popular thinking

NO SUCH THING AS A FREE HOUSE: Win a big prize on TV and sometimes you find it's the gift that keeps on taking.
Take Oprah Winfrey's big Pontiac car giveaway last year, which became a minor PR crisis when some of the 276 recipients from her studio audience, who won the cars because they couldn't afford them, complained they had to pay taxes on their new wheels.
Closer to home, Fox's Renovate My Family took the 48-year-old, 1,716-square-foot Peabody home of Richard and Diane Famiglietti and turned it into a 3,600-square-foot abode complete with an outdoor all-season hockey rink and a hot tub.
ABC's Extreme Makeover: Home Edition put the finishing touches yesterday on a new Greek Revival-style, wheelchair-accessible home for Tripp and Heidi Johnson and their kids.
It's been the talk of the town all week. And it'll make for a great episode later this fall.
But what will the makeover mean next July, when Medfield assessor Stan Bergeron revalues the Johnson place at Hospital Road and Harding Street?
"Sometimes you're not thinking of what's coming the next day,'' Bergeron said.
The previous 1,404-square-feet home, valued at $327,450, cost the Johnsons $4,230 in property taxes based on the town rate of $12.92 per thousand.
Bergeron said most new homes built in Medfield get valued closer to $800,000 or $900,000. That would send the Johnsons' annual tax bill into five figures.
"I'm hoping there is something set up for them. I'd hate to see them put in a hardship,'' he said.
Local builders and friends set up www.hometeammedfield.com to collect donations for the Johnsons.
Endemol USA leases homes for 14 days from "Makeover'' families, which exempts the renovations from state and federal taxes. Endemol chief David Goldberg said producers make families aware of future property tax liabilities.
"This show is about benevolence,'' he said. "It's about making people's dream of owning a home come true. It isn't about duping them and then leaving them riddled with a bunch of tax bills. So if it does become an issue . . . we'll do everything we can to resolve the problem.''
One Illinois family got so angry at Renovate My Family over their increased property taxes they wanted Fox and Rocket Science Laboratories to buy the home from them.
That's not the case with the Famigliettis. Then again, they haven't received their new property tax bill.

Related link: Free house - with a catch: Makeovers pump up property, tax bill too (Boston Herald)