Foreclosed homes make for bad market, but great television

Jeff Lewis of Bravo’s “Flipping Out,” and the foreclosed house he purchases on the show

Foreclosed homes might wreak havoc on the national housing market, but they also make for great TV, if the recent proliferation of shows centering on flipping foreclosed homes is any indication of things. According to the Wall Street Journal, four shows — including three new ones — will debut a season in the coming months that focuses on buying and profiting off foreclosed homes.

Spike TV is launching a show called “Flip Men” about a Salt Lake City pair trying to profit off foreclosed homes, A&E has a former “Survivor” contestant starring in a new show about flipping houses later this year and DIY Network is developing a show about flipping foreclosed homes that is slated to premiere in 2012. Meanwhile, the fifth season of Bravo’s “Flipping Out,” features its star, Jeff Lewis, negotiating with lenders to buy a foreclosed house for himself. The season is already in progress, and the house he eventually settles on is one he actually lived in for two years before selling for $2.8 million in 2006. He spent four months haggling with lenders over the $1.7 million asking price, the Journal said.

The first few seasons of “Flipping Out” focused on Lewis buying houses and selling them for profit, but, like many similar shows, when the recession hit the show pivoted and Lewis switched careers to design homes for clients on the show. Now that the market is returning, so too is Lewis’ first on-air profession. [WSJ]