Extreme Makeover House Being Flipped

Blog and photos by: Larry Cruikshank

Back in March of 2009 the ABC television show Extreme Makeover Home Edition brought their crews to Las Vegas for what was supposed to be a wonderful story of assistance to yet another needy family. This time they were requested by the Cerda family. More specifically for Molly and Maggie, the Cerda's two little daughters who have an immune deficiency disease. The show was dedicated to building a home for those little girls, who, because of their illness, needed clean air and also a great environment for "home bound" students. They built that extreme home in just 7 days! It was equipped with everything the family needed. It was built with the environmental, educational and medical needs of the children in mind. Seven short months later the family has up and quietly moved out and have the home up for sale!
Is it a case of greed and possibly fraud? After looking at all of the issues involved, you can decide for yourself.
Thousands of volunteers invaded the tract housing neighborhood. Thousands of people hoping to make a difference in a deserving family's life. They blocked off the neighborhood, made noise and traffic annoyances for the Cerda's neighbors day and night and even damaged a driveway and the street in the process. But they all got the job done while the needy family was vacationing in Hawaii.
The house, which looks like a Malibu beach house, instead of a fixed up tract home, does not fit well in the neighborhood. As one person said recently on a news clip, "it sticks out like a sore thumb." And now the existing residents have to live with that eye sore. The Cerda family no longer has to though. And even back in May (when the EMHE episode aired) the family was already complaining that they might have to lose the home. They were having people write articles and asking for donations. A local fast-food chicken fingers chain held a fund raiser for the family and immune deficiency organizations also asked for money for the family. But were they really in need of the money because the house was too much or because they had a plan to get rich?
The family moved into the residence at 5760 Royal Castle Lane in 2004. In at least one article the family claims the home was "fraudulently sold" to them and was flooded six times. One existing neighbor, living in his home since 2001, recalled several heavy rains, but no official flooding in that neighborhood. The home said to be full of mold and a death trap to the children. Some articles even claim that the mother, Terri Cerda, also had Combined Immune Deficiency Disease. The house needed to be gutted and redone the articles said. But a serious question is: How did Theresa A. Cerda get the house in the first place? From research, it appears her maiden name was McMahan. The previous owner of the Royal Castle address in 2004 was Donald McMahan. And according to a phone conversation with a news reporter, the deed involved indicates the deal was between father and daughter! Was it a gifted house? Was it a sale for $250,000? And if it was a father/daughter transaction (and according to Terri Cerda's MySpace blog, her father is her hero), how could it be a fraudulent sale? There was fraud sure enough, but was it the Cerdas setting up that fraud? While on the MySpace topic, Terri Cerda, head of the CertaClan, boasted of being an athlete, mountaineer, firefighter and paramedic. Pretty impressive if she does indeed have CIDD. But then people sometimes fib a little in those social network profiles. If she is an athlete and does have CIDD, then there is nothing holding back her daughters from going out into the world and becoming firefighters too.
But the Cerdas never really intended to make Nevada their home. From the time they moved into the neighborhood, they always had Washington state license plates on their vehicles, including the Homeland Security Police vehicle husband Chuck parked at the house. Even when ABC and Ford donated a brand new car to the family as part of the show, the family registered it in Washington. Nevada law states that residents must register their vehicles with Nevada plates within 30 days. Never happened for the Cerdas. The only way you can register a vehicle in another state is to have a residence or at least P.O. Box in that state. Did the Cerda's know they wouldn't be in this fancy Extreme Makeover Home Edition house for long? It looks that way, bills or no bills.
There probably isn't any doubt that the little girls are deserving. Although they played outside and danced around their mother without wearing protective masks as Mrs. Cerda was painting a travel trailer they purchased in October, the girls did deserve a good environment and they were given one, free of charge. The trailer was also registered in Washington state. Wouldn't it be a shame to move those children away from their improved new home, complete with a state-of-the-art in home communications system, that allows in home students to interact with others outside of the home. A house complete with solar panels on the roof and a totally "green" eco-friendly power supply. Complete with an advanced HVAC system that supplies only the cleanest air to the girls.
However it seems moving is what the Cerdas always had in mind. So one weekend early in November, 2009, just seven months after their new EMHE house was built, they moved away and an "Open House" sign went up. The move was a quiet one. No big moving trucks were noticed, no for sale sign is stuck in the yard. But the sale is underway and according to Meridias Realty Group, the asking price started at $600,000. Could this really be, people wondered? Should the show have been called "Flip the Extreme Home" or Extreme Fakeover Home Edition?
A local television new investigation team reported the sale. They compared, as politically correct as they could, that it was a story of families getting in over their head with bills and taxes. They reported that sometimes these dream homes turn into nightmares. That is true. Local governments should think twice before allowing any such reality shows into their cities. A female resident from the first Extreme home built in Las Vegas said people are "jealous" that "they didn't get their houses built," but it's less jealousy and more disgust that thousands of hard-working volunteers bust their butts for a family who then just flips the house for a profit and basically flips a middle finger at the volunteers and their fellow neighbors!
The news reporter and others, including a Cerda family friend said Chuck Cerda was transferred for his job and that's why the family had to move. The family friend said over the phone that he "had to" take the transfer or lose his government job! What kind of employer would force someone to move, after a special house had been constructed just to meet the educational, medical, and environmental needs of the sick children? Is that true, or more fabrication for the home improvement story?
Articles about the family first compared the Cerda girls to the story about the "Boy in a bubble," because of the disease they share. But now it appears the story has a little of the recent "balloon boy" story mixed in.
Las Vegas residents and former volunteers would like to know the truth. The family has not made a public statement. The realtor, according to the television news reporter, "won't let them." They did not appeal for more donations in order to pay bills and keep the home, if that was any part of the real reason for moving. They didn't publicly fight to keep the home. They just slipped away and the local ABC news channel swept the story under the rug after covering the construction every day, several times each day back in March and again when the show aired May 10.
Will the 2949 square-foot extreme home sell for a half a million or so dollars? With all the foreclosures and up-side-down homes in the neighborhood, that remains to be seen.
Local governments need to step up against these types of shows. Unlike the first Las Vegas residence rebuilt, the Cerda home just doesn't look anything like the houses around it. The existing residents have to live with that now, no matter what happens to the Cerdas.
If you have a hatred for fraud and greed, as I do, I would like to see your comments. If you know any facts about the story, feel free to share them. Or if you want to simply support the family, I would love to hear that side of the story as well.