Settlements and Suckers (?)

So I left another cliff-hanger on my last post, but my lack of follow-up has not been to build suspense (for all 6 of my readers) but because events and details have been constantly unfolding and taking all spare time that could otherwise be applied to writing. At this point we are in a holding pattern so I have time to catch things up.

Let me start with last summer when Eli and I flew to St. Louis for a whirlwind 2 day house hunting trip. We arrived in St. Louis at around 9am on a Friday, and in just one day we saw 11 different houses stretching over about a 20 mile area along the I-55 corridor South of St. Louis proper. We had allowed 2 days for this, but our realtor had suggested seeing as many on possible on Friday so that we could then have Saturday to make decisions or see more properties. It would turn out that our realtor would have many suggestions, and direct us in many ways, but I will get to that. I should also mention that I was about 6 1/2 months pregnant during this trip.

So we saw the houses. And most were out of the question, horribly dilapidated, outdated, damp or even dangerous. Perhaps 3 were possible, with only 2 real contenders. We knew with our budget that we were not going to have the creme de la creme to look at, but it was still very stressful. The realtor only showed us properties that were listed by her office, which also narrowed the field. After looking at all 11, we returned to the realtor's office to discuss our options. We mentioned the one that we felt was an actual option, and in short order we found ourselves making an offer on the house. It is not fair to say we were pushed, but given the situation and looking in retrospect I do think we were leaned on to some extent. Of course, we contributed to the situation ourselves because of our abbreviated timetable, but I do not think our best interests were being looked after by anyone involved.

So we made an offer, and with very little trouble it was accepted. We left St. Louis knowing that the next step would be the inspection and that we could still walk away if something bad turned up. The inspection report was given to us about 10 days later, and we were sent into another stressful situation. The house was built in 1967, and not surprisingly there were many things that were not updated. There was quite a laundry list of small, reasonable items, but three issues that caused great concern. 1) The roof was shot. 2) There was evidence that at some point the house had been treated for termites. 3) The inspector noted 1 foundation crack on the front of the house, and noted it as a facade crack.

We did not know what to do. I was sick at the prospect of trying to look for a new house less than 3 weeks before we were supposed to move, money was already tight and Eli still had work obligations to take care of. We talked to various people about the items on the report and ultimately came to the conclusion that we would require the roof be replaced by the sellers, require a history (with documentation) about the termite treatment as we were informed that is was from many years ago and there had been no recurrences, and finally, after strong suggestions from our realtor, a letter from the seller attesting that the crack listed on the inspection report had cause no water or settlement issues. All of these requirements were met and we continued with the sale.

So, fast forward a few weeks and find me, now 7 1/2 months pregnant, in the house alone while Eli was back in Baltimore finishing his work. Between moving in and that week I was alone we discovered the following issues that were not reported on the inspection: The en suite half bath toilet did not work, the master bedroom ceiling fan did not work, the master bedroom window was TAPED IN, the kitchen sink had a considerable leak, the garbage disposal did not work, the water line for the refrigerator ice maker did not work, half the outlets in the basement were not properly anchored in the walls, the downstairs sliding glass door (which they replaced before we moved in) had no working lock, and there was a hole in the finished portion of the basement ceiling. Now would also be a good time to mention that the owners mysteriously locked the keys inside the house on the day we were to close, and because the locksmith couldn't be reached, we did not get to do the customary walk-through before closing. So all these issues were discovered while we were unpacking or by me once Eli had returned to Baltimore. I called the realtor during that week and expressed my frustration about these issues, and my feelings that we had been misled about the condition of the house, and she basically told me my only option was to take it up with the inspector.

A couple of weeks after that we started noticing that when it rained we would get a tiny puddle of water in the unfinished portion of our basement. Eli tore down a section of peg board that had been put up as part of a workbench, and found a large crack in the wall- not the crack mentioned by the inspector, but another crack all together. We also found evidence of past water damage on the bottom of the peg board. We were both livid. We discussed taking the previous owners to court. We discussed the responsibility of the inspector, and even the realtor, who we had since found out had an unethical connection to the house. The seller's sister worked in the realtor's office. We discussed all these things and felt stupid and naive and like we had a sign reading "SUCKER" hung around our neck. We decided that we would have too hard a time proving fraud to go to court, and no money to spend on legal fees to even begin.

Fast forward again to Halloween of 2009. Halloween is our favorite holiday. We were so excited to spend the entire weekend in that mode, and couldn't wait to take pictures of Will in his bee costume. The week leading up to Halloween we had a historic amount of rain. Something like 13 + inches in 4 days. That Friday morning I got up as usual, and prepped my little bag of stuff to carry down with Will (who was barely 1 month old) and settle into the basement where we were spending most of our time at that point. I walked down the stairs and saw a large puddle of water in the unfinished part of the basement. It annoyed me, but didn't concern me because of our previous discovery. Then I walked into the finished area of our basement. I turned the lights on and discovered half of the finished basement was sitting in anywhere from 1-3 inches of water. I was so overwhelmed and upset. I called Eli and told him to hurry home and put Will in his playpen bassinet. I then began the task of retrieving both of our computers (still plugged in and running) from the standing water. Our cardboard file boxes of paid bills and other important documents, both our desks, our mini-fridge, 3 bookcases, and various other items were also standing in the water. I hauled and cried, and then Will began to cry. I couldn't pick him up because of the nasty water covering me, so at 1 month old he had to cry himself to sleep for the first time. It was horrible. Eli made it home in record time, stopping on the way to pick up a shop vac from Lowes. We spent the rest of the day sucking up water and trying to salvage our belongings. I don't think either of us have ever felt so horrible.

We talked to our insurance company, and found that such water damage is not covered by our policy. We also were told that many, many peoples' basements were flooding, and that it was more to do with the historic amount of rain than anything else. So once again we sucked it up and tried to make the best of it.

Fast forward a few more weeks to Thanksgiving, and we had a water problem of another sort. Our sewer line began backing up into our basement. As we found out later, the previous owners had also had problems with this, and instead of hiring a professional to correct the problem, they got a friend to come over with a bobcat and tried to fix it themselves. Clearly that did not work. So we had to have a plumber come out and snake the line, and discovered that they had run the wrong type of connector out to the main sewer line, and that it would have to be replaced if we wanted our entire line snaked. So we spent Thanksgiving weekend with plumbers digging in our yard and the shop vac sucking up the worst kind of yuck from around our basement drain. Thankfully the backup did not get far from the drain and none of our things were contaminated.

After that catastrophe things did calm down considerably. We did have to have a tech come out and do some work on our heater, but I believe that was routine maintenance. On top of the cost of the sewer line repair and basement cleanup, we took on several projects to improve the house over this last year. We replaced all the upstairs windows with super energy efficient windows, we replaced the broken ceiling fan in our room (we had the toilet repaired and the kitchen sink taken care of within two weeks of moving in), we added 5 feet of base cabinets and counter top in the kitchen, and a range hood was added over the stove top. We have done what we could to make the house better.

This brings us to present, specifically to the 9th of this month. Eli and I had gone downstairs that Thursday night after Will went to sleep so we could watch some television and relax. It had been raining most of the day, so on our way up at the end of the night we checked on the exposed crack in the unfinished part of the basement. Noticing it was leaking more than usual I went back into the finished area and found a small amount of water pooling at our baseboard. Eli and I were so upset. Eli immediately began preparing to attack the exposed crack with hydraulic cement, and we made the decision for me to cut away some of the drywall in the finished area to try and see what was going on back there. I grabbed one of Eli's wood chisels and set to work, only to find that I kept running into wood. I had specifically chosen the spots to cut in order to avoid hitting studs, so I didn't understand why I kept finding wood. Eventually I pulled off a strip of baseboard and chipped away at the drywall at that bottom of the wall. I uncovered two things- 1) the previous sellers when finishing the basement had backed the drywall (or just used drywall to cover) old 1/4 inch paneling, which kept the drywall from showing water damage and 2) the paneling was covered in mold. I stopped what I was doing to avoid uncovering any more mold, and Eli and I decided to start calling foundation repair companies the next day. We knew it would be expensive, but we also knew we couldn't allow things to continue as they were.

So here we are, almost 2 weeks later, and no work has been done. We have had 3 estimates ranging between $12,550 and $17,000 to repair what has universally been recognized as "significant foundation settlement". The foundation is cracked on both sides of the house and half my house is sliding down the hill it is situated on. This is horrible news, but made worse (yes it is possible) by the fact that we do not have the cash to correct this problem, and being in the house only 14 months have not nearly enough equity for a home equity loan. I don't know if you dear readers are aware, but we are in a recession, and the banks have all but eliminated most types of personal loans, and majorly reduced the maximum for home improvement loans. So we have one option available to us: a HUD backed 203(k) loan, typically utilized by companies rehabbing multi-dwelling structures. It is a loan program established to allow buyers to update and maintain the country's existing housing inventory. It is actually a wonderful type of loan, because it will allow us to finance based on the future value of the home after the repairs are made. However, in order to get this loan, our house has to appraise at a certain value in order for us to be able to get the money we need. If it appraises too low, we don't get the loan and we are out the $400 for the appraisal. This is very scary, because while we did at least pay less than the appraised value of the house last year, the market in this area has continued to decline, and all home values are down. If this option does not work out for us, we do not know what we will do next.

So writing all of this, and then reading it back, I feel like a huge sucker. There are so many points where I know you would say, "well you should have done something then" or "you should have known by this" and it makes me feel sick. We are not stupid people. I think we may have been a bit naive to put our trust so completely in the realtor, and all the other people associated (recommended by the realtor) but we are not stupid. We did as much as we could possibly do remotely. I did research on the area, we both read articles on things to look for, we carefully reviewed the inspection report, such as it was. Despite all of that we were taken advantage of. In getting these estimates and talking to countless banks and mortgage companies, two points have been raised time and again. The foundation people have all agreed that this damage was concealed purposefully, to the point the one contractor has offered to serve as an expert witness at no charge should we decide to pursue a legal case. The other is that we were maneuvered by a shady realtor. One loan officer guessed who our realtor was without me providing and specific information, and I when I confirmed her guess she said "That realtor is a terrible person, and if you want me to I will contact a lawyer who works with us to see what kind of case you have." Evidently the realtor is purported to work unethically at the expense of new home buyers. It just figures that we would end up with such a person after trying so hard to be smart. I can't decide if I feel better or worse knowing that we aren't the only ones to fall into this trap.

Anyway, enough of this for now. We will be dealing with this process for the next several weeks, possibly months, and I cannot dwell on it constantly or I will make myself sick. So we are going on with life. We have taken precautions to make sure that the tiny amount of exposed mold is contained, and Will does not go into the basement at all now. I am trying to do normal things with him and for myself so I am not dominated by this situation. Luckily, we have a very special birthday to celebrate this Saturday, so I can focus on that, the turtle cake I plan to make, and the friends we are having over for the occasion. That is the best we can do for now.

Big Trip

It has been a strange and fast moving month since last I wrote. The week leading up to my trip home to Morehead flew by, primarily due to all the planning, packing and cleaning I did in preparation for the trip. Despite every one's concerns about me driving alone with Will (several people outright questioned my sanity)the time in the car was altogether pleasant and uneventful. Will was extremely cooperative and slept for the first 2 hours of the trip to Morehead, and our only major fussing spell was after the first stop on that same trip, when he wasn't at all ready to get back into the car seat. Otherwise he spent a lot of time awake, either playing with his toys or just looking out the window. I think it was the easiest car trip I have taken with him so far.

My time in Morehead was busy, but not overly so, and I got the opportunity to see many people that I haven't in a long time. The first night's sleep was terrible. I mistakenly thought we would be fine sharing one room, not realizing that instead of putting himself back to sleep as he normally would in his own room, when seeing me Will instead began crying insistently and I spent most of the night getting him back to sleep only to have to jump up again the moment he became aware he was back in the playpen. Thankfully we corrected the sleeping situation for the rest of the trip and we both slept much better, if with much earlier mornings. After arriving on Monday and spending the evening with Aunt Liz and Uncle Mickey, Tuesday I packed everything back up and headed to Park Lake. I have not gotten to spend any real time at Park Lake in a couple of years, and it was so nice to have some peaceful time there. I know Da enjoyed having Will all to himself, and we got the opportunity to let Will get into the water for the first time. He loved it! He had no problem with it being a big body of water, and he let me walk out with him until the water was about up to my chest. His favorite thing by far though was to sit in the shallows and kick and splash. We even lucked out as he didn't notice until the second day that the floor of the lake was dirt that he could pick up, throw, or try to eat.

Tuesday night Will and I got to have a wonderful meal with Ann (author of A Finer Thing ) and David in their beautiful new home. Ann prepared a delicious dinner and I truly enjoyed introducing them to Will and catching up. I have to also share that Ann went well above and beyond when realizing that I had left one of Will's sippy cups at her house, and made what is inevitably an inconvenient side trip to Park Lake the next day to make sure that we had it back for the rest of our trip. Given that I had just realized it was missing the next morning, it was such a shock to have it delivered to the cottage by way of a neighbor who had met Ann at the gate. Thank you again Ann, and I hope I can visit again.

Wednesday was another quiet day at the Lake, and Thursday morning as well. Thursday afternoon we packed up and came back into town. Kristi asked us to come over that night for dinner, which we did, and I got have Pasquales pizza. I haven't had anything from Pasquales in years, and that pizza was killer. Kristi and Jeremy and Olivia got to play with the little man, and we even gave him his bath at her house so we wouldn't have to leave quite so quickly.

Friday was probably the most relaxing day of the trip, because we did very, very little. Will loved looking at, talking to, and trying to touch Bella (the springer spaniel) and Bella took it fairly well. They even had some baby/puppy conversations that the rest of us were not privy to. Will and I stayed at the house with Aunt Liz and Uncle Mickey, and only went out during the day for a trip to the grocery store and Walmart. The Walmart trip was made a little interesting by the fact that is started pouring the rain as we stood in line to check out. But we made it home without getting soaked and all was well. That afternoon Kristi asked me to stop by Holbrooks so she could show Will off to some co-workers, which led to another wonderful treat. I was rushing through the visit because we were planning on going out to eat with Aunt Liz and Uncle Mickey at Pop's in Salt Lick, and they wanted to get there early to avoid the crowd. As I was rushing out of the parking lot, a large, shiny red pick-up was pulling in, and I stopped to try and make way. The driver waved me on, which made me look at who it was. The driver was Mr. Hardin, my high school homeroom teacher, for whom I was a teacher's assistant and worked for with the baseball team. Mr. Hardin was one of my favorite teachers and aside from a few e-mails and one random run-in many years ago, I haven't seen him since graduation. I rolled my window down and he did the same, and I quickly realized I had to stop and talk to him. It was so good to see him, and to introduce him to Will. It was also interesting for me because it was the first time I had interacted with him and not felt like his student. I was on equal footing and it didn't really occur to me until afterward how different it was. Not living in Morehead, (really haven't lived there full time in 10 years, which is crazy to me) I haven't seen many of my high school teachers, so I guess I just assumed I would feel exactly as I did when I was a high school student. It was different, but ultimately really nice, and I promised I would e-mail him every once in a while.

Dinner at Pop's was awesome, and forced me to loosen up a bit regarding Will's food. Being at home with him all the time, I have done alot to ensure that he eats very healthily. I still make all his food in batches and freeze it, and I even make monthly calendars (which I know sounds extremely anal retentive but I swear it is as much for my convenience as anything). There really wasn't much option to bring Will's food with us though, so I was at the mercy of Pop's Southern Style Barbecue menu. To give credit, Pop's did offer steamed vegetables as a side with their kid's meal options, and I was able to order Will a grilled cheese sandwich. Between Aunt Liz and I, Will ate very well, and even got a few bites of french fries. I got to see that while I will still feed him healthily as much as possible, occasionally such things are a fun treat for everyone. I ate very well too (if not healthy AT ALL) and got the catfish with fries, and fried chocolate pie for dessert. Just thinking of that pie right now is making my mouth water and my arteries clog as I type.

Saturday Will and I headed to Lexington to see Amy, Wayne and Max, and to attend a very special wedding. You faithful readers may recall that a brief playtime with Max directly and immediately led to Will crawling, and I wondered if further interaction would push Will closer to walking. While no developmental leaps were made that day, I do think the boys enjoyed playing (as much as any babies that age do) and I know I had a great time catching up with Amy. We got ready together and drove together to see the wedding of Laura Williams to Brian Jewell. I did not know the groom or his family, but I have known Laura since we were 5 years old in Daisy Scouts together, and I was so happy I got to share in that day. This was said at the reception, and I have for years been describing Laura as "truly the sweetest person I have ever met". I have even gone so far to say that it might be too much sweetness to bare in normal circumstances, except she is so honest and genuine that you cannot help but to know her sincerity and love her. Laura looked absolutely radiant as she came down the aisle and took her vows, and calm in a way that I associate with people who are completely certain and at ease with the choice they have made. As a couple they looked like two perfectly fitted pieces of a puzzle. Dena was kind enough to take the boys up to the children's' wing so Amy and I could focus on the ceremony. The reception afterward was fun, and made much easier for me by Maura, who I didn't know would be there, and who almost immediately took Will off my hands and carried around all through the food line. Then Molly took over and gave me a chance to eat and make a plate for Will. Between Maura and Molly I think Will was introduced to most of the room, and he put on quite a show. After a very brief moment with the Bride, Amy and I watched the couple cut the cake, and made our exit before our boys could potentially cause interruptions. The day went too fast, and I wish we had had more time to spend at Amy's house, but it was a good day and once again Will behaved like a perfect gentleman. After I got back to town and put Will to bed, I got a chance to go get some ice cream with Maura and catch up, which was really nice since I had missed my opportunity around the reunion because of my stupid broken ankle.

Sunday was family day at Park Lake. I headed out early with Will so Da could have some more one-on-one time with him before the rest of the crew showed up. By late afternoon everyone was there and we had a nice meal on the front porch. The day was fairly quiet and uneventful, but really nice to have a meal with everyone like we used to do quite often in the summer. We said bye to Da that night and went back to town. Once back in Morehead I put Will down to sleep and started repacking and doing laundry for the trip home.

Monday morning went by in a flurry of packing and loading the car. Maura stopped by for a while and then Kristi and Olivia made an appearance. It turned out that all of us (except Maura) were on our way to Lexington so we ended up caravanning there. We all had lunch together at Fayette Mall, and then Kristi, Liv and I walked around for a while. Around 2pm I said goodbye to everyone and Will and I headed to Daphne's house, where we would be staying the night. Daph and Willie had been dealing with emergency puppy surgery for Mr. Wiggles, but he came home that morning and was resting comfortably. Daph and I hung out for the rest of the day, and fairly late that night (fitting in a trip to Graters for some amazing ice cream) before hitting the hay.

Tuesday morning we got up, had breakfast, packed the car and got on the road home. Once again Will was such a good guy and did very little fussing. Still, by the time I was an hour from home I was SO tired, and ready to be finished. Those last miles seemed to stretch to eternity, and by the time I got into the driveway I have never been so glad to be home in my life. Eli was waiting for us and it so good to see him. It's nice to know after being together for 6 1/2 years and married for almost 4 that I get that tingle of excitement when I see him. Will was extremely happy to see Daddy, and they had a love fest while I got the bags unloaded.


So that was my big trip. It was fun. It was exhausting. I am so thankful to have Eli, and his help and support were made even more valuable to me by me having to do everything on my own for 8 days. I really enjoyed getting to see old friends and have time in the place where I grew up. Unfortunately, just a couple of days after I got home we ran smack into some bad news that we are still trying to deal with. But that is for the next post.