[Marxism] House Lust

[Louis Proyect]

Washington Post, Wednesday, January 2, 2008; A13
'House Lust' Hits Home
By Robert J. Samuelson

Down the block from my home, workmen are finishing a new house. It 
replaces a bungalow that had measured about 1,500 square feet. The new 
home has a covered front porch, two fireplaces and a finished basement. 
It comes in at just under 5,700 square feet. What is it with Americans 
and their homes?

Everyone knows the direct causes of the present housing collapse: low 
interest rates, lax mortgage lending, rampant speculation. But the 
larger force lies in Americans' devotion to homeownership. It explains 
why government officials, politicians and journalists (including this 
one) overlooked abuses in "subprime" lending. The homeownership rate was 
approaching 70 percent in 2005, up from 64 percent in 1990. Great. A 
good cause shielded bad practices. The same complacency lulled ordinary 
Americans into paying ever-rising home prices. Something so embedded in 
the national psyche must be okay.

"House lust" is what Dan McGinn calls it in his book by the same title. 
McGinn documents -- sympathetically, for he dotes on his own home -- our 
housing excesses, starting with supersizing. In Sweden, Britain and 
Italy, new homes average under 1,000 square feet. By 2005, the average 
newly built U.S. home measured 2,434 square feet, and there were many 
that were double, triple or quadruple that. After World War II, the 
first mass Levittown suburbs offered 750-square-foot homes. (Full 
disclosure: McGinn is a Newsweek colleague.)

"We're not selling shelter," says the president of Toll Brothers, a 
builder of upscale homes. "We're selling extreme-ego, look-at-me types 
of homes." In 2000, Toll Brothers' most popular home was 3,200 square 
feet; by 2005, it had grown 50 percent, to 4,800 square feet. These 
"McMansions" often feature marble floors, sweeping staircases, vaulted 
ceilings, family rooms, studies, home entertainment centers and more 
bedrooms than people.

In a nation of abundant land -- unlike Europe and Japan -- our housing 
obsession is understandable and desirable up to a point. People who own 
homes take better care of them. They stabilize neighborhoods. In a world 
where so much seems uncontrollable, a house seems a refuge of influence 
and individuality. In a 2004 survey, 74 percent of would-be home buyers 
preferred a new home to an existing house. One reason is that a new 
house often allows buyers to select the latest gadgets and shape the 
design. The same impulse has driven the remodeling boom, which totaled 
$180 billion in 2006.

"The most exciting thing was just watching the house go up piece by 
piece," said one buyer of a new, $380,000 home in Las Vegas. The 50-ish 
couple added a pool, hot tub and deck. They love their home.

Homes are a common currency of status. As McGinn notes, many jobs in an 
advanced economy are highly technical and specialized. "I could tell you 
more about (my job)," a woman informed him at a dinner party, "but you 
won't understand it, and it's not that interesting." By contrast, a home 
announces that, whatever the obscurities of your work, you've succeeded. 
There's a frantic competition to match or exceed friends, co-workers and 
(yes) parents.

Some house lust is fairly harmless. Several Web sites ( 
http://www.zillow.com, http://www.realtor.com) provide estimated prices 
for homes. People can indulge their nosiness about their neighbors', 
friends', co-workers' or relatives' finances. They can also fantasize 
about their next real estate adventure by watching a cable channel ( 
HGTV) devoted to houses, home buying and renovation.

Other effects are less innocuous. Although house prices recently 
exploded, they have increased only slightly faster than inflation since 
the 1890s, concluded a study by Yale economist Robert Shiller. The 
recent sharp run-up may imply years of price declines or meager 
increases. "Buying a bigger house isn't an investment," warned Wall 
Street Journal columnist Jonathan Clements. It's "a lifestyle choice -- 
and it comes with a brutally large price tag." Not only are mortgage 
payments higher; so are costs for utilities, furniture and repairs.

Worse, government subsidizes these supersize homes along with suburban 
sprawl and, just incidentally, global warming. In 2008, the tax 
deduction for mortgage interest payments will cost the federal 
government $89 billion. The savings go heavily to the upper-middle class 
and the wealthy -- the least needy people -- and encourage ever-larger 
homes. Even with energy-saving appliances, those homes are likely to 
generate more greenhouse gases than their smaller predecessors. As 
individuals and a society, we've overinvested in housing; we'd be better 
off if more of our savings went into productive investments elsewhere.

Sociologically, the "housing bubble" resembles the preceding "tech 
bubble." When people paid astronomical prices for profitless dot-com 
stocks, they doubtlessly reassured themselves that they were investing 
in the very essence of America -- the pioneering spirit, the ability to 
harness new technologies. Exorbitant home prices inspired a similar 
logic. How could anyone go wrong buying into the American dream? It was 
easy.

---

Househunters

Over the last couple of months, I have become a big fan of 
“Househunters”, a half-hour show that appears nightly on the House and 
Garden cable TV network and that is as ritualized as Kabuki. It starts 
usually with the introduction of a couple and their children who have 
outgrown their current house or apartment. If they are renters, they 
make clear that their dream is to own something. They see a house as an 
investment. Renters watching this show cannot help but feel that they 
are losers.

They proceed to go out with a realtor and evaluate 3 houses like 
Goldilocks. One house might be too expensive, the other too small, etc. 
Typically, the 3rd house is the one they make an offer on–it is usually 
the most expensive. After the final commercial, they get a call back 
from the broker who breaks the good news to them that their bid has been 
accepted. The final minute or two consists of a tour of their new house, 
with their moved-in furniture and a fresh paint job usually. The family 
cannot be happier.

full: http://louisproyect.wordpress.com/2005/04/13/househunters/