#519 Real Estate Sale

So I’m driving by this billboard the other day.
Billboards have their place in advertising, if only to mask the depressiveness of the tawdry scenery in the unregulated areas where they are usually placed.
This one was about homes.
Seems one of the giant building companies is having a “2 Million Dollar Sales Event.”
And every home in this particular development is on sale. Reduced to sell. On the block. Ready to roll. No reasonable offer turned down. Financing available. Generous trade-in allowances.
No, wait a minute, that’s cars.
But I guess that’s the point. The real estate market, once known for the individuality of its offerings, has gone the way of the commodity.
We’ve entered the era of commoditizing of homes.
It seems a little tragic somehow. Used to be, owning a home was the American dream. Young couples would retain a real estate agent, tell her or him what their dream home needed to be, and endless driving around and rejecting would ensue.
But when the right place at the right time did come along, it was an incredibly personal experience.
And rightly so. I mean, the young couple was going in hock up to their elbows for the next three decades.
Seems a big commitment for a cookie cutter.
Doesn’t appear to be the case anymore. Houses have become Big Macs. You get your standard options, an upgrade or two, and voila—would you like fries with that?
It just doesn’t seem as personal.
Now I understand economy of scale. And I see how having the roofing people come in one week and do a whole bunch of houses at once makes sense. After all, the homes will cost less if they cost less to build. And that’s a good thing.
I’m just not sure I like the commodity marketing.
Talking about a “2 million dollar sales event” makes the purchase of a home sound too much like the purchase of a juicer. Throw in a set of knives, an omelet flipper, and a special jartop removal gripper and I’ll think about it.
Does saving lots of money mean we should commoditize our, um, dreams?
America, ya gotta love it