Seattle Bubble Forum Archive

For some reason seemed appropriate for this thread.
"Hebert is worried that community members who helped build his home in November 2006 will think he is selling it to make a profit. 'I'm doing it not to lose money,' he said. 'I just hope people understand the reality of it.'"

This is not the first time this has happened to one of the homes built on that show. The increase in property taxes alone is enough of an additional burden to make it unaffordable for some (so even a 'free' house really isn't).

Consider going from a run-down double-wide on a dirt lot to a 3500 sf 4br/3 bath 3-car-garage house with other improvements (deck, pool, landscaping, play center) to the surrounding property. Taxes could easily triple or quadruple with that kind of improvement. The utilities could go up as well, but with the newer homes being so much better insulated and having more energy-efficient appliances, this may be a non-issue (I have friends who moved from a 1400sf 1970s split-level into a 3500sf new home and their gas and electric bills are LOWER by quite a margin, which surprised the heck out of my friend).

If they instead built simple, plain, affordable houses for these people (like Habitat for Humanity does), then the show would be boring, Sears wouldn't sponsor it, and nobody would watch it.

And those themed bedrooms for the kids--really cool the first time that you see them, but what is the first thing that a RE agent is going to say when they see any of that: "This all has to go as it may not match the tastes of the new owner" (or the younger child who eventually moves into that bedroom, for that matter).

Perhaps Extreme Makeover should also pay for the increased homeowner costs in the future too.