Property Virgin show annoyed me

[Goldy1]

Last night I watched Property Virgin. This newly married couple were looking for a house around 250K. The man commented that he "was the person briging n most the income " and was a little weary. However, the couple went on to state how thier goal was to buy thier dream home in 10 years. The dream home was a home nearby by for 1 million.

Ok the couple tried to do a 100% financing on a 250K home. The bank pulled out at the last minute when the comps even tho less updated were coming in at 225K.
SOOO the seller went down to 246K on the price and paid for closing costs. Also the couple put down about 12K which the man said was 5% down and they secured financing.
I believe they were in Colorado. The couple went on to say how scary it was b/c the 12K was ALL OF THIER LIFE SAVINGS.

Ok not sure of the show's date but couple isues here:

1) banking on a 10% return each year on the home

2) greed wanting a million dollar home. ok if you have one, fine, but it's a little much to get all goal oriented about it

3) geez my dh bought our home in 1997 before he met me and if we sold today in this excuse for a market we would get about what we paid, maybe less minus improvements and maintainance. certainly won't cash in.

4) they had to have everything on thier wish list for the home, why not buy less than you can afford?

5) what's gonna happen if you lose your job? (I guess no one would buy a house tho if the stipulation was don't buy b/c you might lose a job)

[Joan.of.the.Arch]

How old was this program?

[disneysteve]

Did they say what their income is? I'd be curious to hear if the 250K is even reasonable based on their income.

I never watch any of those home shows because they are usually so ridiculous.

[wincrasher]

That show is a hoot. Most of the episodes I've seen are from late 07 to spring 08.

Often times its a young couple right out of college buying their first home at 300 to 400k.

It took me 20 years of working to afford a house costing that much!

But of course the funny stuff is revealed at the end.

95% financing usually, using a 1st and 2nd mortage and both with what is now a high rate - 6.5% or so on the first.

Of course since they are going up to their eyeballs in debt, they have this enormous wish list of all the things they want. There is some good information in this show - the host talks about market comparisons, negotiating and looking at houses and guessing thier value, and thinking about potential value in the different houses.

Personally, I like that show where they look at these dumpy overpriced houses, and then show a new design and estimate of what you could turn it into. I wonder how many actually follow thru the purchase and construction. Often times at the end of the show the couple say they are gonna keep looking instead. I think most buyers want it all- move in ready and perfect, instead of fixing up and renovating and thereby creating new value.

[feh]

There's a whole lot of stupid and/or ignorant people out there, and they're surrounded by enablers.

[Goldy1]

yea they were getting a 6.75% 30 year fixed. Ok kudos on not going with an arm, but the show has to be a little old b/c it takes time to air and rates are lower now.

I can't blame people for wanting a return on thier investment etc. but hopefully the sentiment of buy, hold short term, and flip a huge profit are over. Who knows? IT might not be.

The income was NOT stated. The wife was saying "WE can work more. WE are willing" when she wanted more house. (you know upgrade city b/c who can live w/o granite etc.) The man in a blurp of sanity said he didn't want to have to work and have no life for a house, but he caved in anyway.

[m3racer]

Watched that episode and I kept scratching my head. That couple most definitely could not afford to own a property. The funny part was neither of them had jobs. The wife was supposed to start working in 2 months and the husband was in school.

[MonkeyMama]

This show is always on when I am at the gym - I have wondered a few times what the heck year it was (for various reasons).

BUT overall, the show is really good and I would recommend for first-time home buyers to watch it. Kind of a, "What to expect." It reminds me of our adventures in home buying since we were pretty young when we bought our first home. (Not the financing part - ugh. We put 20% down and did not even look at single family homes since they were too expensive. I don't think there is anything wrong with a wish list on one hand, but our first wish list was probably "walls and a roof" - I don't think that was so great either. As long as the wish lists are realistic, I guess).

Which reminds me, the few times I have seen the show, the young people tended to get overwhelmed and decide not to buy. Though the ones where they did buy - yeah - I got the feeling they were getting in way over their heads. The lenders were only too eager to help them get in way over their heads. I wondered what year it was when one couple couldn't qualify for the loan they wanted. I wondered if that was a newer episode! OR if they were just in WAY too deep... I have never seen anyone put more than like 5% down on a house, on that show. Which makes me cringe every single time.

[momof1in150]

A lot of those episodes are taped in Canada and they might have different criteria for home buying.

[cantretire]

This is how we got into this mess to begin with!

I agree that many of these shows were taped before everything went south, but I still could never understand how most of these people could afford the houses they were buying. I've noticed that most of these shows aren't airing anymore!

I wish they'd do some follow up shows to see how many of these buyers and/or flippers are bankrupt now.