In Teaneck, N.J., a mother of three advertised her plight and sold 500 home-baked apple cakes at $40 each to make the overdue mortgage payments that would make her eligible for a loan modification, saving her home from foreclosure.
Angela Logan’s story appeared first in The Record newspaper and then was widely promoted online and on television. Sympathetic readers and listeners sent in their orders.
Initially, disgruntled neighbors complained to health officials, who said that state law prohibited Logan from baking the cakes in her own kitchen, so the Hilton Hasbrouck Heights lent her their commercial kitchen. She filled the orders by baking for 10 hours straight.
Source: The Wall Street Journal, Nick Timiraos (07/22/09)
My Comments: Isn’t it interesting how the readers were sympathetic but the neighbors (who stand to lose the most with a foreclosed home next door) were disgruntled. If it were my neighbor, I would have thought “how creative” and walked over to buy a cake. After all, she wasn’t going to bake cakes forever. It was a one-time thing.
Hope the IRS stays away.
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{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Angela Logan never advertised her plight, or sought publicity. The Bergen Record reporter who broke the story learned of Angela’s plight from a friend who also is a friend of Angela’s.
Thanks for the info J.L. In my write-up, I actually gave credit for that story to the Wall Street Journal. The content/story is theirs.
I am not surprised to hear the angle of the story was changed when the media got wind of it. I guess they thought it made for a better story.
Still a wonderful thing to hear. I recently saw her on The Today Show (I think that’s what I was watching).
Hope she finds great success.
saw her on tv too. always good to hear happy ending stories. but i was confused why homeowner behind with the mortgage needs so much money to do a modification. she needed $20,000? i thought a modification was for people who got behind because they don’t have the money.
Herman G
Herman, all modifications are different. And different lenders may have different criteria. The article from the Wall Street Journal no doubt was lacking in detail. Their angle was more the human interest piece of the story. It is possible she did not need the $20,000 for her lender – directly. Sometimes borrowers don’t qualify for a modification because they have too much other debt. So they need to pay down debt such as credit cards in order to get the bank to okay the loan modification. This is just an example.