4 years ago I helped on the ABC Extreme Makeover-Home Edition house that was built in Gilbert AZ.

The house is now on the market for 1.3 Million. I think this is the second house that the series has built that the owners lost. the last one was in GA and they lost it to foreclosure. It's sad really. The house I helped on is not my style at all but it was fun to work with.

Here's the link to the realtor.com listing.


http://www.realtor.com/realestateand...mlslid=4240183

And here's the link to the story. Another funny thing to me, it is n't on amy of the local channels.

http://realestate.msn.com/blogs/list...7986&gt1=35000

it has always been a pet peeve of mine to take a family that cannot afford repairs on their home, and then turn it into a palace! Fill it with treasures beyond compare. Flat screen Tvs and special lightening and filters, and quadrouple the size. This is amazing! but...

What does this do to their property taxes?
What does this do to their electric bill
Oil bill?
Gas bill?


Most of these poor folks were barely scraping by before with medical bills for children, and or elderly parents, or other circumstances, and then you fill it with Kenmore top of the line everything. You have just created a space that these folks CANNOT keep up to. Sure, they can take a home equity loan, but...its another vicious circle.

Why cant they make SOlar, or wind power so the electric bill pays iteself? Even if they pay off the mortgage, they still have a dramatically increased property tax! lets throw in some brand new $50k cars for a big boost in property taxes, insurance, and gas. These programs need to do better research before helping a family right out into the street. How bout helping them get a job, or an affordable car? or the same size house, just fixed? Why does everything have to be palacial?

My favorite saying is "stop helping me!"

It's all done for the advertising, Dej. Sears is famous for "donating" appliances and household goods to these homes. Ford does the same thing......"donating" cars. We all pay the cost of this. I don't for one minute think these gigantic companies are doing this out of the goodness of their hearts. They recoup their investment tenfold by overcharging the rest of us.

I don't begrudge any of the families who've been recipients of these homes the chance to get ahead or have something nice for once in their lives. But these shows just go overboard and overwhelm these families with stuff that's too expensive to keep up with.

Whatever happened to moderation?

I often wondered what happened to these poor people, after the hoopla was over..

BIngo...being in advertising I can say you are riht. Its all about the advertising and the show is a way to break through commercial clutter

I like the one on CMT. They take a trailer in a trailer park, get rid of part of the inside only and make it better. If a bedroom is small then they have to deal with a small bedroom. They make a lot of improvements to the small exterior and small yard.

When they first started the show, they'd redecorate the inside of the house. Now they whip up a brand new house in a week. I hadn't thought of the upkeep, just how lucky they were. Haven't watched it for a few years cuz its always the same same same.

We have a similar thing here 'Backyard blitz' i think it is.
last week was excellent- 4 young orphaned kids, big sister in charge, stayed together and got their house done up and $5000 for the anticipated bills after the re modelling.

My gripe with this show is the number of people who get the makeover because, for example,
...they have two autistic kids
...they have a toddler with special needs and both parents gave up work to care for him
...they have four/five kids and one has two left feet or something like that

I'm all for people who do something for someone else being 'rewarded' kinda thing but a while ago, both parents had given up work to care for a toddler with non life threatening problems and 'it was tough for them'.

I prefer 'Random acts of Kindness' . Gives people back something for the good they've done elsewhere/to others.

When Home makeover started, it was kind of a random draw. It got to be that the stories were so drastic I couldn't believe they were true.



The makeovers were pretty low key in comparison, and I didn't hear that any of those families went over the edge and lost their homes. But the later ones - who ended up with mucho equity - seems like that went to their heads.

You know dh and I get those letter too, that we can take these huge loans against our house. That means *loan*, and you hafta pay it back, LOL. It's not a free pot of gold. And the thing is, we could have used that, gone to Europe, bought a boat, and made the payments - until he got laid off a couple weeks/months. Then we would have been in as much trouble as everyone else.

the show started looking like they were taking drowning people, giving them a boat and oars. And those people were forgetting what they'd just been saved from and paddling fast as they could right back for s*** creek.

I think they could take the same money they used on ONE house, and spread it to 50. Upgrade the plumbing, so they have hot water. Fix the leaky roof. Stop the flooding in the basement. replace moldy drywall. help landscape so that the wheel chair isnt rolling UP hill to get into the house, and then has to jump the threshold. DONT take a 1500 square foot home, and turn it into a 6 thousand square foot home with whirl pools tubs and car wash showers on every floor. Electric bills and oil bills to heat/cool these places so high, they cant afford to turn on the heat. Sheesh!

What they are doing is NOT helpful. Fixing it so a wheelchair patient can have a walk in shower is a blessing. Fixing it so that a wheel chair patient can use the pool for exercise is a blessing. Fixing it so the family has to eat peanut butter sandwhiches and loses the house anyway isnt! What were they thinking? Kids need a room, not a room with a cadillac sticking out of the dry wall. Kids need a toilet, not a potty that speaks to them, and washes and blows dry their bottoms.

I always said if they showed up to my house I would have this huge list of requests. Like Solar! no electric bills! no heat bills, and free hot water! If your in a hot climate, put a garden on the roof! it naturally absorbs the heat, and provides food for the family. maybe Im weird. I would be upset if you put me into such a palace that I couldnt afford to stay.