The Money Pit

October 19, 2008 by Brendan O'Neill

News

The term ‘The Money Pit’ refers to something that represents an endless drain on your finances, a bottomless pit in which to throw money, with little or no chance of seeing the money return.

That’s just what the film of the same name, starring Tom Hanks and Shelly Long, is about. The newly married couple buy an old home for a reduced price, with the view to doing the property up and making a financial killing. However, as they learn more about their new home they realise that rather than making a large amount of money from developing the property, they’re more like to lose everything that they have (including their sanity) in the process.

The film covers the popular topic of renovating an old house, Property Ladder style, so that you can make money on it and move on to your next development. However it illustrates the very real problem that unless you know what you’re doing things can go horribly wrong. Costs can spiral and work you didn’t think needed doing requires more of your finances to fix.

During the course of the film, Tom Hanks and Shelly Long realise that they’ve made a big mistake in buying the house that they thought was their dream home. It nearly ruins their relationship as the house falls apart slowly, almost killing them in the process.

This trailer for the film shows the type of problems you might experience when trying to remortgage a property for the purposes of development. Make sure you have consulted with your mortgage advisor and covered all eventualities before you go ahead.

[youtube:http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=pmDX0tgONFs]