Extreme Makeover: Foreclosure Edition

SANDPOINT — The Bonner County home featured on the reality television show “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” is in foreclosure.

Eric Hebert put the home up for sale last year because he said its upkeep and utilities became too costly. Hebert also cited the darkening economy as a reason for putting the home up for sale.

Since then, the home was used as collateral on a defaulted Wells Fargo Bank loan, according to a legal notice of trustee’s sale slated for publication later this week. As of Feb. 11, Hebert owed the bank $396,145, the notice said.

Hebert could not be reached for comment on Monday. A message left on his mobile phone seeking comment was not immediately returned.

The 3,678-square-foot home off Baldy Mountain Road was listed for $529,000 in May 2008, when Hebert put it up for sale. The current asking price is $449,000, according to its listing on the Tomlinson Sandpoint Sotheby’s International Web site.

The online description calls it a one-of-kind custom home, but makes no mention of its high-profile origins.

The home was built by the show and a swarm of volunteers with donated materials in November 2005, after producers learned Hebert was raising his late sister’s twins and living in a makeshift “berm house.” Hebert, a bachelor, took custody of the children after their mother died of a heart attack.

The reality TV program rebuilds homes for families in the grips of hardship. The series debuted in 2003 and is in its sixth season on ABC.

Although the show is a ratings hit for the network, it has also attracted criticism for exalting lavish lifestyles and saddling recipients with hefty property tax and utility bills.

Hebert’s home is among a growing number of “Extreme Makeover” homes to become subject of foreclosure proceedings.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported last summer that a couple lost their Lake City, Ga., home after using it as a collateral for a $450,000 loan from JPMorgan Chase which fell into arrears. A couple in Oak Park, Mich., were facing foreclosure of their home partly because a refinanced mortgage caused their payments to soar, the Macomb Daily reported in December of last year.  However, according to an Associated Press story earlier this month, the loan was renegotiated to give the family a better chance at keeping the home.