The "Extreme Makeover" show has been in Indianapolis the past week. If you have never seen an episode of this show on ABC, basically they pick a family somewhere in the country that "deserves" a new home because they are do-gooders in the community. They have staff and tons of help from the community and other sponsors to actually help build/renovate/decorate the house. The family usually goes on a vacation and then they come back, are surprised, and everyone's happy. I have seen a couple episodes of this before, never was a huge fan (I prefer watching other hgtv shows, like budget makeover, or this old house).
I know several people in my office, realtors in other offices, and people in the community have been helping with this project for the past week. Today they will be filming the unveiling of the makeover to an Indianapolis Public Schools worker, and his family of three sons. They seem like a nice, deserving family.
My issue is more with the premise of the show. I know this opinion won't be very popular, but if you know where this area is in Indy, it's all smaller homes, a little run down and several foreclosed properties all around. Not the absolute "worst" area but certainly not a place I would invest tons of money into one house for. Again, this family seems to be really great, the dad does a lot for the community, but why don't they just spread the wealth? I'm not trying to be a socialist here (those who know me well, know that I'm far from that) but it doesn't make sense for this show to spend all this money, time, and effort into one home. What happens when they leave and the family moves in- the house could get broken into, they have to be able to afford the high maintenance of this now bigger and totally remodeled house, and if/when they need to move and go to sell in a few years, who would buy it? The realtor pricing that home is going to have a difficult time.
A more ideal home makeover show, in my opinion, would be to pick a small neighborhood or few blocks where 'Extreme Makeover' could come in and replace some windows, siding, roofs, perhaps update some electrical and plumbing, do some nice landscaping, and then of course the cheapest way to beautify a home- paint. This way, an entire area would benefit, they would bring the value of the homes around it up, and everyone collectively could have a sense of pride about where they live. To be fair, I think Estridge (Carmel based home builder) is helping with some neighborhood landscaping, but I wonder how much it will really help. I will probably go drive by it next week and check it out for myself.
Buying and selling homes is a funny business. Even though a house is your own, your neighbors' homes around you affect it just as much as the condition you keep it in. Changing a whole neighborhood, which would attract new businesses and make people want to come to that area- that would have a bigger impact on people in any neighborhood. To me, that's an extreme makeover.
