A ‘CROWD MORTGAGE’ AND A DREAM
Teresa Lee and her husband Jarrod McKenna were thrilled when an offer on their first home was accepted.
Teresa Lee, Jarrod McKenna and their son Tyson.
But when the bank rejected their loan application because of confusion around the type of property they were buying, Lee and McKenna were at a loss to know how they could possibly come up with $600,000 to pay for it.
To their surprise, a friend came forward and offered them $5000. Next, someone offered a $40,000 interest-free loan. Another extended a $55,000 loan.
Blown away by the goodwill, Lee and McKenna created the First Home Project, a social media campaign that invited the wider public to “be the bank” and lend them the rest of the money. And, astonishingly, within 13 days, the community had pledged the full $600,000 in loans and donations, the last figure coming in just five minutes before their August 12, 5pm deadline.
Why was a campaign to raise money for someone’s first home so successful?
The couple are neither social media “professionals” nor are there any clever strategists working on the First Home Project.
Lee and McKenna say they pushed out updates themselves via Twitter and Facebook (left) and that “a couple of mates” quickly created the First Home Project website and two videos.
The cornerstone of the campaign is a moving video - viewed more than 8000 times – that features glowing character references from World Vision CEO Tim Costello and Father Bob Macguire.
Costello says Lee and McKenna are an “extraordinary young couple” and he was “a great admirer of what they do.”
Father Bob says, “Because [the campaign is] backed up by two honest blokes like you and me, we’re giving a… personal moral guarantee that… this is a good bet.” Costello chimes in, “A Costello and a Macguire, you can trust.”
You see, Lee and McKenna, along with their 15-year old son Tyson, are held in high esteem by many people, taking dozens of people into their home over the years.
From the homeless, to asylum seekers awaiting visas, to indigenous Australians, they have provided hospitality to many in desperate situations.
But the couple have also rented for years. Lee, a social worker, and McKenna, who works at World Vision and is a peace activist/pastor/public speaker (nominated for Young Australian of the Year in WA and has received a peace award) told me they had decided they could be a lot more effective if they owned their own property.
They found a run-down building that had been a former church, an Aboriginal community centre and a child-care centre, in Midland, a 10-minute drive from their current home in the outer fringes of Perth.
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8 Responses to this article
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Tess August 16, 2012
Wow. What an inspiring family.
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The Huntress August 16, 2012
How wonderful! A generous family with a generous community behind them. This is the first thing I’ve seen in a while that makes me proud to live in Perth.
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Katianne Wood August 16, 2012
This article has my brain whirring…what an amazing family, & what a concept! Imagine if more people were this creative? I’m certainly challenged to think outside the box of what I could personally do to help others. Selflessness + ingenuity = a win for the wider community…well done!
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Andrew Tyndale August 16, 2012
Excellent article! Nice to have some uplifting people profiled, and to know that mate-ship still exists. Affordable housing is possibly the major social challenge for Australia, and I’d love to see some more written on it. Nice piece!
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Faye August 16, 2012
So proud of you guys. Thanks for leading the way. xx
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Bianca August 18, 2012
What an inspiring couple! I’m glad it all worked out for them. I wish they named and shamed the bank(s) that wouldn’t give them the loan. I’m sad to see that only 6 ppl commented (myself included) whereas “Sonia’s pants’ got 16 comments…
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Gabriele Niklaus August 18, 2012
In the UK they have a so called peer-to-peer lending. It is not regulated by the Bank of England but there is a Finance Association where they recommend different schemes. You can become an active lender or a registered member. There are ZOPA.COM, RATESETTER.COM. and FUNDINGCIRCLE.COM to name a few. Might be an idea for Oz?
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moiby August 18, 2012
This is an awesome story. Thanks! Not something one reads about in the MSM – and a feel-good story to boot.
Such a generous family. I only wish I’d been able to help out too.
