The ABC television network selects a few homes to make over each year.
According to Ty Pennington, the ABC television program "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" receives between 2,000 and 3,000 applications each week, yet only about a dozen homes appear on the show each season. The show focuses on designers, builders and organizers who completely gut homes and rebuild them for selected families -- usually, families with a compelling background and financial hardship. The application process is open to anyone who owns a home in the United States.
Obtain the Application
People who want to nominate themselves or others can access the application via the ABC website. Download the application by right-clicking on the application link and opting to save the file. You must have Adobe Reader on your computer to open and read the file. Print the file and complete the application by hand or with a typewriter. You cannot type in the Adobe Reader file. If you are familiar with a PDF converter program such as Foxit, you can convert the file and type directly onto the file on your computer if you prefer.
Complete the Application
The "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" application asks for information about the family members who reside in the home. Answer questions truthfully that pertain to the family's income and government aid status. The application asks about the family's current presence on the Internet, criminal and legal history, amount of debt, number of vehicles owned, military experience and tax information. The application also asks the family to demonstrate community service and discuss how its members would make their community better. If you are nominating a family you do not know well, you do not need to include all of the personal information; instead, you should include the information that led you to the family, such as a newspaper article.
Increase Your Chances
ABC does not respond to each application, and it asks that you do not follow up on your application. If ABC has questions for you and is considering you, you will hear from the network within "several months." If a year or more has passed, you likely have not been chosen and can apply again. You can increase your chances of acceptance by selecting a family that can present a compelling story on TV. ABC states that it selects families that are "exceptional and deserving." Emphasis is placed on community service. A family must be in need of financial help but also be active in the community. The application asks not only what you currently do for your community, but also what you would wish to do for your community given the resources. For example, if you volunteer for a homeless shelter on a regular basis, you could say you would like to expand the homeless shelter to accommodate more people. If you cannot be active due to family hardship, provide a vision for improving the community, such as better access for disabled children to county-owned parks.
Send the Application
Ssend a completed application for yourself or for someone else to Lock & Key Productions, 5062 Lankershim Blvd. Suite 3005, North Hollywood, CA 91601. Make sure all areas of the application are complete. Include a photo of all members of the family who currently reside in the home and photos of the home up for consideration -- both inside and out of the home. The show prefers that you include home video taken of the family and the inside and the outside of the home as well but will accept applications without the videos if this is not possible.
Tags: application asks, about family, Adobe Reader, community service, Extreme Makeover, Extreme Makeover Home