Are You A Property Porn Addict?

Property Porn Addiction

If so, then you should make 2011 the year that you stop looking and start acting, errr buying. Most of you probably won't know what property porn is, I did not know what it was until recently. Property porn was a term that originated to describe the viewing of television programs that show real estate, especially real estate investing shows like 'Flip That House,' 'Flip This House,' 'Property Ladder,' etcetera.

The Origin Of Property Porn

The term was originally coined by BBC correspondent Rosie Millard in 2002 to describe British television series similar to those listed above. She is quoted in 2002 as saying:
Property porn is addictive, you a) work out how much your London home is worth. Then, b) turn to the advertising pages of the property section[s]. Figure out whether you would like to move to a stone farmhouse in [the countryside]... a nine-bedroom manor... or the neo-Palladian palace... We had dirty thoughts about the Rookery, which has an orchard and a moat."
More recently the term has come to include the viewing of houses online for the sheer thrill of looking and dreaming about purchasing the property as an investment or as one's dream home. A writer for London's 'The Sunday Times' penned a very funny and clever article about his property porn addiction back in 2008.

'I am addicted to porn. Not porn porn. Property porn. Yes, I like looking at other people’s houses on the internet. And I am not alone. With all the gloom about property these days, the last thing you’d expect anyone to be doing is surfing for it online. Apart from masochists, that is. Yet a survey conducted by the hardcore-porn, sorry, property-search website Globrix.com (part owned by News International, parent company of The Sunday Times) found 22% of us spend an unhealthy amount of time looking at properties we could never afford. A bit like Playboy. And a despicable 38% use the internet to snoop at the cost of neighbour’s houses.'

Rudd, Matt. "I am a property-porn addict." The Sunday Times. http://property.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/property/article4074204.ece June 8, 2008 (accessed January 25, 2011).
On a positive note for Mr. Rudd, the first step to overcoming an addiction is admitting to it, so hopefully he is on a road to recovery. If you have a nasty habit of looking at property porn, then maybe 2011 should be your year for coming out of the house and buying those homes that you have been just looking at online or on your television.

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