House Lust: America’s Obsession With Our Homes

by Daniel McGinn

ONE-LINE SUMMARY: America is obsessed with square footage, renovations, House Hunters, and flipping houses.

After three houses in nine years and a realtor with a fondness for embezzlement, my lust for housing had begun to wane. Sure, I still checked ZipRealty daily, had registered for various MLS alert notifications under numerous aliases, and knew sale prices for every house in our neighborhood that had gone on the market during our time here, but my heart wasn’t really into it. (Yes, you should see me when my heart really IS into something…just stay out of my path of destruction, is all I can say.)

The hideousness of our last real estate transaction had pretty much beaten out what little optimism I’d had in life, and I had just about resigned myself to merely making catty comments about housing ads and pictures (”You think your living room looks best with your giant dog sprawled on the couch? Really?”) when I read this book, and immediately all my lust was back.

On nearly every page, I came across something interesting that I saved to tell Chris later. (I’m sure Chris appreciated my thoughtfulness.) The book is well-written and enjoyable. Best of all, it made me realize that I am not alone in my obsessive need to look at housing.

If this book had photos, I would have immediately shelled out the $24.95 ($16.47 on Amazon) to buy it. Those of you who are less obsessed can find it in a library.

Posted by: ssjane | April 22, 2008 | 8:28 pm
Posted in: Books | Nonfiction Other