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Another 'Extreme' Family about to lose house.

posted 16 years ago by lilmssunshine_761
13 replies | jump to latest

Family fears they'll lose 'Extreme Makeover' home
12/8/2008, 7:17 p.m. ET
The Associated Press

OAK PARK, Mich. (AP) — Four years ago, millions of television viewers watched as a deaf couple marveled at the renovations to their home that would help them better accommodate their blind, autistic son.

But now the couple, Judy and Larry Vardon, worry that the home could face foreclosure. They were featured in a two-hour episode of "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" that set a ratings record for the show when broadcast Nov. 6, 2004.

Weighed down by a mortgage payment that has almost doubled since the makeover and medical insurance that doesn't cover autism treatment for 16-year-old Lance, the Vardons are clinging to the hope that Larry will keep his job at Chrysler LLC's Sterling Heights stamping plant. The company is on the brink of bankruptcy as it and the other Detroit automakers appeal to Congress for emergency loans.

"I'm afraid I'm going to lose my house now," Judy Vardon, using sign language through an interpreter, told The Macomb Daily of Mount Clemens. "This house really belongs to Lance. This is his environment. He can't speak out for himself, and I hope we can save this house."

ABC said 20.5 million viewers saw a crew led by host Ty Pennington rehabilitate the Vardons' 980-square-foot house near Detroit from the inside out, including installing cameras and flat-screen monitors allowing the Vardons to monitor Lance.

After the makeover, the couple refinanced the mortgage, and their monthly payments have nearly doubled — from $1,200 to $2,300. They had debts of $20,000 for the boy's therapy alone.

"We didn't have bad spending habits," Judy Vardon said. "My husband got laid off for a time, and insurance wouldn't cover Lance's autism therapy and some other things like his vision and special dental work."

The couple are working with a nonprofit group that aids families in crisis to help them negotiate a lower mortgage rate.

The Vardons remain grateful to "Extreme Makeover" and the volunteers who worked to renovate their house and make it safer for Lance.

"We're a close family that loves each other," Judy Vardon said. "I feel that I was given this life to show others that you can face these challenges."

Having Ty and company build a new house is great but you can bet on a higher mortgage payment everytime.

[–] 16 years ago

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[–] tdigiano 16 years ago

Let's not forget taxes too. Federal income, state income, if Michigan has one, and real estate taxes. If the family is destitute to begin with, how do these get paid? Sorry folks but there is no fairy godmother. It is like putting a carrot on a stick in front of a horse. The horse never catches up to the carrot. Plus, one never builds a "rose among thorns". They are building elegant homes in not so elegant neighborhoods. Put that same house is Palm Springs and the value is tripled what it is worth in a "not so elegant" neighborhood.

[–] TheSolarSailor 16 years ago

Isn't it funny how this self-congratulatory program never addresses these realities?

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If electricity comes from electrons, does morality come from morons?

[–] lilmssunshine_761 16 years ago

I am happy to report today that people started to donate money to this cause and they can keep their house.

[–] TheSolarSailor 16 years ago

Key words here being "people", not Homemakeover who created the problem with huge expensive to keep homnes to begin with.

* * * *
If electricity comes from electrons, does morality come from morons?

[–] sweets672 16 years ago

If you'd read the original post thoroughly, you would have understood that the problem was not created by the show - the family re-financed the home. If they had not done that, their mortgage payments would not have increased. The cause for their current problem is their own bad decision, not the show which did an amazing thing for this family - including obtaining a full scholarship for their older son to attend college.

[–] TheSolarSailor 16 years ago

It doesn't matter...the show is coming in and giving them far more than they can handle. When I say "can handle" that encompasses responsible behavior afterwards. It would be FAR more effective if they simply made their home nicer without recreating these incredibly overdone homes that these people and neighborhoods don't need.

* * * *
If electricity comes from electrons, does morality come from morons?

[–] Nickie731 15 years ago

DoubleFacedJanus - I couldn't agree with you more and this is something that I have thought about from the very start.

To me, this show is simply about picking out what the producers feel is the best sob story and showering that family with lottery-like winnings donated by local builders and suppliers and more. The chosen family typically presents as if the new home is considerably out of their means...clearly leading to a larger sob story down the road.

Not that families in need aren't deserving of help, but I suggest keeping it more real - especially since no cash winnings are there with which the family might plan a financial course.

Ideally, it seems that a re-sale would be the smartest option; but then you see the equivalent of a near mansion going up on the same street/neighborhood where no other home matches the new one, thus delaying and greatly reducing the chances of resale at the homes building value. Not to mention finding (waiting for) the 'right buyer' for such a home! Maybe this works in some areas, but not in most. In my area and in all of the states I have lived in during my previous 15 years, the homeowners association/s would never allow such a drastic re-build. The homes are all within a certain price range of one another, not hundreds of thousand dollars different in price ranges. And that makes good sense! If one wouldn't sell their perfectly new $30,000 car for $10.00, then why would anyone sell or buy (say) a $700,000 home (say) in a $30,000 market?!

It would be great to see another network showing what really happens to these families after the hoopla dies down, the new maintenance bills and the winners taxes come due. Then follow-up in 2 years, 5 years... or whatever applies. Combine the heating and air conditioning bills for these homes and they are probably larger than the monthly mortgage payments they were paying at the old home. Home insurance premiums and taxes will greatly increase.

Overall, I don't care much for this show because I think it gives people great amenities that they will eventually be forced to give up or lose, and bigger heartbreaks. Not to mention the waste it generates in the total demolition of homes just to meet the show's deadline. But a re-model obviously would not work in the sense of this show's style - although it would be great to stop the waste and needless demolitions. The show gives considerably too much to one family and much of that could be more reasonably divided for numerous families in need, proposing a better outcome down the road for the winning families.

[–] SunnySideDown66 16 years ago

Hilarious

[–] PyroPlasmX 15 years ago

I have heard that quite a few of the families have either lost the house because of taxes or mortgage. ABC and its parent company Disney are worth billions. They could easily afford to make sure these families don't have to sell their houses. When I found this out I really lost a lot of respect for this show.

But I like toast. It's the muffins that must be stopped.

[–] evening-frog 15 years ago

If the famiies are refinancing the homes or obtaining home equity loans to cover other expenses then it is not the fault of the show, if someone gets laid off that is not anticipated when the house is remodeled, these days more and more people run that risk and that also is not the fault of the show

[–] Nickie731 15 years ago

Hi smithy4282. It's as if you are suggesting the corporation responsible for making it all happen should then continue to provide for said winners indefinitely.

Those homes are built on donations by local businesses, suppliers and contractors. First one would ask, why would Disney or ABC maintain these families indefinitely?

That is not the way business works and just because you, or anyone, thinks a business is worth, whatever, does not obligate the business to do more, much less mean they can afford to do so. The bigger you are, the greater your bills are...ya know?

You don't get to determine how anyone or any business should spend. Besides, haven't the winners already received a great deal? I think so!

According to your comment it should never stop. Perhaps better stated, the winner should never have received so much in the manner they have been given... Trying to sell a home worth hundreds of thousands more than the neighborhood it is built in obviously proves harder than investing a cash winning. Seems it would have better had the show built a more affordable home for the winners, more comparable with the value of the chosen families neighborhood so they could have afforded to maintain the new value since they obviously do not have the means to afford such lavish homes.

[–] 15 years ago

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