Houses too nice?
Some of the houses are a bit over the top like a 6 bedroom, 7 bath, and 7 television for a family of four. Too extreme?
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MovieChat Forums > Extreme Makeover: Home Edition (2003) Discussion > Houses too nice?
I always say to my wife "How can we get on that show?" I would love to have a brand new house with ultra modern fixtures, architecture, etc. plus a free vacation and in some cases new car and scholarships. It is over the top - and how do their jealous neighbors feel? Sure many stepped up to help out a family in need, but let's face it - not everyone smiles on someone else's good fortune. Why don't they just build something basic and livable instead of the Taj Mahal?
shareBut you DON'T wish for them REALLY,
because you can't afford all the costs,
including the LATER costs!
~I can sing better than Taylor Hicks!
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eahoover : I'm pretty sure the Taj Mahal is not made out of the cardboard stuff used in that show.
Bingo. Reality is many of these families are too poor to afford the house. Recently several of the homes have been sold because the upkeep was too high.
My family was just talking about that, wondering if families could afford the upkeep. What's your source?
You're so ugly, it's a fact! share
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Don't even NEED a source.
It's a painfully obvious fact that the property taxes and utility bills on such a residence would be difficult for the recipients to maintain.
There have been a few instances where the families have mortgaged the house/sold the house/sued ABC because of details surrounding the situation.
(The lawsuit was tossed, btw.)
Still, it's just a bunch of pandering to the masses that some sort of good is being done.
A GOOD thing would be ten NORMAL houses built for needy families as opposed to one ridiculous mini-mansion with four fireplaces for ONE needy family.
Building a $400,000.00 house in a neighborhood where most homes are barely worth $100,000.00 is just STUPID!
It hurts everyone in the neighborhood.
I've only watched this show maybe three times but it still never fails to dismay me.
I've always wondered what happened to that old black lady who was always helping in her community...I don't think she lived in the best neighborhood, but I know that she probably could never afford the taxes after they redid her house. I wish I could remember that episode, it is a few years old.
The patient's screaming disturbing me, performed removal of vocal chords. ~Zombie Holocaust
The lady's name is Sweet Alice Harris, she lives in Watts. I can't find anything about how she's doing now. I saw this epi last week on TVLand and was wondering myself how she is doing.
share2 families may lose thier homes. But it has nothing to do with the upkeep of the homes ( it amazes me when people pull stuff outta their behinds)...
1 family, took out a loan against the house to start a business, the business failed... yada, yada, yada.
The other family is looking at $29,000 lien against the property because of code violations. She ran a non profit business on donations, poeple dropped off stuff to her home, and because they were visible from the road... it broke some kind of code. Sounds like some haiting going on to me.
"...insert corny quote here"
Thay should have a special with the gang returning to see how all the people having their home redone turned out.
shareInteresting that you mention her- I believe that she's the one that was in the news lately. She racked up a huge debt from penalties for running charities out of her house and was in danger of getting her home reposessed over it.
share"How can we get on that show?"
How do you get on this show? Just have 5 or 6 autistic deaf foster kids, that's all you need... share
It seems like all the people who have homes build for them couldn't afford anything better than what they are living in anyway? So why build a house for someone who couldn't afford the extra taxes anyway? My wife and I make a pretty good salary and I couldn't even afford kind of house they build. About all I could is the cost that comes with the houses they build so how could a poor family do it? ABC is not coming to build me a new house. I am not destitute enough for them. So phony. If is wasn't for the internet verifying these stories are true, I would question each and every one of them. I am waiting for the first fraud story to pop up where a house was built for someone where the "family" completely defrauded ABC. Bet you won't see that on TV.
shareI heard about one family in Georgia sold their extreme makeover home and then bought outright a much more modest home with what they got from the makeover home. They cited the reason they sold the place was the utility bills alone for the dam place was about $100 more than their OLD mortgage. And the jump in property taxes was 6 times their old taxes. I do remember they got enough from the sell of their new home to pay off the jump in property taxes, the utility bills and still had more than enough left over to buy a new home. I think the home they bought was in the $220,000-$225,000 range if I remember right.
I also remember hearing about the guy in Idaho. He was the one that has full custody of his niece of nephew (he had the house built into the side of that hill or some crap.)
Anyway, he sold his place. I remember he thanked the show for everything they did and was extremely grateful. But he pointed out the reason for selling was the jump in property taxes and utility bills was costing him about a grand more a month than their old home on the same property. SO he sold the property and he bought outright a really nice home he could afford.
Fat People Are Harder To Kidnap
I remember in the episode about the deaf couple who had two sons and one which was blind and autistic. In their video, their older son stated that they didn't an extremely fancy house and that they only wanted a upgraded home with some features that would aid the blind son. ABC went against their wishes and built the house way too big and later on the couple who was had always been struggling, ended up facing a foreclosure. I'm not sure what happened later on.
A large majority of the families can't afford a lot of these homes. The Hughes family in Louisville, Kentucky, according to Internet rumors and other sources have been able to keep their home maintained and property taxes paid for because the father Patrick John and the blind son Patrick Henry have been making a good living off motivational speaking and some book royalties. There were also rumors that a few country singers who had met the Hughes family years ago donated money to the family for future home expenses.
I heard (forget where, don't have the link anymore) that the deaf couple was able to stall the foreclosure (went in to foreclosure due to unpaid property taxes) by selling the home for $325,000, a fraction of what it was worth. They walked away with a little over $215,000 after taxes and paying off the property taxes. Last I hear they had moved into a double wide mobile home they had bought prior to the makeover home they sold, paid it off with the $215 grand and had a local disability advocate group reinstall the upgrades ABC gave them.
Fat People Are Harder To Kidnap