http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...072802587.html

In that particular episode of the hyper-benevolent reality show, which first aired in February 2005, it took 1,800 volunteers a week to demolish the house with the overflowing septic tank that belonged to Milton and Patricia Harper of Lake City, Ga., and then entirely rebuild a new, larger house, while the Harpers and their three children went away to Disneyland. When they returned, they had the biggest house on Ahyoka Drive, with all the appliances and furnishings, plus enough money to pay taxes on it for decades, plus a fund to send their children to college.

The house will be auctioned off, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, next Tuesday on the steps of the Clayton County Courthouse.

The Harpers had used their home as collateral on a $450,000 loan from JPMorgan Chase and fell in arrears, the newspaper reported. He ran a home security business; she mommed at home. Happy to be on television back then, they declined to be interviewed last week, when a news crew showed up from local station WSB, wanting to know wha'ppen.


article ends: "Bring on Extreme Failure."

 

classic and oh so true:
...the constant warping of the consumer's sense of entitlement...

 

yep... starting this spring, i'm snapping up foreclosures and becoming a slumlord :-)

 

Damn that's a big house. I wonder what the 450k loan was for ?!

 

I'm almost done with my first one after four months, looking for the next one already...I love these idiots.

 

They used the money to start a business and it went south...like their loan haha

 

jeez...I have a paid for furnished mansion with no taxes and money for my kids college. I could go and work for mcdonalds just to pay the bills and buy groceries.....nah I'll risk it all on shady business dealings!!!!!! Jeez I wonder what color skin he has? yeah I said! what?!

 

yeah, that looks bigger than 4 bed... maybe lots of common rooms

 

I love my 950 square feet. It takes about 2 minutes to clean the whole house.

 

Meg and I are going from ~1200 to 2869. (assuming we sell or rent the condo in the next month or so). Not looking forward to cleaning it.

Mexicans are cheap though.

 

Do something right for a family, and look how they repay you.

 

$8 per hour, 40 hours per week, doubled by 2 working adults = $2560 a month, pre-tax. One would think if you were about to lose your home you WERE JUST ******* GIVEN, there'd be a slight incentive to maybe work more than a standard 9-5.


Additionally, assume the loan was taken the day the camera crew left. That is nearly a $11,000 per month burn rate. At which 100K multiple do you become worried and cut your losses. $100k? I'd be crapping my pants. $200k? Time to get a J-O-B. $300k and the wife is getting turned out.

 

"There was also an adjoining room built to hold Milton Harper’s extensive album collection. Of course, the album collection so extensive could have possibly been sold at some point to pay for the desperately-needed septic tank repairs, but that would have been a case of a need trumping a want and that just won’t work."

"Milton and Patricia Harper had a palatial master suite built that featured a sitting room with fireplace, a luxury bathroom complete with a large garden tub and a walk-in closet larger than my first apartment, with custom shelving and a second washer and dryer. If you don’t have a second washer and dryer, you’re nobody. You might as well accept that now."

"Milton and Patricia Harper got it into their minds that they wanted to start a construction business. They thought this would be a great idea despite the fact that there was a visible and sharp downturn in store for the housing and construction markets in their area. They decided to do this despite the fact that they had no experience with the construction business, no savings, and no way to really get things off the ground. But they did have all that equity in their house…"


The happy couple:



The poll to determine whether they deserve hell: http://pysih.com/2008/07/27/milton-h...tricia-harper/ (currently 70% yes, 30% no.)

 

I am not a religious man but MY GOD that is an epic failure. Wow... That about sums up one instance of the whole equity mess. The party is over, but unlike with too much drink, we all feel the hangover.

When I bought my house three years ago and was shopping for loans, the typical conversation was like this..
"Hi I would like a rate and closing costs quote for the house I am constructing. I would like a 30-year fixed loan"
"OK but let me tell you about these great ARMs we have. The rate is a lot lower and you can save money"
"No, I want a 30-year fixed"
"OK but I'll include a quote for the ARM anyway"
"NO, I WANT A 30-YEAR FIXED!"
"ok..."

Geez...

 

wow.

 

one of my favorite words of all time: schadenfreude