Real Estate Intervention!

I have realized that you can't have a Maryland real estate blog without talking about this show. I had weaned myself from HGTV addiction so I was not aware of this new offering right away. The first time I saw it, they were dealing with a house in A*****n, so I was very reluctant to blog about it, and subconsciously I think that prevented me from watching it again even though I loved the idea. There is a definite theme here as the homeowner in A**ing**on was insisting that his house should be worth more because it DIDN'T have a finished basement. You watch the seller rationalize wanting tens of thousands more for their home than other homes that are in the same area which are bigger with more features. You want to just smack the person, because they are actually saying that they should be donated a bunch of money for no reason whatsoever. However the sellers do not admit this because there is elaborate rationalization going on. They start telling themeslves things like, since some people don't want a (basement, fireplace, etc,) they should be offered more money for having a house that is absent this feature. Kind of like when you are shopping in the supermarket and you realize that carbs are bad for you so you're willing to pay ten bucks for a box of cereal with nothing in it. I do that all the time.

On Sunday evening, Mike Aubrey was featured in Nottingham, MD, which is near the White Marsh mall north of Baltimore. This is an area that was heavily built up just in the past ten years. It seems to be a reasonably priced suburb with lots of new townhouses. I think the traffic going into Baltimore from there is bad since there is a lot of construction going on I-95 in that area and the population has exploded.

This family had bought the house for 128K around 10 years ago and now owed over 200K. They wanted nearly 250K for their house, although the highest recent comp was a house with the same floor plan, better carpets and flooring, a walk-out basement and a fireplace for 209. Rationalizations ensued and eventually the homeowner was reduced to saying in a thick Baltimore accent that "I can't leave money on the table, it's not in my nature." I think what he meant was that he can't leave imaginary, fantasy money on the table, but same difference. What happened in the end was that they were not able to sell and their contingent contract on another house fell through.

My only observation is that Mike could ask the homeowners how they intend to provide their buyer with financing since a bank won't do it. But that might be a little harsh for these sellers who are only very gradually coming to terms with their self-entitled delusions.

My hope is that this show will bring the idea of the deluded seller into popular consciousness so that when people see that they are expecting a higher price for something to magically happen simply because they own it they might start to think "uh oh maybe I am being like one of those chuckleheads on Real Estate Intervention!"