Exploring Our Preoccupation With Housing
The Times has a review of an intriguing new book called House Lust: America’s Obsession With Our Homes by Daniel McGinn (Currency, $24.95) that tackles questions many of us can presumably relate to, like, How did home renovations come to routinely turn families’ lives upside down? and Why do thousands of us now watch reality…
The Times has a review of an intriguing new book called House Lust: America’s Obsession With Our Homes by Daniel McGinn (Currency, $24.95) that tackles questions many of us can presumably relate to, like, How did home renovations come to routinely turn families’ lives upside down? and Why do thousands of us now watch reality shows about home flipping or house hunting? Although the book doesn’t specifically zoom in on Brooklyn, or even New York City, real estate, it does examine larger cultural trends that hit close to home, such as how in recent years (before the subprime fallout, anyway) Americans came to see home ownership as the most valuable investment they could make, leading many to fetishize their homes. For example, McGinn looks at Fix-Up Fever in Newtown, Mass., where he finds owners engaged in renovations for the purpose of one-upping their neighbors. The author’s conclusion? Our homes may no longer be making us rich, but living through an era when we thought they might has resulted in a permanent shift in thinking — one that will leave many of us happily obsessed with houses for years to come.
Who Needs a 401(k)? I’d Rather Have a Castle.
Book cover from Amazon.
Being obsessed with our houses and home improvement is NOT new. It happened as much in the 50’s as it does now. What’s changed is the internet and reality TV. THAT’s what’s new and sure, it fuels this obsession. But the obsession itself is nothing new.
what are you talking about 10.16? People started living green about 10-8 years ago. Jeeze talk about late-starter. Were in the green revival now.
“Our homes may no longer be making us rich, but living through an era when we thought they might has resulted in a permanent shift in thinking — one that will leave many of us happily obsessed with houses for years to come.â€
No. It was a temporary shift. It was a fad and a pyramid scheme. And all fads eventually hibernate into dormancy for many years and decades before the cycle repeats.
“1982 – Real Estate Buzz Begins
1983 – Real Estate Gains Limelight
1984 – Prices Begin To Skyrocket
1988 – The Crash Begins
1990 – Bank Failures And Foreclosure ”
http://tinyurl.com/2p3xmp
But the obsession with brownstone architecture without regard for market value appreciation lives on…
Very simple. The incredible asset bubble in real estate has created a real estate mania that has caused this real estate obsession. The asset bubble economy has lead to an overinvestment in housing, to the detriment to other sectors of our economy. If the bubble deflates, so will the interest.
But the author is still onto something: as many of us have found our professional careers less than fulfilling, political/public life bordering on the appalling–and perhaps even marriages that don’t satisfy fully–we try to find meaning somewhere. And our homes are an ideal place…they always need work, attention, and (in Brooklyn) upgrading.
Another form of consumerism, bigger, more lucrative, and far more distracting. A very sad statement about the current state of affairs.
This book is a year too late. We have moved on to living green now.