Comment #6

pacattack05 — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 10:07:10 GMT

who needs a house if you're broke and can't pay the taxes?

Comment #5

time*treat — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 07:53:54 GMT

You can't fix "stupid".

Comment #4

ThatScaryChick — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 04:23:32 GMT

It is a sad situation. I am sure the family feels horrible about losing their home.

Comment #3

justxploring — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 03:28:22 GMT

Sorry - I'm still stuck in 2007. This house was built in Jan 2005, so it's been over 3 years! Still, very sad situation.

Comment #2

jackpotismine — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 03:17:29 GMT

So people get a chance of a lifetime and STILL blow it! Damn shame!!!!

Comment #1

justxploring — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 03:06:01 GMT

I saw this episode.

Original Blog Entry: Free House plus $250,000 & broke in 2 years!

justxploring — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 03:00:18 GMT

'Extreme Makeover' house faces foreclosure

Mon Jul 28, 11:32 AM PDT

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.

The house was built in January 2005, after Atlanta-based Beazer Homes USA and ABC's Extreme Makeover demolished their old home and its faulty septic system. Within six days, construction crews and hoards of volunteers had completed work on the largest home that the television program had yet built.

The finished product was a four-bedroom house with decorative rock walls and a three-car garage that towered over ranch and split-level homes in their Clayton County neighborhood. The home's door opened into a lobby that featured four fireplaces, a solarium, a music room and a plush new office.

Materials and labor were donated for the home, which would have cost about $450,000 to build. Beazer Homes' employees and company partners also raised $250,000 in contributions for the family, including scholarships for the couple's three children and a home maintenance fund.

ABC said in a statement that it advises each family to consult a financial planner after they get their new home. Ultimately, financial matters are personal, and we work to respect the privacy of the families, the network said.

Some of the volunteers who helped build the home were less than thrilled about the family's financial decisions.

It's aggravating. It just makes you mad. You do that much work, and they just squander it, Lake City Mayor Willie Oswalt, who helped vault a massive beam into place in the Harper's living room, told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

From the Associated Press

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