WOW! What an incredible caring woman and community business leader... Marisa McAdorey, President of FLamazing Home Loans.
Last April my wife and I decided to sell one of our investment properties in Palm Bay. During one of the totally worthless Open House Events, our real estate agent, Robin Wilson introduced us to someone I thought would be just another mortgage broker looking to peddle her services to whomever might buy this property.
Well, I must say I was totally wrong! Along with Robin, our real estate agent, my wife and I spent a couple of hours at the Open House getting to know the mortgage broker, Marisa McAdorey, President of FLamazing Home Loans.
At the time, not one potential buyer visited the Open House, but this property was sold in about 20 days. Unfortunately, the home buyer used someone other than Marisa. What was fortunate is Marisa has become a friend, and we’ve shared some fun times together.
Over these last several months, we have talked about many things including politics and how we hoped and prayed things would get better with the economy and the overall spirit of America. After the election, we celebrated and once again prayed January 20, 2025, would arrive quickly and without any turmoil.
About 2 weeks ago, I was walking through our neighborhood and noticed this house that appeared abandoned. The weeds and shrubs had taken over the yard. The exterior, including the roof, was mildewed and extremely weathered not to mention needed a new external paint job. This place was an eye-sore in a nice neighborhood. Therefore, I filed a complaint with the city code enforcement. After all, my wife and I have been living in this neighborhood for almost 30 years and wanted to make certain the neighborhood and the houses were well maintained, especially what was visible outside.
A couple of days later, I had told one of our neighbors I had filed the complaint. She proceeded to tell me that house was not abandoned and that there was an elderly man, we’ll call “Bob”, living there and had apparently lost his job and had some health challenges. As bad as that is, the story got worse. Several months ago, both his electricity and water were turned off and disconnected for nonpayment.
Now it struck me like a hammer! I felt like the biggest jerk in the world. Instead of finding out what was going on with this home, I simply made things worse by filing the code enforcement complaint. I had to fix it and fix it now!
We contacted our lawn services, Doug Scott Lawns, and asked what he would charge to clean up Bob’s yard. We proceeded to tell Doug the story and he decided to volunteer his services. The yard was cleaned up and code enforcement was notified. One of Bob’s issues was resolved.
But there are many other bigger issues that Bob faces. We learned that not only had his utilities been cut off, but he also owed the water department nearly $800, and Florida Power & Light placed him into ‘collections’ for his past due electric bills.
My wife and I, along with our other neighbor Pam, decided we needed to intervene. Not having water, Pam volunteered to do his laundry and give him several cases of water. My wife and I started contacting different community outreach services along with both the collection agency and water department to see what could be done to get his utilities turned back on.
We learned there is a Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) that might be able to help Bob with paying or subsidizing his FPL costs. An application is being submitted, and it might help him with his future electric bill but not for what is currently owed.
We moved on to getting his water turned back on. However, this was going to be a major challenge. After all, he was now over $800 in the “hole” and the city was assessing late fees and penalties every month. The only option for Bob to have his water turned back on was to pay $400 upfront and then set up installments for the remaining balance. He has a minimum wage job, takes the bus to work daily and does not have $400. Plus, his mother, whom he was providing care too, had passed away a few years back and he has no other family to help financially or otherwise.
Pam also indicated that the house has other issues including no working air conditioning, hot water heater, etc. Pam had suggested he needed to sell this house and move into an apartment or a senior living community of some sort.
During one of the conversations with Bob, we discovered he had let his homeowner’s insurance lapse. Since he didn’t have insurance and his utilities were cut off, we wondered “what other issues might Bob be facing?” “Was selling his house a real consideration and if so, what could he get for this house? “
Knowing Bob had these issues, and his house needed serious repair work both inside and out, we did some more investigations. I also contacted our friend, Marisa McAdorey, President of FLamazing Home Loans. We told her about the situation and she proceeded to look up his property tax records and discovered Bob was already two years in arrears and was being assessed fines, interest and penalties monthly at the rate of about $50.
Having owned investment properties and remodeled our own home not long ago, we estimated conservatively, it was going to cost him over $25,000 to get this house livable again. If drywall and the interior needed to be gutted because of mold, costs were going to easily exceed $100,000. Bob is between a rock and a hard place.
Bob now has a more serious issue. The amount owed for past due property taxes is over $1500 and due by April 2025 before the delinquency and possibly forfeiture of his home might take place. He can’t afford to fix or replace the roof, air conditioning system, nor repair all other internal or external issues with the house. Without homeowner’s insurance, he can’t borrow against the house to fix it or pay the taxes.
Without blinking, Marisa said she was going to donate $400 towards getting his water turned back on. I was stunned. Marisa didn’t know this man and had no skin in the game yet without hesitation the money hit my business bank account within minutes. This money is now being used to pay down his city water bill so he can get it turned back on so he can get a shower, wash clothing and use the toilet inside his own home.
Marisa also indicated she would introduce Bob to someone that might be able to help him and buy his house at a ‘fair’ market price. This person Marisa is introducing to Bob was not another property investor that turns over properties after quick repairs nor is the individual an institutional investor like Black Rock. Apparently, this individual someone Marisa has been working with to repair their credit and to find a home needing repair for which he and his young family could own on their own.
Bob and Marisa will most likely never know one another. Bob only knows someone with exceptional character stepped up and did the right thing when no one else was looking and donated $400 to his cause. I see Marisa as someone who recognizes a very bad situation for one elderly man to be helped by a younger man and vice versa. If Bob can sell his house and get a fair price and a young family can fix and repair a home of their own, everybody wins.
From this day forward, my wife and I will make it our mission for everyone to know what a wonderful woman Marisa McAdorey is and the kind heart she has. Her business FLamazing Home https://www.flamazinghomeloans.com will receive all mortgage or credit repair referrals we can possibly muster.
We would like to thank Marisa and my God Bless her eternally.
Kim and Beverly Purnell
Owners of Adaptive Marketing Group, LLC
Palm Bay, FL