In my dream home....

So on this fine first day of 2010 - I find a seemingly innocuous program called HGTV DreamHome 2010.  As they're going through the show - all of the rooms look fantastic...they come fully furnished, include a new GMC SUV, and $500,000 in cash.  All of that sounds pretty good.  But it's really a trap:

1.  The value of the home is $1.5 million.  If that's treated as income - the taxes alone are going to be close to $600,000.  The $500,000 that you get?  You really only walk with $300,000 (about half of your tax burden for the house)
2.  The house seems to be in the middle of nowhere.  The views are striking, but it would be like selling me a house on the moon.  Lots of space - great views of Earth.....but pretty limited resell opportunity.
3.  The "media room" in this dream house is a 50" TV in a rather ordinary looking room.  The dream of a home theater is to feel like you are in a.....wait for it.......movie theater  (not a living room).  A dream home should have stadium seating that swivels to a table with automatic drink dispensers and I would get to the room via a hidden door and moving walkway (a la the Jetsons)

So one viewer will be given a massive tax bill in the middle of nowhere and still won't have a real home 'theater'.  Also, I'm sure there's a better than average shot of being eaten by wolves after dark.  (No scientific evidence of that - just a hunch)

Speaking of wolves - tomorrow I will recount the harrowing tale of how I narrowly escaped a grisly death on the first day of the year.