Bull's-eye
Posted on 05/06/2008 8:15:58 AM PDT by 668 - Neighbor of the Beast
I usually watch this show, but sometimes I have to wonder about the folks who are being helped. One family was living in a converted chicken coop, and Ty & Co. showed us where there was still chicken $hit in the walls, behind the drywall!
Since we at one time owned chickens, and offered their coop to my mother-in-law as an "old age home"(!), I feel qualified to say: "WTF? why couldn't the folks who lived there clean the darn place up?" A lot of the homes that are wreckovated don't look like there's been a lot of owner upkeep.
Don't get me wrong, most of the families that are helped really deserve the help. And I've noticed this year that most of the time, EHMakeovers either gets the mortgage paid off, or establishes a "house fund" to help with upkeep. That's good. But sometimes, the people being helped give me an impression of extreme laziness!
(said she who sits in her own home, watching her own tv, on her own Mac...that she and her family paid for!)
I was reading about this awhile back. They usually can’t afford the taxes. Around here he’s probably looking at over 10k a year. Almost a 1000 a month.
That is what I think every time I watch this show — it is blowing a trumpet to show everybody how generous YOU are, instead of asking them what THEY need and quietly providing that.
Think how many families they could have helped with the cost and work that went into this one property, by simply asking the people involved what they needed.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/199546_makeover13.html
Yep...perfect analogy.
Bull's-eye
I read somewhere that after some problems with people losing their houses from the first season, they figured out with tax lawyers a way to somehow 'lease' the house from the family while it is being rebuilt, for an amount greater than the taxes, then the family only has to declare that as income tax instead of property tax, and it would wash. Of course, that only works for the first year.
Eliza Dolittle wants to go back to her neighborhood.
I am with you. I have often wondered how many of these families would be able to sustain a life-style that they are not prepared to live. This is sad, but it is reality.
I enjoy this show. Alot of times they will pay off their existing mortgage, give them extra money for bills, scholarships or a large donation is made from a fundraiser. But, I’m sure some families can’t afford the taxes, insurance and electric.....I’d sure like to be given the chance to try though!
Tells me that the construction is likely shoddy.
You and I could foresee it but apparently not the people who engaged in the paroxysms of generosity that resulted in this dilemma.
How was he supposed to handle the upkeep? Just cutting the grass to keep the code officer at bay...
As for those copper pipes, if any, what happens to them when he can’t afford to heat the whole house?
How does he explain this to welfare? If you come into a windfall, they demand to know. And then...?
You make a very good point. In real estate economics, you build a house that conforms to the surroundings. There is a proper land to building ratio that should be followed for a particular area. Otherwise, the property is over-improved to a point of decreasing returns.
You can’t maintain a large home even if its given to you on a small income. I have no issues giving the needy a home by private people if they desire to do it.. but to build the stuff they build and even with no mortgage to expect them to be able to maintain and keep it long term is generally impossible.
Doesn’t make good TV, but just build them a reasonably sized ranch with good mechanics.
All you people thinking Ty doesn’t know this is likely to happen with many of these homes need to wake up. The network is in this make good ratings, get ad dollars,... MAKE MONEY. Ty doesn’t do it for free, either.
If there was no money in this for anyone, the show wouldn’t be on the air. Personally, I don’t watch the show. Seems like a form of tear-jerker exploitation to me.
The town cut his bill, because he was right.
Hubby and I live in a 2000 sq ft home in California where our electric bills in the summer ran $600 a mnth. I shut off power in the rooms we don’t use long ago.
When our bills were still real high we cut our electric bills in half by installing 2 Master Cool coolers a couple of yrs ago.
That's going to make it extra hard for these kids when they have to be reunited with their previously abusive or neglectful parents, wouldn't you think? There's much wisdom in the old adage about not spoiling kids- especially foster kids who are going to have to come way down to some rather unpleasant scenarios in the future.
I also don't want to demean Ty Pennington. He's a good guy. I just think it would be good to tweak the program to take into consideration the long range future.
***The project lifted Victor Marrero and his five sons from poverty....***
Just exactly how did that happen, unless they can somehow get the value out of the property in cash and THEN not blow it in another 6 months?!?! Looking good on paper only makes you look impressive to the uninformed and worse, the vultures and tax men.
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