SavvySugar

Another Extreme Home Makeover Homeowner Struggles

SavvySugar — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 15:30:57 -0700

Anyone would be beyond thrilled to call a six-bedroom Mediterranean style home their own, and former drug addict turned community charity founder Sadie Holmes was especially grateful the Extreme Makeover: Home Edition team built her a home fitting that description. While they were at it, the team built an office for Sadie's charity adjacent to her home.

Sadie was all moved into her Florida home by February 2006, and a month later she was cleared to run a volunteer organization from her home office. The permit came with the caveat that prohibited "outside storage of any materials" unless they were hidden from view, and within months she incurred costly infractions for things like portable restrooms and abandoned vehicles.

A $29,000 lien was place on Sadie's house when she failed to show up on at least one occasion to plead her case to the code-enforcement board, and she risks losing her home if she can't come up with the money. The $29,000 is difficult for her to come up with because of her other expenses, like $3,000 for her charity's storage and $6,600 annual property taxes. Sadie plans on appealing her case.

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Should Extreme Home Makeover Reevaluate Its Efforts?

SavvySugar — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 14:00:37 -0700

The recent news of an Extreme Makeover: Home Edition family losing their home to foreclosure because of a bad loan decision has pushed other stories to the surface.

Eric Herbert of Sandpoint, ID, has put his family's made-over home on the market because of financial strain from increased home maintenance and utility costs. He said, "I’m not doing it (selling) to make a profit. I’m doing it not to lose money. I just hope people understand the reality of it."

Should ABC consider revising their reputation for building homes many times the size of the originals?

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Should This Extreme Home Makeover Family Be Forgiven?

SavvySugar — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 11:04:03 -0700

This is one Extreme Makeover: Home Edition story that may leave you with a bout of frustration rather than a waterfall of tears. Some of the 1,800 volunteers that worked night and day to build the Harper family's new four-bedroom home in 2005 are reeling with aggravation after learning the family's home will be auctioned due to foreclosure.

The donated materials used to build the home are valued at about $450,000, and the construction company donated an additional $250,000 for a home-maintenance fund and scholarships for the family's three kids. Rather than be satisfied with this generosity, the Harpers decided to test their luck and used the home as collateral for a $450,000 loan to start a construction business that ultimately failed.

The mayor of Lake City, GA, helped construct the home for his city's residents and had this to say about the unhappy ending: "It's aggravating. It just makes you mad. You do that much work, and they just squander it." Do you think they should be blamed for making a careless decision, or should they be forgiven for trying to continue bettering their lives?

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