If you’re not a Fan of The Middle, you probably missed last week’s episode. One of the interwoven plots had the parents, Frankie and Mike consider moving out of the house which has a seriously leaking roof and broken appliances – into a rental after they realize there’s no money for the new roof and paying the mortgage- Certainly a theme we’re all familiar with in this economy! 

   Frankie’s work friend asks, “Why are you pouring money into your house when you can rent for less money – where they’ll fix things for you when they break!”
It does sound appealing! Frankie goes home to talk to Mike

Mike responds, “Frankie, are you talking about us walking away from our house?” He goes on – “That’s not the way it works in America! You struggle years and years and fall behind your payments until you get evicted by the sheriff who throws all your stuff out on the lawn in front of the neighbors – that’s how you leave a house in America ! (You have to hear Mike deliver that line)

By this point my husband was laughing out loud but I was more engrossed at how they would wrap up this plot – Turns out They LOVE the apartment and thought seriously about it – were just about to move forward when the neighbors came to the rescue to fix the roof and they realized – neighborhood and connections were far more important than having some left over money at the end of the week –

Clearly when issues like this make tv sitcom, you know that it’s a widely prevalent issue.

At the end of 2010, it was estimated that close to 25% of homeowners were underwater on their mortgage. It’s easy to see how the idea of walking away may seem appealing. I’m not sure this sitcom did anything to dissuade people in similar situations to hang in there. I don’t think it’s necessarily the role of the sitcom to do that. Raising awareness of the situation is something they did – But if we as a nation don’t look to ways to assist these homeowners, we may have far more foreclosed properties than is in the queue now! Your thoughts please….