My Lottery Dream Home

I recently watched part of a show on HGTV called My Lottery Dream Home.  I don’t do a lot of random television watching, but sometimes I enjoy the shows on HGTV.

I have written before on Tiny House Hunters and the whole tiny home phenomenon.  It is a reflection of people not wanting to be in debt and wanting to live a simpler (and less cluttered) life.

I also enjoy House Hunters, House Hunters International, and Flip or Flop.  The couple on Flip or Flop seem to be very genuine, and the show is intriguing.  I am afraid it is also symbolic of a new housing bubble, although more localized this time around.

This recent show I watched – My Lottery Dream Home – is almost an experiment in human psychology.  They find real life lottery winners who want to majorly upgrade their living quarters with their new-found money.

I have seen the winning amounts range anywhere from $1 million up to as much as $180 million in one case.  In the situation of someone winning $180 million, I can completely understand buying a house worth a million dollars or more at that point.

The episode I saw involved a couple who won $2 million.  I did not hear if this is the lump sum and if it is before or after taxes.  I am assuming it is before taxes.

This couple lived in a very small house, so it was understandable of them wanting an upgrade.  But they were looking at houses with a budget of $750,000.  This has disaster written all over it.  Why couldn’t they have upgraded to a $200,000 house instead of jumping straight to a mansion?  This wasn’t California real estate where $750,000 won’t get you much.

If that $2 million was before taxes, they may have been lucky to end up with $1.5 million.  That means that at least half of their winnings is going towards buying a house.  My guess is that they do not have high incomes based on the house they are moving out of, although you never know for sure.

When you buy a house for three-quarters of a million dollars, you also get all of the expenses that come with homeownership.  With the higher price tag comes a higher price tag for insurance and property taxes and utilities.  You can see the money flowing out the door rather quickly.

This is really a lower class attitude.  Your class isn’t dependent so much on the amount of wealth or the level of income that you have.  It is more of a mentality.  Upper class people are future oriented.  Lower class people are very present oriented.

Being future oriented does not mean that you can’t be happy today.  You can enjoy the present.  It is just that future orientation considers the future.  In fact, I would venture to say that many future oriented people are far happier in the present than are present oriented people.  Present oriented people are trying to always gain satisfaction in the present at the expense of the future, but the stimulus quickly wears off.  It is like someone addicted to drugs where he needs an ever higher dose to get high again.

When someone wins the lottery, it does not change their class.  It changes their bank account, but it doesn’t change their mentality.  If someone has a lower class mentality, they won’t know how to handle the money and they will see it squandered quickly.  This is why you see so many disaster stories of lives that are wrecked after winning the lottery.

The whole idea of playing the lottery is one of present orientation.  Still, there are middle and upper class people who do sometimes win the lottery.  They know how to handle the new-found wealth and they treat it with care.  They make it last, whether they want to quit their job or not.

If you won $1.5 million after taxes, what would you do?  Would you quit your job?  Would you buy a house worth $750,000 to live in?  How much would you spend within the first year?

In today’s world, $1.5 million won’t last all that long if you are not relatively frugal.  It would be life changing for most people, but not always in a positive way.

If you ever win the lottery or come across any new-found wealth, I hope that you have an upper class mentality, or at least an upper middle class mentality.  If you don’t, you will probably find yourself in the same situation (or worse) in 10 years as where you were right before your new-found winnings.

I fear that the lottery dream home will turn into a nightmare for some.

5 thoughts on “My Lottery Dream Home”

  1. I am sick of watching David.
    If he is Gay fine just don’t blow up on the screen.
    David is very rude also talking always about money
    saying “She won the money not you” and says ” How are we going
    to spend the money, He has No class at all.
    And we are all sick of his fake laugh and fake smile.
    Always telling the people you can afford anything now. That is dangerous thinking.
    This was a program to watch without David.

  2. I love this show. I was a fan of David when he had his own design show I think he’s very talented
    He brings much to the show
    He seems genuinely happy for the winners

  3. Just watched an episode of Dream Home where the obviously poor (economically) couple had 6 kids, lived in a shack and won a mil (one mil). After taxes maybe that would be 750k? They bought a home for 750k…seriously? How will they pay for the upkeep and taxes?
    How about buying a cheaper place and saving some money for the kids….for college? This show can’t be real….it’s preposterous.
    Or am I missing something.

  4. Barbara, you probably aren’t missing anything. I see so many people make bad choices when they come into unexpected wealth.

    Luckily, I have seen some episodes of My Lottery Dream Home where the person or family is relatively frugal and just looking for an upgrade in their living space.

  5. Foolishness, not gay phobic at all but David’s childish behavior is as foolish as the thought that in today’s day and age 1 million dollars will is equivalent to a lifetime of ease. HGTV would do itself and homeowners everywhere a better service by creating a show teaching people with “New money” how to improve their present surroundings with home updates and worth building improvements as well as encouraging wealth building and providing for their children, future etc. I suppose such a program would be a drag for the “instant fix” generation, but they can just turn the channel and watch an instant marriage or bachelor engagement bound to disintegrate as quickly as any fortune spent as HGTV proposes on this ridiculous show.

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