Another Extreme Makeover House Owner in Financial Trouble

Sorry to trot out another story about an Extreme Makeover owner who is financial trouble, but the Orlando Sentinel reports that Sadie Holmes of Altamonte Springs, FL is facing some money problems, including a $29,000 lien by the county against her house for code violations, $6,600 in property taxes, and $3,000 a month to rent a storage warehouse for her nonprofit business.

Holmes received her Extreme Home Makeover two years ago, turning her 900-square-foot home into a 7,000-square-foot home and office so she could continue her Sadie Holmes Help Services charity out of the home.  What Sadie is doing is heroic: She is a former drug addict who created a charity to give out food, clothing, furniture, and whatever people need — all this from her 900-sq-ft home. The Extreme Makeover folks were kind enough to build her a bigger home so she can do bigger things, but evidently, she can’t keep up with bills — especially the bill for the code violations. Mercedes Homes, the builder of Sadie’s Extreme home, is helping to collect funds on Sadie’s behalf.

We are all for the Extreme Makeover idea, as long as the replacement house is not such a huge burden on the family or the neighborhood. Sadie’s home now has a Zestimate of $587,500 (at this writing), while homes around hers are in the $110K-$185K range (see Zindex chart on right). Already one Extreme Makeover home is in foreclosure (that we know of), and you can be sure if the EMH team keeps building outsized homes that can’t be supported, we will see many more problems.