Willow Tufano, Florida 14-Year-Old, Buys House With Money Made Off Of Foreclosure Crisis

In some places, home values have plummeted so far that even a teenager can get into the housing market. And no, that teenager isn't Justin Bieber.

Willow Tufano, a Florida 14-year-old, recently purchased her first home, NPR reports. Tufano split the $12,000 cost of the house with her mother, but she says she plans to buy mom out by the time she's 18 and put her name on the title. Though Tufano's story may sound outlandish, she isn't the first teen to buy a house; in May 2010, one Ohio 18-year-old bought her first home using cash she'd saved up from state fair winnings, according to the Cleveland Plain-Dealer.

But Tufano likely had a lot more cheap houses to choose from than the Ohio teen. Though the nation as a whole has suffered from the foreclosure crisis, Florida has been particularly hard hit. The state saw an especially robust housing boom in the years leading up to the bust and when the bubble burst, Florida home values came crashing down. Seventeen of the top 25 metro areas for foreclosure rates are in Florida, according to an August report from the Center for Housing Policy.

Indeed, Florida has an extremely high foreclosure rate, with one out of every 363 homes in foreclosure in January, according to RealtyTrac.

The huge number of foreclosures in Tufano's state helped her obtain enough money to ultimately purchase her house. She saved up cash she made through helping investors sell the stuff evicted homeowners left after they moved out of their foreclosed homes, according to NPR.

But Tufano's story is an outlier in a foreclosure crisis that has had a devastating effect on many of the country's and children. As the jobs and housing crisis has hit American families, more and more of them are being pushed into dire circumstances such as living in cars, according to CBS 60 Minutes.

In Florida, residents may be cautiously optimistic. Home prices rose in January in most of South Florida, but that may not indicate a robust recovery. At the beginning of 2010 and 2011, it appeared that home prices had stabilized, but the comebacks didn't stick and the region is still in the midst of its worst economic recovery in multiple generations and possibly since the Great Depression, according to the Miami Herald.

Yet despite its foreclosure problem, Florida is experiencing gains elsewhere. The states hit hardest by the housing collapse led the jobs recovery from August through December, according to Bloomberg.

Comments

[chvy9900]

06:28 PM on 09/18/2012

That young lady did a very smart thing. She thought outside of the box. The problem with these stupid teenagers today is all they do is listen to music and get in trouble, but that little 14 year old white girl is smart for what she did. The rest of the teens need to be like her

[thegreatdaveo]

03:59 PM on 10/15/2012

Why was it important for you to point out that she is white?

[hordesaw]

05:48 PM on 03/12/2012

you people are cracking me up, she got free stuff to sell to make the money to help her get into that house.give me all kinds of free stuff to sell and i would make that kind of money easily. it was connections that got her what she has, not hard work. get a clue.

[momlee2000]

02:47 PM on 09/28/2012

She didn't get free stuff, except on stuff she got from the curb. Her mother is a real estate agent, but the kid got the money by herself. Good for her!

Fantastic she has a supportive parent. That is very important. My scuzzy mother would have tried to stop me first, tried to get control of any money second, and lastly, she'd have tried to spend it on herself. I fought with her almost to the day she died.

[nnanciejean]

07:05 AM on 03/12/2012

Congratulations to this bright young lady. Wish more people had her determination and drive.

[libertymen]

08:18 AM on 03/12/2012

Her mom is buying the house.
She is a minor.now.
She can be on the deed i guess.

[momlee2000]

02:48 PM on 09/28/2012

No. For now, she isn't. Her mother will sign the houses over to her when she turns eighteen.

[GWBear]

03:56 PM on 03/11/2012

This is a poorly written and defined story.... Under 18 cannot sign contracts, regardless of who put the nonet into this deal..... Contract is not even legal in four years, as original is not legal in the first place. It's a cute story, but is a red herring.

[Giverny]

01:40 AM on 03/12/2012

I believe it can be done by using a trust, the mother purchases the property but a trust is set up to name the daughter as co- owner.

[cuteliberalchick]

03:25 PM on 03/11/2012

Good for this kid.She will be rich woman one day.

[Mailman]

02:17 PM on 03/11/2012

A future 1%er, go after her now.

[libertymen]

08:19 AM on 03/12/2012

Thats kind of a nonsensical statement.

[liguyusa]

02:15 PM on 03/11/2012

I would suspect that a house selling for $12,000 is not in a good area or needs a lot of work or a combination of both. I hope it all works out for them, but I know from experience that being a landlord comes with a lot of potential problems, including tenants who don't pay on time or pay at all, or, going several months without rent when you are between tenants. But, with a total of $12,000 on the line, who knows? It may be worth the gamble.

[MoneyMan2000]

01:53 PM on 03/11/2012

She is well on the way to paying her mother back. Assuming she splits the rental income with her mom after taxes she could be whole owner before her sixteenth birthday. Good for her and others who follow in her footsteps.

[jktejas]

02:19 PM on 03/11/2012

Exactly! And if, for example, she did pay her mother back by her 16th birthday, it will be because her mother, as administrator, will have a deed drawn up by an attorney where funds will be transferred from her daughter's account, which is under the mother's jurisdiction, to the mother's account, either by lump sum or perhaps by annul, bi-annual etc. payments. And if she did manage to pay her mother back while still a minor, her mother would still be the legal guardian of her estate (meaning the property) until she came of legal age.

[jel3800]

01:50 PM on 03/11/2012

of course her mom is the legal and real co-owner but that does not deminish the effort and foresight of this girl.
Let her enjoy her status for now...we will all hare her soon enough if she continues to work, plan and succeed - then become wealthy, despised and resented

[catgale1123]

01:50 PM on 03/11/2012

Im also reading these comments that say young minors cannot sign legal documents, whatever! When ever I had to go to the hospital at thirteen to 18 at CHOP I had to sign my name that I was accepting help from the hospital ( I think after all the Munchausen by Proxy cases came out now they decided to ask older kids) I also had an IRA at 15 and had to sign legal documents tax documents, so maybe you guys are thinking of something else.

[frank day]

02:15 PM on 03/11/2012

No, contracts with minors are not enforceable.

[nicholearaptor]

06:57 PM on 10/13/2012

Nope, we're not. You cannot legally sign a contract to own a house until you're 18. The only one thinking of other contracts is you.

[catgale1123]

01:43 PM on 03/11/2012

Good for her! Make the money, buy a house, shake your head at your pregnant or binge drinking high school friends while you enoy life for real.

[mazzy1]

01:29 PM on 03/11/2012

she'll be very rich one day..Good for her

[francny]

01:22 PM on 03/11/2012

The way I see it is that this young lady is one smart cookie. She saw that people leaving their foreclosed homes were leaving everything behind. She saw an opportunity to help other investors make money by offering to the banks to clean out the homes and made a profit on the things they sold. She then used that money to invest in a home with her mother. Apparently her mother was the signer on the documents which does not mean the 14 yr old does not own half of the house. This is a young lady who is thinking ahead and has the makings of being one very smart businesswoman. Don't be surprised if she starts investing in other foreclosed properties. I give her much credit for thinking about her future and spending her time productively instead of getting into trouble. Leave the girl alone. Granted HP doesn't win any high marks for an incomplete story. They need to hire better editors.

[jktejas]

01:33 PM on 03/11/2012

I agree with you. There really is no sensationalism here except that created by the Huffington Post playing on people's resentment. In the early part of the 20th Century it was called "Yellow Journalism" and it is still practiced by cheap tabloids.....and the Huffington Post.

[Susan Osterhout Troiano]

01:20 PM on 03/11/2012

Whoa, some of these comments amaze me how people jump to conclusion and say dumb things. People, go back and read this story. Common sense says the mother owns the property, and that the 14 year old shares half of that house with her, and she wants to buy mom out by the time she becomes 18. Oh she earned her money from helping an investor sell off stuff people left behind. Think before typing, oh wait, you did and this is why your post came out unintelligent.

[momlee2000]

02:51 PM on 09/28/2012

I've been researching this girl. You are correct. She also gets stuff from yard sales, charity places and off street curbs. She resells it

She gets permission of the people who own the houses and shares the money with them.

[jktejas]

12:56 PM on 03/11/2012

I'm surprised at those who believe that a fourteen year old cannot own property. If that was true parents, grandparents, etc. would not be able to leave their estates to their minor children. Minors cannot control their assets, sign contracts or make independent decision regarding them. An administrator is usually designated through wills or court appointed. A parent can buy property and litterly give half of it to a child as owner, meaning the child's name is on the deed as owner......the parent is the administrator. If the child inherited money, the legal administrator for the child, usually the parent, but not always, can invest it in a home or some other commodity. But the child is definitely designated as the legal owner. When I was a minor I modeled professionally and did some professional TV and my mother had to sign off on everything or I couldn't even get my paycheck.