LaWanda Flake is a 36-year old disabled mother in Detroittrying to find a way to make a way. Themother took some heat from friends and the public when she traded in her fourbedroom brick house in a nice neighborhood for a minivan with 85,000 miles on it. The house was in the same neighborhood oncefrequented by Diana Ross, but Flake didn't care, she made the trade anyway.
The mom wanted to make the trade so she could get her kidsto school on time. She was disappointed with the local bus service, and wantedto make a change. So, she put her houseup on Craig's list, which led to a pile of offers from all over the country. She was even offered better cars, likeCorvettes and a Bentley. But instead,she settled for a 2006 Chevy Uplander minivan.
"I had a lot of goodoffers, some from out of state," she said. "It turned out I took one ofthe first offers I got because I felt like it helped us both. "
She said that the person she spoke with really needed thehouse, and she wanted to give it to them. The house was valued at $96,000. She bought it last year for $3,600 at a foreclosure sale. The minivan was valued at between $5,000 and$8,500. Flake took the minivan over a1996 Bentley, worth $20,000.
The family that took over the home from Flake made repairsthat she could not afford to make. Shehas now moved her family into a three-bedroom house in Detroit that she got ona land contract for $4,000. Flake saidthat some of her friends were angry at her for making the offer.
'A lot of people felt like I was begging,' she told TheDetroit News. 'I wasn't. I lost a friend over this. She felt my decision mademe look bad.'
