Welcome to our money pit ... New pics of our progress

[Guitartists]

Thanks Miss Prissy...... DH is doing better now that the funeral has come and gone. The hardest part is coping with the loss of both parents when he is only 33. He never thought he'd lose them both so early. His mom was only in her mid 50's and Terry was going to turn 60 this month. His mom never even got to see us get married or meet Crane.... I'm glad though that at least Terry did. Crane walks in the house and says Grandpa

We didn't get enough time, but at least there was some.

 

[risurocket]

Was worrying about you and with some help, tracked you down here, Angie. I am sooo sorry for your hardships especially at this time of year. Hard any time, but holidays really make it suck.

Hang in there and come get some more hugs when you need them!!!

 

[Guitartists]

Thanks Risu! I'm just so drained..... and I managed to screw up my computer last night and wiped out all of my settings etc

But, Crane's birthday went well..... everyone seemed to have had fun.

Today is especially tough for my DH. He used to go watch the Lions game with his dad on Sundays. We'll get through all of this, but it sure isn't easy.

I was a fool Friday and completely neglected the fact that the dogs are no longer there to run off the strays etc. I let the chickens out for a few hours while we ran some errands..... came back and most were missing due to a dog that had showed up. Luckily we got there shortly after the dog and there were no causalities. However... it wasn't until 6 pm that I found the last missing chicken..... putzing along the side of the road in the ditch on his way back to the coop. Luckily everyone is fine now... even the one that got chased into the field across the street. I'm such a bad chicken mama

Free ranging is going to be on short supply until we get this house thing sorted out.

 

[Guitartists]

GOOD NEWS for a change....... spoke with the attorney today. We finally have a game plan and if all goes well we'll be making our last ever winter move this February!

DH has almost a months layoff.... which we will spend cleaning and painting and getting the bathrooms gutted out. That should take us right about to tax return time and we'll be able to pay someone to replace the bathrooms before moving all of our stuff in!

Then next year once we've saved up enough money for the probate, we'll hire the attorney and take it through probate. The attorney thinks that once we have the ear of the judge that he'll understand what the situation is and force the stupid brother to sign off. The house ended up appraising for less than 20 and 52 is owed on it. There's nothing for him to do but simply be difficult.... if he even bothers to do that.

So.... I'm feeling good for the first time since all of this began! Also, more good news, the funeral home is selling us a gravestone at their cost...which is going to save us 25%. Now to decide what should go on it. SIL wanted me to maybe draw a picture to have engraved on it. She was thinking a Semi truck since Terry used to drive truck.... but Pat LOVED Angels and she was the religious one... Terry didn't even want a funeral... so I'm leaning toward an Angel.

 

[Ms Ellen]

Hey Guitarist, sorry to hear about your loss. We are also having to deal with the holidays after a different type of loss. It is hard.

My question is can you get the bank to deal on the loan? They have a very large, very bad debt there and maybe they will take much less on it? Or let them foreclose and then buy the house at market price thus avoiding the problem with the brother? Just thoughts since I really do not know much about this kind of stuff. I am sure your lawyer does though.

 

[Guitartists]

Well, our attorney advised that we let it go back to the bank... at the foreclosure sale the mortgage company sends a representative that will bid as high as the loan amount and then we could make an offer after they buy it back.... at much closer to actual market value.

BUT.....

We want the sure thing and the quickest route..... so we are moving in and simply making the payment as it has already been set up. They don't care WHO is making the payment...so long as it gets made every month. We'll have to put the house through probate when we're ready and the attorney is pretty confident that given the situation, state and value of the house and the size of the mortgage that if necessary the judge will force the other brother to sign off the deed. So that is our plan.

You really need to speak with an attorney.... many will give free consultations. And even their paralegals have tons of information they will share also.

But yeah, it really matters on WHO the mortgage company is..... some are willing to work with you... some just do it by the book even if it's bad for them in the end. A lot of it has to do with the title also.

Good luck

Well, starting Mon. we're gonna get the burn pile going and start cleaning the house and gutting the bathrooms

It'll be a HUGE undergoing... I'll post pics... you won't believe the before and after

I'm not even sure I will when it's all done.... so many years of it being just how it is now...... it'll be strange at first to see it undergo this transformation.

 

[Guitartists]

Well, went to the house and took some pics today. When we lived there 5 years ago we not only had the upstairs clean, neat and orderly..and the upstairs bathroom in perfect working order (except the tub....the tub hasn't been usable since my DH was a teen) but I also helped out with the dogs and cooked and cleaned the downstairs also. Those dogs (5 at the time) could really make a mess in a heartbeat. I washed the walls down on an almost daily basis, mopped, swept up the shedding fur, cleaned counters constantly and helped with the litter boxes and all of the other daily chores. When we moved out the other brother moved in with his girlfriend..... they TRASHED the upstairs and even had the nerve to blame it on us.... a ton of their mess is STILL there! They NEVER helped out downstairs and left an absolute mess. We did our best when we could...helping out when he wanted us to. But he was a creature of habit and it made him uneasy to have things changed or made better...... I would grab the broom and sweep when we were there, things like that. It really fell back into disarray very quickly after we left. With the number of large animals that were in disarray themselves, it just wasn't a once in a while job. I wish so many things could have been different.

Here's our future house and current money pit

See ALL of the pics here (the chaos that awaits us)

http://s499.photobucket.com/albums/rr351/Guitartist/House/

 

[BeardedChick]

Man with a little fixing up, a white picket fence, and a cottage garden blooming out front, that house would be seriously charming. Good luck with your project.

 

[redhen]

i think its a cute house!..i'd move there.*hint..hint*...

..

 

[Guitartists]

Thanks... I sure hope so

We're gonna clean it out this week and begin painting hopefully next week. LOTS to do. Hopefully while I'm painting DH and his buddies can gut the bathrooms. Then we just are waiting on money to put them BACK together again. My grandfather, who built their home up north from scratch, said he'll be down and he'll help us with whatever we need done. He knows how to do it all and is starting to get bored now that he's retired... so that was super cool! I'm glad he'll be there to help us with things as we go.... we're novices.

I can't wait to start planning my gardens..... though, I spent so much time and money on the ones here and I'm afraid it'll still be too cold and frozen to dig anything up when we leave

But at least the rose I got from my Grandpa's house after he passed will be dug up one way or another....