Here's some programmes - Property Ladder, Homes under the Hammer, Buy or not to buy, A House in the Country - etc, etc. Indeed most of these are still running, and their fundamental message - BUY NOW BEFORE THE PRICE GOES UP - YOU CAN'T LOSE. Couple this message, driven home daily on the telly in many instances, with banks that would lend you your telephone number, and the TV companies seem shocked at the result. I have seen people buy properties at auction, that they have'nt even seen (and then make a great screw through no fault of their own, other than to have BOUGHT). I have watched first time "developers" pay way over the odds for properties, and then totally blow their budgets, producing end results with no relation to their potential market absolutely CREAMING cash eg bought for 250k, spent £75k (£25k over budget), took 5 months - "valued" at £450k - message - YOU CAN'T LOSE - give up your tawdry job and get your nose in the trough. ITV, Channel 4 and the BBC have a significant responsibility in influencing Joe Public to believe that property purchase at any price was only ever a winner. However they cannot bring themselves to accept this. So reposession programmes are all "human interest" - its the bad banks that create these problems - people borrow from them and then want their money back when the browbeaten lender defaults. As previous posters have said - "no one forced anyone to borrow more than thay can afford". Sure the idiots who did are culpable, as are the banks who gave it to them, and the government ("regulators") who allowed it, but what about the TV companies that actively continue to promote it. I have just watched the ITV programme "Your Home for a Pound". Here we interview a woman whose mortgage repayments could become "zero", American houses that you can buy for a dollar, and a couple who are buying a 2 bedroom "penthouse" in London for £130k. The message is "BUY NOW YOU CAN'T LOSE", er the same old message. How can a financial institution stay in business if it charges no interest on a loan (not explored), what deposit did they have to put down on the property (not mentioned), who was the person who bought this place for £300k four years ago, and what has that devastating loss had on them (not even on the radar). What has happened to all the people who decided to ditch their jobs and become property developers - it's like this never happened. Oh and on Homes under the Hammer yesterday, we had a couple who bought a house for £110k in November last year, and the estate agents, 2 months later valued it at £140k !!! So we are to believe that in a falling market, if you buy at auction, you can still cream it - BUY BUY BUY you can't lose. I an naieve - I thought an auction price WAS the market value. TV companies are culpable and have influenced people to buy and borrow way beyond their means, when will they have the bottle to admit their sordid and tawdry role in this fiasco?