Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Chronicles Of Depression 2.0: #171

'Extreme Makeover' house faces foreclosure
LAKE CITY, Ga. (AP) - 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-story 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.

Emphasis added by me.

If I was motivated to search the Net, I'd probably find other horror stories created by that TV program. It all looks so Cinderella-ish on TV. Here's Your New Free Free Free Home!!! With no word as to whether the real estate taxes can be paid. How much higher a larger house increases utility bills (hello: more rooms = more lighting, more heating, more cooling, more water). I've glimpsed this program at times and my hair stood on end as I watched people who had to be one-step away from lifelong welfare walk into plush homes I could never afford. So how can they wind up paying the concomitant higher monthly expenses?!

Well, here's one family that did a roll of the dice and came up snake eyes.

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