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81F and partly cloudy this evening.
TLDR: the house sold, and there's no strike!
But the closing took so long today, that I decided not to go to work!
However... the reason I stuck around to the bitter end, rather than going to work on such a pivotal day... was because I was waiting for a check for far more than I imagined!
Okay, so I was up around 9:30AM, and after getting dressed, went over to the house to leave food for Prowly and take out the garbage... thinking I'd have no time after the signing to stop there on the way to work.
I was back here to the flat around 11AM, with 30 minutes to kill... but in that time Jim texted me, asking if I could bring the keys!
So then and there, I realized... I'd just been inside Melody Manor for the last time, and that was the last food Prowly was ever getting from me.
The signing took place at a title company a few miles from here on the west side, and only Jim and I were in attendance, as the buyer, Alejandro Torres Properties LLC, and his Lake Street lawyers decided to do their signing remotely from a different location (probably Lake Street).
But Melissa, one of the Lake lawyers, did show up early on, to grab the keys, becuase they wanted to do a quick walk-through of the house before agreeing to sign.
So they actually went in there, without me... with fresh moist cat food on a paper plate on the kitchen table left for Prowly!
And I was very worried they'd be like, What the fuck man! You're still feeding a cat in here?
But after 40 minutes or so, we got word they'd done their walk-through and were ready to sign... without any mention of the cat food.
Jim had been able to preview the documents before today, and was also reviewing them now in real time, while also keeping in touch with Mr. Taylor, and they didn't have any problems with anything.
It was just a slow going process of me signing this... then the title lady coming back with that... then word from online that Alejandro had signed this... and BMO had signed that...
Computer glitches slowed things down for a while.
But it was all coming together.
What shocked the hell out of me, was when the title lady told me, We'll be able to give you thirteen thousand today, but you'll have to wait for the other five thousand, because it's being held until some things check out over the next few days.
I was like, What do you mean? I have to pay BMO the thirteen thousand myself?
She said, No, we're paying them off today, but we can only give YOU thirteen thousand. The other five thousand will have to wait a day or two.
I said, What thirteen thousand are you talking about? I was only supposed to GET five thousand! I owned BMO thirteen thousand!
She said, I don't know about all that. All I know is you're getting a total of eighteen thousand as proceeds from this sale. Then she left to go deal with stuff on the computer.
I looked at Jim, How is this possible? My agreement with Taylor was for whatever was owed to the bank, plus five thousand!.
Jim said, I dunno!.. Taylor told me he expected to pay 80K for the house, and to kick you five thousand for your troubles. Sometimes banks end up settling for less than they were asking though.
I said, This much less?.. what the hell!?
Jim shrugged, I don't understand it either, I mean... these guys find their ways!
So my best understanding of this tonight is that... despite the fact that BMO's most recent payoff quotes for the two mortgages added up to near 80K... which made sense... they somehow magically settled for 13K LESS than that!
WHICH IS ABSURD ON IT'S FACE, BECAUSE THEY CREATED THIS ENTIRE FORECLOSURE CRISIS OVER THE MATTER OF EXACTLY 13K TO BEGIN WITH!
THEY NEEDED THAT 13K SO BAD, THAT THEY FORCLOSED ON A 2ND MORTGAGE (not normal) TO GET IT, AND WOULD STOP AT NOTHING TO GET IT!
But then on closing day, they just... forgave it?
WHAT THE FUCK?
I went through a year of physical, mental, and emotional torture, at the hands of BMO, for them to essentially say, Nevermind! when I'd finally vacated the house, parted ways with my pets, and handed over the keys to a flipper!
It's insanity!
But goddammit!.. I was gonna stay until I had that check in my hand, because the PNC branch bank was right across the street, and I'd be damned if I wasn't gonna deposit that TODAY!
The signing started at 1PM, but I didn't have that check until 3:15PM.
It was deposited at 3:30PM... when the contract meeting at Potawatomi was just ending, and my co-workers were voting.
It was too soon to text Tom and ask whether we were on strike or not.
Thus also too soon to try and call in at the main office... cuz why bother, if we were on strike?
Okay, so let's talk about the unexpected windfall, because I feel guilty about it... because my siblings all signed papers saying the proceeds should go to me... based on the assumption I'd only be getting 5K.
I seriously considered keeping the windfall under wraps, because of that.
But through this whole story, I've been very up-front and detailed about the dollar numbers, so it's be nearly impossible to explain anything in the future, while covering up this payday, without weaving a tangled web of lies that could damn me in the future.
That said... I intend to keep the money!
WHY?.. hear me out...
- I'm some 65K in debt right now, between PNC and the credit cards... all of which was used either to improve the house, pay lawyers, or survive the crisis, after the refinance fell through.
- That 18K is all going toward paying down those debts enough to get my credit score where it needs to be, to buy the house back.
- I blew my 32K life savings (401K) to take care of Dad in his last two years, and do critical repairs to the place... even before I started going into debt.
I'm not gonna put a price on just looking after Dad for 8 years, because I enjoyed most of that, and benefitted from it.
And I'm not gonna put a price on all the trauma I've been through recently because... everybody has their traumas to deal with.
But I did blow 97K of my own money or credit on Dad, his house, and the crisis that followed his death... so 18K, I think is a fair consolation prize... considering I lost nearly everything.
Again... it's all going toward making some dents in those card balances, and keeping PNC happy for a while.
I did get confirmation from Tom, around 9PM that the contract passed and we are not on strike.
Everything goes back to normal tomorrow, and my new wage, for the next 18 months, will be $22.05 per hour.
If the maintenance department shifts to it's own union and strikes for more than that... it's a story for another day.
That was a fairy tale told to me by an electrician back in May, that will either play out or expire, here in August.
It would certainly help, but i'm not counting on it!
I do however have an old friend/co-worker from the hospital, Matt, who is in business with a partner, buying and renting properties.
So there is a possibility that I can talk Matt into buying Melody Manor, and renting the downstairs to me, while renting the upstairs to another party.
The new wage, plus what the 18K can do for my credit score... plus the fact that we're friends... could convince him to take that chance!
And I could be his on site maintenance guy for the property, to boot.
He doesn't know much of this story at all right now, but now that the house has sold, I'm gonna at least run it by him, to see what he thinks.
If he doesn't want to buy the house with his LLC, then maybe he can help me figure out how to get it back myself.
I have 10 weeks to figure it all out!
So there we are!
August 1st... Midsummer... and finally the crisis of the past few years has ended!
BMO Harris Bank is finally out of the goddam picture!
I've just paid August rent and am save in my studio apartment.
There will be no strike, so... I got a small raise, but my job is sound.
I got a weirdly ironic windfall of 13K.
The keys now belong to Alejandro Torres LLC, so I can no longer return to the house.
Yvette is safe.
Snoop is presumably safe.
And now Prowly's officially on his own, for food and shelter.
The next 10 weeks are going to be about getting my finances back under control, and finding some way to get back into that house... or accepting there is no way to do it right now.
A new normal is about to truly set in!
A new day has finally started!
°¦}
