Kellum Mortgage sponsors \'Home of the Holiday\'
By PAULA PARISOT
1/12/2005

"Home for the Holidays" has new meaning this year for the Pressley household. The Detroit family of five won a "mortgage-free" house giveaway sponsored by a local mortgage company. But some prior recipients have complained the company has not followed through with its promises.

For the Pressleys, the win couldn't have happened at a more appropriate time.

Ironically, the home the family was currently renting was being foreclosed on due to the landlord's neglect to pay the mortgage -- ultimately forcing them out of the house.

Now, the Pressleys have a new 1,200-square foot house to call home.

Thirty-one year old Micquan Pressley who works at a downtown casino, reportedly broke down and cried as he told the Detroit News that he "prayed on it all night."

The Pressley family won Kellum's Home of the Holiday, which includes the use of a Detroit home -- mortgage and rent free -- for two years followed by the option to obtain a zero percent mortgage to buy it.

As part of the program, the winner has to maintain strict care of the home, keep it insured, and pay the property taxes.

Southfield, Mich.-based Kellum Mortgage Financial Services president Anthony Kellum said the company has been giving away "two-year mortgage- free" homes every holiday season for the past six years in hopes of developing responsible homeowners.

"Homeownership is important and I'm trying to do my part," Kellum told MortgageDaily.com. "There are a lot of good, hard-working families that are just short of reaching that goal."

"This is just a program the help somebody get in the door," he added. "Hopefully they go to the next level and become homeowners."

Four out of five past winners have claimed that Kellum has not lived up to his end of the agreement, and one family was reported in the Detroit News as having filed suit against Kellum Mortgage when they were unable to obtain the zero percent mortgage.

"We go out and get these families," Kellum said in response to the claims. "We see how these people are struggling, living with parents with five kids, no running water, and think, 'Wow, here in America, this is happening'," he explained. "We take that family, put them in a nice home with no rent and hope they can pull it together in those two years to become responsible homeowners, sometimes they don't."

Due to prior complications, Kellum said this year they will work closely with the winners to ensure they save some money and establish the credit needed to eventually purchase the home.

Last year's winner, Lakeisha Matthews told the Detroit News that she has been able to save money for her children's college education and for the home purchase thanks to Kellum Mortgage.

Kellum, past president of Michigan Mortgage Bankers Association, now reportedly chairs the Affordable Housing Committee for the National Banker's Association. He was also nominated for Crain's top 40 under 40 business leaders, the company said, and was given an honorary doctoral degree from the Lewis College of Business in Detroit.

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