Ah, the American Dream.
August 1, 2008 12:07 PM   Subscribe

Extreme Makeover and Beezer Homes builds you a luxury home, gives you 100,000 dollars, paid off your mortgage, and you lose the home to foreclosure in 3 and a half years.
posted by phaedon (33 comments total)

This post was deleted for the following reason: Epic fiduciary fail on the Harper's parts, yeah, but this writeup is really kind of petty and mean-spirited and not great front page material. -- cortex



 
Boy, I must really suck!
posted by Dr-Baa at 12:15 PM on August 1, 2008 [2 favorites]


Wait! The Times of the Internet (wtf?) claims that the house has been saved. Huzzah. Or not. I'm not sure I care much either way.

There were some stories a few years ago about how the Extreme Makeover projects created massive new energy bills for the owners, but this story? The owners took out an home equity mortgage to start a construction business at the peak of the housing bubble. I'm not sure why the news outlets are all over this story... *shrug*
posted by mrgrimm at 12:16 PM on August 1, 2008


Wow, that's a really harsh article. They tried to start up a business, and failed. For that, they're going to hell?
posted by anthill at 12:17 PM on August 1, 2008


From that one article, it looks like that site's credibility is pretty weak. It should be called Schadenfreude, Woo!
posted by starman at 12:18 PM on August 1, 2008 [2 favorites]


Yup - That article is fairly dripping with mean-spiritedness. Nice racial undertones too. I gather black people don't know how to live in McMansions, but they have nice record collections. They're very musical people, really.
posted by Nick Verstayne at 12:21 PM on August 1, 2008 [1 favorite]


Man, I HATE them!
posted by mildred-pitt at 12:21 PM on August 1, 2008


Fuck the heck????
posted by ORthey at 12:22 PM on August 1, 2008


This is a mean-spirited, ignorant essay that utterly fails to arouse my schadenfreude. It's not like they spent their equity loan on vacations, big-screen TVs and audiophile crap. They risked their windfall on creating a business that would ensure them a regular income and, hey, even add value to the economy!

Now, did they screw up? Almost certainly. They started a capital-intensive business in the wrong sector at the wrong time, apparently without enough experience, and risked far too much of their own wealth in the process. That's a sad story, one that happens all the time, and definitely not something to get gleeful over.
posted by xthlc at 12:23 PM on August 1, 2008 [6 favorites]


Oh yeah, I'm just kidding.
posted by mildred-pitt at 12:23 PM on August 1, 2008


The "going to hell," "greedy," etc. sentiments are obviously a little strong. At the same time, however, it's hard to disagree with the basic premise that it's poor financial planning to take a $450,000 gamble - and a poor one at that - by starting a construction business with no prior experience and very limited assets in a declining market.

And I don't really see the racial undertones. They have a music collection; yeah, and?
posted by detune at 12:28 PM on August 1, 2008


what a horrible website.
posted by boo_radley at 12:28 PM on August 1, 2008


Who am I supposed to mad at here? People who made a poor business decision? The house didn't go into foreclosure because they were hoodwinked into signing up for a no-money down/interest only/pay-whatever-you-feel-like-this-month mortgage. The bank? The producers? Flagged.
posted by fixedgear at 12:30 PM on August 1, 2008


So... the site includes in its list of "people you'll see in hell" assorted child molesters, some murderers, an unlicensed obstetrician, a couple who left their foster daughter to die in their front yard, and Radovan Karadzic -- and you decided the most interesting example to point out was the couple whose business venture failed?
posted by ook at 12:30 PM on August 1, 2008


move along. nobody to hate or feel superior to here.
posted by quonsar at 12:31 PM on August 1, 2008 [1 favorite]


FAIL
posted by shmegegge at 12:34 PM on August 1, 2008


move along. nobody to hate or feel superior to here.

Except for the author of that blog. He's a bum. Ambition and bad money-management does not equal greed.
posted by Kirth Gerson at 12:37 PM on August 1, 2008


I think calling them greedy is actually fair. Most people take career/financial risks in order to some day be in a position to send kids through college and own a home. That is, you take these risks before you are in that posision.

8 turntables sure is a sweet setup
posted by preparat at 12:37 PM on August 1, 2008


The more I think about it, the more I think this post should be deleted.
posted by ORthey at 12:40 PM on August 1, 2008 [1 favorite]


Yeah, there were much more reasoned and relevant articles about this situation all over the place earlier in the week. I see no need to give that guy more clicks.

It does bring to mind the one thing I'd mutter again and again when stuck watching that program: it's great they're helping these folks out, but unless someone sends a financial counselor over for a few months, it's not going to last for many of them.

Looking forward to a better FPP on the after-effects of the Extreme Home Makeover process.
posted by batmonkey at 12:42 PM on August 1, 2008


Yup - That article is fairly dripping with mean-spiritedness.

Agreed. Perhaps this one-link post should be deleted. It stinks.
posted by KokuRyu at 12:42 PM on August 1, 2008 [1 favorite]


You know, the whole mean spirited thing, it's getting old. Can we be nice for a while?
posted by Outlawyr at 12:43 PM on August 1, 2008


preparat! He's got eight turntables and a micropho-owne....
posted by Floydd at 12:44 PM on August 1, 2008


You know, the whole mean spirited thing, it's getting old. Can we be nice for a while?

That's pre-9/11 thinkin' right there!
posted by Hugh2d2 at 12:58 PM on August 1, 2008 [1 favorite]


I don't know how I feel about these folks. For one thing, I admire their entrepreneurship. On the other hand, their liberal use of credit and no thought of consequences is all that is wrong with America today.
posted by reenum at 12:59 PM on August 1, 2008


NEVAR FORGIT
posted by quonsar at 1:00 PM on August 1, 2008 [1 favorite]


That TY PENNINGTON® is sure a hottie, isn't he? Woo-hoo!

What were we taling about again?
posted by mr_crash_davis at 1:02 PM on August 1, 2008 [1 favorite]


I don't have any ill will towards the people in the article. However, 5,000 Square Feet? That could fit more than 5 of my three person family's apartments. What do people do with all that space?
posted by drezdn at 1:05 PM on August 1, 2008


The site is clearly a terrible place for the author to vent on people.

That said:

What these people did was absolutely wrong, both from a financial standpoint and a good-neighbor standpoint.

People, taking out a HELOC is the absolutely stupidest financial decision you can make, period. If you run into any hard times, you lose your home, boom, no questions asked.

Should they have taken a risk to start up a business to get regular income? Absolutely! Start an LLC, get a small business loan for the LLC and if business fails, you don't lose your home!

These people blew through almost half a million bucks in a year and a half. Read that line again-- these people blew through half a million bucks in a year and a half! That is simply not fiscally responsible, regardless of what risk they were taking on. I don't agree with the author's tone, but the message is pretty clear: America's culture of consumption needs to stop, now.
posted by mark242 at 1:08 PM on August 1, 2008


Well, at least the comments at the bottom of that page don't buy into the hype. It's nice to see that people outside of those I would consider (in my ignorance) to be informed commenters can approach a complicated subject with rationale and compassion. This has restored my faith in the internet.
posted by Debaser626 at 1:11 PM on August 1, 2008


mark242, there is no way of knowing exactly how much of their house equity they put at risk, is there? Is that in any of the stories? And, they weren't consuming, they were investing. Bad investment, but an investment nonetheless. If we stop our culture of investing (now!), we're screwed.
posted by found missing at 1:14 PM on August 1, 2008


Sure, it's a mean-spirited story. But one with a lesson that people tend to forget, over and over, and so needs to be repeated:

Giving people money that they have not earned does not teach them responsibility, value, goodwill or common sense. They are likely to squander it.
posted by Bora Horza Gobuchul at 1:20 PM on August 1, 2008


found missing:

The Harpers had used their home as collateral on a $450,000 loan from JPMorgan Chase and fell in arrears, the newspaper reported.

I'm going out on a limb here and saying total and complete irresponsibility. Using your home as, essentially, seed money for a business is beyond comprehension when there are so much better alternatives already out there.
posted by mark242 at 1:22 PM on August 1, 2008


What do people do with all that space?

I guess put extra washers and dryers in it. Who knew?
posted by penduluum at 1:24 PM on August 1, 2008


« Older Go Play Outside!   |   Phoenix Confirms Martian Water, Mission Extended Newer »


This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments