N.J. man selling back 'Makeover'

CAMDEN, N.J., July 25 (UPI) -- A man in Pennsauken, N.J., is selling a home he received via the TV series "Extreme Makeover" because of financial troubles, a program official says.

Bruce Main, the president of the Urban Promise youth program, said former office manager Victor Marrero was unable to pay the property taxes and utility bills for the five-bedroom home he received on ABC's "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition," the Philadelphia Inquirer said Saturday.

Main, whose group donated the property used for Marrero's new home, said his program will be purchasing the home for $275,000.

Marrero was given the home in August 2007, months after "20/20" detailed how he and his son Billy Joe were living in a cockroach-infested home in Camden, N.J.

Urban Promise chose to purchase Marrero's new home after the group stopped Marrero, who collects a $939 monthly pension, from putting the home on the market at an asking price of $499,000.

"It's not the way (Marrero) wanted the story to end, but I think he would see himself in a much better position than he was two years ago," Main told the Inquirer.