What a fixer-upper might become, pessimistically

MONEYPIT

Think of a 1986 comedy where a house eats cash and a family’s patience.

A "fixer-upper" is a house that needs a lot of repairs, and pessimistically, it could turn into a "money pit"—a property that keeps draining your wallet with endless expenses. The answer plays on the 1986 comedy The Money Pit, where a couple buys a collapsing house that swallows their savings. Here, "pessimistically" hints at the worst-case scenario, turning the phrase into a single witty compound word.