AMERICAblog: Extreme Home Makeover to Foreclosure in Three Short Years
Rob Mule
· 1 year ago
I hate these cheap, union-busting shows that exploit the public...yes, even when a "lucky" few are allowed freebies to vicariously thrill a deprived public. Aside from home most of us won't have access to there are new medical reality shows that present the medical care most of us won't be getting unless Obama is elected.
KerrynowCampau
· 1 year ago
Now there is a couple I don't feel sorry for. Good example for your kids, guys. The title to the home should have been put in a trust (if that is possible). Those people should NEVER have been allowed to borrow on the home's equity.
I remember when I used to think that if the US government allows/does something it must be OK.
That was in my teens....
TheOriginalLiz
· 1 year ago
If I had put in my time and effort and/or contributed to that project, I'd be pretty pissed right about now.
DCinDC
· 1 year ago
This is a prime example of what is wrong in the United States. People do not understand money. Is it the education system?
Rob Mule
· 1 year ago
OT--God bless Barney Frank for his new bill aimed at decriminalizing marijuana. Aside from limiting Big Brother's puritanical monitoring of citizen behavior the marijuana/hemp cash crop will generate vast revenue and tons of green spin-off products... CNN's Don Lemon did a giddy and very complimentary interview with Frank that made me realize old Don likes a little sticky bud on occasion... http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Bush_drug_warrior...
OlderAndWiser
· 1 year ago
Don Lemon is just too pretty. : )
Rob Mule
· 1 year ago
Well, you're in luck as it appeared from the Frank interview that Don frequently relaxes in pot's smoky and often sexually receptive embrace...
OlderAndWiser
· 1 year ago
What got me about this story was that these people couldn't even maintain a "decepit home" and thought they had the bona fides to run a construction company?
That's Clayton, GA for ya...
Fireblazes(CheetohsandCatfood)
· 1 year ago
If it had paid off, we would all be crooning about the "American Dream.
anarchy
· 1 year ago
do I feel bad for the Harpers?
not just no but HELL NO!
they had a good thing and they blew it.
benb
· 1 year ago
"Of course, now that the house was worth more they’d [the Harpers would] get soaked for property taxes, so the Extreme Makeover team solved that problem for the Harpers as well. In addition to their new house being completely furnished, Milton Harper and Patricia Harper were given a large fund that would completely cover any taxes they would owe on the property for the next 25 years. The fund was also large enough to pay for all the Harper children to go to college."
It's the same thing with the typical uneducated types (ok-white trash) that win the lottery.... they could be set for life but spend money on stupid crap or get rich quick schemes.
People don't know how to manage money...most think that if they pay the minimum on their credit cards, they're ok. And why save for retirement if you've got kids (that will take care of you)? Yeah, my MIL is in for a BIG surprise!
deblacksmith
· 1 year ago
Easy Come, Easy Go. And here lies the problem. When you don't have to work really hard for something you don't understand the cost or the value. Look at "kids" today borrowing 160,000 to 200,000 for college -- how are they going to pay that off. The system is very broken when it costs that much of your future to go to college.
deblacksmith
cab02149
· 1 year ago
Uneasy feeling about this. I'm old enough to remember when young couples lived with parents or in a rented apartment before venturing out to own a home. Money was green paper backed with gold, not plastic. Ordinary people were very careful, very cautious with it. It was the cultural norm. Back then, Wall Street had not been allowed to be as clever as they would be allowed to become. Finances then were much simpler; Banks loaned for Homes. Ironically the expansion that wall street financing provided was image, not reality. The biggest gamble in a repeated cycle of failures which affected the common man's life going back to before the revolutionary war. Will we ever learn? How much economic misery is fair? Must Americans be born into this. What is the difference between being beat up by Wall Street and by being beat up by the KIng of England? How much money has been skimmed and into offshore accounts by wall street to create "the American dream"? Over and over and over again. What a national farce.
Grimmlok
· 1 year ago
Yeah sometimes poor people are poor because they're f#cking stupid, like these idiots. I want a 400K house PAID IN FULL, and a 250 K endowment for f#cking scholarships! You'll see a very happy man going to school for a film degree and putting the rest into a bank where a wealth management team can take care of it!
Frankly, I'm glad these dullards are poor again. They didn't deserve the chance they got. Someone sterilize them so they don't breed any further.
Disgusting.
texasbob
· 1 year ago
Welcome to contemporary America. A teevee show cons a bunch of volunteers and businesses to donate to a project which will make $$$ for the show's producers. The lucky homeowners con them all to milk the project for almost half a mil. The bank is conned and likely will beg for federal relief $$$ so that it doesn't go under. And probably the feds will con the taxpayers into paying to bail out the poor destitute foreclosed upon homeowners. This really is what "reality teevee" is, and what "reality" is today in America. One big con. There are no standards, no integrity, no courage (moral or political), no sense of responsibility, no decency. Yes, it's con men like Bush who have helped bring this on, but the woods are full of his equals. Congresspeople and federal officeholders who sell out the country like cheap whores, business execs who bankrupt their company but make millions, a White House that bankrupts the whole country, "special interests" that laugh all the way to the Swiss bank, investment houses that swindle investors...everything goes in today's America as long as you get the money and run.
FunMe
· 1 year ago
It's a big con in the era of RepubliCONs, neoCONs and CONservatives.
earthworx
· 1 year ago
As one of the people you volunteered their time to build this house (our company provided the inspections), the culmination of this story is a perfect example of why the mortgage industry is in the mess it's in. Beazer built this family a $450,000 house, but they located it in a neighborhood of $90,000 to $150,000 homes. The value of the house probably dropped by half the day the family moved in. Knowing this, it is incredulous to me that any financial institution would fund a $450,000 HELOC when the home clearly is not worth that much in market value. I would guess that when all is said and done this house will probably sell for less than $200,000.
Mikki --SE Pennsylvania
· 1 year ago
These people are scum and they should all rot in jail! But equally as bad as they are all the people who watched and helped and became suckers in the bargain. You can be dammed sure they wont do it again. All trash and the worst sort of trash. Idiot programs for idiot viewers all of these so-called reality shows. Yes, if you are one who watched, this does apply to you. So take it with a good grace and don't let it happen again!
jr
· 1 year ago
Bushonomic circle of life
barts
· 1 year ago
Hence, as the saying goes..."A Fool and his money are...."
Come on now!
vejo
· 1 year ago
Who says they lost the money? Maybe they conned everyone and said they tried to start a business, but instead took most of the $450K and kept it to spend as the wish. Maybe they thought they could rent an apartment or move someplace cheap and live large with all that cash. Maybe they planned this all along...
Actually this scam is happening all over the country every day. Many illegal aliens, in fact, were allowed to buy with no money down (and not just houses, but RENTAL property!). As property values rose in recent years, they kept taking out ever larger mortgages/HELOCS/etc. to rake in this increasing equity. This money was not put towards improving their properties, but was instead used to build homes in their native countries. The game is to siphon off as much cash as possible until the whole thing collapses. Who cares about ruining their credit score if their ultimate goal is to move back? We're left with crumbling, foreclosed properties which drive down the value of all houses in the neighborhood and they are luxuriating in custom-built homes which are all paid off...
Are these same people going to get bailouts too?
tchusi
· 1 year ago
Although I agree with most of the comments beingmade on this story, I feel I must point something out.
A lot of the families who are being sponsored on this show have medical health issues. In many of the cases the medical bills are astronomical. We all well know the weight of bills. When they are as overwelming and as huge, medical bills can often lead to desperate actions such this. I do not know if this was the case in this situation or not, but this is just a thought.
Not taking away from what has already been spoken here. I agree fully when it comes to people mis-using and handling thier finances and expecting someone to bail them out. It is a disgrace!
Finally i've seen a comment from someone else that knows this family very well. I worked with this family for a year and a half. Particularily with their two sons Donnie and Nathan through my company. I must say that the parents DO NOT DESERVE this house, but the boys do. Mom calls off work all the time becuase she wants to stay home with dad who doesn't even want to work. 13 jobs in one year. They almost lost their house twice because they couldn't pay the 1,ooo dollar taxes on it. They waste moms paycheck on eating out for 3 days, dvds, video games, and action figures for the boys and have nothing left over to pay bills or buy food with. They have never maintained anything they've received, in at least suitable condition and have immense numbers of stray animals comming in to the house infesting it with fleas, disease, and waste that they seem to always "forget" to clean up. Heck, they can't even afford to buy dog or cat food for the animals they so "graciously" take in and have been known to feed them pancakes, that being the only food they had. Mom and Dad are ungreatful people, always complaining, even about those that have given them help. Extreme Makeover Home Edition, SHAME ON YOU, you should have really taken a better look at these people you build homes for. This home won't even make it 3 months until it's damaged, tore up, and unkept let alone next year when they have to pay taxes on the property. And for all of you that say they deserve this, rethink your statement. The children DESERVE this, not the parents, but you had better believe in this case, the parents will be the only ones benefiting from this
All Comments
The title to the home should have been put in a trust (if that is possible).
Those people should NEVER have been allowed to borrow on the home's equity.
I remember when I used to think that if the US government allows/does something it must be OK.
That was in my teens....
CNN's Don Lemon did a giddy and very complimentary interview with Frank that made me realize old Don likes a little sticky bud on occasion...
http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Bush_drug_warrior...
That's Clayton, GA for ya...
not just no but HELL NO!
they had a good thing and they blew it.
http://pysih.com/2008/07/27/milton-harper-and-p...
they could be set for life but spend money on stupid crap or get rich quick schemes.
People don't know how to manage money...most think that if they pay the minimum on their credit cards, they're ok. And why save for retirement if you've got kids (that will take care of you)? Yeah, my MIL is in for a BIG surprise!
deblacksmith
Frankly, I'm glad these dullards are poor again. They didn't deserve the chance they got. Someone sterilize them so they don't breed any further.
Disgusting.
But equally as bad as they are all the people who watched and helped and became suckers in the bargain. You can be dammed sure they wont do it again. All trash and the worst sort of trash. Idiot programs for idiot viewers all of these so-called reality shows.
Yes, if you are one who watched, this does apply to you. So take it with a good grace and don't let it happen again!
Come on now!
Actually this scam is happening all over the country every day. Many illegal aliens, in fact, were allowed to buy with no money down (and not just houses, but RENTAL property!). As property values rose in recent years, they kept taking out ever larger mortgages/HELOCS/etc. to rake in this increasing equity. This money was not put towards improving their properties, but was instead used to build homes in their native countries. The game is to siphon off as much cash as possible until the whole thing collapses. Who cares about ruining their credit score if their ultimate goal is to move back? We're left with crumbling, foreclosed properties which drive down the value of all houses in the neighborhood and they are luxuriating in custom-built homes which are all paid off...
Are these same people going to get bailouts too?
A lot of the families who are being sponsored on this show have medical health issues. In many of the cases the medical bills are astronomical. We all well know the weight of bills. When they are as overwelming and as huge, medical bills can often lead to desperate actions such this. I do not know if this was the case in this situation or not, but this is just a thought.
Not taking away from what has already been spoken here. I agree fully when it comes to people mis-using and handling thier finances and expecting someone to bail them out. It is a disgrace!
http://www.topix.com/forum/tv/reality/TFFL3RA1F...
Finally i've seen a comment from someone else that knows this family very well. I worked with this family for a year and a half. Particularily with their two sons Donnie and Nathan through my company. I must say that the parents DO NOT DESERVE this house, but the boys do. Mom calls off work all the time becuase she wants to stay home with dad who doesn't even want to work. 13 jobs in one year. They almost lost their house twice because they couldn't pay the 1,ooo dollar taxes on it. They waste moms paycheck on eating out for 3 days, dvds, video games, and action figures for the boys and have nothing left over to pay bills or buy food with. They have never maintained anything they've received, in at least suitable condition and have immense numbers of stray animals comming in to the house infesting it with fleas, disease, and waste that they seem to always "forget" to clean up. Heck, they can't even afford to buy dog or cat food for the animals they so "graciously" take in and have been known to feed them pancakes, that being the only food they had. Mom and Dad are ungreatful people, always complaining, even about those that have given them help. Extreme Makeover Home Edition, SHAME ON YOU, you should have really taken a better look at these people you build homes for. This home won't even make it 3 months until it's damaged, tore up, and unkept let alone next year when they have to pay taxes on the property. And for all of you that say they deserve this, rethink your statement. The children DESERVE this, not the parents, but you had better believe in this case, the parents will be the only ones benefiting from this