even though the show wrapped up in 2012
Extreme Makeover Home Edition lives on
in both reruns and the gorgeous homes
they built during their nine-year run
host Ty Pennington and his team created
dream homes for some of the most
deserving families you could ever meet
well the show is a positive light in the
world of reality television full of
arguing housewives and drunken roommates
it had its fair share of scandals and
heartbreaks
too from dishonest contestants to shady
tax practices there was a lot more going
on behind the scenes than we ever could
have known so allow us to move that bus
and give you a sneak peek at the inner
workings of Extreme Makeover Home
Edition
when contestants lie sadly even a
feel-good show like Extreme Makeover
Home Edition is not immune to people
trying to scam the system
well the participants each went through
a thorough background check one family
may have embellished or even fabricated
the truth in order to be chosen in 2009
Chuck and Terry Sirte were chosen for
the show after Terry shared that she and
their two daughters Molly and Maggie
suffered from severe immunodeficiency
diseases causing them to have to wear
masks at all times
the Serta's were given a massive home
complete with high quality air
ventilation systems but the story didn't
end there when the family was unable to
afford the utility bills they sold the
house and moved to Oregon where the kids
new doctors questioned the family's
diagnosis ultimately those concerns were
reported to child welfare offices and
the girls were actually removed from the
Surdas home after practitioners found
that they were not chronically ill but
had instead been the victims of medical
child abuse no such thing as a free
house you'd have to be emotionally dead
to make it through an entire episode of
Extreme Makeover Home Edition without a
few tissues seeing a hard-working family
being given their dream home made you
feel good however well the house was
free to the families the rest wasn't
many of these families were left with
giant mansions that required higher
taxes utility bills and upkeep which
means there's been a sad pattern of Home
Makeover families losing their homes to
foreclosure after the show airs the
reality show did help the new homeowners
a little by doing some serious
acrobatics to help the families avoid
paying taxes on their makeover an IRS
loophole says if your home is rented out
for less than 15 days per year you do
not need to be taxes on that rental
income
that in mind the show explains to
families that they are renting the house
from the family for a week and the
improvements of the rental payment
meaning they don't have to pay taxes on
the improvements well this plan helps
families up front will still be
responsible for future property taxes
that will undoubtedly rise with the
increased value of their home and in
many cases that has caused the new
homeowners to lose their financial
bearings after the fact legal troubles
it's hard to imagine a scenario where
you would actually sue the people who
built you your dream home for free but
it happened in 2005 Extreme Makeover
Home Edition built a house for the
Higgins family five orphans who had lost
their parents to cancer and heart
failure the home was built for them and
the Leo Metis family who had taken them
in the show built them a nine bedroom
mansion and even provided new cars and
groceries but after the cameras left
things got ugly according to the Higgins
children the Leo Metis family launched
an orchestrated campaign to force them
out of the new mansion the family
allegedly used racial slurs verbal abuse
and physical abuse to drive out the
orphans the Higgins children moved out
and promptly sued ABC stating they were
promised a house which is not in their
name though ABC did not make an official
statement on the case they did remind
fans the show was intended to build a
home for the Liam it''s family who had
taken in the orphaned kids not such a
fairytale story for those ones left
behind and huh unhappy neighbors one of
the best parts of Extreme Makeover Home
Edition is seeing the community come
together friends and neighbors drop
everything for a week to pitch in and
create an incredible house it seems like
it's usually a happy experience for
everyone but what happens when that
family turns around themselves if a
family can no longer afford the taxes
and utilities they may have no choice
but to downsize the problem comes in
when the neighbors don't approve of the
new buyer in 2010 the show built a new
home for Larry and Melissa Beach in
Houston the beaches had fostered and
adopted 85 children with special needs
over the years but could not keep up the
cost of their new mansion the neighbors
began to worry when the home was sold to
butch Woolfolk who turned it into a
high-end drug rehab center The Daily
Mail reported that after donating their
time to build this house many neighbors
were worried it would now hurt their own
property values not to mention the fact
that no one
thrilled about now living next to a drug
rehab facility not their first or last
reality rodeo thanks to its unbelievable
success the hosts and designers from
Extreme Makeover Home Edition seem like
overnight stars while their fame shot up
thanks to the show
many had done television before
including designer Jillian Harris who
started out on ABC's The Bachelorette
before signing on to be a reality show
designer
meanwhile host Ty Pennington got his
start as a model went on to star in
TLC's Trading Spaces and became the host
of the talk show the revolution in 2014
Pennington became the host of tnt's
cooking competition show on the menu he
must have liked the food world because
he since become the host of the Food
Network series American diner revival
where he and his team helped struggling
diners get a makeover sound familiar
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