Maybe it's a symptom of the real estate bubble, or a metaphor for it...But...this STORY is amazing. It was the biggest and best house that Extreme Makeover ever built for a family. I don't know whether to pity them or be angry with them. A crew of 1800 volunteers, demolishes your crappy house and builds you a new one worth half a million dollars, and rather than thank your lucky stars, you take out a home equity loan for $450,000 and lose it on your construction business, then go into foreclosure!
I hate to kick anyone when they are down, but here are my thoughts:
- If you were any good at construction, they wouldn't have had to tear down your old place for being crappy; you could've fixed it yourself.
- I don't blame you for trying to get part of the American dream, but that house was friggin' sweet and all you had to do to hold onto it was not do anything stupid (they raised $250k for home maintanence costs and college funds for the kids), but you went ahead and mortgaged it to the hilt anyway?
- Unfortunately, people will be less likely to volunteer and help their neighbors out when they hear about something like this.
There's probably a lesson in here somewhere, but I'm still trying to decipher that omen about the cat killing the mouse while I was walking my dog. Anyway, it's hard to feel bad for people when they suffer from self-inflicted wounds, but I hate to see anyone lose their homes no matter how foolish they were. What do you think?
12 comments:
My Nana always used to say "great caution must be used in doing good so that in doing good you don't do bad!" Maybe Extreme Makeover needs to write up a contract that states that you cannot borrow against the house that charity built!
Man, this makes me so sad. I can understand the desperation, but talk about screwing up a good thing. I am with countrylass; there need to be stipulations in the contract to prevent this sort of thing.
Well, we can't protect everyone from their worst enemies which is often themselves. This is a sad case study, that's for sure. But I guess at least the money was lost on trying to make a go of a business, not on a gambling boat or up someone's nose. I guess you just hope they learn this time. You're right. It does cast a bad light on doing good.
That is so frustrating to hear about, especially as my husband and I are killing ourselves every day trying to build "Foam Core Fantasy" practically all by ourselves. It's pretty scary to borrow money with the house as collateral. I don't know what those people were thinking borrowing that much after they'd already received such a huge handout. I think that was an ungrateful act, not to mention stupid.
That's just amazingly bad. It just seems like people who always need a little more will never be satisfied until they have nothing. It's the ultimate paradox.
This annoyed me, too. Be grateful for what you're given, and don't squander it. I feel bad for all those people who busted ass building a house for ingrates.
Cat and Mouse Omen Interpretation #1: The things that are necessary for life to go on are not always pretty.
Cat and Mouse Omen Interpretation #2: In your life, you can be a cat or a mouse. Being a cat may not be what you want to be, but it's better than being a mouse.
Maybe Extreme Makeover needs to write up a contract that states that you cannot borrow against the house that charity built!
A fine idea. I feel bad for the folks who worked so hard to build the house for these jerks.
I read this also and sighed. A lot of needy people who get help just let it slip through their fingers. Some things never change.
I saw this a couple of weeks ago. I find it sad and just plain stupid that these people were DUMB enough to mortgage a home. Not that they needed the money for something important. I could see it if they needed it for medical reasons, things like that. But honestly you have got to be a special kind of Friggin IDIOT in order to lose a paid off house....
Of of my ex husbands family had a house that was paid off. All she had to do once she inherited it was pay the taxes. The taxes each year....$244. This woman worked a full time job but was just to stupid to actually pay the taxes, got it taken from the state and the state sold it at auction for....$11,234.00 Can we say stupid..people that are given things without having to work for it generally will screw it up...how sad.
CountryLass: Yeah, giving some people money is like giving car keys to a teenager.
Lemmonex: your preaching to the choir, sister!
NV: Well, that's looking on the bright side.
Cyndy: I don't think they were thinking at all. "Pigs get fat, hogs get slaughtered".
You can call me, 'Sir: same thing happens with lottery winners...
Shannon: yeah, I would be pissed if I took a day off to help them build a house that's being taken over by the bank.
chopzdcat: thanks.
Fargo : agreed.
Barbara: agreed.
Cathy: some people are poor because of bad circumstances, some people are poor because they are incompetent at handling money. I guess these people were the latter.
I have been poor. And it really truly sucks big cajones. But I am now what most would consider middle to upper middle class. I went to school full time, worked full time and was a wife too. Some people are just more willing to not settle for the status quo. I have felt the edge of both sides of the ninja sword (sorry I had to put that in there) and both have their advantages and drawbacks. I can say when i had less money I had less stress in my life..or at least different stresses that didn't seem quite so bad..
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