extreme home foreclosure coming to abc this fall

[Verotik]

'Extreme Makeover' house faces foreclosure 3 years after it was built for show

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Mon Jul 28, 2:53 PM

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By The Associated Press
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LAKE CITY, Ga. - 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-storey 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 ****ds 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 neighbourhood. The home's door opened into a lobby that featured four fireplaces, a solarium, a music room and a plush new office.

Materials and labour 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.

[Punkin]

Wow.. just goes to show.. I always wondered how the family's went on that were helped. I'm sure (well hope) this is an isolated incident and the rest of the families that received such a wonderful gift appreciate it and actually changed their lives accordingly.

I love EM:HE!!! I remember this house rather well, sad to see this happening!

[Luv to be on the GO]

It has ALWAYS ticked me off...the Size of the Homes E.M. would build ...I would think "why not" just build a nice home-- just so those poor folks have a roof over their heads .... But some were WAY over the top ...swimming pool ..sometimes they even got a car or a truck ... I`d sit there and think ...Now-- how will those people afford the Up-Keep ....Not to mention what the TAXES must cost ....Get Real ....and maybe everyone can keep their home and afford to live in it .

[Simba]

I agree 100%!

[nightingale]

It wouldn't make for a good show, that's why, although I agree.

[Anapeg]

Greed is a miserable taskmaster. It starts with the shows concept people and filtres down. The thoughtless wanting for more has ruined many.

[Andre]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Luv to be on the GO</div><div class="ubbcode-body">It has ALWAYS ticked me off...the Size of the Homes E.M. would build ...I would think "why not" just build a nice home-- just so those poor folks have a roof over their heads .... But some were WAY over the top ...swimming pool ..sometimes they even got a car or a truck ... I`d sit there and think ...Now-- how will those people afford the Up-Keep ....Not to mention what the TAXES must cost ....Get Real ....and maybe everyone can keep their home and afford to live in it . </div></div>

many people from that show have lost their houses to the tax man

/can't stand the show myself

[Evangeline]

I don't understand why they don't just MAKE OVER the home that they have, instead of plowing it to the ground, and starting over. I can understand having to do that to a few that are in really bad condition structurally, but not for ones that are just ugly and old, strip it to the frame, replace the drywall, maybe add a room on, but it's such a waste to tear the whole thing down every time! They should call it extreme home rebuild since they never acctually make over the house they already have!

[Craig Huckerby]

that's why the show is called "extreme" I guess..