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With "Extreme Makeover" Homes, Some Get Foreclosure Instead of ...

Full story: findingDulcinea

Property taxes, bills, neighborhood pressures and legal issues can add up for some "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" recipients, leading to foreclosure, sale and other trouble.

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Cathy Lou

Seattle, WA

This is the dumbest premise for a show - ever. Lets take people out of their moderately priced home with nominal utility fees (which they still can't afford) and put them in a huge McMansion with quadruple the costs and see it they can afford that instead.

B Nekket

Joined: May 12, 2009

Comments: 26

Didn't the host have his own legal problems to deal with? But really, WOW. O_O

I never really thought of how extreme makeover could aggravate home problems.

plpackard

Prospect, CT

Extreme Makeover is a great community project, however, they need to downsize the new homes to accomodate the financial future of the families. Leaving them with high taxes, utilities & maintainence is overwhelming. Make the new homes safe & green without all of the red tape!

wbt

Dallas, TX

Judged:

Ungrateful people. Give them a house and they stil complain. This is the fundamental problem in Ameria today.

hoosier88

“Death of literacy - few notice”

Joined: May 25, 2009

Comments: 208

Alamo

ISP: Surprise, AZ

I've never liked the show. The whole point seems to be to capture people screaming "Oh my God!" when they're walked through the new/renovated house. If Disney/ABC wants to help deserving people, I'm sure there are more dignified ways to do so - except that I feel that the "Wow!" factor (see OMG above) is what's driving the show - not what the parents want or need. Yes, there's been a rat's trail of ugly finishes to several of these stories - It reminds me too much of Evita's charity in the Broadway musical - she writes your name on a strip of paper, throws it in the air, & if your name comes up, you're a King! for @ least a moment or two ...(a change from your otherwise deadly drab existence, you should be grateful to her!)

Arthur

United States

I guess there's a reason some of these people are in the position they are in to begin with, and a new house doesn't always fix everything.

plpackard

Haddam, CT

With so many "adults" living in the house, I have to wonder why they were struggling financially. Yes, the economy has change in the past year, but I'm sure it wasn't as bad when the family made their plea.

Anita

United States

wbt wrote:

Ungrateful people. Give them a house and they stil complain. This is the fundamental problem in Ameria today.

'

well, they complain because they can't really afford their new homes, and that hapens because the show doesn't have a long term vision, at all. Yes, a gorgeous new home is wonderful, but they should consider the financial burden they will become for a families that were having economic issues in the first place.

Janet

I often wondered how people faced with economic hardships could maintain these homes after the cameras stop rolling. It seems like the only logical option would be to sell them and move into something more reasonable.

AHJ

Judged:

Anita wrote:

<quoted text>'
well, they complain because they can't really afford their new homes, and that hapens because the show doesn't have a long term vision, at all. Yes, a gorgeous new home is wonderful, but they should consider the financial burden they will become for a families that were having economic issues in the first place.

The fundamental issue is not that they can't afford the home. Financially any of these families CAN afford the taxes (max $5,000yr), utilities (max $3,600yr), etc...
99% of the time the "Extreme" home's mortgage is paid off, alleviating the financial burden. Not to mention the college funds that are set up for the children and vehicles that are given to the families, etc...
The issue with the "VERY FEW" families that are losing their gifted homes to foreclosure is that these are uneducated, non-contributing members of society that squander the gifts they've been given. This is the same behavior that put them in hardship to begin with and will continue to put them in this position.
Don't forget, all these people ASK for this assistance in an application video they submit. Only when they repeat the same idiotic behavior that put them in this position in the first place do they blame the people who gave them an opportunity to make their lives better.
It's not the gifts that cause the idiocy it's the idiots they are given to.

hoosier88

“Death of literacy - few notice”

Joined: May 25, 2009

Comments: 208

Alamo

ISP: Albuquerque, NM

AHJ - Yes, agree. The thing to remember is that it's commercial TV - lots of product placements for Mickey (ABC), "You're going to D-land!" In all fairness, I think the entire lead crew of designers/spokesthings should be required to wear Mouse ears - or better yet, full character costumes - the entire time they're on camera. Goofy for the head guy, Tinkerbelle for the Pinky designer, Carioca Sam for the Latino - You know, it just struck me that the show's like one of those tirelessly booster WWII movies - the Black guy, the Jewish guy, the Catholic, the Southerner - all pulling together, fighting each other, fighting the Enemy. Anyway, bear in mind that it's about tear-jerking, not about helping anyone - other than Disney's bottom line, perhaps.

glorious estefan

United States

Kinda symbolizes a lot about what's wrong with our society today. Sad stories.

Nori

Some shows pay off the mortgages of the homes and some build-in a way for families to make a living. They need to do these things with every show.

*Not so extravagant
*Pay off the mortgage
*possibly provide a way for the family to make a living (if thats a need)

Otherwise the bad rep of what happens after will tank the show completely.

AHJ

San Francisco, CA

Please help me understand how a family (struggling or not) can't afford a home with NO MORTGAGE? There is no reason for this stupidity. The research the show should focus on is the ability for these people to understand and nt squander what they are being given.

Ex. using your new "FREE" home as collateral for a "construction business loan" in an economy such as this is idiotic. It's equal to securing a loan against your home to compete in the software OS business with Microsoft!

AHJ wrote:

<quoted text>
The fundamental issue is not that they can't afford the home. Financially any of these families CAN afford the taxes (max $5,000yr), utilities (max $3,600yr), etc...
99% of the time the "Extreme" home's mortgage is paid off, alleviating the financial burden. Not to mention the college funds that are set up for the children and vehicles that are given to the families, etc...
The issue with the "VERY FEW" families that are losing their gifted homes to foreclosure is that these are uneducated, non-contributing members of society that squander the gifts they've been given. This is the same behavior that put them in hardship to begin with and will continue to put them in this position.
Don't forget, all these people ASK for this assistance in an application video they submit. Only when they repeat the same idiotic behavior that put them in this position in the first place do they blame the people who gave them an opportunity to make their lives better.
It's not the gifts that cause the idiocy it's the idiots they are given to.

plpackard

Meriden, CT

Give them something better than what they were living in, fits with the neighborhood and not over the top. END OF STORY... but then I guess it wouldn't be EXTREME.

heartnut

Johnson City, TN

I think AHJ has hit the nail on the head. These persons that need help, don't really need a new house. The new house is a bonus gift that they don't know how to accept and care for. They really need financial counseling--and to stop taking advice from people who don't know how to manage money. My parents don't know how to manage their money and are nearing retirement age with no retirement. Therefore, I listen to successfully retired folks in my church for financial advice. Duh. It's simple if you think about it.

plpackard

Cheshire, CT

I recently had a chance to drive past the house built for a family in Suffield,CT in July of 2009. It will be featured sometime in September. The home is estimated at over one million dollars. It is located in a neighborhood of modest homes built in the 1960-70's and does not fit the surroundings.

I also have to wonder how this extreme home impacted the property taxes of others on the street.

Anne

Houston, TX

The big issue coming up, from what I believe, is that the IRS is going to start saying that the increase in the home value is taxable income -- giving the families yet another way that they won't be able to afford the new home.

Building smaller, more suitable homes won't happen, since there's not the "wow" audience effect. Various companies pay for the rennovations, advertisers pay for the show, and the family, who was in trouble to begin with, is left alone to fend for themselves.

The whole show needs to be cancelled.

Glorious Estefan

Flushing, NY

Anne wrote:

The big issue coming up, from what I believe, is that the IRS is going to start saying that the increase in the home value is taxable income -- giving the families yet another way that they won't be able to afford the new home.
Building smaller, more suitable homes won't happen, since there's not the "wow" audience effect. Various companies pay for the rennovations, advertisers pay for the show, and the family, who was in trouble to begin with, is left alone to fend for themselves.
The whole show needs to be cancelled.

Canceled? But the kid's bedroom is themed like a bball court. And there are tarps in the backyard to prevent sun allergy girl from "seeing the light." And the WHOLE HOUSE is handicapped accessible. Who cares if they can't afford the house. It makes me shed a SINGLE TEAR every time they MOVE THAT BUS!

HELLO FROM DISNEYWORLD

scaleitback

I must have seen an earlier show when they first started. Instead of tearing down the existing structure, they stripped it--refaced the outside and reconfigured the inside. The square footage didn't change. This was for a family with a Mom and 3 young boys while a dad served in Iraq. Very reasonable show and it still had the WOW factor in my eyes. In the beginning, the designers didn't see eye-to-eye and the contractor held the designers accountable for actions, looking to Ty to control them.

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