Thoughts on "House Envy" Sunday Freep

**sumas** · December-01-13, 07:13 PM

Hope I don't sound sour grapes but some how I find that Sunday section, House Envy, quite crass. This is a city with many folks and suburban Detroit too that are in crisis and such extravagant opulence seems inappropriate. Much better suited to coffee tables books for the rich or near rich wanna bes.

We only buy the Sunday paper because a private non profit sets up folk [[homeless) to sell papers in open air stalls on Sunday to assist them in getting a little cash, some self esteem, maybe leading to a job, permanent shelter etc.. We get our Sunday paper at Gratiot and Vernor.

Share thoughts please.

**MikeyinBrooklyn** · December-01-13, 07:39 PM

Sumas, no one compels you to read either the paper or the House Envy section. Some people, myself included, enjoy seeing big & beautiful houses. Sometimes they are houses I'd love to have, sometimes not. But I find looking at houses fascinating. I attend real estate open houses for the same reason. I don't understand why you would think it's crass.

**Hermod** · December-01-13, 08:04 PM

Nothing turns me on more than hose plans in the newspaper or in a magazine. It just starts me daydreaming. Bring it on!!

**dtowncitylover** · December-01-13, 08:18 PM

This is the USA. We own the idea of the poor/working man will one day become rich, even though, in all probability that may never happen. House Envy propagates such a feeling.

I like House Envy. Like Mikey above, I love houses and housing in general, be it an apartment, condo, rowhouse, etc. I love watching HGTV. Though when a 'House Hunter' has a cool million to spend, I do get angry when they complain about the most minute detail. Some are ugly McMansions but some are gorgeous works of art.

**DetroitPlanner** · December-01-13, 08:59 PM

I'd agree that a lot of those houses are over the top. I'd like to see them find gems that are in more affordable areas where creative folks may have taken a pig's ear and turned it into a silk purse.

Some of the homes that they feature are very cool though, with lakefront views or of historic value.

**401don** · December-01-13, 09:02 PM

I like to look at expensive real estate as well but one tv show that really annoys me is "My House, Your Money" where parents buy their spoiled brat kids a house and the kid complains about it.

**sumas** · December-01-13, 09:19 PM

I don't think I would want to live in a gorgeous piece of art. Nor a gated community. [[I do agree high rises should have such security). The American dream doesn't generally encompass such ostentation.

I did expect to be shot down on my opinion but it is still my opinion. However. I like home decorating shows that kind of lend itself to reality. I stick to my guns, do that stuff in high priced magazines or table books.

I like my home and think it tasteful early attic. I have neighbors struggling with mortgage issues, tax issues, crime issues, so yes I don't really care about those millions of dollar homes with indoor outdoor pools.

My neighborhood kids don't have rec centers. We have druggies that turn on hydrants on a hot day for the kids and they have a heart. Illegal yes, but they are way more real then those photo sessions.

**MikeyinBrooklyn** · December-01-13, 11:00 PM

Originally Posted by sumas

My neighborhood kids don't have rec centers. We have druggies that turn on hydrants on a hot day for the kids and they have a heart. Illegal yes, but they are way more real then those photo sessions.

This has NOTHING to do with rich people's real estate. Lack of amenities in your house or your neighborhood are not caused by some else's having 2 master suites or all marble fixtures.

If the aesthetics of luxury homes bother you, I suggest not casting your eyes in the direction of House Envy in the Freep. If the politics of luxury homes bothers you, don't build one or buy one. Someone else's taste is not subject to your approval. While my goal is to buy and renovate my family's ancestral house here in Detroit, I am quite certain that a McMansion beats a McSlum any day of the week.

**KJ5** · December-02-13, 01:11 AM

Originally Posted by MikeyinBrooklyn

This has NOTHING to do with rich people's real estate. Lack of amenities in your house or your neighborhood are not caused by some else's having 2 master suites or all marble fixtures.

If the aesthetics of luxury homes bother you, I suggest not casting your eyes in the direction of House Envy in the Freep. If the politics of luxury homes bothers you, don't build one or buy one. Someone else's taste is not subject to your approval. While my goal is to buy and renovate my family's ancestral house here in Detroit, I am quite certain that a McMansion beats a McSlum any day of the week.

Why in the world would income inequality or poverty in this country have anything to do with policies that only favor the extremely wealthy at the expense of everyone else?

**MikeyinBrooklyn** · December-02-13, 01:36 AM

Originally Posted by KJ5

Why in the world would income inequality or poverty in this country have anything to do with policies that only favor the extremely wealthy at the expense of everyone else?

If they only benefit the rich, then surely you would be for the elimination of our local, state, and national public assistance programs that have "helped the rich" with many trillions of dollars over the years? If we aren't helping the poor with billions of dollars every year, let's not pretend we are and just get rid of it?

**KJ5** · December-02-13, 02:13 AM

Can't let too many people get too poor. The people might wise up, rise up and try to radically reform the system.

**MikeyinBrooklyn** · December-02-13, 02:27 AM

Originally Posted by KJ5

Can't let too many people get too poor. The people might wise up, rise up and try to radically reform the system.

What reforms, exactly, would end poverty? Please, wise me up.

I have an anti-poverty recipe: graduate high school, avoid drugs and alcohol, and don't have kids either before age 20 or out of wedlock. People who do those things have almost no chance of living in poverty, including those born into poverty. Unfortunately, those things cannot be imposed on people. The political left would like to take money from "the rich" and give to the poor, but get all outraged at the notion that personal behavior has consequences. While there are external factors, of course, your own lifelong behavior is by far the biggest determining factor in determining whether you end up poor. But it is easier, if far less productive, to just demand other people's shit rather than get your own shit together. Being a liberal: it isn't helpful, but it sure is easy. It absolves people of responsibility for their own actions.

**Thruster315** · December-02-13, 03:44 AM

That section of the paper is also reflective of one segment of the metro Detroit area. It's not meant to be anything other than a showcase of one particular swanky home, right? And while I get your point that it could be misconstrued as crass- it's also a news article on what's good about this area too. We don't need to be constantly bombarded by some of the harsher side of the area. It's not to say we turn a blind eye to the urban problems, but I also don't have an issue of seeing some high brow things that I might one day aspire to.

**sumas** · December-02-13, 06:04 AM

Sweethearts all. Very nice commentaries!, poverty can hit many folks.Debilitating disease is one factor that hit the middle class, Health care sucks.

Please do not assume that all "entitlement" folk lack skills or education.

I have read many reasoned arguments and still believe that, "House Envy" is inappropriate.

**sumas** · December-02-13, 06:48 AM

Originally Posted by MikeyinBrooklyn

This has NOTHING to do with rich people's real estate. Lack of amenities in your house or your neighborhood are not caused by some else's having 2 master suites or all marble fixtures.

If the aesthetics of luxury homes bother you, I suggest not casting your eyes in the direction of House Envy in the Freep. If the politics of luxury homes bothers you, don't build one or buy one. Someone else's taste is not subject to your approval. While my goal is to buy and renovate my family's ancestral house here in Detroit, I am quite certain that a McMansion beats a McSlum any day of the week.

Good LORD, I hope your Ancestral home is not in my hood! You don't belong here if you have no care for your neighbors or their kinder. This is a neighborhood that cares for our children. Certainly there are home issues but as a community we assist in those issues. Frankly, ancestral home sounds pompous. I live in a community where most homes have gone generation to generation.

Everyone seems related to everyone. I am pleased that we have been accepted into the fold. HUMMM... might be because we give a damn about community!

Just what was that snarky comment about anyway? Lack of amenities in MY home, my McSlum and MCslum neighborhood will beat out your dream of renovation of your "ancestral" home. any day of the week.

By all means, move in and with your attitude you would not last a day.

**Pam** · December-02-13, 06:51 AM

There must be interest in this type of article or they wouldn't run it, but they could call it something else. Implying we should all be envious is a bit tasteless.

Mikey- you can do everything "right" and still end up poor. Wages are stagnant and the cost of living keeps going up. There aren't enough good jobs even for those who qualify. And as Sumas pointed out- illness can wipe people out financially.

**sumas** · December-02-13, 07:14 AM

Originally Posted by Pam

There must be interest in this type of article or they wouldn't run it, but they could call it something else. Implying we should all be envious is a bit tasteless.

Mikey- you can do everything "right" and still end up poor. Wages are stagnant and the cost of living keeps going up. There aren't enough good jobs even for those who qualify. And as Sumas pointed out- illness can wipe people out financially.

Pam, so right and so sensitive. My husband and I have serious heath issues but it seems so right to invest in our community and our kids that live here. We just finished rebuilding a garage that was burn't out many years ago before we owned this old Arts and Crafts home. I like to see stories about folk like us and not moon over insane mansions that look hardly lived in.

**KJ5** · December-02-13, 07:15 AM

Mikey- you can do everything "right" and still end up poor.

And if you're born into the right family you can also do everything wrong and still end up President of the United States. Sure, there's consequences to our actions and we all face them but the the way I see it this society is very much an oligarchy and not a meritocracy. Whaddya say we all sit down and watch Trading Places together? I'll make the popcorn...

**Downriviera** · December-02-13, 07:36 AM

Ahhh, once again we talk about the rich living lives of quiet desperation in the Golden Ghetto. Many of them, despite their wealth, are completly miserable. Sumas, you lead a richer life then many of them, and I'd much rather read your posts than theirs.

**Bham1982** · December-02-13, 08:04 AM

Originally Posted by KJ5

Why in the world would income inequality or poverty in this country have anything to do with policies that only favor the extremely wealthy at the expense of everyone else?

You really think poverty amd misery in Detroit is "caused by" wealth and ostentation in the Bloomfields? LOL

If you burned down the Bloomfields and relocated everyone to somewhere else, that would probably be the end of downtown/midtown Detroit. Kiss goodbye to Gilbert, Penske, etc., as well as most of the patrons of the DIA, DSO, etc. Adios GM and related suppliers.

As to the House Envy columns, if you don't like them, don't read them. The fact is that the region is still quite prosperous, and many people like reading about fancy houses beyond their means. You've never browsed through Architectural Digest or its equivalents?

**DetroitPlanner** · December-02-13, 08:23 AM

Originally Posted by MikeyinBrooklyn

This has NOTHING to do with rich people's real estate. Lack of amenities in your house or your neighborhood are not caused by some else's having 2 master suites or all marble fixtures.

If the aesthetics of luxury homes bother you, I suggest not casting your eyes in the direction of House Envy in the Freep. If the politics of luxury homes bothers you, don't build one or buy one. Someone else's taste is not subject to your approval. While my goal is to buy and renovate my family's ancestral house here in Detroit, I am quite certain that a McMansion beats a McSlum any day of the week.

I take it you're not a big fan of Pope Francis are you?

**DetroitPlanner** · December-02-13, 08:26 AM

Originally Posted by MikeyinBrooklyn

I have an anti-poverty recipe: graduate high school, avoid drugs and alcohol, and don't have kids either before age 20 or out of wedlock. People who do those things have almost no chance of living in poverty, including those born into poverty.

Wow to make a statement like that you must have been born with a silver spoon in your mouth.

If that is your experience you are living on another planet than mine. My parents were college educated, married, and I still grew up a few blocks from the projects. My parent's main concern was not buying a fancy house, it was educating their kids and helping the less fortunate.

**Bham1982** · December-02-13, 08:42 AM

Originally Posted by DetroitPlanner

I take it you're not a big fan of Pope Francis are you?

When did Pope Francis say that we eliminate poverty by eliminating wealth?

The U.S. doen't really have much true monetary poverty anyways. Pope Francis has a million places where he can assist before getting involved in this country.

We have poverty of spirit and poverty of sensing opportunity, but I don't think too many people in Detroit are barefoot, illiterate, living in a one-room dirt-floor shack, and eating only rice and beans [[and an occasional egg) as is typical in places like Central America [[or at least was extremely common in my travels through rural parts of Guatemala & Honduras).

**Farwell** · December-02-13, 08:49 AM

You asked for thoughts. The following is mine. I came from poor and am not now. I do not judge others life choices nor would I expect anyone to judge mine. We are all the result of our life choices. I find great fulfillment in my life and applaud and respect the accomplishments of others. I certainly don't "envy" but certainly admire. I am reminded of the following quote about "Noble Poverty":

"When you live in Noble Poverty, you tend to believe there is some unnamed virtue in not having money—or that Truly Good People shouldn’t want a lot of it. Your mantra is something like: "I may be struggling, but I'm a thrifty soul who doesn't need material trappings to love life!"
While there is immense value in avoiding senseless consumption, Noble Poverty takes that principle to an extreme, where the pursuit of comfort or even solvency is suspect. The result is a series of decisions that a) keep you in financial straits; and b) never earn you that halo.
You may be mired in Noble Poverty if:

You say you want to earn more, but never raise your rates or pursue better-paying work.
You "make do" with a beater car, worn-out boots and a toaster that occasionally flames up because you believe deprivation is macho.
You judge friends with money as bourgeois and slightly sad.

Because it's easy to justify Noble Poverty as anti-materialism you end up keeping your income low to avoid the danger of becoming materialistic. But materialism has nothing to do with earning money, but how you spend your money!
The real danger is that when we decry the wastefulness in the world, we deny ourselves the money to live a truly full life. If you've taken an unconscious pledge to keep your income in line with your internal financial beliefs, revoke that pledge. When you charge and earn enough money, you can enjoy life, take care of your family, your self and give back to the world. It is time to be bigger. There is nothing noble about poverty. Nothing."

Source: Daily Worth