After
losing our home because of Westhaven, we lived w/my mom & her husband for a
few months. It was stressful. 4 adults, 1 kid, 5 dogs & 1 cat, in a 3
bedroom home, was far from ideal. We
were grateful for the room, but desperately needed our own space.
When a
tiny apartment, beneath my brother went up for rent, we jumped. We knew that this was going to be short
term. We only needed to stay long enough
to find something else, but to also not be crowded anymore. I was happily pregnant with Bryleigh a few months
after moving in and we knew, for certain, this was only going to be a year
lease.
After
our year was up, we were excited to move into our new home, which we purchased
on land contract. It was quick for us
b/c we wanted to be out of the TPS district before Cadence started school and
we needed something bigger b/c we had 2 kids now!
Our home
was a modular (trailer) and though it was only 5 yrs old at the time, it had
the walls w/the strips in it. We decided
to pull all the strips out, fill them, sand them and paint the walls. We did all of the rooms except the master
bath & master bedroom. It was a
tedious task and so we wanted to get the rooms we spent the most time in, done
first.
Recently,
we even painted the ugly wood trim to a bright white. We put new flooring in the living room,
dining room, hall bath & 3 bedrooms.
We tore the carpet out of our room & the master bath and started
pulling and filling strips in our walls.
New light fixtures through 90% of the house and whenever I walked in, it
made me smile!
We were
excited for the next step of remodeling b/c even though the work portion of it
was going to suck, I wanted a sanctuary in my room. Lots of chocolate colors, with black out
blinds, new bedroom furniture and a thick carpet my toes would squish into.
We have
lived here 8 yrs. In April, the person
we were buying the house from texted me and asked me to contact him that
particular evening. He wanted to know if
we had found financing yet. When we
bought the house in 09, we signed a 3 yr land contract, which said after 3 yrs,
we would get our own financing. Before
the 3 years was up, he contacted me and said, you know, interest rates are bad
right now and you guys always pay on time, so don’t worry about getting
financed right now. Just sign something
that you will stay another 3 years.
So, I
did.
Before
those 3 yrs ended, I started looking for financing. Because the house was not on foundation, we
could not find someone to lend to us. We
kept looking and I let him know as much.
He said, no big deal, don’t worry about it. In Jan I asked how much was left on the
house. We were going to start trying to
get financed, again. We had paid almost
½ the mortgage. I was excited! Well we got busy with life and I only ½
looked into it, so I assumed him reaching out to talk was to follow up with the
call I had made to him in Jan.
When I
called him that evening, he asked if we had found financing and I told him, I hadn’t
really looked into it. He told me he was
very ill and he wasn’t sure what was going to happen to him. And if he died his wife was incapable of
taking care of the monthly pymts and taxes, etc. (we pay the taxes every month
in our house pymt) because she doesn’t understand finances and stuff.
I
explained we had done all this work to the house and we didn’t want to move our
kids out of their district, etc. he said
‘well, I’m not trying to screw you guys or anything but I just want this done
b/c I’m sick’.
So I
started to look into it….2 wks later Greg killed himself. My life was consumed by that and I most
certainly didn’t think about the house financing while I was spending every
free moment w/my mom.
He
texted me right after the funeral asking about the financing. I explained my step dad had killed himself
and I hadn’t even looked into it but if he preferred, we could just move out
b/c if we couldn’t get it and he died, then what? Even though he said I had a few months to
try, he was already texting me 3 wks later.
He req’d that I call him that evening.
So, we
did. This time Dennis talked to him on
speaker. He again informed us of his
kidneys shutting down, this time adding the drs said he COULD have as little as
6 mos left. My mouth fell open. I didn’t realize how bad it was and really
started to panic. I mean, we had tried
in the past to get financing and we were turned away, now what? He passes away and she quits paying?! We’d lose everything. We have paid close to $100,000 since we moved
in on taxes, house payments and lot rent.
$100,000. Who in the hell wants
to walk away from that?!
After about 10 mins of him telling us he
didn’t want to screw us out of anything he said how mad he was b/c he wanted to
put a sink in by his pool and he couldn’t b/c of our house was still in his
name.
I
appreciated that was an issue. He wanted
to do his thing and this was hindering that.
I felt bad, but he was the one that told us we always paid on time and
it wasn’t a big deal, he ALWAYS said, no don’t worry about it, you always pay on
time – it’s fine.
I hadn’t really looked into it anymore b/c the
months that I had looked into it, we couldn’t find anything. He told us not to worry about it – so I
didn’t.
But we
have kids to think about and making sure they have a home that allows them to
continue going to the school that has helped them is detrimental. In the past, there were numerous times he
told he would just let it go back to the bank if we didn’t up the land
contract.
I
started panicking when we hung up. What
was he going to do? Would he quit making
the payments we were sending him and then we would get kicked out? I didn’t know what to do or think. I put all my effort into finding
financing. Then came June, and again, he
was texting us asking where we were at w/financing. Again, we informed him we were having a hard
time finding someone that would finance a manufactured home. AND he even gave us the name of someone and
we immediately called & they were out of business.
Were these
empty threats or was he serious? At that
point, we decided to start looking for a rental to make sure our kids would
stay in their district and we were safe if he were to pass away or just quit
paying all together.
Within a
few weeks we found a place and have moved. Our girls were heartbroken – we JUST
re-did their bedrooms. They were
beautiful..the girls cried b/c they didn’t want to leave their home. The only home Bry has ever known.
We had
to ask Whitney & the babies to move out b/c we couldn’t find a home big
enough in the girls district to house us all.
We had
to send Dixon to live w/Aunt Vicki & my mom has our fish tank. Half of our belongings are in storage. I didn’t bring any pictures to hang up b/c,
honestly, I’m not feeling it. We moved
from a 2000 sq ft home to a 716 sq ft home.
This was
NOT something we wanted to do. We LOVED
our home…the memories we had there. I
loved walking through it looking at our memories hanging on the walls..and
now….now I’m in a house that is so small I can see every room from the front
door…and the amount we are paying for it is ridiculous but since we needed to
stay in district, we are paying for location, not the house. Trust me..not the house.
When we
told him we had moved, he said, oh, I didn’t mean to scare you – you can move
back in. After all of the harassment for
the last 3 mos – it was no biggie..Just forget it.
Unfortunately,
besides the fact that we had already signed a lease – I couldn’t go back to
someone so wishy washy, telling us that the house can just go to the bank. We send our pymts to him, not the bank,
so…would he quit paying and we are out.
Also, we
have paid the 1st ½ of the years taxes to him. The county sent us the tax bill b/c he never
paid it. So we are responsible for that
– even though he has been paid for it. And
we don’t have proof b/c it was just rolled into the house pymt.
As far
as the damage he is saying. The deck
railing did break – but it has never been right since we moved in. We have fixed it numerous times and while we
were moving it broke again. At that
point, we were like f it, we need to go.
The master bed & bath have no carpeting/padding b/c we were planning
on putting in new flooring as soon as we re-painted, however, once he harassed
us enough and made us believe we could lose everything if he died b/c his wife
wasn’t capable – we stopped remodeling and started packing.
Even
though I know it’s just a house, just a place we rest our bodies, I have always
made anywhere I’ve lived a relaxing sanctuary, for my family to enjoy. This house is so tiny, I just don’t have it in
me to do anything with it, except stay there.
It makes me sad. I did decorate
some of the girls room so that they were comfortable and in something
semi-familiar. But it still hurts my
heart.
