Daniel McGinn
Boy howdy what a timely book! As the prices of houses plummet and loans are near-impossible to attain, this book makes it crystal clear where it all went wrong. Actually, House Lust author McGinn makes the claim that he will do nothing of the sort in his book. While there is little mention of the current financial mess we are currently mired in, it is oh so clear how we got here.
Greed, pure and simple, is what has driven our economy into a pit. Not just greed from the no-money-down banks but house owners’ lust for marble counter tops, brand-new houses and bigger, wider, deeper living rooms for their bigger, wider and narrower tvs.
McGinn, a self-confessed house-luster himself, covers the various areas of house lust. There are the redecorators who watch numerous tv shows on redoing their place. There is the renovating crowd, taking out massive loans against their mortgage to build “additions” larger than the original home. There are those that “need” a minimum of 4000 square feet to be comfortable and those that believe they are real estate moguls who merely have to invest their life savings into a dilapidated shack. With a coat of paint and a few flowers, they will flip that baby for a mint. *sigh* Many people are really stupid. Yes, there is definitely a strong element of voyeurism in this book “ooooh, they’re spending $200,000 on a house worth $150,000, that’s going to bite them in the buns.”
If you are a homeowner already, read this book. It will make you you appreciate your own little ranch house in the not-at-all fashionable neighborhood. I sure appreciate our affordable little house a great deal more.