Sign In
SHARE
Extreme Foreclosure: Homeless Edition
Three and a half years after the Harper family got a spiffy new McMansion courtesy of ABC's Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, their new house is up for foreclosure.
As soon as the cameras left and the paint dried, the Harper family promptly used their new home as collateral against a $450,000 loan for a construction company that ultimately failed, the Atlanta Journal Constitution reports.
In January 2005, Extreme Makeover bulldozed the Harpers run-down ranch house and enlisted hundreds and hundreds of big-hearted volunteers to replace it with a dream home: four bedrooms, a three-car garage, multiple fire places, a solarium, and a music room. Tears ensued. Host Ty Pennington's hair stood tall. You know the drill.
As icing on the cake, Beazer Homes, which built the house, even handed the family $250,000 (raised by employees and corporate sponsors) to help the Harpers care for their home and send the kids to college.
"It's aggravating. It just makes you mad. You do that much work, and they just squander it," grumbled Lake City Mayor Willie Oswalt, who was one of some 1,800 volunteers, to the Journal-Constitution.
As homeowners from Memphis to Malibu lose ownership of their homes at a record pace, the Harpers will have a hard time playing the sympathy card -- maybe as hard a time as Jose Canseco, the former steroid-abusing ballplayer who lost his California home to foreclosure earlier this year.
Nobody likes to see a family be pushed out of their house, but the episode serves as yet another reminder that risky financial bets often end badly.
by Liz Gunnison
Loading...
Thank you for registering as a Portfolio.com Insider. Your comment has been added.
Create Your Public Profile
- ACBJ to relaunch Portfolio.com
- May 20 2009 1:44PM EDT
- 44, Day 97: On Golf, Swine Flu, and a "Hallmark Holiday"
- Apr 26 2009 5:39PM EDT
- 44, Day 96: Where's the Suggestion Box?
- Apr 25 2009 2:10PM EDT
- 44, Day 95: Let Them Have Student Loans
- Apr 24 2009 6:49PM EDT
- Stressing Out Over Stress Tests
- Apr 24 2009 2:14PM EDT
- King of the Private Equity Hill
- Apr 24 2009 8:23AM EDT
- 44, Day 94: What's in Obama's Wallet?
- Apr 23 2009 6:39PM EDT
- Madoff Clawback Campaign Targets Ex-Clients
- Apr 23 2009 3:00PM EDT
- Merrill, Muzzle, and the Mob
- Apr 23 2009 1:45PM EDT
- 44, Day 93: Earthly Concerns
- Apr 22 2009 7:14PM EDT
- Stanford Prosecutor Arrested for Assault
- Apr 22 2009 5:47PM EDT
- IMF Downgrades the Global Economy
- Apr 22 2009 2:00PM EDT
- Ackman Opens His Target Slate to Questions
- Apr 22 2009 11:51AM EDT
- Freddie Mac Acting CFO Found Dead
- Apr 22 2009 8:42AM EDT
- 44, Day 92: About Those Interrogations
- Apr 21 2009 5:53PM EDT
Archive
