I don't think anybody expects the houses to be HHN quality...and they don't have to be.
HHN is at Universal Studios that has locations in key tourist cities that, for the most part, share the city/area with Disney, Sea World, and other parks. They are destinations for themepark super fans who have the budget and desire to travel to them and dedicate thousands of dollars to the trips. In the Northeast, you have a few Six Flags (NJ, Lake George, and New England) a brand new Lego Land that is supposed to be terrible, and then a couple tiny little things. For halloween you have haunted hayrides.
For an area like that, to get a haunt event, with IPs that will draw crowds is amazing. It will draw a lot of people in. For under $50, you can do their houses and ride there rides in like 3 or 4 hours (it was a $35 option to attend Fright Fest the last time I did it and we were done with everything in under 3 hours...quicker than the posted wait time for Stranger Things some nights). To do everything HHN has to offer (including shows and rides) you pretty much need multiple nights or express. So you're talking about probably $300-500 to experience everything. Plus travel costs, hotels, etc. For people in many of the Six Flag park locations, the cost to do one night at Universal for a couple will cost well over $1500 when it's all said and done...versus maybe $175 including parking and all the food and drink they care to enjoy.
When you factor in what the park itself is...when you pay $60 for a day at Great Escape you probably feel like you got your money's worth. You don't go in there expecting a Disney or Universal level park experience. Likewise, if you had to pay $170 for Orlando Themepark type prices, you'd feel like you were ripped off. So it's 1000% true that these houses will be pretty bad by HHN standards. But possibly at 1/10th the cost to be able to do everything the park has to offer, it will be a blast for tons of local people. It's like someone saying they want their once a year glass of champagne for NYE so they buy a $12 bottle...they're getting exactly what they want and expect even though it doesn't compare to a $300 bottle of Dom Perignon.