ABC’s “Extreme Makeover” – part of that endless procession of reality television that changes people’s lives for the better just long enough to get the ratings to come in – is also a great example of the excesses of the housing crisis, since it plopped people down square in the middle of gigantic homes that, in a lot of cases, they probably weren’t going to turn out to be able to take care of, and guess what I have today – yep, another example of that failure.

Sadie Holmes was, by all accounts, doing some amazing things when the show gave – yep, gave, it’s not like the was about to have to assume a mortgage here – here the house pictured above back in 2006. They turned her 900 square foot home into a 7000 square foot home and office for her family and the charity that she was running successfully from that dinky little domicile. She almost lost the house in 2008 due to failure to pay $29,000 in code violations (per Zillow) and just over six grand in property taxes.

From that experience, what did she learn? Not much. Not only is the outsized behemoth of a home that is plopped in the middle of a semi-industrial area in code-related arrears yet again, but also she used it as collateral:

Holmes used the mansion as collateral on a loan she took out. She said she used the cash to support the ministry she runs out of the home and a thrift store across the street. Now, the fate of that ministry and the private home are both in question. By any standards, the rust-colored Altamonte Springs home is grand. It was specially designed to house Sadie Holmes’ family, her soup kitchen and thrift store ministry. Now, it’s a ministry that is struggling badly.

“We’re at the point where we can no longer do this by ourselves,” Holmes said. Holmes is asking the public for donations. She needs $5,000 in the next two weeks to help make late payments on her thrift store’s lease, gas bill and on the loan for her private home.

So she had turned her life around, acquired a home, gotten into the business of helping others, and along comes television! It’s too bad that they didn’t hijack Donald Trump away from NBC’s The Apprentice long enough to give her a lesson in business. Asked why she’d secure a business loan with her own home:

WFTV asked why Holmes used a loan on her private home to help her struggling non-profit ministry. She says co-mingling finances is how she’s always done things.

Folks, this is like rule #2 of business. The first, which is “Don’t get high on your own supply,” is practically a corollary, but I’m sure we all learned that one from Scarface.

Anyway, I digress. The notice of foreclosure against Holmes was filed in Seminole Country on April 28, 2010 by a “CS Citrus LLC,” which appears to have acquired the loan from “CSE Mortgage LLC” for a sum of ten dollars, if you read the 12/1/09 filing. (Someone who knows more about real estate than I do, please clarify this one if I’ve misinterpreted). I also found most of her code violations involved Chapter 95, Section 95.4, which loosely translates to having too much stuff in your front yard (yawn). I can’t say either way about the stuff in her yard, but having your mortgage change hands over ten bucks can’t be a good sign. Folks – let’s hope this isn’t reflective of the current state of the housing market.