I’m sure you all are as tired of hearing about this as I am of talking about it. But you know what, it’s either get it all out or sit here and cry until I puke. I don’t like throwing up so this is how it’s going.
My renters bounced their rent check again. For anyone keeping tabs, that’s four times in 21 months. Too bad for us is that we had already paid our mortgage and as a result of the two events colliding, my checking account is very much in the red and my savings account if frozen. YAY ME!! I’ve never had a frozen bank account before. I feel like one of those crooks you see in the movies. Anyway, luckily, I get paid the old fashioned way and we were able to cash my check so that we could do things like, oh I don’t know. EAT!!! Also, for those of you that keep up with the drama in my life, we are set to go on our Outer Banks vacation a week from Saturday. Good news/bad news is that the house is already paid for but it’s also non-refundable. So, we either go and have no money to spend while we’re there and spend extra money on gas and food, or we stay home and we’re out a nice chunk of change. Yeah. It’s a conundrum.
Oh! And you know how we found out her check had bounced? We were in Target trying to pay for the oldest child’s knee pads for volleyball when my debit card was refused. Nice. Real nice.
You’ll be happy to note that I’m done being walked all over. There’s nice and then there’s being a doormat. I’ve engaged a lovely lawyer who said that she’ll collect her fees when we close on the house. She’s reviewing our case today and will be sending out a notice to pay or quit tomorrow. It’s the first step in the eviction process. We just have to keep our fingers crossed that we won’t get some bleeding heart idiot judge who will refuse to evict a family in the winter. Either way though, they either leave by eviction or they leave when the bank forecloses on the house. Because if they don’t make it so that we can sell the house, it’s getting foreclosed on, plain and simple. If we’re REALLY lucky, and I mean REALLY, we’ll be able to scratch our way out of this hole without having to let the house go into foreclosure. The plan is to put the house on the market as soon as they are served their eviction notice. If they don’t trash the house too badly, and I’m not a big enough idiot to think that they won’t trash the house on their way out, we should be able to get it sold before things get way out of hand. The realtor I talked to said that Vermont hasn’t been hit as badly as some other places in the country economy and housing market-wise.
I just don’t understand people like this. It’s not as if I forced her to move into the house and THEN told her how much the rent was going to be. Why do you move in somewhere that you can’t afford? And if you can’t afford your rent, why do you buy four ATV’s and shell out for a huge SECOND wedding??? Despite the fact that we are in serious financial SHITE, my rent will still be paid on time. This is how life should be:
- Pay rent/mortgage.
- Pay electric/heat and water bill
- Pay renters/home owners/car insurance
- Pay car payment
- Buy food somewhere in there
- Everything else
Am I the only one that thinks this is the logical and RESPONSIBLE course of action? You have to have somewhere to live. That somewhere has to have heat and running water. That somewhere needs to be insured and you have to have an insured vehicle to earn the money to pay for the above. HELLO!!! If you are old enough to get married, have kids, and vote, you should be mature enough to figure out how to manage your finances. It’s also not as if she is making less money than when she moved in either. She works and has worked for Blue Cross Blue Shield of Vermont. That job is the whole reason she moved to Vermont in the first place.
Grrrr!! People suck and you can’t tell me that they don’t.
What a mess! I'm with you. It seems obvious where a person's priorities should lie, but unfortunately not everyone has common sense.
ReplyDeleteI know that I haven't always made the wisest financial decisions, but then, I wouldn't let myself get into a situation like your tenant has. My transgressions have always been on a minor scale where the sacrifice didn't risk my home, ability to pay bills, or to feed myself.
Oh. I am not saying that we haven't been in a few financial messes that we caused ourselves, but we've never once been late paying our rent or our mortgage while we lived in that house and we managed to fix things without screwing everyone else in the process. Common sense is definitely not something that everyone possesses.
ReplyDeleteThat really sucks! I agree that you are taking th eright corse of action though. It's really unfortunate but so many people have gotten in positions like that (unable to pay rent, etc.), especially lately due to the economy. I blame most of it on the general attitude of people thinking they can live above their means. Not that everyone is like that...but just sayin'. It just seems like common sense to me to have money for a place to live and to have food. Apparently some must not think that way. *shrug*
ReplyDeleteWhat a bunch of jerkasses. I don't even have a freakin job and my rent is always on time or early even.
ReplyDeleteI'm so sorry you are still dealing with this. Some people just have no sense of priorities and responsibility. I hope the lawyer up there can get things done for you.
ReplyDeletePam~~Common sense is something these people don't seem to have. When I told them their rent check bounced his reaction was, "Oh! I was wondering why my account had so much extra money in it."
ReplyDeleteJennifer~~Jerkasses is def an apt description.
Dana~~Thanks. So far, the lawyer has been great.
oh good grief, I can't believe he actually said that. complete Moron!
ReplyDeletePam~~Yup. This is the level of intelligence I've been dealing with for almost two years. Morons.
ReplyDelete