By Fan’aye SunLight
Mother of 5 Designs her way out of foreclosure
SiteMedia.us offers Website Design and Affordable .COM’s to end a family’s financial crisis
By Fan’aye SunLight
SiteMedia.us contributor
updated 11:27 a.m. ET, Tues., July 28, 2009
After reading the incredible story of Angela Logan, who earned enough money to save her home by selling apple cakes to friends, neighbors and total strangers over the Internet; Simone Murray, a 37 year old mother of five children decided to do the same to save her home from foreclosure. Murray, entrepreneur, web and graphic designer is offering her professional services to raise funds to get her family out of a financial crisis.
Many great ideas are born of sheer desperation. Murray has been a resident of Fort Lauderdale, Florida for the past eight years. In April 2007 her husband was detained at the airport while returning from overseas on business and was eventually deported to his native land of Trinidad, W.I. in September 2007. Murray’s husband was the main breadwinner for the family and had begun an extensive construction project on the home. After his deportation, contractors had taken thousands of dollars to finish the improvements and never showed up to finish the work. Murray exhausted the rest of their savings helping with legal fees and other living expenses. Her attorney and his paralegal were less than honest and billed Murray for thousands of dollars in fraudulent court fees.
Devastating changes
Murray watched her children go through great emotional turmoil at the devastating and sudden removal of their father. They were not even allowed to say goodbye. With no family to lean on in Florida, she weathered the dilemma by reading online tutorials and refined her craft as a self employed graphic artist and web designer. She received small contracts but they were not enough to support her family so she packed her bags and visited her family in New Jersey in June 2008. After witnessing the struggles of her ailing parents, she made a decision to remain in New Jersey to assist them. Her parents were living off a low fixed income and needed help.
Murray enrolled in Anthem Institute in Jersey City full-time in their Graphic Design and Animation program by August of that year. She hoped to stay afloat financially to return home after graduation. She rented the Florida property to family members to offset mortgage payments while she assisted with the living expenses of her parents. In Florida, her family lived in the home for many months without paying rent or utilities and Murray began to fall behind even more on the mortgage payments. The home eventually ended up in foreclosure by December 2008. By January 2009 her mortgage company modified the loan but instead of lowering her mortgage payment, they raised it by two hundred dollars instead.
Since then, Murray has been struggling to pay the high mortgage and the mortgage company is threatening to begin foreclosure by August if she does not come up with the money owed. “As a last resort, I would be willing to sell the Florida home but because of the failing housing market and unfinished construction, the home is losing value fast. I need to raise money immediately to avoid foreclosure and possibly sell the house as a handyman special. Any profits I make would help to relocate us to find a suitable home in New Jersey. So when I read about Ms. Logan, it was all too familiar and the same idea hit me!”
Designing for dollars; Willing to barter
Murray recently started SiteMedia.us, an online Multimedia Company where she advertises her services and other affordable online products. Murray is spreading the word to family, friends, class mates and to the public. She is not looking for a hand out. She desires to work and get the word out about her business so that she may raise enough funds to get her family out of this financial hardship. Murray has decided to stay on in New Jersey to be closer to her parents and will continue her education by enrolling in Bloomfield College to pursue her degree in January 2010.
SiteMedia.us also offers quality full color printing at affordable rates, domain names, hosting, secure servers and a host of products that will help any client gain global exposure through the internet. Most products come with loads of free extras and add-ons so her clients can save money in recessionary times. She runs her virtual business out of her parent’s home and has been working around the clock to promote her services as time is of the essence. Murray remarks, “It is vital for me to succeed right now. September is around the corner and I need to help my children enter a good school system because they have been such troopers through all of this. They maintained their grades and remained on the Honor Roll.” She offers special pricing to non-profits, churches and schools and is also willing to barter.
Murray hopes that by offering quality, professional service, she can work her way out of distress. “I only have one prayer. Dear Lord, help me to help myself so that I may be a blessing to my family and to others in need. Faith has carried me this far and I know it will take me further with lots of diligent work, creative marketing and integrity.”
A portion of all sales will benefit her Vision and Youth Charity, Project Ecology, Agriculture, Trade (www.projecteat.org). It will help fund seed capital to assist countless families in rural and urban areas become self sufficient through this youth entrepreneurship and training program in sustainable development, recycling, organic farming and trade. Murray said, “I have no doubt it will get better. God is in charge and I am sending out a decree for success and prosperity, because it is a blessing when you can work and help secure the needs of your family.”
