Extreme Makeover House: 'Too much house'

[kskiska]

After the television crews left town and the attention died down, Victor Marrero and his five sons were left with more than a dream home.

Their five-bedroom house, built by an army of volunteers from the hit TV show Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, also came with some hefty bills.

Living on a small pension and staggering under the weight of old debts and new taxes, Marrero said he panicked this week and briefly listed the house for sale.

"I gave up. I gave up out of desperation. I didn't want to lose the house to the taxes," Marrero said. "I felt like there was a lion coming after me."

(snip)

Marrero said he had soured on the Extreme Makeover experience.

"When I got into trouble, they wouldn't take my calls," Marrero said. "They didn't care. They made their 100 million and moved on."

more…
http://www.philly.com/philly/hp/news_update/20080507__Too_much_house_.html

[GreenPartyVoter]

1. I have heard of this happeneing before with sweepstakes winners (like HGTV's dream house). What

a nightmare for these poor people to finally have a decent house and be in danger of losing it right away!

[DJ13]

2. Same thing happened a few years back with the HGTV dream house

A couple won a home worth $1.7 million in Texas.

They were middle class, combined income less than $80,000 and when they got the tax bill for being 'winners' it was around $600,000.

Needless to say they couldnt afford it, so they had to sell before they even got to move in.

[Warpy]

3. People who have won the HGTV Dream House

have run into the same problem. The house might have been free, but the taxes certainly weren't: property and income taxes slammed them hard and the mansion was someplace they didn't live or work and with no prospect of employment nearby.

The best thing anybody can do with a prize like this is put it on the market and try to sell it quickly, using the proceeds to pay the taxes and put a down payment on something a lot more reasonable and suited to their actual lives.

[WCGreen]

4. Not one person who has won the house has ended up living in that

house for any length of time.

[Tangerine LaBamba]

5. Habitat for Humanity houses

They built some in Arlington, VA, right outside Washington, DC, in a very accessible location. Property values shot up, house assessments soared, and the people for whom these houses were built, lost them.

Doesn't that just suck?