送交者: 老125 于 December 06, 2011 17:29:41:
LaWanda Flake, a 36-year-old, disabled mother of six traded in her four-
bedroom, three-bath house, located in one of the city's better neighborhoods
and valued at $96,000 for a 2006 Chevrolet Uplander with 85,000 miles, valued
at between $5000 and $8,500.
"I had a lot of good offers, some from out of state. It turned out I took one
of the first offers I got because I felt like it helped us both," Flake told
the Detroit News. "They needed the house more than anyone I spoke with. They
kept telling me it was a blessing to them. I really feel like I made a good
decision."
Flake said she posted the house offer on Craigslist because she needed a new
car in order to get her children to school on time because the city's bus
system was proving unreliable. Flake has an irregularly updated Twitter
account, where you can see some of her complaints about the bus system.
Now, there are a couple of details that make this story far less crazy than it
sounds at first. Number one, Flake and her six children are not living in the
minivan. They've relocated to a three-bedroom home nearby that she was able to
purchase on a $4,000 land contract.
And even though the house was once home to Diana Ross and the Supremes, Flake
purchased it last year at a foreclosure sale for $3,600, not its near six-
figure retail value. The house reportedly has several thousand dollars worth
of necessary repairs waiting for the new owners, including a new furnace and
water heater.
A $96k home traded for minivan with $85k miles
The family who purchased Flake's home has decided to stay anonymous for now.
Flake agreed to not mention their names in the story, but she did note that
she received several more lucrative offers for her home, including a Montana
couple who offered Flake her choice of one of their four vehicles. And a man
who recently moved back to Detroit from Las Vegas offered in trade his 1996
Bentley Brooklands luxury sedan, valued at about $20,000. A third trade offer
was for a 1996 Corvette.
"I said, Oh wow! What am I going to do with a Corvette? I can't do anything
practical with a Corvette," Flake said. Of course, with the current state of
property values in Detroit, it sounds like Flake could have traded in one of
those cars for another two or three houses