Saturday, October 31, 2009
Friday, October 30, 2009
Random Happenings:
1. House Update: The owner finally responded to our certified letter. He was so confused about why we sent it (but lets face it, we aren't even sure why we did it, just following legal advice.) He firmly believes his short sale is going to go through and that the bank is just using a "scare tactic" on him. He says it takes an hour and a half on hold on the phone to get a live person to talk to, so he really doesn't know the status on the offers. He has been pretty nice about everything and I feel sorry that I called him a greedy jerk on a previous post. We will give him the benefit of the doubt. We'll see what happens when Nov. 12th gets closer.
2. I have been very busy studying for and taking an online exam. I just found out this morning that I passed and I am an official Leapforce Agent. I'm pretty excited-- I found a great opportunity working from home. It's a legit opportunity, you don't have to buy any "kits" to get started, but you have to send in a resume, and then study and take a two part test. I think that technically it's working for google, and I will be evaluating search engine results. Sounds boring, but since I just passed a 7 hour test of doing just that, I can say I quite like it. Let's just say it's right up my alley. I'll work 10-30 hours a week, depending on how that works with Samuel's schedule. You actually bill per minute, so I can do 15 minutes here and there, etc. If anyone else is interested you can check them out at leapforceathome.com. I signed a disclosure/privacy statement that they take very seriously, so I can't say too much about it, but I'll keep ya'll posted on how it's going.
3. I had to make another trip to the E.R. with Annaliese. She had cold symptoms and was burning up with a 105 degree fever. I was worried it was swine flu, but it turned out to be a small patch of pneumonia. She's doing great now.
4. I can't wait to go HOME to St. George! Next weekend (Nov 6th weekend) is Time Out for Women in St. George and my dad bought all the girls tickets. I think my mom is even getting us a hotel room so we can really have a girls weekend. And I don't have to drive alone (whew!) Samuel is coming along. Krystal and Jeff are coming down from Orem. I've been homesick for my fam and can't wait to see them.
5. Today Samuel got offered a sort of paid mentorship to work with a commercial broker. Samuel has always been very interested in commercial real estate, so it's a great opportunity for him to learn how to do the business. The pay is very low, but it might be enough to live off of for awhile, and there's big money in the future for this kind of job, so it might be worth it (especially if I can supplement the income from home, which now I can, woohoo!)
*Interestingly enough, the person who referred Samuel for the job is the owner of our house, the one I call J. Funny how things work out sometimes, eh?
2. I have been very busy studying for and taking an online exam. I just found out this morning that I passed and I am an official Leapforce Agent. I'm pretty excited-- I found a great opportunity working from home. It's a legit opportunity, you don't have to buy any "kits" to get started, but you have to send in a resume, and then study and take a two part test. I think that technically it's working for google, and I will be evaluating search engine results. Sounds boring, but since I just passed a 7 hour test of doing just that, I can say I quite like it. Let's just say it's right up my alley. I'll work 10-30 hours a week, depending on how that works with Samuel's schedule. You actually bill per minute, so I can do 15 minutes here and there, etc. If anyone else is interested you can check them out at leapforceathome.com. I signed a disclosure/privacy statement that they take very seriously, so I can't say too much about it, but I'll keep ya'll posted on how it's going.
3. I had to make another trip to the E.R. with Annaliese. She had cold symptoms and was burning up with a 105 degree fever. I was worried it was swine flu, but it turned out to be a small patch of pneumonia. She's doing great now.
4. I can't wait to go HOME to St. George! Next weekend (Nov 6th weekend) is Time Out for Women in St. George and my dad bought all the girls tickets. I think my mom is even getting us a hotel room so we can really have a girls weekend. And I don't have to drive alone (whew!) Samuel is coming along. Krystal and Jeff are coming down from Orem. I've been homesick for my fam and can't wait to see them.
5. Today Samuel got offered a sort of paid mentorship to work with a commercial broker. Samuel has always been very interested in commercial real estate, so it's a great opportunity for him to learn how to do the business. The pay is very low, but it might be enough to live off of for awhile, and there's big money in the future for this kind of job, so it might be worth it (especially if I can supplement the income from home, which now I can, woohoo!)
*Interestingly enough, the person who referred Samuel for the job is the owner of our house, the one I call J. Funny how things work out sometimes, eh?
Saturday, October 17, 2009
Foreclosure!
So, in a surprising twist, we received a Notice of Trustee Sale last week on the door. In other words, we got a paper taped to our door saying that the house we are renting is going to be sold at a foreclosure auction on November 12th.
Yeah, we were shocked that the banks gave up on the short sale so fast....what happened to the three offers in on the house? Obviously they were too low. But wow, that was fast.
We contacted J, (owner of the house) and he has completely ignored us. So I called a real estate attorney who gave me a free consultation. He told me to #1- notify the bank that we are renting the house, since often the banks don't realize there are tenants in the home. #2 Send a letter to the landlord asking for a letter of Reasonable Assurance (key words there) that he will continue to honor the lease as long as he is the owner. He said both of these letters will help us immensly in the future should it get "MESSY."
So, the news of a foreclosure is actually GREAT news in our opinion. It is very likely that the auction will be postponed several months (apparently this happens a lot). Also, it definitely means we will be staying in the house a little longer. The real estate lawyer told us that not only does J have to give us 30 days notice to move out, it's not 30 days from the day he notifies us, it's 30 days from the beginning of the next month. So if he decides he wants us to move out and notifies us on Nov 2nd, it's not in effect until DECEMBER 1st and we can stay until Dec 30th. We were pretty excited to find that out, since we haven't heard a word from J for weeks.
Another AMAZING blessing coming from this is that if J lets us keep paying rent (which is kind of an ethical issue, because we know he's not paying his mortgage, but the lawyer told us to do it anyway if we want to avoid an eviction, keep our credit good, and qualify for the Cash for Keys. Cash for Keys is a program that involves the lender/bank paying people, whether it be the homeowner or the tenant, to move out of a house (leaving it in good condition) without destroying the house and stealing everything in it on their way out. Sometimes they will pay several thousand dollars (it's negotiable) to get you to leave quickly. Usually this happens AFTER the foreclosure auction (assuming the bank reclaims the home at auction) and then we can negotiate with them. So all of a sudden here we are with a good possibility of getting PAID to move out (and we knew we'd eventually be moving out anyway.) So we're hoping this all works out! There are a lot of details still involved but we definitely feel blessed. This turn of events is really working in our favor.
So, while things are still up in the air, at least we know we'll a decent amount of time to move out, and we may get some $$$ to go in our pockets as well.
Feeling grateful!
Yeah, we were shocked that the banks gave up on the short sale so fast....what happened to the three offers in on the house? Obviously they were too low. But wow, that was fast.
We contacted J, (owner of the house) and he has completely ignored us. So I called a real estate attorney who gave me a free consultation. He told me to #1- notify the bank that we are renting the house, since often the banks don't realize there are tenants in the home. #2 Send a letter to the landlord asking for a letter of Reasonable Assurance (key words there) that he will continue to honor the lease as long as he is the owner. He said both of these letters will help us immensly in the future should it get "MESSY."
So, the news of a foreclosure is actually GREAT news in our opinion. It is very likely that the auction will be postponed several months (apparently this happens a lot). Also, it definitely means we will be staying in the house a little longer. The real estate lawyer told us that not only does J have to give us 30 days notice to move out, it's not 30 days from the day he notifies us, it's 30 days from the beginning of the next month. So if he decides he wants us to move out and notifies us on Nov 2nd, it's not in effect until DECEMBER 1st and we can stay until Dec 30th. We were pretty excited to find that out, since we haven't heard a word from J for weeks.
Another AMAZING blessing coming from this is that if J lets us keep paying rent (which is kind of an ethical issue, because we know he's not paying his mortgage, but the lawyer told us to do it anyway if we want to avoid an eviction, keep our credit good, and qualify for the Cash for Keys. Cash for Keys is a program that involves the lender/bank paying people, whether it be the homeowner or the tenant, to move out of a house (leaving it in good condition) without destroying the house and stealing everything in it on their way out. Sometimes they will pay several thousand dollars (it's negotiable) to get you to leave quickly. Usually this happens AFTER the foreclosure auction (assuming the bank reclaims the home at auction) and then we can negotiate with them. So all of a sudden here we are with a good possibility of getting PAID to move out (and we knew we'd eventually be moving out anyway.) So we're hoping this all works out! There are a lot of details still involved but we definitely feel blessed. This turn of events is really working in our favor.
So, while things are still up in the air, at least we know we'll a decent amount of time to move out, and we may get some $$$ to go in our pockets as well.
Feeling grateful!
Annie- 11 Months
Well, I know ya'll are going to be all torn up over this, but this will be the last monthly update on Annaliese. They're going to go on her separate blog from here on out. So, for the last time, here's what's been happening in the last month:
She spent the majority of the month with a terrible teething rash. At first I thought it was allergy related but after eliminating all the culprits, she still had this rash. Kalia never had drool rash, and Annie didn't have it when she cut her bottom teeth, so I learned something new as a Mom... and that is that drool rash/teething rash can look like this, and go all over the face, even up to th eyes (even if drool doesn't actually migrate there.) Craziness.
Two different days:
Poor girl...it seems like every month it's a new challeng with her. I love her dearly but she is still a very needy, high-maintenance child.
The ONLY place she is truly happy is right here...Mommy's lap. Cute for pictures, but challenging when I'm trying to get stuff done around the house. She just follows me around and pulls on my pants (sometimes she pulls them right off...drawstring pants, you know.) She freaks out if I leave the room. I can't wait for her to grow out of this stage, because let's face it...it's draining! (I will add though that she is the cutest, happiest, silliest little thing if I just sit down and let her climb all over me. She also is really good if I take her out and about like the grocery store and stuff. So it's really just at home that she is high maintenance.)
Her Daddy calls her "Chubbas." So naturally Kalia has picked it up and it makes me smile to hear her say, "Where's Chubbas?" or "Here you go Chubbas." I love these sweet round cheeks and the double chin. As you can imagine, I am kissing them nonstop.
She will do "Touchdown" on command, which is funny because we don't watch football in our house.
Allergies are STILL causing problems for us. Will I ever figure it all out? I've been letting her try to eat more foods and I thought it was going well (no face rash) but I got too lax...I'd let her snack on Ritz crackers (corn starch) or V8 Fusion juice (Ascorbic Acid/Citric Acid) and then I realized that she was scratching her back and legs and sides, sometimes scratching until she bled. I FEEL TERRIBLE!!! I remember having the impression (back when she was screaming all the time as a newborn) that she was ITCHING and I had that confirmed this week. I just have to be more careful with her. I've been using hydrocortisone cream, gold bond powder, and sometimes Benadryl to try to stop her itching.
She spent the majority of the month with a terrible teething rash. At first I thought it was allergy related but after eliminating all the culprits, she still had this rash. Kalia never had drool rash, and Annie didn't have it when she cut her bottom teeth, so I learned something new as a Mom... and that is that drool rash/teething rash can look like this, and go all over the face, even up to th eyes (even if drool doesn't actually migrate there.) Craziness.
Two different days:
She makes up for her whiny beavior by being an amazing sleeper. (I'm sure all the crying and clinging is exhausting!) She sleeps 14 hours at night and two naps during the days (and I put her to bed very early!) At least once a week she takes a four-hour nap in the afternoon, and then still goes sleeps all night. I thank my lucky stars for that Tender Mercy!
She FINALLY added "Mama" to her vocabulary (about time!) She says about 6 or 7 words occasionally. She jabbers nonstop though, and she is VERY EXPRESSIVE. She is always gasping and oohing and ahhing at things. I'm curious to see what this will mean for her personality in the future.
She's in that cute stage of walking where she still holds her arms up to help her balance and wobbles a bit. I never get tired of watching it. No more crawling for this little one.
She will NOT go down the stairs. She will climb up them and then starts crying because she knows she's stuck. I've worked with her at least eight times, showing her how to go down backwards. It ain't happening. She's not a daredevil like her older sis.
I gave her Haircut #3 last month and I've decided to stop trying to tame the Fro. We'll just have to let it grow out!
Can't believe my baby's almost 1...that's not really a baby anymore to me. Boo.
Monday, October 05, 2009
"Oh Be Not Dismayed..."
It was during a a rest hymn that we sang "How Firm a Foundation." I know those words and have sung that song a million times, but this time it caused tears to stream down my face.
"In every condition, in sickness, in health, in poverty's vale, or abounding in wealth. At home or abroad, on the land or the sea, As thy days may demand...so thy succor shall be. "
"Fear not, I am with thee, oh be not dismayed. For I am thy God and will still give thee aid. I'll strengthen thee, help thee, and cause thee to stand. Upheld...by my righteous Omnipotent hand."
You guys, I have been trying to write this post for several days now but I haven't been able to do it. I just can't seem to find words for it. But I'll give it my best shot. Sorry, but some of the details are confusing.
The original plan when we moved into this house and this neighborhood was for Samuel to work 20 hours a week for the owner of the house so we could get free rent and utilities. Then, he'd spend his other 20 hours/week as the Property Manager of the apartment complex in Phoenix. After about 4 days we discovered this arrangement was not going to work. The property that Samuel was working at was a MESS. The owner (his name is Tony for future reference) told Samuel he had 60 days to get it all figured out, and then he had another property he wanted to add to his load. There was no way that Samuel could sort through the mess of that property in 20 hours a week. It needed 60 hours a week for about 5 months. So Samuel told the owner of the house (we'll call him J) that he would no longer be able to work for him in exchange for free rent. We started paying rent instead (at a discounted rate, since the house is for sale and we were showing it at the time.)
He started working CRAZY long hours at the property, and he worked his butt off. At first Tony treated him well. He wined him and dined him and promised all kinds of bonuses and future advancements. BUT, he kept paying Samuel for 20 hours a week (promising that would change once the 60 days were up). So to say we were living on a tight budget would be an understatement, but we were able to make it for those two months.
Within the last few weeks though, Tony became increasingly asinine and verbally abusive. Not only did he have the worst potty mouth of anyone I know (F-words nonstop all day, from what Samuel told me) but he started berating and belittling Samuel, calling him things like "stupid", "dumb" and "blind"...and for reasons that didn't even exist. He would come home dejected and depressed, partly because his boss was treating him so badly, and partly because he never got to see his family (kids always in bed when he got home) and because he was getting paid PENNIES to do it.
It's a long story how it all went down, but last week Samuel was replaced with a new manager. Tony tried to pull a fast one on him and lied to him, telling him he was bringing in some "temporary help" but it turned out to be Sam's replacement. It was so obvious what was going on, Samuel knew for a few weeks that he was probably getting replaced, but Tony would lie about it and so we hung on to a thread of hope that maybe that wasn't the case. But not only was that really the case, when it happened Tony made up some bogus story so that he could "Fire" Samuel "with cause" instead of laying him off (that means Samuel wouldn't qualify for unemployment.) He just basically screwed Samuel over in every way possible, after Samuel worked so hard for him. I just hope Samuel has some ego left after all this. (Come to find out, that Tony has gone through 5, no, Samuel is the 6th, manager in SEVEN MONTHS. Tony thinks somebody is going to work a miracle on his property but he's really just digging himself into a deeper hole by not letting anyone stay there long enough to make any progress. I hope Samuel feels good about lasting the longest...)
Well, we are going to file for unemployment anyway and hope the state will determine he is eligible. They must have a way of dealing with owners who try to get out of paying unemployment by "firing" without a good cause.
In other bad news, the job working for the owner of the house (J) is no longer available. To make that even worse, on Saturday we had 3 people knock on the door asking us if we were renting the house. We told them no, it's for sale, not for rent. But finally we realized something was wrong and we got on craigslist only to find THIS ad. Yes, that's right, our house was up for rent. The owner of the house (who knows Samuel lost his job) just decided to find a new renter AND J DIDN'T EVEN TELL US. He's trying to get $300 more than what we're paying him. I'm sorry, I can't hold this in, I THINK HE IS A GREEDY JERK and I wish I could use stronger language but I did just listen to conference yesterday. Seriously though, what kind of person does that? He's selling the house in a few months for crying out loud. He's not paying the mortgage, he's pocketing the money. And he's just kicking us out on our butts? We have enough money to pay rent for the last few months before it sells. He didn't even ASK us what our situation was. We absolutely cannot understand this behavior from an active member of the church. I seriously need to pray for charity for the guy, because if I see him anytime soon, I won't lie, I will want to rip his head off.
I don't think J knows that WE KNOW that he's looking for new tenants, but it will probably all come out today or tomorrow. The good news for us (and bad for him) is that we do have an actual rental contract that says that he (J) has to give us 30 days notice to move out. He obviously doesn't realize that contract is in force, or he wouldn't be trying to find a tenant BEFORE notifying us and giving us our 30 days. So that's my one little piece of retribution that makes me want to smirk and say "ha ha"...just like a little kid.
So, our world basically fell apart. Our two months of peaceful bliss in a beautiful neighborhood and house...well, soon it's all over.
I have had a hard time feeling peaceful and trusting...last time it was so easy, but this time I have been filled with fear and anxiety. Was this part of the plan all along? Or did we not learn what we were supposed to the first time?
So, if you're wondering what's next...well, we are too. We have no idea. Not much of a plan. But we are feeling more humble than ever. We heard someone in conference say that the question we should be asking is, "What wouldst thou have me do Lord?" and as obvious as it seems, we needed the reminder. Sometimes we feel like we have to figure out the solution on our own. But we need to know what the Lord would have us do, because obviously He is still trying to teach us something.
Elder Clayton's talk about carrying our burdens hit me really hard on Saturday morning, and one part of it in particular seemed to be just for me, and me alone. It's almost too personal to share but I am very very grateful that it happened to be one of the talks my kids were quiet (or absent? where were they?) during...cause I needed to hear it. Samuel said he got some answers in the Priesthood session.
So, if you're wondering if we're going to move in with Samuel's parents, well, we hope it can be avoided. We love them dearly, but frankly it would be hard on everyone. It's a small house and there's definitely no room to store any of our furniture. We do have the option if absolutely necessary though, and of course if it's the will of the Lord.
And so now you might understand why tears were streaming down my face as I was reminded that even in poverty's vale we should "fear not" because He is with us and will "still give us aid." And we are sure going to need it. We need him to "strengthen" us, "help" us, and "cause (us) to stand." And there will probably be times that he will have to hold us up entirely. And so I just remember the promise, "As thy days may demand, so thy succor shall be.
Your prayers are appreciated (once again.)
"In every condition, in sickness, in health, in poverty's vale, or abounding in wealth. At home or abroad, on the land or the sea, As thy days may demand...so thy succor shall be. "
"Fear not, I am with thee, oh be not dismayed. For I am thy God and will still give thee aid. I'll strengthen thee, help thee, and cause thee to stand. Upheld...by my righteous Omnipotent hand."
You guys, I have been trying to write this post for several days now but I haven't been able to do it. I just can't seem to find words for it. But I'll give it my best shot. Sorry, but some of the details are confusing.
The original plan when we moved into this house and this neighborhood was for Samuel to work 20 hours a week for the owner of the house so we could get free rent and utilities. Then, he'd spend his other 20 hours/week as the Property Manager of the apartment complex in Phoenix. After about 4 days we discovered this arrangement was not going to work. The property that Samuel was working at was a MESS. The owner (his name is Tony for future reference) told Samuel he had 60 days to get it all figured out, and then he had another property he wanted to add to his load. There was no way that Samuel could sort through the mess of that property in 20 hours a week. It needed 60 hours a week for about 5 months. So Samuel told the owner of the house (we'll call him J) that he would no longer be able to work for him in exchange for free rent. We started paying rent instead (at a discounted rate, since the house is for sale and we were showing it at the time.)
He started working CRAZY long hours at the property, and he worked his butt off. At first Tony treated him well. He wined him and dined him and promised all kinds of bonuses and future advancements. BUT, he kept paying Samuel for 20 hours a week (promising that would change once the 60 days were up). So to say we were living on a tight budget would be an understatement, but we were able to make it for those two months.
Within the last few weeks though, Tony became increasingly asinine and verbally abusive. Not only did he have the worst potty mouth of anyone I know (F-words nonstop all day, from what Samuel told me) but he started berating and belittling Samuel, calling him things like "stupid", "dumb" and "blind"...and for reasons that didn't even exist. He would come home dejected and depressed, partly because his boss was treating him so badly, and partly because he never got to see his family (kids always in bed when he got home) and because he was getting paid PENNIES to do it.
It's a long story how it all went down, but last week Samuel was replaced with a new manager. Tony tried to pull a fast one on him and lied to him, telling him he was bringing in some "temporary help" but it turned out to be Sam's replacement. It was so obvious what was going on, Samuel knew for a few weeks that he was probably getting replaced, but Tony would lie about it and so we hung on to a thread of hope that maybe that wasn't the case. But not only was that really the case, when it happened Tony made up some bogus story so that he could "Fire" Samuel "with cause" instead of laying him off (that means Samuel wouldn't qualify for unemployment.) He just basically screwed Samuel over in every way possible, after Samuel worked so hard for him. I just hope Samuel has some ego left after all this. (Come to find out, that Tony has gone through 5, no, Samuel is the 6th, manager in SEVEN MONTHS. Tony thinks somebody is going to work a miracle on his property but he's really just digging himself into a deeper hole by not letting anyone stay there long enough to make any progress. I hope Samuel feels good about lasting the longest...)
Well, we are going to file for unemployment anyway and hope the state will determine he is eligible. They must have a way of dealing with owners who try to get out of paying unemployment by "firing" without a good cause.
In other bad news, the job working for the owner of the house (J) is no longer available. To make that even worse, on Saturday we had 3 people knock on the door asking us if we were renting the house. We told them no, it's for sale, not for rent. But finally we realized something was wrong and we got on craigslist only to find THIS ad. Yes, that's right, our house was up for rent. The owner of the house (who knows Samuel lost his job) just decided to find a new renter AND J DIDN'T EVEN TELL US. He's trying to get $300 more than what we're paying him. I'm sorry, I can't hold this in, I THINK HE IS A GREEDY JERK and I wish I could use stronger language but I did just listen to conference yesterday. Seriously though, what kind of person does that? He's selling the house in a few months for crying out loud. He's not paying the mortgage, he's pocketing the money. And he's just kicking us out on our butts? We have enough money to pay rent for the last few months before it sells. He didn't even ASK us what our situation was. We absolutely cannot understand this behavior from an active member of the church. I seriously need to pray for charity for the guy, because if I see him anytime soon, I won't lie, I will want to rip his head off.
I don't think J knows that WE KNOW that he's looking for new tenants, but it will probably all come out today or tomorrow. The good news for us (and bad for him) is that we do have an actual rental contract that says that he (J) has to give us 30 days notice to move out. He obviously doesn't realize that contract is in force, or he wouldn't be trying to find a tenant BEFORE notifying us and giving us our 30 days. So that's my one little piece of retribution that makes me want to smirk and say "ha ha"...just like a little kid.
So, our world basically fell apart. Our two months of peaceful bliss in a beautiful neighborhood and house...well, soon it's all over.
I have had a hard time feeling peaceful and trusting...last time it was so easy, but this time I have been filled with fear and anxiety. Was this part of the plan all along? Or did we not learn what we were supposed to the first time?
So, if you're wondering what's next...well, we are too. We have no idea. Not much of a plan. But we are feeling more humble than ever. We heard someone in conference say that the question we should be asking is, "What wouldst thou have me do Lord?" and as obvious as it seems, we needed the reminder. Sometimes we feel like we have to figure out the solution on our own. But we need to know what the Lord would have us do, because obviously He is still trying to teach us something.
Elder Clayton's talk about carrying our burdens hit me really hard on Saturday morning, and one part of it in particular seemed to be just for me, and me alone. It's almost too personal to share but I am very very grateful that it happened to be one of the talks my kids were quiet (or absent? where were they?) during...cause I needed to hear it. Samuel said he got some answers in the Priesthood session.
So, if you're wondering if we're going to move in with Samuel's parents, well, we hope it can be avoided. We love them dearly, but frankly it would be hard on everyone. It's a small house and there's definitely no room to store any of our furniture. We do have the option if absolutely necessary though, and of course if it's the will of the Lord.
And so now you might understand why tears were streaming down my face as I was reminded that even in poverty's vale we should "fear not" because He is with us and will "still give us aid." And we are sure going to need it. We need him to "strengthen" us, "help" us, and "cause (us) to stand." And there will probably be times that he will have to hold us up entirely. And so I just remember the promise, "As thy days may demand, so thy succor shall be.
Your prayers are appreciated (once again.)
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