I said ABC is partly to blame...Granted, those homeowners are idiots for what they did, I'm just saying It's silly to think ABC is totally innocent here...It's showbiz right? so that makes it right? Thanks...I try...
If I was a gozobajillionaire, and gave you a million bucks out of the kindness of my heart, thinking you would use it to the better your life and the life of your family/friends, but instead you blew it on hookers and coke and ended up in prison... is that my fault?
I just don't get what you want ABC to have done. How should they have held their hands? What could they have told them that would've prevented this situation? What could they have told them that the loan officer wasn't also required to tell them before they took out the massive loan?
Makes what right?? I think what ABC did...bailing people out of an awful mess by building them a new house, paying off their mortgage and providing a context for others to donate roughly $250K needs no vindication. It stands on its own. What these people chose to do on their own well after the fact is completely out of their control.
I have always wonder ... These shows builds nice houses for poor/needed families but HOW DA HELL DO THEY PAY FOR THE PROPERTY TAX every year?? $450,000 house = $10k property tax maybe?
They were given about $250,000 in cash. Their mortgage is paid for. Keep in mind, too, that property taxes in Texas are typically far greater than they are in other states. That's the tradeoff for no income tax.
There was another Extreme Makeover home that the owner briefly put on the market because he was having trouble paying the taxes and the utilities. He was given $59,000 as a cushion, but he blew through it pretty quickly, apparently (old medical bills, etc). This was outside Philadelphia, I believe, and the property taxes on the $450,000 house were something like $2,500 per year. Last year, my house was valued at $96,500, and my property taxes (even with a homestead exemption) were $2,166.
Yup, we got really high property tax. We pay more for a $500k house than someone in LA does. However, try to imagine what type of house you would be living in here vs there.
That's for sure, at least for the most part. But you don't have to go all the way to California to get drastically lower property tax rates. As of 2005, Wisconsin was the only state in the U.S. with a higher median property tax rate. The median amount Texans paid in property taxes in 2005 was $18.17 per $1,000 of valuation. In Oklahoma, it was $7.13. In New Mexico, it was $5.63 In Arkansas, it was $5.25 In Louisiana, it was $1.72 Just to name a few neighboring states.
