By David Bowling

Because of a reality TV show my house is now worthless.  For any of you that haven’t seen the hit series “House Hunters” here’s the premise:  A couple hires a realtor and looks at three homes, at the end of the show they choose one to buy.  The couple starts with their wish list, and then the realtor tries to match their wants and needs with their budget.  I enjoy watching it because I like to see other cities and countries and compare prices and see the different people and places.  But as I watch I realize what it’s doing do my property value. 

My house was built in 1954 before home buyers were so demanding.  So I have none of these.  When I bought my home I was just happy to get a piece of property that I owned with a house that I could fix up and be proud of my hard work.  But now, according to this show, it’s not enough to just be a homeowner, you have find the perfect home. 

You would think all of these demands would limit availability and drive up prices.  But not for these real estate agents, every house in every price range is an amazing home.  Especially in places like Georgia and Alabama.  For 180K they’re looking at houses that could be featured on “MTV Cribs”.  Each time one of the prospective home buyers stands in a bedroom half the size of my house and says “it’s kind of small”, I want to jump thru the TV and smack them.   

Anyway, as much as I enjoy the show I hope it’s cancelled soon.  Someday I want to sell my house and I’m not looking forward to “no, don’t have that, or that, or that, or that…”