Foreclosure even touches ABC's Amazing Home Makeover

As soon as she heard the news, a friend told me about the Harper Family of Lake City in Georgia, whose house was rebuilt by ABC's Amazing Home Makeover back in 2005. We are both fans of the show, and had watched that particular episode. We were astonished to hear the news that the house is going into foreclosure and went online to check out the details. According to the Atlanta Journal Constitution's article published 7/26/08, Milton and Patricia Harper took out a $450,000.00 loan to start a construction business that failed, and now can not make the payments.

During the show, they had also received money to help with the maintenance for the home, and I guess that included taxes. The Lake City Mayor Willie Oswalt who also volunteered with many citizens, is mad, and seeing the many comments and opinions online, there many folks in America who feel the same too because they feel that the Harpers' decision was an irresponsible one. Yes, I agree that theirs was a horrible decision, and I am sure that it will affect those that are candidates for any future ABC's Amazing Home Makeover shows.

However when the Harper Family along with several other families received those ABC's Amazing Home Makeovers, I have often wondered sometimes if the houses built were too grand for the location/neighborhood. I remember thinking as I watched the shows, what would be the new tax assessment for those homes after the upgrades? Would the homeowners be able to afford the houses in the future even with the donated funds? As much as I would like to win, I was not surprised that many of the past winners that won the HGTV Dream Home, usually sell because of the high tax, maintenance and utility bills. If I was also in that situation, I wouldn't have a problem selling too after I got to enjoy the house for a moment. Not taking away from those beautiful homes that were built by the ABC's Amazing Home Makeover show, but at times I really wished that there were ecological alternatives, like just gutting out and rehabbing some of those homes. There were times I felt when watching the show, that some of those locations could have just been remodeled with additions.

I remember thinking that when Ty Pennington and crew were demolishing a house that would not easily come apart, that possibly the structure was very solid? I truly felt that God was trying to let them know that the place just needed to be updated. I do understand that when doing so, that those houses might not be able to be completed in a week which is the custom of that show, but it would have been an opportunity to demonstrate responsible ecological building. ABC's Amazing Home Makeover could team up with Habitant for Humanity and show the world how the Habitant for Humanity's Restores takes in used house and building supplies and sells them to people who are actually rehabbing a house to live in. Another great ratings opportunity for ABC's Amazing Home Makeover would be for the crew to team up with the crew of PBS's This Old House, and some of the crews from shows on HGTV, DIY, or the Discovery Channel that focus on renovation of existing houses. Try to imagine Ty, Paul, Paige, Micheal, Ed, Tracey, Tanya and the so sexy Eduardo coming together with Norm Abrams, Mike Silva and Roger Cook? Or even Steve Thomas, the former host of PBS's TOH, who is now with “Renovation Nation?” I already know that the interaction would be so interesting that I would be willing to pay to see those episodes along with the behind the scenes footage on DVD.

Back to the Harpers' situation.................I can understand a person having the desire to be their own boss, and maybe the Harpers really wanted to try entrepreneurship. But I am not sure if they had prior experience, and I just can not understand what Financial Institution in their right mind would have let them have that much of a loan in the first place without studying a viable business plan first, and really determining if they had enough income and financial savvy to handle the payments! But as we have already seen many times in this world that we live in, as long as you had home equity, there are home lenders, or really greedy speculators in my opinion, are willing to take that chance. The Harper family of Lake City is just one of the millions of people that will lose their house this year. Folks are going into foreclosure all over this country. Many of them either took loans out on their homes for a dream goal and some did just so to live on it. There are those that have lost their jobs, and there are those that could not afford the house in the first place. Our Mortgage Industry along with our government, encouraged the situation for the last several years and now that the boom has fallen, there will be repercussions of limited mortgage lending and tightening of credit for many years to come.

Instead of harshly judging them, I sympathize with the Harper Family, especially the children. From my own personal financial issues, I truly understand when one is in a tight spot, certain decisions made are not the best ones. If I was in a much better place financially, I would buy the house and let they stay there with stipulations, along with providing a strict maintenance fund to at least keep them in the home until their youngest child (At the time the house was built) graduates from high school or turns 19 years old whatever comes first. After that happens, I would turn it over to them if they have demonstrated that they were earning enough to keep and maintain the house. But if that was not the case, then the house would be sold. But a gift like that would come with strings. Before I would continue to allow them to stay there, the Harpers would have to attend a serious money management boot camp, and later be tested on what they learned. If they passed and demonstrated a through understanding of personal finance and the situation that they put themselves in, then maybe we could go to the next step. They would be required to work a job or at least volunteer somewhere until they found a viable full time job. The volunteer situation would be like a regular full time job where they would actually work to better their community or a community near them that needs assistance.

But an experience like losing the family home may be educational for the Harpers' children. Hopefully they will learn money management from their parents' mistake, and truly understand how to live and survive when times are lean or hard. I also believe that with the troublesome economy that we are all experiencing right now, many folks will learn how to live together. I think extended families habiting the same adobe will be the lifestyle of the future. Black and poor people did it before when we did not have a choice. Many immigrants and other cultures such as the Asian, Indian and Middle-Eastern, still do so as a matter of choice. The worsening economy here in the United State will definitely limit our options, and I think that we must learn and understand that living together cohesively and creatively, will be the key to our survival.

AJC Article is Below

COUPLE LOSE TV MANSION

A fairy tale foreclosed
'Extreme Makeover' home on auction block

By Mark Davis, Mike Maciag
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 07/26/08

Things couldn't have looked better three years ago for Milton and Patricia Harper of Lake City, who giddily accepted the keys to a small castle, plus enough money to pay taxes on it for 25 years.

Now, the Clayton County house that "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" built is a two-story, turreted example of how things can go wrong. It's in foreclosure.

The Harpers used the house at 5489 Ahyoka Drive as collateral for a $450,000 loan, Clayton County mortgage records show. Records at the law firm handling foreclosures for the lender, JPMorgan Chase Bank, say it is in foreclosure. The four-bedroom house with decorative rock walls and a three-car garage is scheduled for auction on the Clayton County Courthouse steps Aug. 5.

The Harpers, who declined interview requests when reporters knocked on their door Friday, told WSB-TV they got the loan for a construction business that failed. Failure seemed an impossibility in February 2005, when ABC-TV viewers got a look at the stunning home constructed in a subdivision three miles east of I-75.

Painted dark olive and covered with specialty shingles, the home's domed door opened into a structure that featured four fireplaces, a solarium, music room and a porte-cochere that connected to a new office for Milton Harper, who owned a home-security company at the time.

The yard was a study in landscape art, with young magnolias, fieldstone and a Leyland cypress hugging one corner. A black metal fence ringed it.

It had taken shape in six intense days in January 2005, when Atlanta-based Beazer Homes USA and "Extreme Makeover" demolished the Harpers' old home, which had been plagued by a septic system that backed sewage into the house after a hard rain.

Professionals and volunteers came together to erect the largest home that the "Extreme" team had ever built.

Materials and labor were donated, but the home would have cost about $450,000 to construct.

When they were finished, the home dwarfed all the ranch and split-level structures in neighboring lots.

That was not all. Beazer Homes' employees and company partners raised a quarter-million dollars in contributions for the family. The sum included scholarships for the three Harper children and a home maintenance fund.

The Harpers, whom ABC chose from among 15,000 "Extreme Makeover" applicants, spent the week in Disneyland while 1,800 workers swarmed about the site.

The Harpers opened the new home to lots of friends, said Amber May, 18, who lives a few doors away.

Even at midnight, "we'll see six cars and a million kids" at the house, she said.

Another neighbor, Brittney Harris, said the Harpers seemed considerate.

"They're good, quiet neighbors," she said.

Perhaps they are, said Donald Williams, who was visiting Harris. But he doubted their business acumen.

With $450,000 "they could have just bought a business," he said.

A representative for Beazer was unavailable for comment.

A representative of ABC offered an e-mail: " 'Extreme Makeover: Home Edition' advises each family to consult a financial planner after they receive their new home. Ultimately, financial matters are personal, and we work to respect the privacy of the families."

Law firm McCalla Raymer LLC, which has a team of specialists handling JPMorgan foreclosures, confirmed that the Harper home is on the calendar for auction next month.

The news left Lake City Mayor Willie Oswalt wondering what went wrong. He recalled a chilly January day when he and a handful of others wrestled an aged beam into place in the home's living room. The Harpers' future seemed just as solid, he said.

"It's aggravating," Oswalt said. "It just makes you mad. You do that much work, and they just squander it."