I've come to really enjoy watching HGTV's My House is Worth What?. Not only are there those who seem to really believe buying a house with interest-only payments in order to sell it at a higher price, there are those who want to "save the world". There was this one couple who spent between $300,000 to $400,000 on making upgrades to their house. Oh sure, they used a soy product to insulate the wine cooler they had installed. They various paints and products that are supposedly green. No mention of solar panels or of solar-powered water heaters.
This couple wanted their home to be worth over $850,000. Was it to further enhance the greenness of their existing home? Was it to install the solar panels necessary to be almost off the power-grid? Was it to install solar-powered water heaters?
No, to all the above. They wanted their house to be worth that much so they could sell this one and then build a totally green house.
They want to "save the world" by bulldozing up more acreage and hauling in green materials from across the country. Sounds like a plan, not.
2 comments:
This is the same mentality as when someone says they're saving lots of money by buying unnecessary items in bulk because they're "on sale".
I'm guilty of something like this. Sometimes I'll spend tons of time making homemade toys and crafts for the kids out of "recyclables" like paper towel tubes and yogurt containers. It's fun, but the time and craft materials can sometimes dwarf any savings of having a "free" toy.
It's worth it if it's a fun project, and if the craft supplies are already on hand. (Perhaps purchased in bulk, on sale?)
The best benefit of the doubt I can give the family you describe, is that they want to have a 'green' house for the engineering challenge, not for the goal of 'greenness' itself. If that's the case, then I guess I get it.
I used to do the same when my son was younger. Now, I watch as he, in his 20's, has become so much more resourceful at using things I consider junk and would throw away.
I suppose it could be the engineering aspect of building a totally green house. But I got the impression they were more into "Look at us! We're politically correct!"
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