'Extreme Makeover' Doom

[2 Blue 4 U]

I do not watch this show, but these people must really be pathetic, they get a new home and furnishings for free, in addition their former mortgage was paid off and they got extra cash. What losers, what next, are they going to blame the Bank or the Gov't for getting them in the mess they are in.

http://tv.yahoo.com/extreme-makeover...er_foreclosure

'Extreme Makeover' house faces foreclosure
Mon Jul 28, 11:32 AM PDT
More than 1,800 people showed up to help ABC's "Extreme Makeover" team demolish a family's decrepit home and replace it with a sparkling, four-bedroom mini-mansion in 2005.

Three years later, the reality TV show's most ambitious project at the time has become the latest victim of the foreclosure crisis.

After the Harper family used the two-story home as collateral for a $450,000 loan, it's set to go to auction on the steps of the Clayton County Courthouse Aug. 5. The couple did not return phone calls Monday, but told WSB-TV they received the loan for a construction business that failed.

The house was built in January 2005, after Atlanta-based Beazer Homes USA and ABC's "Extreme Makeover" demolished their old home and its faulty septic system. Within six days, construction crews and hoards of volunteers had completed work on the largest home that the television program had yet built.

The finished product was a four-bedroom house with decorative rock walls and a three-car garage that towered over ranch and split-level homes in their Clayton County neighborhood. The home's door opened into a lobby that featured four fireplaces, a solarium, a music room and a plush new office.

Materials and labor were donated for the home, which would have cost about $450,000 to build. Beazer Homes' employees and company partners also raised $250,000 in contributions for the family, including scholarships for the couple's three children and a home maintenance fund.

ABC said in a statement that it advises each family to consult a financial planner after they get their new home. "Ultimately, financial matters are personal, and we work to respect the privacy of the families," the network said.

Some of the volunteers who helped build the home were less than thrilled about the family's financial decisions.

"It's aggravating. It just makes you mad. You do that much work, and they just squander it," Lake City Mayor Willie Oswalt, who helped vault a massive beam into place in the Harper's living room, told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Information from: The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, http://www.ajc.com

[Pudge]

Ya know, I stopped watching that show a long time ago. Some of the stories were very good, and the people deserving. But when they started scraping the bottom of the barrel for "stories" I started wondering how long it would take for some of these families to trash the place or lose it all together.

[Willowdared]

Unfortunately, it's the sort of situation that invites one-upmanship.

[Five-0]

HMMM.....we were such great managers of money to begin with that we got a slot on the show. We get our prayers answered with no mortgage and a new house. We use said house as collateral for a loan to start a construction company in the middle of real estate/construction down turn. BRILLIANT!!!!

[Jks9199]

I got fed up with the whole thing as they tried to find ever-more-deserving, ever-more-tragically-hit family.

What were they going to come down to? A "family" made up of orphans who adopted orphans, but only if they had some sort of "orphan disease" (orphan diseases are those that the pharmaceutical industry just isn't working hard to cure because there are so few people with them...), and who are unemployed, having been laid off from their job at Mcdonalds because of their addiction to prescription pain killers, acquired due to an on-the-job injury... And they just had to put their dog to sleep.

In this case... the family apparently figured something like "hey, we're free and clear on the house; let's put it up and start a business." Their risk... and they lost.

[jcsdscott]

This goes to show you can't fix stupid.

[keith720]

I don't understand the rational behind the show. If the people can't afford upkeep on a shack, how can they afford upkeep on a show house? I don't think this will be the only "Extreme Makeover" house to go down the tubes.

[2 Blue 4 U]

I don't understand the rational behind the show. If the people can't afford upkeep on a shack, how can they afford upkeep on a show house? I don't think this will be the only "Extreme Makeover" house to go down the tubes.

That is the kicker, not only did they get a new house, but their mortgage was paid for and they received an extra pocket money that came from donations. According to the article they got something like 250 Grand which included a home maintenance fund. What would possess them to mortgage the house to start a construction company is beyond me. The morons let their first house run down to the ground, how the hell do they expect to construct homes when they can not even maintain their own. In my opinion those people were not deserving and are just a bunch of low lifes. All the money that went into that house and into their pockets could have helped some much more deserving people who were displaced because of natural disasters, how many people lost their homes and all their possessions because of flooding, hurricanes or tornados. It is a real shame.

[moggsp98]

The show came to our town about 3-4 years ago. Our church helped feed the volunteers and my daughter got to meet some of the cast members. it was a great story where the home owner had taken his neice an nephew in after his sister had passed away. they were living in a two room underground shack with no windows. The show came and built a huge house with all the nice landscaping and all. Even built a small castle outside for the kids to play in.

Well, now after about 3 years, the house was put on the market for $585,000.00 plus another $150,000 for the ajoining field. His claim was that the house was just too big to take care of. Obviously he just saw dollar signs!

[CTR man]

All the money that went into that house and into their pockets could have helped some much more deserving people who were displaced because of natural disasters, how many people lost their homes and all their possessions because of flooding, hurricanes or tornadoes. It is a real shame.

Earthquakes, too.

[2 Blue 4 U]

Earthquakes, too.

ooops, my bad! Just in the news too, thankfully no serious injuries or damage.

[Xiphos]

I saw the show where they built the house for the LAPD officer who was paralyzed by gunfire on a call. You can't afford quality rehab equipment and make a house handicap accessible on a cop's salary. Our officer paralyzed in the line of duty was told it would cost $200,000 to make his home handicap accessible, I don't know what he's going to do. In circumstances like this that show is phenomenal and does an awesome good.

[armygrnt502]

What a lot of people dont realize is that yes..you are getting a new home with new furniture, but you will be responsible for the higher taxes that you will be expected to pay.

If a person is having trouble with the payments and such before the makeover, what makes them think that they can handle things after they get the makeover? I seriously think that the makeover show should do the makeover, but not to such gaudy extent. Sure, redo their house, but do it better, not bigger. Repair and remodel sure, but dont build them a mansion that they can not afford to pay taxes or the upkeep.

[Jks9199]

I saw the show where they built the house for the LAPD officer who was paralyzed by gunfire on a call. You can't afford quality rehab equipment and make a house handicap accessible on a cop's salary. Our officer paralyzed in the line of duty was told it would cost $200,000 to make his home handicap accessible, I don't know what he's going to do. In circumstances like this that show is phenomenal and does an awesome good.

I never heard the final dollar figure when one of ours was paralyzed LOD, but I'm sure it was a lot. And that's with a lot of work by the government...