I am curious why it is considered such a terrible practice? A lot of people don’t want to spend time and effort renovating an old property (nor do they have the knowledge or experience to do it well) so there is a market for old but already “fixed up” houses and there are people that make a living doing just that.
I don’t know if it counts but Red Dead Redemption introduced me to Liar Dice! Now I freakin’ love Liar Dice!