Debbie Oatman was a single mother raising four sons, three of whom were adopted. Two of her adopted sons were diagnosed with HIV, and a mold issue in the family's home was a major selling point for the Oatmans to have their home renovated, according to the Times Union.
In , the family's deteriorating home with a sinking foundation was replaced with a brand new home that featured luxury amenities, such as new appliances, furniture, and granite countertops, during an episode of "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" via The New York Times. Unfortunately for the Oatman family, the home makeover could not repair the apparently deteriorating relationships between Debbie and her sons.
In a interview with Times Union, Debbie's son Kevin said, "I honestly thought things would change after we moved into the house and it would make everything better. By , Kevin and his brother Brian had left home after becoming estranged from Debbie. Debbie's ex-husband, Joe Gaitan, told the publication, "The house didn't change her.
She's still her plain old nasty self. In , the Higgins children lost their mother and father within 10 weeks of each other, leaving all five siblings orphaned, as noted by EastValley.
The siblings were taken in by the Leomiti family, who had previously been the children's neighbors and who belonged to the same church, according to the Seattle Times.
The Leomiti family had three children themselves, so the addition of the Higgins family doubled the occupants in their home. Within a matter of weeks after the "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" crew replaced the three-bed, two-bath home with a nine-bedroom mansion, the Higgins children left, the Seattle Times reported.
The siblings alleged that the Leomitis created an "orchestrated campaign" to drive out the Higginses by using "race-based remarks" to "degrade and insult" the children. After leaving the brand new home, the Higgins children hired a lawyer to file a lawsuit against the Leomiti family and ABC for damages on allegations of "fraud, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and breach of contract. After the siblings left the home that had been built to accommodate their new living situation, they reportedly ended up living apart from one another at friends' homes, according to the eldest Higgins sibling, Charles II via EastValley.
In , the Simpson family was chosen by the "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" team to have their house renovated to fit their family's growing needs. Jim and Carmen Simpson were more than deserving of the makeover; Jim ran a small company and was the minister of a local church, and Carmen was a devoted stay-at-home mother who home-schooled the kids.
To accommodate for Zoe's special needs, the "Extreme Makeover" team incorporated a therapy room just down the hall from his brothers and sisters that included cork flooring and visually stimulating features to assist with his cognitive and motor development via Savannah Magazine.
The home also boasted a heated pool. Despite the house being perfect for the family's needs, the increase in bills and taxes eventually became too great for the Simpsons to keep up with.
In and , the Simpsons paid their steep property taxes several months late, accruing interest and penalties along the way via Savannah Now. By , the family decided to put the house up for sale, and Carmen told WTOC 11 , "This was the wisest decision for our family right now," noting, "I do want to make sure everyone knows we are not ungrateful. Nine-year-old Kassandra Okvath nominated the cancer ward she had spent time at for a makeover from "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" in According to Deseret News , her story inspired the show's producers to renovate the Okvath family home in addition to the hospital ward as an added surprise.
At the time of filming, the Okvath family was renting the home they lived in. The final makeover transformed the 1,square-foot rental into a six-bedroom mansion complete with a home theater and backyard carousel for the family of nine, as noted by Arizona Republic.
A family that has faced hardship has their dilapidated house completely rebuilt while they are away on vacation for a week. Ty Pennington : Bus driver, move that bus! Sign In. Episode guide. Play trailer Comedy Drama Family. See more at IMDbPro. Episodes Browse episodes. Top Top-rated. Trailer Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. Photos Top cast Edit. Paul DiMeo Self as Self …. Michael Moloney Self as Self …. Tracy Hutson Self as Self ….
Paige Hemmis Self as Self …. Ed Sanders Self as Self …. Preston Sharp Self as Self. Eduardo Xol Self as Self …. Eric Ancker Announcer as Announcer. John A. Carr Self as Self. Constance Ramos Self as Self. John Littlefield Self as Self …. Tanya McQueen Self as Self. Didiayer Snyder Self as Self.
While the show was active, anyone could apply to be on Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. The application was quite long, and it took a while to hear back. The families chosen for the show had all gone through unbelievable hardships, making the process of going through them all a heart-breaking one. You'd have to be emotionally dead to make it through an entire episode of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition without a few tissues.
Seeing a hardworking family being given their dream home made you feel good. You just knew things were going to turn around for them. However, while the house was free to the families, the rest wasn't. Many of these families were left with giant mansions that required higher taxes, utility bills, and upkeep. India Dickinson and her family were given a beautiful 4, square-foot home , but were barely making ends meet before the show.
When I first heard about a free house going into foreclosure, I was confused. I figured the families must have squandered their money away on frivolous cars and luxuries. How could you lose a house that was given to you? Well it's a little more complicated than that. Because most of the families on the show are barely scraping by, any new expense can put them over the edge. When their taxes and utility bills are doubled, tripled, even quadrupled, they simply cannot keep up.
In , the Harvey family was given a spacious 4, square-foot house, but the bank auctioned it off six years later. This pattern became common with many former guests of the show, who took mortgages out on their new, expensive homes to pay off old bills or start new ventures. It's hard to say where the fault lies.
Should ABC have given families smaller homes, or should the families have not accepted the mansions? The St. Augustine Record reported the show built a six-bedroom, seven-bath mansion for a family of four, which many would say is more house than they ever needed. In addition to the doubled or tripled power bills, brand new makeover houses come with higher tax bills as well.
Perhaps fortunately for the families, the reality show helped them in some creative ways. Endemol, USA , the company behind Extreme Makeover: Home Edition , did some serious acrobatics to help the families avoid paying taxes on their makeover. An IRS loophole says if your home is rented out for less than 15 days per year, you do not need to pay taxes on that rental income. With that in mind, the show explains to families that they are "renting" the house from the family for a week, and the improvements are the rental payment, meaning they don't have to pay taxes on the improvements.
While this plan helps families upfront, they'll still be responsible for the future property taxes that will undoubtedly rise with the increased value of their home. It's hard to imagine a scenario where you would actually sue the people who built you your dream home for free, but it happened in Extreme Makeover: Home Edition built a house for the Higgins family, five orphans who had lost their parents to cancer and heart failure. The home was built for them and the Leomitis family who had taken them in.
The show built them a nine bedroom mansion and even provided new cars and groceries, but after the cameras left, things got ugly.
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