'Extreme Makeover' house faces foreclosure

[classicman]

LAKE CITY, Ga. (AP) - 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.

[classicman]

I'm not sure how I feel about this one - I would initially have been glad that they tried to do something with their new home, but then to risk it all on a construction/contracting business? That would seem like a slap in the face.

[Shawnee123]

Prefacing this by saying all I know is what I just read here, I have a real problem with this.

I watch this show. They build the most amazing homes. They pay off the old mortgages. They buy these people cars, give them living money so they never have to worry about bills, they tailor each home to that family's needs, which are often special.

But that wasn't enough? You need more? Under the guise of wanting to start a business, yes, they have slapped hundreds of volunteers and contributors in the face. Yeah, thanks for making my life a thousand times easier than it ever was before...but I'm going to risk all YOUR investment on my OTHER dream.

Grrrrrrrr...build me a little one bedroom in the woods somewhere...I'll appreciate it.

[Sheldonrs]

"Bus driver, move that bus!...and hit that stupid family with it for bitch-slapping the gift horse."

[glatt]

Extreme Makeover is a horrible show and probably does society more harm than good. Extreme Makeover is entertainment. It's not about helping anyone.

They slap together poor quality houses in an extreme rush, but try to make them look like masterpieces by decorating them in a fancy way. Many corners are cut as these houses are built. I wouldn't want one. They are crap under the wet paint. You can't build a nice house in a week, even if you have 1000 volunteers. In fact, having 1000 volunteers building a house in a week is probably the best way to assure it will be crap.

They find families that have some problems and instead of trying to help them find solutions to their problems, they throw money and housing at them. They don't involve the family in the construction of the new home, so the family doesn't feel any pride of ownership in it.

Habitat for Humanity is a much much much better approach. The new homeowner has to work for hundreds of hours on their own house and on others' houses as part of the deal in getting their house. That means they actually care about their house. They also have to pay a (low) mortgage.

But the impact on the owners is only a small part of how Extreme Makeover is bad for society. Millions of people watch this show and are taught by it that you ought to have a nice fancy house with the wide screen tv. That just because you have it a little hard, somebody should come by and give you a mansion. And you shouldn't be expected to lift a finger in making it happen. In fact, you should be sent off to Disney World while your new house is being built. It's all about the keeping up with the Joneses. The blatant consumerism. The viewer watching it is taught to think: "If these guys have the big house, I should too. I'm going to get a mortgage I can't afford and buy that big house because I deserve it."

ABC said in a statement that it advises each family to consult a financial planner after they get their new home.

Nice. [/sarcasm] You know, at least that other nanny show teaches clueless parents how to deal with their own children. They don't send them a nanny for a year. They make the parents do the work.

Extreme Makeover is entertainment. It's not about helping anyone.

[Shawnee123]

Well, yeah. All "reality" shows are about entertainment.

Regardless of all those things you say, this does not excuse what they did. The blatant consumerism, the keeping up with the joneses, the "we should have all nice things" approach is always something that bothers me, whether it's my cow orker across the hall, or some family on television. New car? New house? What does Bob have? I need better than Bob...gimme gimme gimme, entitlement, entitlement entitlement. Still, they were given a gift. Whether or not it was the right way to gift them is irrelevant.

They disrespected some people who were actually trying to help.

[glatt]

Originally Posted by Shawnee123

They disrespected some people who were actually trying to help.

It's true. They did. But it's because they don't know anything about money management, and didn't have any pride or feeling of ownership in the house they were handed on a silver platter.

Those volunteers had the best of intentions, and I applaud them. But they were used by the producers of the show. They would have helped much more if they had volunteered for Habitat for Humanity.

[Griff]

Originally Posted by glatt

They would have helped much more if they had volunteered for Habitat for Humanity.

Yep. "If you give a mouse a cookie..."

[Shawnee123]

I absolutely agree with you there. Neither the fault nor the betrayal lies with the misguided givers, however.

[Shawnee123]

Originally Posted by Griff

Yep. "If you give a mouse a cookie..."

...he sez: I can haz cookie?

[Sundae]

When I first read this I felt people were being too harsh.
I mean you put the work and effort in for someone according to their circumstances at the time. As long as you weren't lied to, what they do after the event is their own business - it is not up to you to "own" something given freely.

Having read what Shawnee wrote about how much the show actually does for people however, I can see why they would feel aggrieved. Had the family simply continued on in a sensible fashion they would not be in this situation now.

Speaking as one who is always in and out of financial ruin through my own poor financial management, I think it's always better to leave people with something to work for. They might still screw it up, but at least they haven't been rescued by a deus ex machina, and therefore won't expect it again.

[glatt]

Originally Posted by Shawnee123

Neither the fault nor the betrayal lies with the misguided givers, however.

If by "givers" you mean the local volunteers, then I agree with you. But if you mean the well paid stars of the show or the producers of the show, then I strongly disagree. Ty Pennington is an insincere camera whore and the producers of the show are using the good intentions of the volunteers and of the viewers to line their pockets. I really dislike Extreme Makeover.

[Shawnee123]

What...they turned down your family's application?

Just kidding you, glatt.

I meant the community, the friends.

Sure, there are people with ulterior motives, all the more reason for the family not to dive into the needy greedy whoredom all around them.

[glatt]

Originally Posted by Shawnee123

What...they turned down your family's application?

Just kidding you, glatt.

Mostly it's Ty. I've watched the show maybe 5 times, and he's so phony I want to see him get punched in the nose. That's where my emotional reaction comes from. The rest of my complaints are true though too.

Do you like Ty? I understand a lot of women think he's hot.

[Shawnee123]

Nah, he really does nothing for me. I liked him when he was more of a sidekick on Trading Spaces (the darling Paige Davis made that show) but yeah, I don't think he's Mr Sincere or anything. If I were to go on just looks (which is very difficult for me) I guess he's cute but even then he's not like my dreamboat or anything. :p

I was just thinking, at the time I watch EHM there really isn't anything else to choose from on my limited network TV. I bet I wouldn't even have seen the show if not for the lack of choice. Same with the other very few reality shows I watch.