Extreme Makeover House Faces Foreclosure

[Miss Critter]

Saw this on Yahoo today. A sign of the times, or just plain dumb?

'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.

 

[waterst1]

I think really unfortunate and probably plain dumb. Why would they borrow $450K on that house after all that was done for them?

 

[Minnie]

This has also happened to the HGTV Dream home winners, not necessarily foreclosure, but not being able to financially keep the home after winning it.

I am sure it is very similar to what happens to so many big lottery winners.

 

[hnooe]

This has also happened to the HGTV Dream home winners, not necessarily foreclosure, but not being able to financially keep the home after winning it.

I am sure it is very similar to what happens to so many big lottery winners.

Minnie is right....I think if, in your lifetime, you are not use to having money and accumulated material wealth, that, you can easily lose it all very quickly, i.e., the Lotto winners.

 

[Mango]

They should have the same rules that Habitat for Humanity has. Those recipients have to sell the house back to Habitat for another family. They can not sell it on their own. Habitat also has mortgage rules as well. Similar principal really, but on a grander scale for Extreme Makeover when volunteers and companies make donations of their time and money. I would be peeved too.

 

[traderx]

It only proves that Darwin is always hard at work.

 

[scooterbug44]

They should have the same rules that Habitat for Humanity has. Those recipients have to sell the house back to Habitat for another family. They can not sell it on their own. Habitat also has mortgage rules as well. Similar principal really, but on a grander scale for Extreme Makeover when volunteers and companies make donations of their time and money. I would be peeved too.

Those are great caveats - a little common sense and planning goes a long way - take note the entire freaking mortgage/banking industry!!!!

 

[DavidD]

I guess I feel bad for them. Sure it doesn't sound like a smart move to me, but having not walked in their moccasins we don't know their situation. Maybe it was a lifetime dream to start up a business and they saw the opportunity for the mortgage as the chance to make the dream come true. I don't know. I just don't like seeing anyone have to go through things like that (stupidity or not). Its a rough time indeed, not to mention that learning curves can be brutal.
It does seem like they should have some sort of rules about selling or remortgaging for a certain period of time.

 

[Bob]

it all worked out perfectly