Written before the recent collapse in housing prices -- he does address the beginning of the slide -- this book examines in detail the mad lust for housing makeovers and insatiable desire for people to build better and more upscale with concomitant problems. Fueled by TV shows and channels devoted to peering inside the neighbor's house, it's all about size, number of bathrooms, having something visible that is better than the neighbors. Larger homes mean more space to fill up with stuff and rising equity meant more money to buy stuff -- as long as the value of the house climbs. When it falls....Used homes became less and less desirable. People started building and then the fun really began (although Tracy Kidder in House describes in greater detail the travails and conflict involved in actually constructing a house.)
McGinn, himself was not immune to the fever and invested in a rental property through agents that turned out to be less fun and remunerative than he expected. He applied and got a real estate license, so we're treated to an inside view of the profession. The only ones who really enriched themselves were the banks with their fees and the agents who gained more and more commissions as homeowners increasingly saw their homes as investments rather than domiciles.
Therein lies the core of the problem from my perspective. It used to be that Americans bought and built homes to live in; now they buy them as an investment. That inevitably drives the prices up as people move up. It's the classic bubble. Whether this trend will have been brought to a screeching halt by the recent structural failure of the market remains to be seen. I read an article recently that proposed most people should rent rather than buy anyway. A house requires too much maintenance and other expenses to make it worthwhile, reducing flexibility as well.
Lots of fun to read (or listen to - good audiobook.)
