‘Extreme Makeover’ mini-mansion faces foreclosure

Hot damn, I only just saw this. A perfect storm if I’ve ever seen one, and a perfect paradigm for what’s gone wrong in America the last generation or two.

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.

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.

via Indy.com | Post: ‘Extreme Makeover’ house faces foreclosure | Indianapolis, Indiana.

As you may recall, the Atlanta-based  Beazer Homes settled with Federal prosecutors in June to pay up to $50 million in restitution to defrauded mortgage holders in exchange for dropped charges.

While my sympathies extend to the family that’s losing its home, that last paragraph above kills me. Even when it’s basically free, taking on more house than you can handle is never a good idea, folks. Businesses fail, property taxes get raised, utility bills soar. Before you know it, even the sweetest deal goes sour.

A big house with four fireplaces and a solarium is not a god-given American birthright.