I’ve been watching Schitt’s Creek on Netflix lately. I just finished season 5 (so I’d appreciate if you’d avoid spoilers for anything that happens in season 6 and beyond).
So the premise of the show at the beginning is that the Rose family owns the town of Schitt’s Creek because they bought it as a gag gift years ago, which is how they end up living there after losing their fortune. But what exactly does it mean to own a town? I assumed it meant they owned all the property in town. In fact I initially assumed that was why they got to stay at the motel for free; as owners of the town they owned the motel. But later on, it becomes obvious that they didn’t own the motel in the beginning. And owning all the property in town would essentially make them the town’s landlords, which would actually be a reasonably decent source of income. Probably nothing like what they were used to, but enough to buy something nicer than a motel room.
So if the Roses don’t own any actual property in Schitt’s Creek, then what do they own? What exactly does it mean to own the town?
I’m in season 1, so i have even more spoilers I’d like to avoid, and I’m also curious.
I assumed they owned the land, and all the stuff was owned by people with long term leases. Like how lumber companies will sometimes sell 100 year leases to chunks of their property they don’t plan to harvest for awhile. But i gather that’s not it?
I think it’s the property owned by the city, such as parks, roads, public utility sites, and property like that. They may or may not own the city hall depending on if it’s a city property or if they city is just leasing the building from someone else. It wouldn’t include property owned by individuals and businesses like homes, shops, and the motel. If Schitt’s Creek has a park, then likely the Rose family would actually be the owner of that land and could sell it to someone else. But the town seems pretty small, so there may not actually be much property that could be sold.
It doesn’t seem to be, from what I can tell. Without giving away any major spoilers, it becomes obvious later that they don’t own the motel, and I would assume that also includes the land it’s on.
In one of the first episodes, they try to sell the town. As I remember, the buyer dies right before signing the contract. I also remember that the real estate agent, Ray, mentions the size of the town. It was something like 2,000 acres, which seemed substantial (and enough to generate some income). And then in the third season, Stevie inherits the motel and David rents the former general store for his own shop, neither of which fit the whole “owns the town” idea.
So I agree that the show is really inconsistent in this.
Here are articles that provide some information on real-life situations. The short answer: the details can vary considerably. AND–owning a town is probably more likely to be a resource drain than a source of revenue.
The thing about all the real-life examples, though, is that owning the town appears to mean owning all of the buildings. The Roses don’t seem to own any of the main commercial properties (the motel, restaurant, garage, or general store), nor do any of the residents seem to pay them rent for their houses. The real-life examples that are losing money are doing so because they don’t have any viable businesses. While Schitt’s Creek’s businesses aren’t making loads of money, at least they are operating at some level.
I had just always assumed that rich, entitled Johnny Rose called the Schitt’s Creek town hall back when David was first interested in it, and told them that he’d like to buy the town. The city council saw a wealthy boob who’d gladly part with a few thousand dollars in exchange for a “deed” printed off of their 1987 dot matrix printer.
I know in episode 1 that the tax guy told them that the town was the only thing of value that they still owned, but I just figured it was sort of a symbolic ownership more than anything.