There is a story about a family from EMHO from 2004 that said their mortgage payment has nearly doubled since the makeover.
I’m wondering why they have a mortgage at all. Are they still just paying off the old house? I’m assuming all the new construction and work done by the show is free.
WAG - value of the home dramtically increased after the makeover and the borrowed against the new equity?
The show doesn’t generally pay off the original mortgage on the old house (sometimes they do). So they would still be paying that.
However the reason this the mortgage went way up in this instance is that the family re-mortgaged based on the much higher new value of the house.
I’ve often wondered why it is that sometimes they make a point of telling the family that the mortgage has been paid off and other times it isn’t even mentioned.
Having said that, I wonder why there is a mortgage at all. Aren’t all of the materials and labor all donated?
The story I’ve heard about this is that one family remortgaged their house for the new value to start some business, business failed, they defaulted, and the house went into foreclosure.
I’m sure there are other examples that aren’t like the above, but that’s the story that sticks out in my memory.
I think with every house, they hire a different group to do it. There’s always some random burly dude crying near the beginning about how inspiring the family is, and then they hug him at the end before they see their house.
It’s usually those guys, or some real estate people, who pay off the mortgage, rather than like ABC or the show or whatever. So I don’t think every family gets their mortgage paid off- just the extra-lucky ones.
They were paying a mortgage on their original house. Just because Ty comes in and knocks it down doesn’t mean they can stop paying off the loan. 
And if their mortgage has an “impound” for homeowner’s insurance and property taxes, you can bet that their assessed value has jumped significantly after the rotting hulk of a house is razed and replaced with a new building.
I was wondering if this might be part of it as well. I don’t see how the original mortgage could have doubled if it was just for the loan and not for things like insurance and taxes.
I had heard about the other family that borrowed against the equity in the new house and ended up bankrupt, but this seemed to be a different story. No mention of anything like that happening.
My question really came about because a local house was done last year and there was talk about the family having to pay the mortgage. One person thought they family was actually getting stuck with trying to pay for a fair share of the upgrades. I argued that didn’t make any sense, and then I saw this article and I wasn’t so sure. Based on what I’m seeing here, it looks like the families aren’t paying for the material and labor on the new house (mortgage in the strict sense), but would still be liable for taxes, insurance and the old mortgage.
This, or they already paid off the mortgage and maybe they can’t get a loan, or can’t get enough to pay for the repairs that the house needs. Most of the episodes I’ve seen they have other things to spend money on that are more pressing, like medical bills.
I’ve also seen one where they lived in rented housing iirc and land was donated to build the house on. The single mom of two killed in Iraq and her parents were taking care of the kids I think.