Housing Market Reruns

I don’t watch much TV – still, at times I can be found in front of the idiot box with the remote, changing channels.  Click, click, click – what are the odds I land on a program that on rare occasion I’ve seen before?  Add to that coincidence, it’s a rerun of the same episode.  Does that ever happen to you?  OK, maybe just me.  Anyway, the TV show is called ‘Flip This House’ and I find a subtle seductive danger in its appeal.  As a matter of fact, the program should come with a warning label: housing market reruns may cause harm.

Harm you say?  It’s just a TV show.  True, it’s a TV show; nevertheless it affects us – whether consciously or subconsciously – for the light of the body is the eye.  Iowa State University concluded in American Psychology Today (Sept. 2001, Vol. 12, No.5) that “Analyses also reveals that exposure to violent video games, increases physiological arousal and aggression-related thoughts and feelings”.  Here’s an idea.  Let’s introduce a random group of kids who have never met, throw in some violent video games and then leave them alone unsupervised.  Would you be surprised to return to a home in disarray?  Something has been broken, something has been spilled; golly gee, one kid has a black eye – now I’m getting sidetracked, forgive me.

Oh yes, the warning label for ‘Flip This House’.  For all I know the program does come with a warning label (too late for me to fact check now, I’m halfway into this article).  Surely, you’re familiar with the scrolling words at the bottom of every get rich quick infomercial: “These results represent unique experiences.  Your results may vary”.  If memory serves me correct, the use of the disclaimer became commonplace about ten years ago, after the conviction of William J. McCorkle and his lovely wife Chantal.  Nothing inspires reform faster than a twenty-four year prison sentence.  Both William and Chantal had a late night infomercial where William, quite the showman, grandstanded with the catch phrase “From Busboy to Billionaire” and, of course, you could too if you bought his $69 course.  Or better yet, you should buy The Whole Enchilada!  The short version of the story is that the yacht and private jet were rented for the day of the shoot and William J. McCorkle’s name was stenciled on, hours before filming.  Also, the FBI raided his home and discovered unedited tapes where interviewees were encouraged to embellish success stories.  So this might be the extreme example of over-the-top, and again, I must apologize, I’m getting sidetracked.  It’s the reruns I wanted to discuss.

The episode in question, of ‘Flip This House’, was a rerun from times past.  When initially aired, we were in a seller’s market.  Problem is, the market has since changed, but you wouldn’t think so from watching that episode.  If you’ve read this far, then you can at least confess that TV does have some impact on our decisions.  Some, ok – I’ll give you that – some, but it doesn’t affect my life.

I drove into the office today.  A cardboard sign at an intersection advertised a home for sale.  Scribbled with a black magic marker, the sign said “Flip This Home”.  I thought the squiggly lines to the left and right of the words added some flair.  As I drove past the sign and continued down the road, I wondered to myself – did he know it was a rerun?