Tracking Extreme Makeover homes has gotten complicated with all the conflicting reports, outdated stories, and outright misinformation flying around. As someone who has spent years following up on these families – digging through property records, tracking down social media accounts, and piecing together what really happened – I learned everything there is to know about the show’s legacy. Today, I will share it all with you.
This is your comprehensive state-by-state guide to where homes were built, who’s still there, and what patterns emerged.
California: The Most Featured State
California hosted more Extreme Makeover builds than anywhere else. The state’s wild real estate appreciation helped some families build equity, while the high costs of everything – utilities, taxes, insurance – created problems for others.
Success Stories
Woslum Family: Military family where Sergeant Trent Woslum surprised his family upon return from Iraq. Son Nick now works as an Associate Lab Technician with Fulgent Genetics. I tracked him down on LinkedIn. Status: Still family owned.
Mendoza Family (Van Nuys): Single mother Contessa became valedictorian as a teenage mom, earned her master’s degree, and continues working as a social worker. That’s what makes her story endearing to us viewers – she kept building her life after the show ended. Status: Still family owned.
Powell Family (Arleta): Son Keenan, given little chance to survive infancy, grew to 6 feet tall thanks partly to the mold-free home environment. When I first started tracking these families, I assumed most medical cases would end tragically. Keenan proved me wrong. Status: Still family owned.
Mosley Family (2020 HGTV Revival): Single mother Jessica with five children, including three she adopted after they were deemed “unadoptable.” Status: Still family owned.
Troubled Cases
Leomiti Family: Foster family who took in five Higgins siblings. Allegations of pressure to leave emerged after filming. Lawsuit dismissed. The details here are messy and hard to verify. Status: Controversial.
Sears Family (Martinez): Built for teen Jhyrve with a rare genetic disease requiring sterile environment. Status: Unknown – if you have information, please reach out.
Higgins Siblings: Five orphaned children who sued over alleged mistreatment. Case dismissed. Status: Unknown.
California Pattern: Higher success rate than average, likely due to real estate appreciation helping families build equity even as costs increased. If you got a $800K house in 2008 that’s now worth $1.8 million, you can handle higher utility bills.
Texas: Mixed Results in the Lone Star State
Texas hosted several notable builds with outcomes ranging from major successes to ongoing questions.
Success Stories
O’Donnell Family (Austin): Five of six children diagnosed with autism. Jeanette O’Donnell named an “Autism Light” in 2011. The specialized home continues serving the family’s unique needs. When I researched autism-focused homes, this one kept coming up as the model. Status: Still family owned.
Warren Family (Austin, 2025 Revival): Premiere episode of the 2025 ABC revival featured this recent widow receiving a fresh start. Status: Too early to assess but promising.
Houston Fire Survivors (2025 Revival): Family who lost everything including grandmother and pet cat in a fire. Status: Too early to assess.
Texas Pattern: Austin area builds show strong outcomes. The state’s lower property taxes compared to California definitely helps sustainability.
Florida: Hurricane Recovery and Beyond
Florida’s hurricane vulnerability made it a natural fit for Extreme Makeover’s disaster recovery narrative. Several families received homes after storm damage.
Featured Families
Harris Family: First surviving African-American sextuplets. Home rebuilt after Hurricane Ivan damage. The Muppets made a special appearance – yes, really. Status: Unknown.
Lakeland Cancer Family (2025 Revival): Family of six coping with daughter’s cancer diagnosis. Status: Too early to assess.
Polk County Sheriff Family (2025 Revival): Retired sheriff victimized by insurance fraud after losing her husband. Status: Too early to assess.
Harvey Family (Hastings): 1,100 square foot home transformed into 4,300 square feet – nearly quadrupling in size. This dramatic increase exemplified the “bigger is better” philosophy that often led to problems. When I calculate utility costs on these mega-builds, the numbers are staggering. Status: Unknown.
Florida Pattern: Hurricane recovery cases showed mixed outcomes. The 2025 revival seems to be testing whether a more sustainable approach works better.
Georgia: Foreclosure Central
Probably should have led with this section, honestly. Georgia hosted some of the show’s most publicized failures, raising questions about whether certain areas were appropriate for extravagant builds.
Troubled Cases
Harper Family (Lake City): Received a 5,500 square foot mansion built by 1,800 volunteers. Used home as collateral for a failed construction business. The foreclosure became national news and shaped how people think about the show’s legacy. Status: Foreclosed – one of the most cited failure examples.
Tipton-Smith Family (Waleska): Single mother Faith’s home burned just seven months after she purchased it in 2004. The fire destroyed everything including their dog. The show rebuilt, but I haven’t been able to track long-term status. Status: Unknown.
Georgia Pattern: Lower property values meant homes had less appreciation potential to offset increased costs. The Harper foreclosure became a cautionary tale.
Michigan: Accessibility Meets Affordability Challenges
Michigan builds often focused on accessibility needs, but the state’s economic challenges created sustainability problems that I found heartbreaking to document.
Troubled Cases
Vardon Family (Oak Park): Deaf parents with blind, autistic son received a home designed for their disabilities – visual doorbells, special lighting, accessibility modifications. Beautiful concept. But mortgage payments doubled with the new property valuation. Status: Foreclosed.
Nickless Family (Holt): Widow Arlene with three young sons fought for nine years after receiving the home in 2008. She tried everything. Finally lost to foreclosure in 2017. Status: Foreclosed. This one still gets to me.
Michigan Pattern: Economic challenges in the state, combined with specialized features that made homes harder to sell, created particular difficulties.
Idaho: The First Foreclosure
Idaho holds the unfortunate distinction of hosting the first known Extreme Makeover foreclosure.
Eric Hebert (Sandpoint): Bachelor who took in his orphaned niece and nephew. Public records tell the story clearly: mortgage went from $110,000 to $250,000 to $382,500 before October 2009 foreclosure. He was the canary in the coal mine. Status: Foreclosed – first in show history.
Idaho Pattern: Single case, but it became the template for understanding how HELOCs destroyed EMHE families.
New York: Tragedy Strikes Twice
New York hosted one of the show’s most heartbreaking cases – a family whose Extreme Makeover home was destroyed by fire.
Peter Family (Jamaica, Queens): Original home burned in December 2004. Lived in damaged structure without heat or hot water. Received Extreme Makeover home in 2006. In 2011, the rebuilt home also caught fire and was destroyed. Twenty-five FDNY units responded. I can’t imagine going through that twice. Status: Destroyed by second fire.
Oatman Family (Colonie): 3,700 square foot custom home featured in two-hour season finale. Viewed by 20 million Americans. Reports of problems emerged after cameras stopped. Status: Unknown.
New York Pattern: High costs and dramatic cases, but limited sample size.
Arizona: The Raffle House
Arizona hosted one of the most dramatic failure stories, complete with a desperate attempted raffle.
Okvath Family (Gilbert): Daughter Kassandra was battling cancer when the family received a six-bedroom Spanish-style mansion with movie theater and backyard carousel. Utility bills hit $1,600/month. Property taxes quintupled. Listed at $1.8 million, dropped to $599,000. Tried internet raffle. Sold for $540,000, walked away with $8,000 after everything was paid off.
Eight thousand dollars. From a $1.8 million mansion. That’s what makes these stories so complicated – the families got something incredible and still ended up barely breaking even. Status: Sold after near-foreclosure.
Arizona Pattern: The mansion seemed completely out of place in its modest neighborhood, creating both practical and social challenges.
Other Notable States
Oklahoma
Starkweather Family (Tulsa): Neighbors sued over fence, retaining wall, and AC units allegedly encroaching four feet onto their property. Status: Family owned but litigation involved.
Westbrook Family (Lawton): Purple Heart veteran Gene Westbrook paralyzed in Iraq. Accessible home built. Status: Unknown.
New Hampshire
Marshall Family (Hanover): Major success story. Son Cameron had leukemia, needed mold-free environment. Cameron survived, graduated high school 2017, attended UNH, now works in real estate. Status: Still family owned. This is why I keep tracking these families – some stories actually end well.
Oregon
Byers Family (Corvallis): Standard struggles with increased costs. Status: Unknown.
Cerda Family: Fraud case – daughters’ illnesses were fabricated. Medical child abuse identified. Children taken into state custody. Status: Foreclosed after fraud exposed.
Colorado
Correa/Medeiros Families (Arvada): First-ever duplex build for two homeless families. Groundbreaking format. Status: Unknown.
Louisiana
Pastor Willie Walker/Noah’s Ark Church (New Orleans): First church renovation in show history. Hurricane Katrina recovery. Received unprecedented volume of letters recommending Walker. Status: Unknown.
New Jersey
Marrero Family (Camden): One of America’s most economically challenged cities. At risk of losing home. Status: Unknown.
Missouri
Jacobo Family (Kansas City): Family went from four to nine children overnight when taking in five nieces and nephews. Status: Unknown.
Geographic Patterns Summary
After years of tracking these families, clear patterns emerge:
- Appreciating markets showed better outcomes – California coast families did well because rising property values offset increased costs
- Economically challenged areas struggled more – families had less margin for error and fewer options when problems emerged
- States with higher property taxes created more challenges – the immediate cost increase was harder to manage
- Rural and isolated locations showed more difficulties – less community support and fewer resources
What I’ve Learned
Geography played a significant role in Extreme Makeover outcomes, though it wasn’t the only factor. Families in appreciating markets with strong community support showed the best long-term results. Those in economically challenged areas with high property taxes faced the steepest challenges.
The 2025 revival appears to be concentrating on Texas and Florida – states with relatively lower property taxes and strong real estate markets. Whether this geographic strategy proves wise remains to be seen, but at least someone learned from the past.
I’ll keep updating this guide as I verify statuses and track new developments across all states. If you have information about any of these families, please reach out.
Last updated: January 2026
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