MA, on my entry level income. Can't really afford what I want right now.

It's most definitely NOT a status thing for me - it's an aesthetics thing. I also have a thing for perfect ambient lighting, pleasing textures and futuristic tech crap. I'm more concerned with my future kitchen than I am with what kind of wedding dress I'll wear. In fact, if I could just go to the court house and put the ten g's towards appliances I would. Can't have both, though.

I just have different priorities. HGTV doesn't help it all. Makes it worse. So that is why I have an insane addiction to The Sims. I need to live vicariously through them.

I root against the house-flippers, too. Glad to know Husband and I aren't the only ones.

Today's "property virgins" show made DH and I choke. The dumest, most annoying couple EVER looking at $300k+ homes. And bought one. AFter, of course, bringing daddy who's no doubt footing the bill along to check it out. I hate them.