AM DISABLED AND BLIND AND INSOLVENT TO BOOT. HAD CREDIT COUNSELING AND RECEIVED A CERTIFICATE#. THOUGHT I WAS FILING FOR BANKR. BUT WHEN ATTY SAID COST $2000 AND WAS DENIED PRO-BONO, ALSO WAS TOLD BY ATTY AND C.P.A. THAT THEY COULDN'T MAKE ME PAY. OKAY, SO C.P.A. PREPARED PAPERWORK FOR CREDITORS TO STOP MY MONTHLY PAYMENTS, BUT.....WHERE DO I SEND THESE PAPERS WITHOUT GETTING THE SAME KIND OF RUN-AROUND YOU ALL SEEM TO BE HAVING? GE MONEY BANK AND PAYPAL BUYERS CREDIT SEEMS TO HAVE THEMSELVES WELL-INSULATED. I JUST WANT TO FILE THESE PAPERS WITH THE CORRECT LEGAL/FINANCIAL OFFICIALS AT THE RIGHT ADDRESS. ANYONE KNOWING OF A PARENT CORPORATE HQ ADDRESS FOR THE SOUTHEASTERN REGION OF THE USA, PLEASE, PLEASE DO LET ME KNOW AT MY EMAIL ADDRESS A.S.A.P. I CAN'T DEAL WITH READING LENGTHY FINANCIAL TOMES ANYMORE - SO PLEASE FORGIVE THESE ALL CAPS - I'M NOT SHOUTING AT ANYONE, BUT PROB. WOULD LIKE TO TAKE THESE CONSCIENCE-LESS CREDITORS WHO RAISE RATES ON LONG AND GOOD CUSTOMERS AND GRAB THEM BY THEIR SHORT HAIRS THANKS ONE AND ALL AND MERRY CHRISTMAS AND MANY BLESSINGS

"It's the banks who refuse to part with the money even though we bailed them out." So you want the banks to resume making loans that may not have adequate collateral? The banks (and Freddie & Fannie0 are rightly nervous that if prices continue to decline the collateral behind the notes will further decline in value. It is a chicken and egg problem, since not making loans influences further declines in the market value of collateral. "Unlike the past it is now considered a bad thing to have other property's. " No, it is a bad thing to have "other property" that is mortgaged. The underwriting guidelines (for a long time) have required you show the ability to cover ALL your mortgages from YOUR FUNDS (without rental income) or have sufficient reserves to cover ALL the mortgages for enough time to find a new tenant. This is the same way investors have been forced to operate for a long time ((along with higher down payment to even GET a loan, PMI is NOT an option for investment properties. In the go-go housing market all sorts of folks thought that easy money was theirs, without the financial basis to actually pay on their mortgages. I personally know of folks that contracted for new houses, fully expecting to sell them at completion (or even shortly before). They received confirming mortgages by claiming they would occupy the houses as their principal residence (despite owning other houses they presently lived in and had no intention of moving out of or selling). When the bubble finally burst they lost many tens of thousands of dollars in down payment cash and settlements with the builders over failing to close. We old cautious investors are wary of stretching to thin since we have a decent amount of OUR money money tied up. There is no guaranteed return on RE, especially short term. It is a long term investment, not a quick flip (as many folks have now discovered). The 'quick flip' folks seem to have disappeared into the woodwork leaving someone else to pick up the pieces (often the lenders eager to make a fast buck also and transfer the risk to someone else like Freddie or Fannie). At least FHA has not taken as much of a beating, though they are also in trouble. I should still thank them though, I picked up two properties last fall at bargain prices that needed a minimum of work as REO after the previous owners defaulted and the bank foreclosed. The bank ate the loss (or whomever actually owned the note probably F or F), I ended up with bargains, and the previous owners have a badly damaged credit rating abd are klikely to be renting for a while now (and NOT from me). Banks saw any easy way to make money on lending and then transfer the risk to F or F (all the while being paid by F & F to collect payments by servicing the loans). The decline in underwriting standards at F & F only added to the problem (pushed in many cases by pols and 'community organizer's suing banks to make riskier loans or have their charter's revoked). Plenty of folks jumped on the 'easy money' bandwagon thinking it was a quick buck. They all made money while F & F went broke as the defaults mounted and the bonds from the banks tanked in value (at least F & F had Uncle Sugar to step in for them).

LITH, Ask the possible cash buyer out to see the place, now; if she won't bother to come at this point she's just hoping to scoop up something cheap, cheap, cheap when/if you get desperate - perhaps more desperate than you would ever get. Test her interest with the invitation. If your place meets her needs, invite an offer from her. Your buyer is in default (and I have no doubt he knows that) -in addition to being in the Caribbean, so if the cash buyer makes you an offer you can live with, then take it. Tough luck for your current buyer. He coulda, woulda, and definitely, shoulda! Everybody is right, IMO, about who should be screaming (metaphorically, maybe even literally) at the bank and it is NOT you! Your pressure is more likely to screw up the process because you have no relationship to the bank. The way that they see it, they're not going to lose a dime if they p*ss you off. The buyer, OTOH, is their customer - not that that matters all that much these days. But truly, it is your buyer who has pledged to buy the place and getting the funds together to do so is entirely his problem, not yours. In your eagerness to get the deal done, you have have overstepped the correct boundaries of the separate, and distinct, roles and made it too easy for him. I'm not saying he's not committed, but I am saying he isn't carrying HIS load. He needs to man up and act like a competent grown-up who can get a fairly straight forward home loan done. In a perverse way, your efforts have enabled him to continue to fool around on his way to this purchase - and now you're feeling the fall out. Tell the cash buyer this: it appears that your current buyer is in default and may not be able to close (she needs no other details, and hopefully she doesn't know them) so you are preparing to put the property back on the market. But given that she has shown so much interest you are, courteously, offering her a "preview" to see it before anyone else does. This is putting some tactful fairydust on the situation, but she doesn't need to know that. Just set it up as a chance for her to see it before anyone else, and not a last ditch effort on your part. Meanwhile, the old clanker down in my basement is still puffing and screeching away and mojo-ing like mad on your behalf. (And, if there is a next time, DO NOT DEAL WITH YOUR BUYERS' BANK - that's their job, and if they aren't on top of it, at every single turn, consider it a clear sign they aren't really committed to the deal. Build hard pass/fail tests at various stages of the contract so you can bail at the first sign of dilly-dallying - even on the part of their bank. It will save you time and angst.) HTH, L.

He owes you $12,000? In that case I would hire a lawyer - not chump change! Especially if you ordered face-frame cabs and now he only does frameless - that is a total breach of contract. All I can say about lawyers is you DEFINITELY get what you pay for! Pay more for a really GOOD lawyer with experience in this area - trust me - a bad lawyer is the WORST thing in the world! At least a good vs. bad divorce lawyer, that is ;) -- Melissastar, Along with all the quality problems, we did have trouble getting them to "finish" up (before we fired them). They "disappeared" for a few weeks - and we kept harrassing them about putting in the windows - the ENTIRE project was estimated to be FINISHED by Labor Day (September - broke ground beginning of July) but in late October it was already getting really cold and we had NO WINDOWS! This was why the lawyer advised us not to fire them at the time - we PAID for the windows and siding! So, my mother called up the window place, and it turns out the windows were sitting there for over a month - they would NOT allow them to leave the shop until the GC paid for them! So, my mother was like, "But WE paid HIM for THOSE windows." Sorry, the GC never paid us! The GC had been LYING the whole time - he kept saying "The Anderson Factory is months behind." They finally installed the windows in November - that was when the SH-T hit the fan - they caught me taking photographs of their trucks and license plates! And got really p-ssed! The windows were already on my property, so I really didn't care at that point, but they removed all their tools from the premises (big deal - one of the guys saw my Dewalt jigsaw and was like "What are YOU doing with that nice saw?" And I replied "I KNOW how to build!") -- Marti8A, Do you NEED a GC? Good question! I know that in order to get the permit they required a licensed CONTRACTOR, but not sure if that means GC. We were originally planning to GC it ourselves, and we found our excavator through a reference - he was the guy who recommended our GC. The excavation / foundation guy was cool AT FIRST - all that went well. But once the framers started, it all went downhill. The excavator guy was around in the beginning of that, but we kept complaining, and he even saw the screw-ups, and after the whole roof / closet fiasco he simply DISAPPEARED - and DISCONNECTED his phone! Seriously, the problem here is that we are both FEMALE! There is NO WAY all this would EVER happen if a guy was on the premises everyday. The proof is that as soon as my brother came down from Vermont they actually listened to him - and corrected some of the mistakes. But, when I pointed out the exact same mistakes they told me "You don't know what you are talking about!" -- Funny story: We added on to the back of the house, but I REALLY wanted a Portico over the front door (I HATE the snow blocking the door in winter). I had already designed it to fit between the two different roofs (front is L-shaped with main roof 12/12 pitch and smaller roof 8/12 pitch - front door is in the corner on the short side). That was not in the plans, but during the initial consult I asked the GC if he could build it "Of COURSE!" he said. Well, we checked with the code / inspector guy and he said that as long as it was only over the door / stoop - not a full porch or going beyond the existing front of the house, that he would allow it without a permit. So, one day they show up (hadn't been around in like a week) at 7am and say "We're here to frame the Portico - $2,000 cash upfront" (we had already agreed to that cost). Yeah, they ALWAYS want more money BEFORE they FINISH ANYTHING. But, the portico was separate from the addition, and we were just glad they showed up at that point. We had already thoroughly discussed the design - the bottom was only one freestanding post holding up a hip roof that ties into the valley of the two existing gable roofs. It was supposed to have exposed rafter tails, but they would have come down too low, so I agreed to just squaring out the eaves with fascia trim. Fine, right? WRONG! Well, all of a sudden the guys start arguing amongst themselves in Spanish (OK, this is another whole problem - do yourself a favor and meet the ENTIRE CREW before you sign a contract - just because the GC seems like a normal Italian and the excavator is Irish does NOT mean the guys actually doing the work are Americans - when my brother found this out he flipped!). So, I'm like "What's the problem?" And the GC is like, well, those two roofs are different pitches - we cannot do it! WHAT?!?!? You've been working here all these months and you JUST NOTICED that the two roofs are not the same pitch? What the bleeping Hell does that have to do with anything anyway? So, he's like, "A hip roof is always a square - the same on both sides." No, actually NOT if it's a rectangle like the house RIGHT NEXT DOOR!!! So, as the guys are fooling around with some wood up on the roof, trying to figure out what to do, I say "Give me that wood!" I took the wood, climbed up on the ladder, put the wood in the valley and showed them that the ridge goes from the top of the valley and slopes down to the post on the outside corner. Then, the short hip rafters connect from one roof to the ridge beam and the other roof to the ridge beam, and then ledger boards are carried across from below the eaves of each original roof forming the "square" that surrounds the stoop and attaches at the top of the post. Oh, well "That would be called a "B-stard Hip" because the rafters would be different on each side - it will look weird!" the GC said. What? I replied "I DON"T CARE WHAT YOU CALL IT! OF COURSE the rafters must be two different pitches - the CURRENT two roofs are TWO DIFFERENT PITCHES!" Are you sure that's what you want? YES! THAT IS EXACTLY WHAT I WANT! Well, that's strange, so I'll have to call your mother to make sure a "B-stard Hip" is OK. Fine, on the phone we go, and I had to explain WHY it has to be a "B-stard Hip" because of the different pitches. I assure her that I know exactly what I'm talking about and that it is EXACTLY what it SHOULD look like. "Fine, I'll do it, but it will cost an extra $700 because we'll have to calculate two different pitches to cut." WHATEVER - JUST DO IT! So, finally they are going to start the work. They had to remove the fascia, trim and two batts to install the ledger boards into the old house. When he removed the 3" long screws holding in the batt, he said "You were serious? You really DID use 3" long stainless screws?" with a really scared look on his face. "Yes," I said, "I had to go through the 3/4" thick batt, the 3/4" space between the boards, the 3/4" firring strips and then into the sheathing." "I TOLD you I wasn't going overboard." (This was in reference to how to install REAL board-and-batt siding - he'd only ever done the fake plywood with strips of wood for decoration.) So, from the time that they arrived at 7am and spent HOURS arguing with me, it was 10:30am by the time they even started removing the old roofing to build the portico. My internet had gone down the day before and Verizon was supposed to come fix it - the guy arrived at 1pm and the whole portico roof was already framed out. After he left I went out there and OH MY GOSH - IT WAS PERFECT!!! It fit between the valley perfectly! But, they spent more time ARGUING with me over how to build the bloody thing than it did to actually BUILD it! At the end of the day as they were putting up the new felt paper on the roof we went out to look at it and I was SO HAPPY! I was jumping up and down for joy and hugging them! And they were like, well, that was a lot of work, calculating all those different cuts. Yeah? "But it looks like it has been there since the house was built - EXACTLY what it SHOULD look like!" They only installed a few temporary 2x4's, not the actual post to hold up the portico. That would take ANOTHER WHOLE MONTH to get to! So, when they removed the old copper flashing that was inside that valley, they left it in front of the garage and I took it. It was a huge 24" wide and very long piece of copper. The guys were like "Where did the copper go?" I said I took it to make flower boxes out of. The next day when the roofers came to do the rest of the roof, I went out to get the copper from the other valley and it was GONE! They STOLE MY COPPER and immediately drove it off! I was P-SSED! They probably got $50 for that copper at the scrap yard, when in reality it was worth at least $2,000. THIEVES! We were really mad because we actually wanted them to leave that copper in the valley, but they claimed that you cannot install Ice and Water Shield on top of it. BTW: Copper is MUCH better than Ice and Water Shield. So, the portico looked awesome, and we finally FORCED them to get the cedar post and put in the concrete pillar and post bracket, and the beadboard for the ceiling. They wanted to put another post on the one side of the house with ground underneath it, but since they couldn't do that on the walkway side I said no (the roof would settle crooked then over time). The Ledger was made of double 2x12's and I was going to install the fascia myself, but the GC insisted that it be made of 2x10's (not normal 5/4 board), so I quickly ran to Lowes, found the nicest 2x10's they had, brought them home, sanded them smooth and primed all sides before they were installed. Also, while waiting for them to show up to install the post, I realized the ledgers were just installed using nails, so I installed a whole bunch of stainless lag screws into the house framing and heavy-duty brackets where the ledgers meet the house. Well, they dug and poured the concrete for the post, but it couldn't be installed until the concrete set. When they left the guys said to me "Don't go priming that post while we're gone!" Yeah, I'm OBSESSED with priming all wood before it's installed! Of course, I did prime it, and after waiting a few weeks they never showed up and I installed the post myself. I still have to finish the trim (tried making giant curved brackets by hand - NOT a good idea!), so I'm planning on making an arched valance below the fascia instead with stepped corbels along the posts (I installed floating 2x4 posts with really long lag screws under the ledger boards). I don't think they ever even noticed that I installed that post without them! Note: GW won't let me submit the word B-stard Hip, but yes, it was that profanity that he used to describe a hip with two different angles on each side. It actually looks NORMAL (each side above the portico - over the stoop - is the same) - only the edges of the hip rafters where they meet the two different roof pitches are cut differently. Oh yeah, my mother loved it when she got home - she agreed that it looks likes it's always been there, but she was REALLY MAD that the GC kept calling her up at work to argue about it. Also, everyone who sees it cannot even believe it's not original to the house. Now, I cannot even imagine the house without it! As for snow, well, it works quite well, EXCEPT with blowing snow drifts! I'm going to build a half-wall between the posts along the side without steps to keep the snow from blowing in from the side of the house.