Blog: Extreme Makeover Foreclosures

The economy is in a downward trend.  The housing boom that gave rise to about a thousand buy-and-flip-this-real-estate television shows and created little mini-investors all over the country has become more of a whisper than a boom.  You know that when even that gorgeous house that underwent an extreme home makeover hits foreclosure, the market is crazy, right?  Actually, that is not really true, as when the real estate industry suffers, it is often the higher-end homes and the lower-end homes that take the biggest financial hit.

In the case of the two extreme home makeovers that were shown on television and have ended up in foreclosure, there are probably several reasons why that happened.

Do you remember that old question that people would often be asked to help determine elements of their personality?  Would you rather live in the best house in a bad neighborhood or the worst house in a good neighborhood?  Well, the best financial answer is the “bad” house in the “good” neighborhood.  Any realtor will tell you that price is important, but location is paramount.  The extreme home makeover foreclosure was probably due in part to the fact that the houses were way too big, way too expensive, and…well…way too extreme for the neighborhoods in which they were built.  A gigantic house in a sea of modest homes cannot get a true reflection of its worth with the traditional “market value” approach of comparing prices in a general area.

In addition to the ill-conceived placement of such enormous houses, it is also necessary to take a look at the past history of the homeowners.  Most of the people featured on extreme home makeover shows, and definitely the two extreme home makeover foreclosure homeowners are not used to owning such a huge and potentially valuable piece of real estate. 

Despite the fact that the huge houses located in modest areas are never going to reach their true price-per-square-foot value, they are still more valuable than the other houses in the area, just by their sheer size.  People who are familiar with investing and wealth are generally better suited to knowing how to properly handle it. Those who are unfamiliar with the ins and outs of real estate investing and home ownership are less likely to be successful with it.  In much the same way that a child whose father owns an Italian restaurant learns how to manage restaurants, homeowners of big, expensive houses learn how to manage them.

The whole premise of the show is to provide a gift to folks who are obviously unfamiliar with the taxes, bills, and accompanying opportunities to use the house as collateral without getting burned.

The humongous homes built by the extreme makeover show is really an inappropriate gift, as the new owners were really not prepared to properly manage them.  As any homeowner knows, the costs of maintaining, repairing, heating, insuring, cooling, and paying the taxes on any home must be factored into the price of it; my first thought when seeing an extreme makeover home show once was, “Oh my goodness; I couldn’t afford to run the AC in that house.”

Of course, no one wants to tune in to see a plain old cinderblock house being built, and no huge corporations want to donate products to a boring show that no one watches.  So, there you have it.  There is an extreme home makeover foreclosure waiting to happen.