A West New York family experienced a bit of a shock when they found out that a home they purchased elsewhere in New Jersey was sitting on contaminated land – and they had to spend money to fix the problem.
Now, the family is hoping to make money with a series of children’s books they are writing.
In 2005, Derek and Gina Roche purchased a multifamily property in West New York with hopes that the rental income would one day help provide college tuition for their children. The family moved in, along with Derek’s ailing mother, and began making renovations.
By 2008, they decided to purchase an additional home in Pompton Lakes to expand living space and move closer to Gina’s family for assistance.
The Roches said they had perfect credit when they moved into the Pompton Lakes home and intended to refinance the house within a year.
“The books were one positive thing we could do at that moment that didn’t require us to borrow money from someone else.” – Gina Roche
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Although they installed a vapor mitigation system, the value of their home plummeted and real estate sales in the neighborhood became practically nonexistent.
Hundreds of people in the area were affected, many of whom (including the Roches) are now involved in a lawsuit against DuPont.
Tragedy strikes
At the same time, they lost renters in West New York and began encountering health problems on both sides of their family.
With money sunk into both homes, increased medical bills, extensive amounts of money borrowed from their families, a young daughter, and another child on the way, the family struggled to stay afloat.
Putting it to paper
The Roches said they held garage sales, sold everything of value, and considered “short selling” their home – but the numbers just didn’t work out.
While Derek was at the hospital with his brother (who had a brain tumor) in California, he began to write, including a few poems about their daughter Bella.
When he shared the writing with Gina, it sparked a conversation about a children’s book they had always wanted to write together.
In the midst of their discussion, they saw a story about Angela Logan, a woman selling “mortgage cakes” for $40 a pop to save herself from foreclosure.
“We both at the time said, ‘This is it,’ ” said Gina. “This is our mortgage cake. The books were one positive thing we could do at that moment that didn’t require us to borrow money from someone else.”
The Roches took inspiration from the adventures of their daughter Bella and set to work on what will become a line of seven children’s books.
Moving on
“The whole idea is crazy in the first place,” said Derek. “We’re very artistic and we’re dreamers. We plan on building this no matter what happens at this point.”
The Roches already have an idea for a screenplay, cartoon, shoes, and a “Bella the Great” area at Disney World.
Their first book, “Bella Goes Bump in the Night,” which is self-published, will be available in a few weeks on their website, www.bellathegreat.com. They are then hoping to peddle the books in local shops and send the finished book and other manuscripts to a major publisher who can take the project further.
“We take full responsibility for getting ourselves into this hole,” said Gina. “We realize we made a lot of really bad decisions and did not budget ourselves for bad things to happen.”
Both units in the West New York property are currently rented out. And although they had been hoping to hold onto it, that property is on the market right now because selling the house in Pompton Lakes isn’t an option.
Derek’s mom has moved back to California and is living with his grandmother.
“We try to stay focused on the positivity,” said Derek. “In spite of our awareness of our mistakes and the gravity of our situation, we are trying to do something very positive and creative out of this.”
For more information visit www.bellathegreat.com.
Lana Rose Diaz can be reached at ldiaz@hudsonreporter.com.