We got an offer on our house this morning! It was the family from Friday night (the one's who's realtor left our door open). We got a full price offer, less a $6,000 allowance towards their closing costs. We are going to accept!!!
They want 60 day closing (not sure why) and at first DH was freaking out about it. Was worried we couldn't start building that late. I said well, the dang builder hasn't even gotten us the specs and pricing yet so we can get the 45 day approval process started with our bank, so at a minimum we are looking at mid July anyway. Then he called the builder and he was like "oh, end of July actually works much better for me". I can probably have your house done by November"!!
We are happy campers here right now :)
Sunday, May 29, 2016
Saturday, May 28, 2016
I'm ready for this ride to be over
Our realtor sent me a message late this afternoon that said "rumor has it an offer is on it's way - stay tuned!!". Apparently it's from the ones who toured last night. But, that's what she said last weekend, too, and then it never panned out. This roller coaster ride is so fun.....ya, right!
DH was finally able to fix our very squeaky living room floor. It's been squeaking for several years, now, just gradually getting worse and driving us nuts. He tried to fix it from above, inside the house and that seemed to help at first but then shortly it was right back to where it was. Today he finally crawled under the house, while I stood in the living room and made it squeak. Turns out it was the metal beams underneath (manuf. home) rubbing against some metal brackets. He (re-screwed) them all down (it's been 27 years we've lived here now) and just in a couple of spots, there is still a tiny squeak, but more over by the sofa, not where someone walks through the room to another room. We can live with that and feel so much better about showing the house now. I know if I was looking at a house and the floor squeaked that bad, it would be a big turn off to me. DH was literally covered in dust and dirt when he came out from under and good thing he wore a little face mask, too. But, it really didn't take him long, maybe 20 minutes to fix, so very worth the time and effort.
We will probably go ahead and replace the hot water heater soon, too, if we get no offer this weekend. It's really old and it's something we were going to replace this spring, even if we hadn't decided to sell. Better to replace before it goes bad, then deal with a big leak when it does (as happened with the one we had for years prior).
Our weather this weekend is gray and dreary. I just wish it would rain - lawn still needs it as well as all the plants and flowers. I keep looking at the weather forecast and the rain keeps getting pushed off another hour. Supposed to rain a bunch tomorrow too. Seems like our forecasts have been very off lately - used to be when the predicted rain, we got it. Now, most of the time it seems we don't get it or it's just a sprinkle.
DH was in our laundry room, taking off all his dirty clothes (from being under house) and I walked through the living room, thru the kitchen into the laundry room and said "didn't even hear me coming, did ya?!" That got a laugh out of him :)
DH was finally able to fix our very squeaky living room floor. It's been squeaking for several years, now, just gradually getting worse and driving us nuts. He tried to fix it from above, inside the house and that seemed to help at first but then shortly it was right back to where it was. Today he finally crawled under the house, while I stood in the living room and made it squeak. Turns out it was the metal beams underneath (manuf. home) rubbing against some metal brackets. He (re-screwed) them all down (it's been 27 years we've lived here now) and just in a couple of spots, there is still a tiny squeak, but more over by the sofa, not where someone walks through the room to another room. We can live with that and feel so much better about showing the house now. I know if I was looking at a house and the floor squeaked that bad, it would be a big turn off to me. DH was literally covered in dust and dirt when he came out from under and good thing he wore a little face mask, too. But, it really didn't take him long, maybe 20 minutes to fix, so very worth the time and effort.
We will probably go ahead and replace the hot water heater soon, too, if we get no offer this weekend. It's really old and it's something we were going to replace this spring, even if we hadn't decided to sell. Better to replace before it goes bad, then deal with a big leak when it does (as happened with the one we had for years prior).
Our weather this weekend is gray and dreary. I just wish it would rain - lawn still needs it as well as all the plants and flowers. I keep looking at the weather forecast and the rain keeps getting pushed off another hour. Supposed to rain a bunch tomorrow too. Seems like our forecasts have been very off lately - used to be when the predicted rain, we got it. Now, most of the time it seems we don't get it or it's just a sprinkle.
DH was in our laundry room, taking off all his dirty clothes (from being under house) and I walked through the living room, thru the kitchen into the laundry room and said "didn't even hear me coming, did ya?!" That got a laugh out of him :)
Gone?
We *think* the renters are now gone for good. Yesterday around noon their drug runner/supplier pulled out in his truck with their washer and dryer. Around 3pm the renters sister, who lived with them drove out of here as fast as she could on this short little road. Haven't seen anyone there since and last night, for the first time in like forever, there were no lights on in that house. We'll see, but hoping for a nice quiet weekend for a change.
We had a showing of our house last night. They were supposed to arrive between 6 and 6:15. They got here after 6:30 and stayed about 50 minutes. DH watches it on our camera system so we know when the get there and leave. Then we know we can go back home. It's not like we can just go shopping or out to eat or over to friends - we have to take the dogs with us, so we just drive over to nearby shopping center and wait in the parking lot, most times.
We were not happy when we got back to find the realtor had left our back door wide open! And the couple's little kid broke one of my yard decorations. Geez!!!!! DH watched the replay of their visit and it was strange. The kid, probably 6 or so was running around everywhere, I'm surprised that's the only thing she broke. While we can't hear what they were saying, you see a lot of body language and he didn't seem happy with any of it at all. The wife seemed to like the place. Half the time it seemed like maybe they were arguing, as she would walk away and wander around by herself. Weird that they spent so much time here, longest of any lookers. By the time they got to our shed and looked inside and saw the riding lawn mower the guy seemed to calm down and was making gestures like he was saying "oh....you don't have to push a mower over an acre of grass!". LOL. Who knows, but the leaving the door open really ticked me off. It's a good thing we were coming right back and not planning to be gone for awhile - or what if we had been at work all day or something. GRRR.
We had a showing of our house last night. They were supposed to arrive between 6 and 6:15. They got here after 6:30 and stayed about 50 minutes. DH watches it on our camera system so we know when the get there and leave. Then we know we can go back home. It's not like we can just go shopping or out to eat or over to friends - we have to take the dogs with us, so we just drive over to nearby shopping center and wait in the parking lot, most times.
We were not happy when we got back to find the realtor had left our back door wide open! And the couple's little kid broke one of my yard decorations. Geez!!!!! DH watched the replay of their visit and it was strange. The kid, probably 6 or so was running around everywhere, I'm surprised that's the only thing she broke. While we can't hear what they were saying, you see a lot of body language and he didn't seem happy with any of it at all. The wife seemed to like the place. Half the time it seemed like maybe they were arguing, as she would walk away and wander around by herself. Weird that they spent so much time here, longest of any lookers. By the time they got to our shed and looked inside and saw the riding lawn mower the guy seemed to calm down and was making gestures like he was saying "oh....you don't have to push a mower over an acre of grass!". LOL. Who knows, but the leaving the door open really ticked me off. It's a good thing we were coming right back and not planning to be gone for awhile - or what if we had been at work all day or something. GRRR.
Friday, May 27, 2016
Yay for Friday
My company also gave us today off, which is really nice. Usually we get it as a half day, plus Monday, but they like to give out extra perks. I tried to sleep in. Just can't do it lately. Too much stress, so when I wake up at 6 or so, I can't go back to sleep.
Our realtor said this weekend is usually slow/dead for showings. Ugh. Half of the ones that bring their clients through here don't even give her any feedback. The one's that do, say they liked the place, but....they are just starting their looking process (most common feedback) or they decided it was too far to commute to their job.
I have to go over to my mom's for a bit today. She needs a virus protection put on her computer. She has a subscription to Norton, that's on her old computer. Her new computer came with a different program for 30 days free, but that is about to run out and she's freaking out about it. She called Norton to ask how to transfer the program she's paid for and still has 6 months left and they gave her some runaround that there isn't a way to do it online and that Windows 10 is going to be discontinued in a few months anyway because there are too many problems with. Nothing I can find on the web about that at all, let alone right on Norton's website is a very helpful page with video instruction on how to transfer your subscription to a new device! For some stupid reason, after talking to this lady my mom wanted me to come over and hook her old computer back up. Are you kidding me?! Then she says that one of her neighbors figured out that their internet is slow because there is bad wiring in their mobile park. I said - well, is that for Comcast or Century Link internet? of course she didn't know. She might not even have the same internet service provider he is using. Hopefully I can quickly get Norton back on her new computer and not spend all afternoon at it.
Well, gotta get DH his morning egg sandwich made and then outside to water all the flowers. It was supposed to rain last night, but nope.
Our realtor said this weekend is usually slow/dead for showings. Ugh. Half of the ones that bring their clients through here don't even give her any feedback. The one's that do, say they liked the place, but....they are just starting their looking process (most common feedback) or they decided it was too far to commute to their job.
I have to go over to my mom's for a bit today. She needs a virus protection put on her computer. She has a subscription to Norton, that's on her old computer. Her new computer came with a different program for 30 days free, but that is about to run out and she's freaking out about it. She called Norton to ask how to transfer the program she's paid for and still has 6 months left and they gave her some runaround that there isn't a way to do it online and that Windows 10 is going to be discontinued in a few months anyway because there are too many problems with. Nothing I can find on the web about that at all, let alone right on Norton's website is a very helpful page with video instruction on how to transfer your subscription to a new device! For some stupid reason, after talking to this lady my mom wanted me to come over and hook her old computer back up. Are you kidding me?! Then she says that one of her neighbors figured out that their internet is slow because there is bad wiring in their mobile park. I said - well, is that for Comcast or Century Link internet? of course she didn't know. She might not even have the same internet service provider he is using. Hopefully I can quickly get Norton back on her new computer and not spend all afternoon at it.
Well, gotta get DH his morning egg sandwich made and then outside to water all the flowers. It was supposed to rain last night, but nope.
Thursday, May 26, 2016
This and That
Ya'll would be proud of me. The past couple of months I have been wasting less food! More leftovers used for lunches for me. When I buy a loaf of garlic bread, I cut it in half and put the other half in the freezer, instead of just throwing the whole thing in the oven, eating less than half and end up tossing the rest. I was going through my freezer and found where I had some time ago frozen half of a tuna casserole, so we had that for dinner one night. I recently made tuna casserole again for dinner and just as I'm about to put the whole dish in the oven, I remembered "hey, I should freeze half this!". So, now we have another dinner waiting in the freezer. Monday night we had a Stouffer's Lasagna for dinner, with some leftover and a piece of french bread leftover, so I put the lasagna in a plastic container and the slice of bead in a baggie and it was a great lunch at work Tuesday. Go me!
DH has managed to find a few moving supplies free. DD and her BF picked up the huge bags of packing peanuts and DH just went and got some pallets. While I know pallets are easy to come by, these are really nice, quality ones.
Drug dealing renters are still at the house, though who knows what they are sleeping and sitting on, since it appeared they took most of the furniture out Sunday. My guess is they are still staying there through the end of the month because they still have all their stolen stuff there to protect! They have a big shed and a shipping container on the property, full of stolen property, most likely. But they got a drug shipment in yesterday! The truck we know is their supplier came in. That guy and one of the renters boy's then walked to the other drug house behind us. From then on both houses were busier than ever all evening/all night with traffic. Slumlandords son was busy - coming out of his dad's shop every time, going over to the house behind us, then back to the shop. Glad to see he's making money and keeping busy while he's waiting for his trial........which by the way got delayed again. Now it's into July. Will it be quiet here on our street starting June 1st???? Only time will tell.
DH got a call today from the guy who owns the engine shop that we bought our racing engine from, years ago. He knows of someone looking for a used engine. Long story short, it will be a miracle if DH does sell it. He will hold on to it over taking a couple thousand less for it and of course I'm sure he expects more for it than someone is willing to pay. That being said, approximately $15,000 cash sure would be nice right about now. I'm not going to get my hopes up at all. He can never part with anything anyway and will find some excuse to keep it. I gave up long ago trying to get him to sell the stuff. Though maybe I should just put this little thought into his head.....so you'll just keep it and let it sit there for more years and years and then when you die, it'll just get sold as a lot with all your other stuff and basically not get anything for it by then?! But, I guess it's just a totally different mindset we have. If having that sit there makes him feel comfortable and happy, I guess then it's worth it to him to keep it. Me, I'd rather get rid of something I don't use, if it's worth money, and get something I would use and enjoy at this time in my life. I know part of his holding on to stuff is that he grew up with nothing and any little thing he did have (a toy, whatever) he had to share with his little brother. He even had to share his birthday's with him! They were 15 months apart in age and when it was DH's birthday (3 months before his little brother's) his mom would get his little brother presents, etc too or they would give DH a gift and tell him it was for both of them. Weird!
DH has managed to find a few moving supplies free. DD and her BF picked up the huge bags of packing peanuts and DH just went and got some pallets. While I know pallets are easy to come by, these are really nice, quality ones.
Drug dealing renters are still at the house, though who knows what they are sleeping and sitting on, since it appeared they took most of the furniture out Sunday. My guess is they are still staying there through the end of the month because they still have all their stolen stuff there to protect! They have a big shed and a shipping container on the property, full of stolen property, most likely. But they got a drug shipment in yesterday! The truck we know is their supplier came in. That guy and one of the renters boy's then walked to the other drug house behind us. From then on both houses were busier than ever all evening/all night with traffic. Slumlandords son was busy - coming out of his dad's shop every time, going over to the house behind us, then back to the shop. Glad to see he's making money and keeping busy while he's waiting for his trial........which by the way got delayed again. Now it's into July. Will it be quiet here on our street starting June 1st???? Only time will tell.
DH got a call today from the guy who owns the engine shop that we bought our racing engine from, years ago. He knows of someone looking for a used engine. Long story short, it will be a miracle if DH does sell it. He will hold on to it over taking a couple thousand less for it and of course I'm sure he expects more for it than someone is willing to pay. That being said, approximately $15,000 cash sure would be nice right about now. I'm not going to get my hopes up at all. He can never part with anything anyway and will find some excuse to keep it. I gave up long ago trying to get him to sell the stuff. Though maybe I should just put this little thought into his head.....so you'll just keep it and let it sit there for more years and years and then when you die, it'll just get sold as a lot with all your other stuff and basically not get anything for it by then?! But, I guess it's just a totally different mindset we have. If having that sit there makes him feel comfortable and happy, I guess then it's worth it to him to keep it. Me, I'd rather get rid of something I don't use, if it's worth money, and get something I would use and enjoy at this time in my life. I know part of his holding on to stuff is that he grew up with nothing and any little thing he did have (a toy, whatever) he had to share with his little brother. He even had to share his birthday's with him! They were 15 months apart in age and when it was DH's birthday (3 months before his little brother's) his mom would get his little brother presents, etc too or they would give DH a gift and tell him it was for both of them. Weird!
Wednesday, May 25, 2016
One more obstacle hurdled
I called yesterday and left a message for that attorney I had spoken with about our lien. He had said he would get back to me this week with an answer. He called me back at the end of the day and Good News! He will be able to file the lien avoidance! His concern had been with the requirement that the "homestead exemption" had to be claimed when we filed bankruptcy and it was not, because we didn't have any equity to protect. Well, he found out he just needs to add another motion to his filing to amend our bankruptcy filing to include the homestead exemption. This is all supposed to be done and gone by July 19th! WHEW! that is a huge relief. It will cost me about $1750, but better than $22,500, right?!
We have another showing of our home scheduled later this morning. While I am loving this spotless home, it is a bit exhausting to have to vacuum so often! Having to be so on alert with my phone is getting old too. I'm not a cell phone person, haha. Honestly, I'd almost rather not even have one, but in today's world and with work, it's a necessity.
We have another showing of our home scheduled later this morning. While I am loving this spotless home, it is a bit exhausting to have to vacuum so often! Having to be so on alert with my phone is getting old too. I'm not a cell phone person, haha. Honestly, I'd almost rather not even have one, but in today's world and with work, it's a necessity.
Monday, May 23, 2016
Good Riddance!
Some GREAT news yesterday......................the renter pulled out of here with his pick up and a trailer full of their furniture and crap!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
So, it appears it really is happening. After almost 3 years they are really leaving. They aren't 100% gone yet, but that was a great sign that they will be gone by the end of the month. One more week!
So, it appears it really is happening. After almost 3 years they are really leaving. They aren't 100% gone yet, but that was a great sign that they will be gone by the end of the month. One more week!
Sunday, May 22, 2016
Hoping
Yesterday was a better day, house showing wise. We had that 11am showing, so we went over to Tractor Supply to get dog food while that was going on. Right after we got back and DH was walking out to put the empty food bag in the garbage can someone drove up, looking at the house. They were just on their own, no realtor, and asked DH if they could take a look, so he said sure. He showed them around and they seemed super interested. I gave them our realtor's card. As they were driving away I got an email from our realtor that the 11am showing was seriously considering making an offer! Haven't heard anymore yet and now we have another showing scheduled this afternoon.
Keeping our hopes up and fingers crossed!
Keeping our hopes up and fingers crossed!
Friday, May 20, 2016
Muddling through it
We haven't had any more showings of the house since the 3 on Tuesday. Pretty depressing. Maybe the weekend will be better, as more people have time to go look? Makes us feel like we are never going to get out of here. We feel like we are now just holding on to the tiniest glimmer of hope that the renters are actually moving out at the end of the month. Slumlandord says they are - that the oldest son (drug addict/dealer) and daughter will be moving in with grandparents and the dad and his youngest son (drug addict/dealer/thief) are moving in with a friend in a nearby town. I guess that tells you what crappy people they are - can't even go rent another place. The stupid part is the dad has a good job! He works in the industry DH used to work in and it pays well and he works 5-6 days a week. At the very minimum he is at least making $50k a year. There are still at least 2 other adults that live there and he didn't know what they are doing. I really don't believe it will even happen. I'm sure there is some reason that will come up for them to stay another month, etc or they will figure out a way to buy it from landlord. We keep hoping we see them pull out with all their stuff. Like I told DH, if they do actually get out, they will wait until the very last hour. This is feeling like the longest 11 days until then, ever! I can't even begin to imagine how peaceful it might possibly begin to be around here, if they are gone. It's hard to even remember what it was like here before them.
I think DD will be home for a little while tomorrow. It's her BF's sister's birthday and they are going out to dinner with his family. DH found a bunch of big bags of free packing peanuts in a town near her, so they went and picked some up last night and will bring down with them. DH wants to keep the big trophies we have left over from son's racing days and figures big boxes with peanuts is probably best way to go to keep them from breaking during a move. We are going to try to get some big boxes from a local furniture store.
Our old cat went to live with DD last weekend! A big change for all of us, but she has wanted him (it's really her cat) since she moved out (but I wouldn't let her take him) and when we decided to move it was decided she would take him then. But recently, old kitty doesn't want to go outside much anymore and started peeing and then pooped in the house. Thankfully when he peed he just did it on the bath mat, that I could quickly wash. We do not want a litter box in the house while we are trying to sell (he's always been an outdoor cat) and since she was going to take him anyway, we decided it was a good time. He has adjusted really well. The first night he meowed all night, of course, but since then he has been fine and she is enjoying having him. He has no problem using the litter box and she has a big sized bathroom in her apartment, so had a good spot for the box. My only concern is they like to be gone a lot and go away on weekends and he needs medicine twice a day for his thyroid. We just discussed that and if they will be gone more than one night, she will use a boarding place. Prices in her area seem to run $14-17 a night, so not too bad.
Next week is the 3 day weekend, plus we close at noon on Friday, so a nice long weekend. If we make a sales goal by next Wednesday we will get all of Friday off. Keeping fingers crossed! Four whole days would be lovely. It's not like I don't have lots of vacation time I can use (I have like 5 weeks accrued), I'm just kinda hanging on to all of it, waiting to see what happens with possibly moving as I'm sure I'll want to use quite a bit then.
No real plans for this weekend. I do need to get some dog food and just found out there is a new Tractor Supply store closer than the one I have been going to, so that is handy. It's over near the Home Depot I go to all the time, so while we have to be out of the house tomorrow morning for the showing, we'll run over there and I'll get the food. Gives us something to do for that 45 minutes we have to be gone. It's supposed to rain all weekend, so it's sounding like a weekend to just stay inside and watch movies and tv shows on netflix. I will have to do some light cleaning - dust and vacuuming, of course.
I'm having to start taking my acid reflux medication daily again. I've been having terrible reflux this week. Stress?
I think DD will be home for a little while tomorrow. It's her BF's sister's birthday and they are going out to dinner with his family. DH found a bunch of big bags of free packing peanuts in a town near her, so they went and picked some up last night and will bring down with them. DH wants to keep the big trophies we have left over from son's racing days and figures big boxes with peanuts is probably best way to go to keep them from breaking during a move. We are going to try to get some big boxes from a local furniture store.
Our old cat went to live with DD last weekend! A big change for all of us, but she has wanted him (it's really her cat) since she moved out (but I wouldn't let her take him) and when we decided to move it was decided she would take him then. But recently, old kitty doesn't want to go outside much anymore and started peeing and then pooped in the house. Thankfully when he peed he just did it on the bath mat, that I could quickly wash. We do not want a litter box in the house while we are trying to sell (he's always been an outdoor cat) and since she was going to take him anyway, we decided it was a good time. He has adjusted really well. The first night he meowed all night, of course, but since then he has been fine and she is enjoying having him. He has no problem using the litter box and she has a big sized bathroom in her apartment, so had a good spot for the box. My only concern is they like to be gone a lot and go away on weekends and he needs medicine twice a day for his thyroid. We just discussed that and if they will be gone more than one night, she will use a boarding place. Prices in her area seem to run $14-17 a night, so not too bad.
Next week is the 3 day weekend, plus we close at noon on Friday, so a nice long weekend. If we make a sales goal by next Wednesday we will get all of Friday off. Keeping fingers crossed! Four whole days would be lovely. It's not like I don't have lots of vacation time I can use (I have like 5 weeks accrued), I'm just kinda hanging on to all of it, waiting to see what happens with possibly moving as I'm sure I'll want to use quite a bit then.
No real plans for this weekend. I do need to get some dog food and just found out there is a new Tractor Supply store closer than the one I have been going to, so that is handy. It's over near the Home Depot I go to all the time, so while we have to be out of the house tomorrow morning for the showing, we'll run over there and I'll get the food. Gives us something to do for that 45 minutes we have to be gone. It's supposed to rain all weekend, so it's sounding like a weekend to just stay inside and watch movies and tv shows on netflix. I will have to do some light cleaning - dust and vacuuming, of course.
I'm having to start taking my acid reflux medication daily again. I've been having terrible reflux this week. Stress?
Wednesday, May 18, 2016
Not feeling very positive today
After all the busy-ness and excitement of having 3 home showings yesterday, it's been a big let down that today is absolutely dead quiet. I had this big long whiney blog post all typed out. Not going to post it. I don't like feeling like this and it will pass. Let's just sum it up that I am tired. So tired of feeling all my life like there is some invisible force just trying to drag me down and keep me from getting ahead with anything in life. Anytime I do get a little bit ahead or in the right direction, it's like "Oh no! you aren't worthy of that kind of life or success. Get back down here!"
After dealing with the devastation of DH's family betrayal, then DH's health and bankruptcy, we decided to be content with where we are here. Put a lot of money into our home the next few years to make it nice and a place we didn't mind calling home and now we can't even have that. We didn't ask for 3 years of drug dealers, drug addicts and criminals to invade our life and make our home pretty much worthless, not to mention unsafe.
I'm just tired of it all and having a bad day :(
After dealing with the devastation of DH's family betrayal, then DH's health and bankruptcy, we decided to be content with where we are here. Put a lot of money into our home the next few years to make it nice and a place we didn't mind calling home and now we can't even have that. We didn't ask for 3 years of drug dealers, drug addicts and criminals to invade our life and make our home pretty much worthless, not to mention unsafe.
I'm just tired of it all and having a bad day :(
Quiet today
Yesterday was kind of exhausting! I think it was just all the anticipation of showing the house. The first two showings were about 45 minutes apart, so we had to be gone for almost 2 hours. First we drove out and around to the new housing development that butts up to our neighborhood. This is the development that DH got to know the project manager and found out they were getting robbed nightly. Fairly nice houses, 10 feet apart, instead of 5 feet apart. A little better quality than the other cheap track houses that most of the developments are. They all have "kind of" 3 car garages. Basically they are very very small 2 car garage, with a smaller (you couldn't get a car in there, unless maybe you had a smart car LOL) 3rd garage door.
Then we drove to the other side of the road and went and visited the guys from the other drug neighborhood. Just to kill some time. One of the guys is retired, so we chatted with him. His house sits back aways and he has lots of nice landscaping that we were admiring, so he took us on a little tour and to the back, where he has so many different bushes, trees, flower plants, etc. Lots of different fruit trees. It was really nice. He and his wife have lived there a very long time, in fact his wife's parents live next door, where she grew up. Sad that they have to also live like we do - drugs/crime/homeless addicts going on all day/night.
Then through our camera systems we saw that the second showing was leaving, so we went and grabbed some dinner through a drive-thru and went back home. Had about 2 hours before we had to leave again for the 7pm showing. Those folks stayed almost 40 minutes.
The only feedback I've gotten this morning was one of the realtors (not sure which one) got back to our realtor and said "positive comments about house and grounds. Her buyers are just starting the looking process and not ready to make a decision yet"
So far, no showings scheduled for today. Guess yesterday was it! LOL. We do still have one scheduled for Saturday. I'm sure while the people who look will like the home and property, obviously the junkyard neighbor will be a deterrent, that's for sure. The house around the corner that is for sale (used to be the foreclosed house, that had to get all remodeled because the druggies destroyed it) is still for sale at $400k. It's been almost a month that it has been listed. Will be interesting to see if they drop the price soon. Our realtor said she typically knows within a couple of weeks if she should adjust the price. Which tells me the flippers of this house have a lot into it, so need to get that price out of it, maybe.
After yesterday's excitement all day, today seems like of like a let down. This is all sure a roller coaster ride. I hate roller coasters and I'm too old for this :)
Then we drove to the other side of the road and went and visited the guys from the other drug neighborhood. Just to kill some time. One of the guys is retired, so we chatted with him. His house sits back aways and he has lots of nice landscaping that we were admiring, so he took us on a little tour and to the back, where he has so many different bushes, trees, flower plants, etc. Lots of different fruit trees. It was really nice. He and his wife have lived there a very long time, in fact his wife's parents live next door, where she grew up. Sad that they have to also live like we do - drugs/crime/homeless addicts going on all day/night.
Then through our camera systems we saw that the second showing was leaving, so we went and grabbed some dinner through a drive-thru and went back home. Had about 2 hours before we had to leave again for the 7pm showing. Those folks stayed almost 40 minutes.
The only feedback I've gotten this morning was one of the realtors (not sure which one) got back to our realtor and said "positive comments about house and grounds. Her buyers are just starting the looking process and not ready to make a decision yet"
So far, no showings scheduled for today. Guess yesterday was it! LOL. We do still have one scheduled for Saturday. I'm sure while the people who look will like the home and property, obviously the junkyard neighbor will be a deterrent, that's for sure. The house around the corner that is for sale (used to be the foreclosed house, that had to get all remodeled because the druggies destroyed it) is still for sale at $400k. It's been almost a month that it has been listed. Will be interesting to see if they drop the price soon. Our realtor said she typically knows within a couple of weeks if she should adjust the price. Which tells me the flippers of this house have a lot into it, so need to get that price out of it, maybe.
After yesterday's excitement all day, today seems like of like a let down. This is all sure a roller coaster ride. I hate roller coasters and I'm too old for this :)
Tuesday, May 17, 2016
Let the show begin
First thing this morning I got an email from our realtor that there was another showing scheduled for 7pm this evening. Then after I got to work another one for this afternoon at 4pm. Wooo! Let's hope we end up getting more than one offer. That's how most homes in our market area are selling lately.
I decided to just come back home from work, since I wouldn't make it home before the 4pm showing and I wanted to make sure all the little things DH is oblivious to were neat and tidy. Like he wouldn't even notice that the duvet cover is all rumpled because a dog had been sleeping on the bed. So, I got home and quickly ran the vacuum (I already dusted this morning before I left). DH got the lawn freshly mowed - but not before the dang lawn mower wouldn't start! C'mon universe - just give us a break. LOL! He got it running (thinks it's going to need a new battery) thankfully and the lawn is all mowed now. All the blinds are open, everything is just right. So, unless we get another message that another showing got added, we have a couple hours before we have to get out of here, with the dogs, for a half hour. We'll just run over to Wendy's and get us some dinner, while we are waiting.
As I was typing this out the realtor sent me another email - another showing scheduled for 3:15 today. Now I'm really glad I got back home. Keep your fingers crossed for us :)
I decided to just come back home from work, since I wouldn't make it home before the 4pm showing and I wanted to make sure all the little things DH is oblivious to were neat and tidy. Like he wouldn't even notice that the duvet cover is all rumpled because a dog had been sleeping on the bed. So, I got home and quickly ran the vacuum (I already dusted this morning before I left). DH got the lawn freshly mowed - but not before the dang lawn mower wouldn't start! C'mon universe - just give us a break. LOL! He got it running (thinks it's going to need a new battery) thankfully and the lawn is all mowed now. All the blinds are open, everything is just right. So, unless we get another message that another showing got added, we have a couple hours before we have to get out of here, with the dogs, for a half hour. We'll just run over to Wendy's and get us some dinner, while we are waiting.
As I was typing this out the realtor sent me another email - another showing scheduled for 3:15 today. Now I'm really glad I got back home. Keep your fingers crossed for us :)
DD got the job!
Welllllll....... we think she got the job! She got a call yesterday morning from someone (not the guy who did the interview) from the company. She started out the conversation that she wanted to verify what her address is (her permanent home address or address at college), wanted a copy of her latest transcript, told her they needed to set her up with a drug test, were going to mail her some information, what date was she available to start (she had already told the guy who interviewed her this) and then the lady said "and the salary is $40,334, is that ok?".
DD was so excited by it all and then after she got off the phone she realized the lady never actually said "you have the job" or "we'd like to offer you the position". I thought it all kind of strange and vague. Usually the person who interviewed you (or at least someone from HR) calls back and starts out by saying something to the effect of "we'd like to offer you the position"....and the conversation goes from there. She emailed back the guy who interviewed her to ask him if this means she is getting the job (with passing drug test, of course), but hasn't heard back yet. So, we think it's all good news coming about the job, but she'll feel better when it's official.
Last night we decided to re-price our home to market as is to homeowners, and drop the marketing to developers/builders. We gave it 3 weeks and only one called our realtor, like a week ago. Within an hour of her changing the price (this was like 9pm) she had been contacted and scheduled a viewing for this coming Saturday. Let's hope that is the start of many more!
While the price listed for developers would have been amazing, it was really a very long shot and we gave it 3 weeks. If we had been able to start this process earlier, we could have given it more time, but if we don't get sold soon, we lose out on our window to build a home in summer/early fall. Winters aren't for building where we are going and if we can't, then we'll have to wait until next spring. As it is, I don't even see how we will be able to time all this to work out, LOL. The builder is dragging his heels getting us the final estimate, so we can get the process started with our bank approving it. That itself will take 45 days.
I just have to keep reminding myself - just take it all one step at a time.
DD was so excited by it all and then after she got off the phone she realized the lady never actually said "you have the job" or "we'd like to offer you the position". I thought it all kind of strange and vague. Usually the person who interviewed you (or at least someone from HR) calls back and starts out by saying something to the effect of "we'd like to offer you the position"....and the conversation goes from there. She emailed back the guy who interviewed her to ask him if this means she is getting the job (with passing drug test, of course), but hasn't heard back yet. So, we think it's all good news coming about the job, but she'll feel better when it's official.
Last night we decided to re-price our home to market as is to homeowners, and drop the marketing to developers/builders. We gave it 3 weeks and only one called our realtor, like a week ago. Within an hour of her changing the price (this was like 9pm) she had been contacted and scheduled a viewing for this coming Saturday. Let's hope that is the start of many more!
While the price listed for developers would have been amazing, it was really a very long shot and we gave it 3 weeks. If we had been able to start this process earlier, we could have given it more time, but if we don't get sold soon, we lose out on our window to build a home in summer/early fall. Winters aren't for building where we are going and if we can't, then we'll have to wait until next spring. As it is, I don't even see how we will be able to time all this to work out, LOL. The builder is dragging his heels getting us the final estimate, so we can get the process started with our bank approving it. That itself will take 45 days.
I just have to keep reminding myself - just take it all one step at a time.
Monday, May 16, 2016
Overwhelmed
We had a productive, but also pretty relaxing weekend. Saturday morning DH changed the oil in my car and put a new air filter on. Got that done before the rain, but glad of the rain this weekend. The lawn needed it. I made a cake, took a little nap, watched a movie. Yesterday I cleaned house, make a trip to Costco, while DH worked out some more in the shop packing and organizing.
We are both starting to feel completely overwhelmed by this potential move. We have so much stuff. If it were just regular household stuff to move, it wouldn't be much of a problem, but he basically has a whole shop to also move. We have plans figured out on how we think it best to do it, but the timing of it all is baffling us.
Rather than hiring a moving company (ie big bucks) DH wants to buy a used 53 ft dry van trailer. He has found a place that sells them for about $4000. He's putting just about everything on pallets and will use our good neighbors forklift to load it all. A friend has a semi and we'd pay him to haul it for us. But we still have too much stuff to even fit in that! We also have an open car trailer that he will pull with his pick up and that will take some of the stuff, as well as the back of his pick up, my car (small suv style, which will most likely have the dogs) will have as much as it can. DD's boyfriend has a big pick up with a canopy and that will get loaded too. DH thinks he will probably have to make one trip back here with the open trailer to get all of it out of here.
While the house and shop are being built the trailer with majority of stuff can just sit there. The shop would be built first and really shouldn't take much longer than a month (he says he can build the whole house in 3 months) and then we can get all the stuff in the shop. The stuff that isn't in the trailer? We'll have to rent some type of storage unit temporarily.
We have decided the best option of where to live while the house is being built is in a camper trailer on the property. Finding a place to rent for 6 months (the typical building time) would be a challenge. First to find a 6 month lease and also that would take our two big dogs. Rents in the area, for a house that would take dogs, run about $1000-$1500 a month. I looked online at used camper trailers. Found many in the $5000-$8000 range, which is the same that rent would cost us for 6 months. Let's just buy a used camper trailer to live in on the property.
We can sell the camper trailer once our house is done. I'm sure we'd be able to get out of it close to what we paid for it, months earlier. Basically, we will have lived for 6 months rent free and once sold that money can go toward our mortgage balance. Same with the moving trailer. Even if DH can only sell it for $3000, it basically will end up costing us $1000 to use that to move (along with hiring truck to get it there). And that money from the re-sale can also go towards our mortgage.
But, here's where I can't wrap my head around the planning/timing of it all. We really don't have any extra money right now, a couple thousand (that will most likely be used towards this lien problem) is all. I might have $2500 more at the end of June, if we get our bonus. Say we sell our house and closing is in 30 days. We don't get our money to fund all this until day of closing.....AND we have to be out of this place by then?? How the heck do we manage all that? It will take DH a day or two just to load everything. We have to have somewhere to take it all! Can we close on our property/construction loan on the same day? We had a bad experience with trying to sell our home about 23 years ago. We sold this same place in about 3 weeks. The buyers were financing FHA. The closing was set for a Monday or Tuesday, so we moved out that weekend before. The day of closing get get a call that FHA decided not to approve their loan because they didn't like our road maintenance agreement. The buyers couldn't get conventional financing and the deal fell through. We couldn't afford a mortgage and the rent of where we had just moved to, so we had to move back here and just didn't even try to resell it. I am SO leary of having to move out before it's a done deal. It's all overwhelming me and I don't know what to do. I'm sure there are logical answers, but it's hard to figure them out when you start getting all panicky and worried.
We are both starting to feel completely overwhelmed by this potential move. We have so much stuff. If it were just regular household stuff to move, it wouldn't be much of a problem, but he basically has a whole shop to also move. We have plans figured out on how we think it best to do it, but the timing of it all is baffling us.
Rather than hiring a moving company (ie big bucks) DH wants to buy a used 53 ft dry van trailer. He has found a place that sells them for about $4000. He's putting just about everything on pallets and will use our good neighbors forklift to load it all. A friend has a semi and we'd pay him to haul it for us. But we still have too much stuff to even fit in that! We also have an open car trailer that he will pull with his pick up and that will take some of the stuff, as well as the back of his pick up, my car (small suv style, which will most likely have the dogs) will have as much as it can. DD's boyfriend has a big pick up with a canopy and that will get loaded too. DH thinks he will probably have to make one trip back here with the open trailer to get all of it out of here.
While the house and shop are being built the trailer with majority of stuff can just sit there. The shop would be built first and really shouldn't take much longer than a month (he says he can build the whole house in 3 months) and then we can get all the stuff in the shop. The stuff that isn't in the trailer? We'll have to rent some type of storage unit temporarily.
We have decided the best option of where to live while the house is being built is in a camper trailer on the property. Finding a place to rent for 6 months (the typical building time) would be a challenge. First to find a 6 month lease and also that would take our two big dogs. Rents in the area, for a house that would take dogs, run about $1000-$1500 a month. I looked online at used camper trailers. Found many in the $5000-$8000 range, which is the same that rent would cost us for 6 months. Let's just buy a used camper trailer to live in on the property.
We can sell the camper trailer once our house is done. I'm sure we'd be able to get out of it close to what we paid for it, months earlier. Basically, we will have lived for 6 months rent free and once sold that money can go toward our mortgage balance. Same with the moving trailer. Even if DH can only sell it for $3000, it basically will end up costing us $1000 to use that to move (along with hiring truck to get it there). And that money from the re-sale can also go towards our mortgage.
But, here's where I can't wrap my head around the planning/timing of it all. We really don't have any extra money right now, a couple thousand (that will most likely be used towards this lien problem) is all. I might have $2500 more at the end of June, if we get our bonus. Say we sell our house and closing is in 30 days. We don't get our money to fund all this until day of closing.....AND we have to be out of this place by then?? How the heck do we manage all that? It will take DH a day or two just to load everything. We have to have somewhere to take it all! Can we close on our property/construction loan on the same day? We had a bad experience with trying to sell our home about 23 years ago. We sold this same place in about 3 weeks. The buyers were financing FHA. The closing was set for a Monday or Tuesday, so we moved out that weekend before. The day of closing get get a call that FHA decided not to approve their loan because they didn't like our road maintenance agreement. The buyers couldn't get conventional financing and the deal fell through. We couldn't afford a mortgage and the rent of where we had just moved to, so we had to move back here and just didn't even try to resell it. I am SO leary of having to move out before it's a done deal. It's all overwhelming me and I don't know what to do. I'm sure there are logical answers, but it's hard to figure them out when you start getting all panicky and worried.
Thursday, May 12, 2016
Got Stuff?
I've always known my DH was a bit OCD. Now I also know my DH is a hoarder. Yep, he is. He has not been able to get rid of just about anything and it's really come to light with this packing to move process. I honestly never paid much attention to all what he has out in the garage/shop and our separate large shed. I've known it's getting more crowded, as each year goes by, but he's so dang organized with it all, you don't realize it was hoarding! Thankfully, it's not affecting the inside of our house. I guess his funny brain just knows that is off limits!
But, even with some things that are inside the house, that we no longer need or use, I am having trouble getting him to part with. I finally got him to part with a student desk that had been in DD's room at one time (before she had bought a different one at IKEA). He loaded it into the back of my car, but I didn't really have room to add the rolling student sized chair, so I put that in my car later, for another trip. Well, my stop at the nearby drop off trailer was no good - they don't take furniture, I'd have to go to the actual store, like I did with the desk. I didn't make it there for a couple of days and DH used my car to go visit his friend a couple of times......guess where the chair ended up? Back in our shop. He's keeping it. Oh goodness me.
Most of it, I just laugh at and tell myself he'll have more room for all this stuff in his new shop. But dang!
Today he walked in with 2 boxes of old dishware. One set was all the dishes we had used when we had our motorhome, years ago. He wanted it all ran through the dishwasher and then he's going to repack in his bins. The other set was my old dishes that I kept in case DD wanted them when she moved out. She didn't/doesn't. I told him we don't need to really keep any of this. Maybe a few pieces if he has to rough it in a trailer while the house is being built. I said let's just give it to Goodwill. Immediately I could see his face tighten up. He couldn't do it. His suggestion was let's save it and whether we rent something while the house is being built or a camper trailer, I can leave my good dishes packed and just use this stuff.......Fine.....(but still don't need both sets!).
I remember a few years ago I was cleaning out some things in the house to take to Goodwill. I had put things in boxes, as I was going along. One of the items was a decoration for Easter. I don't decorate for Halloween and Easter any more and didn't need it taking up space. He actually took that Easter thing out of the box and put it back in the cupboard! Eventually I just took it to Goodwill with other stuff, when he wasn't looking.
He has been able to throw away a few things, a very few things, that were broken, at least. He did actually get rid of all the old cans of paint. But it's just a drop in the bucket to all the stuff he has and feels he has to keep. I was messaging with DD and said if I die before DH, when he dies, she has my permission to just have someone just come and take all that stuff to get rid of it! Because that is seriously what I will do if DH dies before me. I have no plans to keep it, no desire to go through it all and try to sell it or give it away in pieces or groups (it would take years). Someone is just going to come and haul it all away and be done with it. I'll have no need for screws and bolts in every size, 100 plastic plant pots, every kind of tool there is, the list goes on and on. LOL.
But, even with some things that are inside the house, that we no longer need or use, I am having trouble getting him to part with. I finally got him to part with a student desk that had been in DD's room at one time (before she had bought a different one at IKEA). He loaded it into the back of my car, but I didn't really have room to add the rolling student sized chair, so I put that in my car later, for another trip. Well, my stop at the nearby drop off trailer was no good - they don't take furniture, I'd have to go to the actual store, like I did with the desk. I didn't make it there for a couple of days and DH used my car to go visit his friend a couple of times......guess where the chair ended up? Back in our shop. He's keeping it. Oh goodness me.
Most of it, I just laugh at and tell myself he'll have more room for all this stuff in his new shop. But dang!
Today he walked in with 2 boxes of old dishware. One set was all the dishes we had used when we had our motorhome, years ago. He wanted it all ran through the dishwasher and then he's going to repack in his bins. The other set was my old dishes that I kept in case DD wanted them when she moved out. She didn't/doesn't. I told him we don't need to really keep any of this. Maybe a few pieces if he has to rough it in a trailer while the house is being built. I said let's just give it to Goodwill. Immediately I could see his face tighten up. He couldn't do it. His suggestion was let's save it and whether we rent something while the house is being built or a camper trailer, I can leave my good dishes packed and just use this stuff.......Fine.....(but still don't need both sets!).
I remember a few years ago I was cleaning out some things in the house to take to Goodwill. I had put things in boxes, as I was going along. One of the items was a decoration for Easter. I don't decorate for Halloween and Easter any more and didn't need it taking up space. He actually took that Easter thing out of the box and put it back in the cupboard! Eventually I just took it to Goodwill with other stuff, when he wasn't looking.
He has been able to throw away a few things, a very few things, that were broken, at least. He did actually get rid of all the old cans of paint. But it's just a drop in the bucket to all the stuff he has and feels he has to keep. I was messaging with DD and said if I die before DH, when he dies, she has my permission to just have someone just come and take all that stuff to get rid of it! Because that is seriously what I will do if DH dies before me. I have no plans to keep it, no desire to go through it all and try to sell it or give it away in pieces or groups (it would take years). Someone is just going to come and haul it all away and be done with it. I'll have no need for screws and bolts in every size, 100 plastic plant pots, every kind of tool there is, the list goes on and on. LOL.
Wednesday, May 11, 2016
Ready for some good news, please
Another stressful week so far. DH was still trying to work with Bank of America on the lien. He had talked to a supervisor, who gave him "escalated case #" and appeared to act like this would get taken care of. But, no, it's still the runaround tactics. Seriously, what a crappy job to have. So, we gave up and yesterday morning I emailed the attorney our preliminary title he needed, to make sure we didn't have any other liens we didn't know about (we don't). He called me back when I was on my way to work.
Get this - we probably won't be able to get this lien removed by the bankruptcy judge. Why? because since we were underwater in our home equity when we filed bankruptcy there was no need for our attorney to use the "homestead exemption" when filing. Apparently, that little box would have had to have been checked in filing in order to file a lien avoidance now. So, let me get the logic here straight: IF we had had some equity in our home at the time of filing, then our attorney would have had to claim a "homestead exemption" in order for us to keep our home and keep the equity in our home (up to a certain limit per state) from being sold and used to pay back creditors. IF we had had equity in our home, we could now re-file to have the lien removed, no problem. But since we didn't have any equity (in the negative, in fact) and were actually much worse off financially then someone who had equity in their home, we now have to pay the lien judgement. What the heck kind of sense is that?
So, the attorney says he needs some time to research this situation and see if there is anything he can do for us. He is going to a bankruptcy attorney convention next week and will bring up this situation with all these lawyers as he also has another client just came into the same boat. He won't be able to give me an answer for another 2 weeks. Sigh. I'm pretty much just resigning myself to the fact that we will have to pay this out of our home proceeds. Hopefully we will get out of our home what our realtor expects and instead of actually coming out ahead, we'll be where we originally thought we'd be. It is what it is. I'm tired of making myself sick about it.
With my planned future mortgage amount, we will pay off in about 16 years. Since we don't have any other debt, our mortgage will be about 33% of my current income. Still well under the 43% criteria for total debt to income ratio that the banks use. I am also not budgeting in the 10% of salary bonus program we have at work as part of my income. While it's never not been paid out, I still do not plan for it in my annual budgeting. Also, I plan to take at least part of any future raises (I typically get every year, 2 years max) and add to my monthly mortgage payments.
Unless some miracle happens in the next 5 days and a developer/builder makes us an offer, we have decided that next Monday we will have the realtor put the listing for the home/property as is and priced accordingly. A couple of weeks ago she had said $300k. I am hoping we can get $270k out of it and then we will be ok with paying off that lien and the proceeds we need for our new down payment. With wanting to build our new home, we are kind of in a time crunch to get this process started and done before winter sets in, otherwise we'll be waiting until next spring to build and probably lose our option to purchase the land if we have to wait that long.
Get this - we probably won't be able to get this lien removed by the bankruptcy judge. Why? because since we were underwater in our home equity when we filed bankruptcy there was no need for our attorney to use the "homestead exemption" when filing. Apparently, that little box would have had to have been checked in filing in order to file a lien avoidance now. So, let me get the logic here straight: IF we had had some equity in our home at the time of filing, then our attorney would have had to claim a "homestead exemption" in order for us to keep our home and keep the equity in our home (up to a certain limit per state) from being sold and used to pay back creditors. IF we had had equity in our home, we could now re-file to have the lien removed, no problem. But since we didn't have any equity (in the negative, in fact) and were actually much worse off financially then someone who had equity in their home, we now have to pay the lien judgement. What the heck kind of sense is that?
So, the attorney says he needs some time to research this situation and see if there is anything he can do for us. He is going to a bankruptcy attorney convention next week and will bring up this situation with all these lawyers as he also has another client just came into the same boat. He won't be able to give me an answer for another 2 weeks. Sigh. I'm pretty much just resigning myself to the fact that we will have to pay this out of our home proceeds. Hopefully we will get out of our home what our realtor expects and instead of actually coming out ahead, we'll be where we originally thought we'd be. It is what it is. I'm tired of making myself sick about it.
With my planned future mortgage amount, we will pay off in about 16 years. Since we don't have any other debt, our mortgage will be about 33% of my current income. Still well under the 43% criteria for total debt to income ratio that the banks use. I am also not budgeting in the 10% of salary bonus program we have at work as part of my income. While it's never not been paid out, I still do not plan for it in my annual budgeting. Also, I plan to take at least part of any future raises (I typically get every year, 2 years max) and add to my monthly mortgage payments.
Unless some miracle happens in the next 5 days and a developer/builder makes us an offer, we have decided that next Monday we will have the realtor put the listing for the home/property as is and priced accordingly. A couple of weeks ago she had said $300k. I am hoping we can get $270k out of it and then we will be ok with paying off that lien and the proceeds we need for our new down payment. With wanting to build our new home, we are kind of in a time crunch to get this process started and done before winter sets in, otherwise we'll be waiting until next spring to build and probably lose our option to purchase the land if we have to wait that long.
Monday, May 9, 2016
It's only Monday
It was a really nice weekend. DD was here from first thing Saturday morning through dinner on Sunday. She went grocery shopping with me Saturday morning and then after we came home and put away the groceries we went down to the Farmer's Market. Super nice and sunny day. Very crowded but we had fun looking at everything and eating some cheesecake ice cream bars (yum!). I didn't buy anything, but she bought a cute suncatcher and a plaque with a saying about coffee. My treat to myself was spending the $11 bucks to take my car through the car wash on the way home. Apparently everyone had the same idea because we got in line, which didn't look too bad and then went around the corner to the back, where you enter and it was solid cars in every lane. LOL. I think we only had to wait 20 minutes or so, though.
Saturday we went out to dinner for Mexican food and then watched a movie on Netflix that evening. Sunday she made blueberry muffins for breakfast and we just hung out at home all day. Nice and relaxing. I called my mom in the morning and chatted with her awhile. DD got me a Kohl's gift card and a cute teapot. Mother's Day has become kind of a bittersweet day for me the past few years. DD is amazing and makes me feel very loved and special and then on the other hand I feel like a terrible mom for DS. Makes the day hard. I went through the day yesterday pretty well, but today at work, just working away, all of a sudden I got all teary eyed and sad.
Someone either tried to steal something from good neighbor's place today or was there to case it out for future reference. DH watched the replay on the cameras. He had been out in the garage so didn't see this car come in very slow. Stopped at our first gate, then drove slow and stopped in front of good neighbor's driveway, then went to the culdesac and turned around and then turned in good neighbors for a minute, backed out and left. 4 minutes later he came back and went all the way down good neighbors driveway. The dogs were outside then and started barking so DH went outside and walked over to fence between us to see what dogs were barking at. By then whoever it was realized they were being watched and quickly drove out and away. DH thinks its probably someone looking for packages to steal, which has become very common in our area. Good neighbor also has his extra pick up truck parked outside, and it's possible they were going to try to siphon gas or break into it. He will be so screwed when we leave. He has a camera system he bought, like a year or two ago, but like with everything he does, it's never gotten done. He is the king of procrastination, that's for sure. He's probably going to have to do something when we move.
I am loving the spotless house, though I wish someone would come and look at it. LOL. We're are giving the listing for the developer network another week and if no interest at all, we'll probably list it as just a single home on acreage, priced accordingly, without trying to appeal to a developer who could put multiple homes here.
Saturday we went out to dinner for Mexican food and then watched a movie on Netflix that evening. Sunday she made blueberry muffins for breakfast and we just hung out at home all day. Nice and relaxing. I called my mom in the morning and chatted with her awhile. DD got me a Kohl's gift card and a cute teapot. Mother's Day has become kind of a bittersweet day for me the past few years. DD is amazing and makes me feel very loved and special and then on the other hand I feel like a terrible mom for DS. Makes the day hard. I went through the day yesterday pretty well, but today at work, just working away, all of a sudden I got all teary eyed and sad.
Someone either tried to steal something from good neighbor's place today or was there to case it out for future reference. DH watched the replay on the cameras. He had been out in the garage so didn't see this car come in very slow. Stopped at our first gate, then drove slow and stopped in front of good neighbor's driveway, then went to the culdesac and turned around and then turned in good neighbors for a minute, backed out and left. 4 minutes later he came back and went all the way down good neighbors driveway. The dogs were outside then and started barking so DH went outside and walked over to fence between us to see what dogs were barking at. By then whoever it was realized they were being watched and quickly drove out and away. DH thinks its probably someone looking for packages to steal, which has become very common in our area. Good neighbor also has his extra pick up truck parked outside, and it's possible they were going to try to siphon gas or break into it. He will be so screwed when we leave. He has a camera system he bought, like a year or two ago, but like with everything he does, it's never gotten done. He is the king of procrastination, that's for sure. He's probably going to have to do something when we move.
I am loving the spotless house, though I wish someone would come and look at it. LOL. We're are giving the listing for the developer network another week and if no interest at all, we'll probably list it as just a single home on acreage, priced accordingly, without trying to appeal to a developer who could put multiple homes here.
Friday, May 6, 2016
Glad this week is over
Last weekend was my "girls weekend" with the old high school best friends. So much fun!! The place we stayed at was super nice and a very relaxing atmosphere. We all met there around 3pm (though two got caught in traffic from their direction and were a half hour late). One of the rooms was ready so we just dropped our bags in there and then went down to sit in the outside seating area near the bar/restaurant. It was a gorgeous sunny day. We just sat and talked, with some drinks (lemonades for me and another that doesn't drink alcohol). So many memories and things long forgotten about, but remembered by one or the others and then the memory would come back. We sure did a lot of stupid things in high school! LOL. I had seen 3 of the ladies a couple of years ago but the other one I had not seen in 30 years. Everyone looks exactly the same. We were mentioning how all the men seem to change so much you hardly recognize them, but most all the women look the same after all these years. We had a light dinner, while sitting out there. One of my friends and I shared a sandwich, so my dinner only cost $13. My share of the 2 rooms we got was $73, so a pretty darn cheap weekend.
After we ate we went upstairs and got situated in our rooms. A couple had brought photo albums and yearbooks. Again we were reminded of what silly things we did back then, who we dated, etc. We decided to take advantage of the "great room" in the hotel/lodge and hung out there for the rest of the evening. A nice area to sit and be comfortable and lots of complimentary snacks. I think I finally got to bed around 1:30 am. WAY past my bedtime. We got down to have breakfast around 9:30 am and then all parted ways and headed home at 11:30. So much fun and laughs. So glad I got a chance to do that. It was great to get a break from home and all the stresses we've been dealing with.
Because the stress didn't lessen any throughout this week. I've felt crummy (stomach) and tired all week. I got a call from our BK attorney on Monday that she doesn't file lien avoidances, so she had to refer me to another attorney. She wanted to call him first, to give him our info, so he'd know why I was calling. She didn't connect with him until late Tuesday afternoon. I called his office first thing Wednesday morning and left my info and no return call. So, I called again this morning. Of course when he tried calling me back an hour or so later, my dang cell phone wasn't working for some reason. it would ring, but I couldn't answer. DH was on the house phone (with Bank of America about this same issue) so I grabbed his cell phone and called back.
The good news is it pretty much sounds like we have a cut and dried case. While, yes the lien is valid because it was filed prior to our filing date, because it is a judgement loan and because we were considered $45,000 underwater with our secured mortgages, this lien will hold no water to stay. Apparently a lien isn't allowed to put us even more underwater.
In the meantime, while DH was trying yet again with BoA he asked to speak to a supervisor and apparently got one. He gave DH an "escalation case number". Mr Supervisor then asked for us to fax him something showing the debt was included in our bankruptcy. The only thing I have is the actual discharge piece of paper, as well as a file folder, but it's just all the stuff we gave our attorney. So, I called our original BK attorney, but of course got her voice mail. Then I got online to see if there was any way to access BK documents. Yes, there is. I was able to create an account, put in our case # and see all the documents related to the filing our of bankruptcy. That was kind of interesting to see, but not the most user friendly website. It cost me about $3 of fees to "print" the copies, but worth the time savings of waiting on our attorney. I printed out our discharge and the list of creditors that got the notice. I also printed out the page from our filing that listed the debt and amount as well as the pages that showed what we owed and what our home was valued at at the time, well underwater. Ok, but I'm working from home today and we don't have a fax machine anymore. (does anyone besides banks even use those anymore?). So I typed out a cover page, highlighted the parts of the documents that referenced BoA and scanned it all in my scanner. Then I found a free fax service online. In the meantime DH called back BoA - letting them know what the attorney had just told us and and got another fax # - why I don't know, but I tried to send the fax to both faxes. The first one didn't go through, the second one did. I tried just dialing the first number with our home phone, to make sure it was a fax # signal and just kept getting a busy signal. Finally it wasn't busy so I tried resending the fax again, but the free fax service only allows 2 faxes per day (even though the first fax didn't go through) so then I had to sign up for their free trial so I could try to send it again. Good Grief! But it finally went through. Now we will keep our fingers crossed that BofA will not keep wasting everyone's time and just release the lien. I'm certainly not holding my breath though. Most likely we'll have to spend the $1800 for the attorney but dang, it's pretty much a given that the court will order it removed (and the attorney said he's only had 1 that didn't in the last 8 years). And I need to remember to cancel the free 30 day trial of the fax service, so I don't get charged $10 next month.
DD just called me. She just finished her job interview and she felt like it went really well. They didn't really interview her with many questions (they had already done a phone interview) but mostly spent quite a bit of time telling her about the job. Then had her meet with with a couple of others from the department and she said one of them told her she interviews really well. Then she was walked to the front desk as as she was going out the security guard said "well, that was a really long interview (she was there an hour and a half) - I'll bet you get the job". All good signs. I told her if they take her for a tour or have her meet any of the other employees, that is always a good sign they like you. So, we are all keeping our fingers crossed she has a job waiting for her when she graduates next month.
She will be coming home tomorrow morning for Mother's Day weekend, so I'll get to spend some time with her for a couple of days, which will be really nice.
After we ate we went upstairs and got situated in our rooms. A couple had brought photo albums and yearbooks. Again we were reminded of what silly things we did back then, who we dated, etc. We decided to take advantage of the "great room" in the hotel/lodge and hung out there for the rest of the evening. A nice area to sit and be comfortable and lots of complimentary snacks. I think I finally got to bed around 1:30 am. WAY past my bedtime. We got down to have breakfast around 9:30 am and then all parted ways and headed home at 11:30. So much fun and laughs. So glad I got a chance to do that. It was great to get a break from home and all the stresses we've been dealing with.
Because the stress didn't lessen any throughout this week. I've felt crummy (stomach) and tired all week. I got a call from our BK attorney on Monday that she doesn't file lien avoidances, so she had to refer me to another attorney. She wanted to call him first, to give him our info, so he'd know why I was calling. She didn't connect with him until late Tuesday afternoon. I called his office first thing Wednesday morning and left my info and no return call. So, I called again this morning. Of course when he tried calling me back an hour or so later, my dang cell phone wasn't working for some reason. it would ring, but I couldn't answer. DH was on the house phone (with Bank of America about this same issue) so I grabbed his cell phone and called back.
The good news is it pretty much sounds like we have a cut and dried case. While, yes the lien is valid because it was filed prior to our filing date, because it is a judgement loan and because we were considered $45,000 underwater with our secured mortgages, this lien will hold no water to stay. Apparently a lien isn't allowed to put us even more underwater.
In the meantime, while DH was trying yet again with BoA he asked to speak to a supervisor and apparently got one. He gave DH an "escalation case number". Mr Supervisor then asked for us to fax him something showing the debt was included in our bankruptcy. The only thing I have is the actual discharge piece of paper, as well as a file folder, but it's just all the stuff we gave our attorney. So, I called our original BK attorney, but of course got her voice mail. Then I got online to see if there was any way to access BK documents. Yes, there is. I was able to create an account, put in our case # and see all the documents related to the filing our of bankruptcy. That was kind of interesting to see, but not the most user friendly website. It cost me about $3 of fees to "print" the copies, but worth the time savings of waiting on our attorney. I printed out our discharge and the list of creditors that got the notice. I also printed out the page from our filing that listed the debt and amount as well as the pages that showed what we owed and what our home was valued at at the time, well underwater. Ok, but I'm working from home today and we don't have a fax machine anymore. (does anyone besides banks even use those anymore?). So I typed out a cover page, highlighted the parts of the documents that referenced BoA and scanned it all in my scanner. Then I found a free fax service online. In the meantime DH called back BoA - letting them know what the attorney had just told us and and got another fax # - why I don't know, but I tried to send the fax to both faxes. The first one didn't go through, the second one did. I tried just dialing the first number with our home phone, to make sure it was a fax # signal and just kept getting a busy signal. Finally it wasn't busy so I tried resending the fax again, but the free fax service only allows 2 faxes per day (even though the first fax didn't go through) so then I had to sign up for their free trial so I could try to send it again. Good Grief! But it finally went through. Now we will keep our fingers crossed that BofA will not keep wasting everyone's time and just release the lien. I'm certainly not holding my breath though. Most likely we'll have to spend the $1800 for the attorney but dang, it's pretty much a given that the court will order it removed (and the attorney said he's only had 1 that didn't in the last 8 years). And I need to remember to cancel the free 30 day trial of the fax service, so I don't get charged $10 next month.
DD just called me. She just finished her job interview and she felt like it went really well. They didn't really interview her with many questions (they had already done a phone interview) but mostly spent quite a bit of time telling her about the job. Then had her meet with with a couple of others from the department and she said one of them told her she interviews really well. Then she was walked to the front desk as as she was going out the security guard said "well, that was a really long interview (she was there an hour and a half) - I'll bet you get the job". All good signs. I told her if they take her for a tour or have her meet any of the other employees, that is always a good sign they like you. So, we are all keeping our fingers crossed she has a job waiting for her when she graduates next month.
She will be coming home tomorrow morning for Mother's Day weekend, so I'll get to spend some time with her for a couple of days, which will be really nice.
Wednesday, May 4, 2016
I just don't get it
I just do not understand the court/justice system, whatsoever. They continually just let all these criminals (many with gun charges) out with barely a slap on the wrist. And they get arrested again and same result, over and over.
Take our junkyardslumlandlord neighbor's son. He has spent time in prison before, at least once that we know of. He beat his pregnant girlfriend up, years ago. He is a drug dealer, a drug user, you name it. He was recently arrested, again, charged with possession with intent and he had a gun on him. The prosecutor has been assuring us that he is going to get 4-5 years, because he has "enough points" from all his arrests. His dad recently got him out on bail (bail only set at $20,000, so for $2000 bucks a guy who has no problem having a gun is wandering around our community), about a month before his trial. In between then and trial are some court hearings he must show up to. Of course he took off and didn't show up so now had a warrant for FTA. Cops found him (at the renters at end of our street) last week. Ok, so you'd think he'd just have to sit in jail now until his trial, right? I mean why let someone out again, that you know is just going to run? Nope, he got let out again last night. No additional bail, nothing. Just let out. And guess where he went? Right back to his dad's (he went and picked him up) of course. And of course he will be an FTA for his next court date, which had to get rescheduled to a later date, of course, since he wasn't showing up while he was out on bail.
Yesterday afternoon we had to deal, yet again, with the maggot (looks to be around 50 years old) who spends all his time in this neighborhood buying his drugs and stalking his ex, who depending what week it is, is either living with her new boyfriend, at the renters, or at her parents down the street (she is like 40 year old). She has no contact orders against her by this man, yet he keeps coming after her and her new BF. She has gotten arrested twice in past couple of months on the n/c orders. So, this lowlife speeds down our little street, spins around in the gravel culdesac, starts honking his horn. Then backs out and stop in front of our good neighbors, then pulls into the culdesac again, them backs out again and stops in front of our gate and gets out and someone from the renters goes out into the culdesac and is yelling at him to leave and he's yelling back. All this is going on for about 5 minutes. I had just turned down our street, as I had run to the store. He is blocking our driveway. At the same time DH had had enough of watching/listening to all this the past 5 minutes and he is coming out. As soon as the guy saw our dog heading towards him he jumped back in the car. DH went up to his window and said get the F out of here now. The guy is obviously high. Tries to argue with DH about getting off of our property (we own the road in front of our house - the other 2 neighbors have an easement to use it to access their property). Then he threatens DH that he better not sleep at night. The guy finally leaves and by the time I get back inside our fence and parked DH is on the phone to 911 reporting that this guy threatened him.
An hour later a deputy shows up, but is too lazy to get out of his car, so he calls DH and says "what am I out here for?" By then DH was very calm and told him what happened (and that we have been dealing with this guy for a long time now) and the cop says "What do you want me to do about it?". Now, we are familiar with this cop. He is a complete asshole. Even other deputies have said this. The guys in the other neighborhood had a bad interaction with him a few months ago and wrote up formal complaints against him. So then this cop spends the next 2 minutes lecturing DH. Tells him we get enough of the sheriff's resources, they can't be out here 24/7. This has been going on in our neighborhood for 30 years, it's nothing new, etc. Basically tells DH he had no business being out on OUR property! That any arrests made out of here are just small quantities. DH let him talk and didn't interrupt. Then DH started to reply and he kept interrupting DH and then DH blew a gasket on the guy. Told him is most certainly hasn't been going on 30 years. We've lived here 28 years and certainly would know what is going on in our neighborhood and little private road in front of our house. We used to leave doors unlocked, for Christ's sake. It's been going on 3 years, ever since the renters moved in. Said the two arrests the past two weeks weren't related to small quantities - they were for dangerous felon's with warrants.
Then one of the guys from the other neighborhood came over. That's when he reminded us of their interaction with this same cop. They cannot stand him and won't even deal with him anymore, if he gets dispatched to their neighborhood on a call they make. They just call back dispatch and say they are requesting a different deputy.
Instead of our usual "update" email (it goes to a Sgt, 2 deputies, and a prosecutor) we have been asked to keep sending in with license plate #'s, descriptions, etc, DH just sent an email that said we are DONE. We are heading into our 4th year of this crap and just keep being told to "be patient". At this point, especially with the arrests recently (in past 2 weeks) made at renters of felons who had gun charges, "patience" is not more important then our safety and well being. We do not need to be lectured by a deputy, acting like this is our fault.
Please pray for us that we can actually get our house sold and leave this hell hole. It's all feeling very draining and we aren't feeling much hope right now.
Take our junkyardslumlandlord neighbor's son. He has spent time in prison before, at least once that we know of. He beat his pregnant girlfriend up, years ago. He is a drug dealer, a drug user, you name it. He was recently arrested, again, charged with possession with intent and he had a gun on him. The prosecutor has been assuring us that he is going to get 4-5 years, because he has "enough points" from all his arrests. His dad recently got him out on bail (bail only set at $20,000, so for $2000 bucks a guy who has no problem having a gun is wandering around our community), about a month before his trial. In between then and trial are some court hearings he must show up to. Of course he took off and didn't show up so now had a warrant for FTA. Cops found him (at the renters at end of our street) last week. Ok, so you'd think he'd just have to sit in jail now until his trial, right? I mean why let someone out again, that you know is just going to run? Nope, he got let out again last night. No additional bail, nothing. Just let out. And guess where he went? Right back to his dad's (he went and picked him up) of course. And of course he will be an FTA for his next court date, which had to get rescheduled to a later date, of course, since he wasn't showing up while he was out on bail.
Yesterday afternoon we had to deal, yet again, with the maggot (looks to be around 50 years old) who spends all his time in this neighborhood buying his drugs and stalking his ex, who depending what week it is, is either living with her new boyfriend, at the renters, or at her parents down the street (she is like 40 year old). She has no contact orders against her by this man, yet he keeps coming after her and her new BF. She has gotten arrested twice in past couple of months on the n/c orders. So, this lowlife speeds down our little street, spins around in the gravel culdesac, starts honking his horn. Then backs out and stop in front of our good neighbors, then pulls into the culdesac again, them backs out again and stops in front of our gate and gets out and someone from the renters goes out into the culdesac and is yelling at him to leave and he's yelling back. All this is going on for about 5 minutes. I had just turned down our street, as I had run to the store. He is blocking our driveway. At the same time DH had had enough of watching/listening to all this the past 5 minutes and he is coming out. As soon as the guy saw our dog heading towards him he jumped back in the car. DH went up to his window and said get the F out of here now. The guy is obviously high. Tries to argue with DH about getting off of our property (we own the road in front of our house - the other 2 neighbors have an easement to use it to access their property). Then he threatens DH that he better not sleep at night. The guy finally leaves and by the time I get back inside our fence and parked DH is on the phone to 911 reporting that this guy threatened him.
An hour later a deputy shows up, but is too lazy to get out of his car, so he calls DH and says "what am I out here for?" By then DH was very calm and told him what happened (and that we have been dealing with this guy for a long time now) and the cop says "What do you want me to do about it?". Now, we are familiar with this cop. He is a complete asshole. Even other deputies have said this. The guys in the other neighborhood had a bad interaction with him a few months ago and wrote up formal complaints against him. So then this cop spends the next 2 minutes lecturing DH. Tells him we get enough of the sheriff's resources, they can't be out here 24/7. This has been going on in our neighborhood for 30 years, it's nothing new, etc. Basically tells DH he had no business being out on OUR property! That any arrests made out of here are just small quantities. DH let him talk and didn't interrupt. Then DH started to reply and he kept interrupting DH and then DH blew a gasket on the guy. Told him is most certainly hasn't been going on 30 years. We've lived here 28 years and certainly would know what is going on in our neighborhood and little private road in front of our house. We used to leave doors unlocked, for Christ's sake. It's been going on 3 years, ever since the renters moved in. Said the two arrests the past two weeks weren't related to small quantities - they were for dangerous felon's with warrants.
Then one of the guys from the other neighborhood came over. That's when he reminded us of their interaction with this same cop. They cannot stand him and won't even deal with him anymore, if he gets dispatched to their neighborhood on a call they make. They just call back dispatch and say they are requesting a different deputy.
Instead of our usual "update" email (it goes to a Sgt, 2 deputies, and a prosecutor) we have been asked to keep sending in with license plate #'s, descriptions, etc, DH just sent an email that said we are DONE. We are heading into our 4th year of this crap and just keep being told to "be patient". At this point, especially with the arrests recently (in past 2 weeks) made at renters of felons who had gun charges, "patience" is not more important then our safety and well being. We do not need to be lectured by a deputy, acting like this is our fault.
Please pray for us that we can actually get our house sold and leave this hell hole. It's all feeling very draining and we aren't feeling much hope right now.
Monday, May 2, 2016
6 years later
We are still dealing with the lien that, unbeknownst to us, had gone on our property a few months before we filed bankruptcy. Bank of America is just giving us the total run around. Every time you call (their "legal team dept") you get a different person and a different answer. Though each person (and the 2 collectors they tried to refer us back to) has said they are not trying to collect on the debt anymore, they show it written off in our bankruptcy. Today's runaround answers now are leading that they just want us to offer them a settlement to make the lien go away. DH told them if anyone's getting money out of this it will be an attorney to handle it, not them. The debt was included in our bankruptcy.
A call last week to the county, because I wanted to see actual documents for the lien filing, not just the 2 page piece of paper that is just the judgement that we owe the bank the money. Apparently, BofA didn't even really file the lien, from what I can gather, and what our BK attorney said. The county court just automatically attaches it to real property.
What also infuriates me is that we went to our BK attorney, to file bankruptcy AND for her legal expertise. Why in the world would she not have told us to check and see if there are any liens on our home? Obviously with all the debt and getting sued by the companies we owed money to, there was apparently (not that we knew this) possibility of liens happening. Not to mention it would have been more money for her at the time.
So, I have a message into our BK attorney to get this process started. From what I gather reading, we will have to file a motion to re-open our BK case and then file a lien avoidance. It sounds like it won't be a problem, just takes time, of course. At the time the value of our home was well than we owed on our mortgage and home equity loans (the voluntary liens) as well as the debt owed to BoA (the involuntary lien), so it shouldn't be a problem to get the avoidance issued.
Depending on how quickly we sell our home, this could still be an issue. I did just read that it might be possible to have the escrow company hold the funds for the lien, while we are going through the legal process. That way, a sale could still go through. If we can get what our realtor is expecting out of our place, that shouldn't be an issue for us to do that. I have our realtor checking into that possibility, should the need arise.
I know it will all get figured out. It's just extremely frustrating to have to have this added stress. Like DH says, BofA could release the lien. Someone there has that authority, especially knowing the debt was listed and included in our BK and that we will go to court now anyway, to have it released. Just a waste of everyone's time and the attorney gets to keep making money.
A call last week to the county, because I wanted to see actual documents for the lien filing, not just the 2 page piece of paper that is just the judgement that we owe the bank the money. Apparently, BofA didn't even really file the lien, from what I can gather, and what our BK attorney said. The county court just automatically attaches it to real property.
What also infuriates me is that we went to our BK attorney, to file bankruptcy AND for her legal expertise. Why in the world would she not have told us to check and see if there are any liens on our home? Obviously with all the debt and getting sued by the companies we owed money to, there was apparently (not that we knew this) possibility of liens happening. Not to mention it would have been more money for her at the time.
So, I have a message into our BK attorney to get this process started. From what I gather reading, we will have to file a motion to re-open our BK case and then file a lien avoidance. It sounds like it won't be a problem, just takes time, of course. At the time the value of our home was well than we owed on our mortgage and home equity loans (the voluntary liens) as well as the debt owed to BoA (the involuntary lien), so it shouldn't be a problem to get the avoidance issued.
Depending on how quickly we sell our home, this could still be an issue. I did just read that it might be possible to have the escrow company hold the funds for the lien, while we are going through the legal process. That way, a sale could still go through. If we can get what our realtor is expecting out of our place, that shouldn't be an issue for us to do that. I have our realtor checking into that possibility, should the need arise.
I know it will all get figured out. It's just extremely frustrating to have to have this added stress. Like DH says, BofA could release the lien. Someone there has that authority, especially knowing the debt was listed and included in our BK and that we will go to court now anyway, to have it released. Just a waste of everyone's time and the attorney gets to keep making money.
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