Another Extreme Makeover Home In Danger
The last time I posted about an Extreme Makeover home was the one where some guy had taken out a business loan and used the house as collateral and then lost it all. This time though I am on the side of the homeowner, and think Seminole County officials are being asses.
Sadie Holmes is in danger of losing her home which was built by the show in 2006. They built her a six bedroom home and a 2,000 sq foot addition to use as an office. Previously she had lived and worked out of a 900 sq foot home. Sadie has her own non-profit and what she does is gives away everything she can find to people less fortunate than her. If it were not for her tireless efforts, many people would not have food or clothing or furniture. She does it all.
When she first was given the house, the county said she could operate her charity but could never leave anything outside. Well, after the flood of publicity from the show, she was overwhelmed with stuff to give to people. Even with all of the extra space there just was not room inside the house for trucks and cars. Imagine that. Not being able to fit a truck or cars inside the house. So, the county came by and started fining her. Repeatedly. Even though she was giving it away as fast as she could.
Well, she finally got caught up and there have not been any violations in a while, but the previous fines have multiplied and quintupled and added interest and so she owes $29,000. The county wants their money and have threatened to sell her home unless she comes up with it. I guarantee you that the original fines probably totaled $5000. They just added all that stuff to it. What they want is to have her gone, so all the poor and destitute will go away with her.
In every one of these Makeover homes going into foreclosure or turning out to be evil, I have always gone against the homeowner. Not here. The county needs to think long and hard about this and what a-holes they will look like if they kick her out. I would also hope that somewhere in that county someone could write a check if needed.
To see the first ten minutes of her episode. You know. The part that makes you feel sorry for her and taunts you if you don't cry, click here.
Thats some rough shit. What, they couldn't make exceptions? No, they had to go the heartless route.
ReplyDeleteI don't think we should be so hard on that other family, either. The whole point of the house's large office was to start a business...how else are you going to do that, unless with a loan? And banks are going to look at your most valuable collateral, and for them, that was the house. The stupid part wasn't in putting the house up, it was in how they ran their business in such a way that it failed completely. Just my opinion.
enty, no email address we can write to? or don't we ever find out where the people live?
ReplyDeleteshe needs some tv exposure. the bill will then be paid for her or the county will back off.
ReplyDeleteThis shit sounds like the crap that goes on from where I'm from. They'd be the kind of 'rulers' that auction the house and move the mayor in because the mayor is greedy and too cheap-ass to pay for their own upgrades to their homes.
ReplyDeleteEither way, you don't kick a woman out of her home for helping the less fortunate. That's some bad juju to be laying up ...
normally i would agree BAd Fish but when someone builds you a huge house, pays it off and all you do is gotta get a job, any job to survive and instead you put your whole house on the block to follow your dream of owning you own business in a failing economy and put your whole family at risk of being homeless..then tough shit.
ReplyDeleteEHM needs to do a better check of who should be getting these homes and putting some clauses in the contract to save them in the future.
Seminole doens't need a check they need a reality check. shameless.
There's a Seminole County in FL.
ReplyDeleteI do think that there's some irresponsibility on the part of Extreme Makeover. They "know" the power of that show, and when showcasing a person like Sadie, of course she's going to be inundated with donations for her charitable work. I think EM should foot the bill this time, but Sadie needs to get some advice on running her charity and possibly move it off-site so she doesn't encounter these issues again.
Poor Sadie. That's messed-up. Here is someone who wants to help others and she's being punished for it. What a bunch of a-holes is right!
ReplyDeleteTell her to call Oprah!
And just to add, running a home-based business doesn't mean you get to have people coming to your home all the time. She clearly does & would be violating county code if they had not signed off on it. I'm betting the county is sorry they signed off on it because they probably got a myriad of complaints about the stuff in the yard, etc. Neighbors don't like that crap. And her first violation was probably only $125, if that. This went on for quite sometime and was ignored by Sadie. The story doesn't say anything about her pleading with county commissioners for mercy or whatever. I'd like to know if she exhausted all channels before it came to this.
ReplyDeleteShit, I can argue either side on this one.
Agreed, Jax. I just see how they made that decision and rationalized it to themselves, that's all.
ReplyDeleteI hope this DOES get publicized so that people get involved and help out.
A bunch of my friends/family say that I should go on this show.
ReplyDeleteI know that as soon as my house was remodeled etc, I wouldn't be able to afford the tax reassessment. We're locked at $2200ish, but at 900 sq ft. If we do any remodeling (including basement), the rest of the neighborhood is at like 6 and 7 grand (for about 1500sq ft)
Such a pickle! lol The taxes here are rediculous and the school district freakin sucks. I just want to move, but with all the shit thats going with the economy, I'm screwed.
Oh, and I think all my neighbors would hate me because its almost like I'd bring their property value down. Never have the nicest house on the block! I'd be the only house on the street thats not a cape cod or a rancher. Dammit though, I really want a colonial or tudor style home!
I think this is a tough one - I do feel bad for Sadie and admire the work she is doing.
ReplyDeleteMore than likely the city/county was receiving complaints about the crap being stored on the property - I read elsewhere that included portable outhouses. If my neighbor had a portapotty in their yard and they were not doing construction, I'd be calling code enforcement every day. Broken down vehicles, after a few days I'd be calling.
Many code enforcement teams will issue a violation notice on the first offense and will give you 24 hours to resolve. If not resolved in that time period, then the fines go into effect. What on earth was she doing, repeatedly perhaps, that got the fines kicked up so high?
Most towns allow people to do business from their home, but it is to be transparent - ie you can't store work or building materials, etc. She should have had a plan that did not involve storing donated materials outside of her house - either find a place to store that stuff or thank the person kindly, but decline the request or ask them to hold it until it can be placed directly.
With that said, I would like to see the city meet her halfway - drop some of the lesser fines altogether - ie the overgrown grass - and reduce the fines on the major things, in return Sadie needs to commit to not storing the donated items outside of her house. I don't want to sound harsh, but people that use their yards as junkyards hurt every other homeowner in the area. It needs to be stopped and code needs to be enforced. (can you tell I've lived next to such people at times? LOL)
These code violations have been going on for a while and Sadie has been ignoring them. She wanted the publicity at first thinking it would garner her $$$. Then she found out that she and the code enforcement officer had a male friend in common and that just upped the deal. I live in Seminole County, and unfortunately have had dealings with this person. On a regular basis it is just a case of what can she do to get over and how much can she get people to feel sorry for her. She has another home that she uses to supposedly help the downtrodden but all she does there is use them as slave labor and constantly use them and then throw them out!
ReplyDeleteAll I'm saying is...you reap what you sow and what we are seeing is just that. Sadie is getting back just what she has been putting out. Code Enforcement met her more than halfway and I know because I was there! She still left things out in the yard and defied the law! Why should EHM or anyone else for that matter write a check for willful disobedience?
When you are given a blessing you should be a good steward of it and that's just the bottom line!
Cali girl, since you admit you're happy to harass neighbors, why? Is a neighbor harming you by having a vehicle they're working on in their yard? Are you selling your house in this shit economy? Or are you just a nosy prude that thinks everyone should live like you do?
ReplyDeleteReally, this is why I despise code compliance and the assholes that use it to harass, defame and annoy their neighbors. You think it would kill some people to stick their noses in their own dirty shit instead of trying to catch whiffs of other people's.
IMO if she is helping people that our down on their luck, and she has done everything she possibly can to avoid the county codes, why wouldn't someone step up to help her out. Not all people down on their luck are bad people, sometimes they just need that extra push and perhaps she gives it to them. It would be nice if she could find a way to store the materials, a donated warehouse or something along those lines...it wouldn't hurt the business, tax deductable and good publicity I'm sure.
ReplyDeleterhianna, you don't even know what cali girl is talking about. there's a difference between someone having a car out on their driveway and someone whose house looks like sanford and son live there.
ReplyDeletecompliance codes are there for a reason, why should anyone have to look at some piece of shit on blocks that hasn't seen pavement in months just so jim bob can have a place to drink beer when the wife yells at him every saturday?
ReplyDeleteshe's prob yelling at him to get that rusty bucket of bolts out of her driveway!
She has a 4,000 sq ft warehouse across the street from her house. The things that were out in her yard were not donations that couldn't be stored, it was junk! The vehicles belonged to her children and they needed simple repairs for which she had the parts! Come on, these were things she had the means to take care of but just didn't!
ReplyDeleteAll things that glitter aren't gold, they aren't even glass...sometimes it's just a mess!!
I really wish people would open their eyes and see that everyone that says they are HELPING people that are down on their luck aren't because this one surely isn't!
Hey, Nice blog!
ReplyDeleteNow, in 2010... what about Sadie Holmes situation??
Do you know something new about it???
My best wishes, from Brazil!!!!