hollywood.com— ABC's show, in which down-on-their-luck families are given a new and incredible house, is finding that the new homes are proving to be more of a burden than a boon for some of those families...
Apr 6, 2010View in Crawl 4
They go so far that the people who get these houses can't even afford to live in them. If you can't even afford to get out of your run-down shack, how can you pay the heating bills in a 4500 square foot house with 25 foot ceilings in the great room? You're paying to heat areas that people don't even live in.I absolutely love the concept of a show that spends its budget on helping people, sort of like that Blink-182 video where they just walked around the city giving their budget away. But you need to make sure you focus on actually helping the people. If their old mortgage isn't paid for, and they can't afford the bills, it was just a waste, since they'll have to sell the house to pay the old mortgage and then live in a smaller house anyways.
I worked at Pittsburgh International when they came in to do a house in Boardman, Ohio. Our rental car company was handling all the cars for the production crew and "talent" (including Ty... actually, his was under his name, you figure it'd be under a production company or alias, but no). They came in and left in about a week (you figure some have to come in a few days before and set up or some have to stay behind a day or so for some reason or another) and one of the vans left a list of all staff & talent phone numbers, business cards for producers and production companies, etc... just stuff you'd throw away anyways. I kept a couple things for a few years just as a souvenir since I loved the show (I could have called the exec producer and the lesser talents at any time, I had all their info), but I think I got rid of it all before I moved to Austin. Never wanted to call or do anything with it, but it was kinda cool to have as a fan.
From what I have read, they give them 100k to deal with such. The problem here, is these peps get a new home. Then go and put that new home against a loan... and then fail.
Good intentions gone awry. Great idea to go for the smaller, cozy home that many of us enjoy today-but make it more efficient, livable & welcoming.
julie188Apr 6, 2010
I always thought that it would be pretty tough for those families to pay those electric and water bills each month, let alone a remaining mortgage.
theoriginalaksApr 7, 2010
Most of the people simply end up having to sell the house anyway, they can not afford the taxes on it.
newerakbApr 7, 2010
They go so far that the people who get these houses can't even afford to live in them. If you can't even afford to get out of your run-down shack, how can you pay the heating bills in a 4500 square foot house with 25 foot ceilings in the great room? You're paying to heat areas that people don't even live in.I absolutely love the concept of a show that spends its budget on helping people, sort of like that Blink-182 video where they just walked around the city giving their budget away. But you need to make sure you focus on actually helping the people. If their old mortgage isn't paid for, and they can't afford the bills, it was just a waste, since they'll have to sell the house to pay the old mortgage and then live in a smaller house anyways.
newerakbApr 7, 2010
Just give everyone in a neighborhood $30k, and follow them for a season.
ether3a1Apr 7, 2010
I worked at Pittsburgh International when they came in to do a house in Boardman, Ohio. Our rental car company was handling all the cars for the production crew and "talent" (including Ty... actually, his was under his name, you figure it'd be under a production company or alias, but no). They came in and left in about a week (you figure some have to come in a few days before and set up or some have to stay behind a day or so for some reason or another) and one of the vans left a list of all staff & talent phone numbers, business cards for producers and production companies, etc... just stuff you'd throw away anyways. I kept a couple things for a few years just as a souvenir since I loved the show (I could have called the exec producer and the lesser talents at any time, I had all their info), but I think I got rid of it all before I moved to Austin. Never wanted to call or do anything with it, but it was kinda cool to have as a fan.
joelhodgson420Apr 7, 2010
From what I have read, they give them 100k to deal with such. The problem here, is these peps get a new home. Then go and put that new home against a loan... and then fail.
inactiveuserApr 7, 2010
Smaller homes cost less to run especially in cold climates.
coffeedemonApr 7, 2010
Or his parents are trying to sell it to some reasonably normal buyers.
amazingracerApr 7, 2010
Smaller homes have less room for clutter, can't wait for the new show, EXTREME MAKEOVER WINNER HOARDERS.
tvzapperApr 23, 2010
Good intentions gone awry. Great idea to go for the smaller, cozy home that many of us enjoy today-but make it more efficient, livable & welcoming.