A viral TikTok is saving this Mainer from foreclosure

By Kathleen O’Brien, Bangor Daily News Staff

More than 250,000 people have toured the inside of Magan Reese’s home since she put it up for sale. 

The Exeter property went on the market on Oct. 11 with an asking price of $220,000. The three-bedroom, one-bathroom home sits on 70 acres, according to the online listing. 

Reese posted a video to TikTok for her more than 5,600 followers last week advertising the home, and it’s been watched by roughly 254,000 people and garnered 31,900 likes and nearly 2,000 comments as of Thursday.  

It was on the market for only about a week before an offer was accepted. The Zillow listing for Reese’s property shows the sale of the home is pending as of Oct. 18.

While Reese doesn’t know whether the buyers saw her video of the home, she said her real estate agent reported an uptick in interest and inquiries from as far away as Oregon after Reese posted it. 

“I definitely think the TikTok definitely had some level of impact for sure,” Reese said. 

The video followed a previous one Reese posted, in which she revealed she was entering foreclosure on her home. That TikTok garnered a wave of comments with words of support or advice for how she could save her home from foreclosure and buoy her financial standing, she said. Those comments encouraged her to speak openly with her bank about what options she had. 

“This is my first time going through something like this, and I didn’t know these are options that people have,” Reese said.

Reese’s videos and the response they generated show how precarious homeownership can be, especially for single- and lower-income owners. They also reveal the power social media can have in uniting people from across the country or world. 

The bank agreed to a short sale, Reese said, which happens when a mortgage lender agrees to allow the homeowner to sell a home for less than outstanding mortgage balance. 

A short sale is sometimes used as an alternative to foreclosure when a homeowner is struggling financially and can no longer afford their monthly mortgage payments, according to Al Butler, senior vice president and director of special assets at Camden National Bank. 

The sale price of Reese’s home satisfied her loan, she said.

Butler said the agreement is relatively uncommon, as he hasn’t seen a short sale since the onset of the pandemic in 2020. The practice was most common during the financial crisis of 2008, then he saw about one short sale annually in the years leading up to the pandemic. 

In the most recent cases, Butler said a short sale has worked in the lender’s favor and satisfied their debt because the value of real estate in Maine has grown so rapidly. 

While a short sale has little to no risk for a bank or homeowner, Butler said the two parties must be willing to cooperate for the agreement to work. 

“Most banks don’t want real estate and they don’t want to foreclose on people, so they’re looking for a resolution,” Butler said. “Uncooperative borrowers aren’t going to benefit from the short sale option. In fact, they probably won’t even be offered it.” 

Reese said she uses her TikTok account as “an outlet or a diary.” Her posts range in topic from celebrating her longstanding sobriety to chronicling her attempts to grow corn.

“I’ve met some amazing real life people through being vulnerable on the internet,” Reese said. 

Reese bought the home three years ago with the hope of creating a sustainable homestead on the property. However, she later discovered the home needed more work than she’d anticipated or could manage as a single mother. 

Reese is now taking a break from homeownership and plans to rent while she saves money and works toward her new goal of owning an apartment building. 

Through the process, Reese hopes her honesty and openness on TikTok helps break the negative stigma around foreclosures and encourage others who find themselves in similar situations to ask for help. 

“When you’re dealing with somebody like a landlord or the bank that has your mortgage, that can be super scary,” Reese said. “But, these big scary things don’t have to be so big and scary if you just reach out and take control of the situation.”

Are you struggling to afford your rent or mortgage in Maine? If so, we want to hear about your experience. Please email reporter Kathleen O’Brien at kobrien@bangordailynews.com.