Extreme Home Makeover Family Losing Home

From LoveToKnow Celebrity

An Extreme Home Makeover family is facing the foreclosure of the house that Ty Pennington built.

The House

Of course, Ty Pennington had a whole lot of help building the home (well, mini-mansion really) valued at nearly half-a-million dollars for the Harper family in Lake City, Georgia. Here are the numbers:

1,800 volunteers helped demolish the old home and erect the new one.
Beazer Homes, the company of the construction workers that volunteered their time not only did that, but raised over $250,000 for the Harper family for a "home maintenance fund" and education scholarships for the kids.
All the building materials, furnishings and accessories were donated by various companies.

When all was said and done, Ty and company built a 5,500 square foot home that included four bedrooms, three stall garage, solarium and four fireplaces. At the time, the home was the most ambitious and largest project the show had ever attempted.

How it Happened

At the time the house was built, Mr. Harper owned a failing security company, although some sources state he was simply a security guard. So, after their beautiful home is built and they are gifted another quarter-of-a-million dollars for maintenance and taxes, what does the Harper couple do? Well, they take out a $450,000 loan, using the home as collateral to start, of all things, a construction business.

Unless you've been living out in the middle of nowhere with no television, radio, Internet or newspapers, everyone knows that construction companies are filing for bankruptcy all over the country due to the poor economy and even sorrier housing market.

The Harpers decided to go into the business anyway, couldn't pay the loan note they took out a little over a year ago and as a result, their house is set to go on the auction block in August 2008.

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