It is a harmonious place, the country house. But getting here has been a royal pain in the butt.
Today is the last day before we sign, after a month of dealing with a nonresponsive seller's agent and seller.
They could have made this process easier. Had we worked through the details of the contract earlier and, say, replied to our minor requests on the addendum. Had they honored the Notice to Perform and installed the water heater and HVAC a week ago, so it could have been tested and contingencies removed. Had they done that, it wouldn't have to be a photo finish.
But that's what they wanted and that's how it's been. All we have been in charge of is what we needed to do so we were ready. We worried incessently and second guessed ourselves. Maybe it wasn't such a viable plan and did we make a mistake? Is it an omen ...
The owner of the LLC is out of town on holiday and a more reasonable person with power of attorney, everything is moving very fast. CheckCheckCheckCheck!
Monday we'll know.
Jun 29, 2012
Jun 27, 2012
Room to Breathe
I'm hoping the tip tap click of keys will put me in a sleepy mood. I am full of thoughts about the game of chance and directional shifts, the unlikelihood that we would be able and willing enough to step into the change at the precise moment it happened by.
Horse property. Learning to can fruit and sit out back in the evenings with the rustle of life all around. Listening to the hum of the saw from the workshop and the dog chasing ground squirrels along the back fence. I have dreamt all my life of open space, without the clutter of noise echoing off their houses into mine. It is not for everyone, solitude, and we will see if it is for us, if given the chance for the keys.
I can almost remember the first time 'horse' was put in little chubby letters on my Christmas list. My parents threw back their heads and laughed. But I meant it. I meant it more than anything else. Horse gifts came in a lot of forms, stuffed animals and plastic horses jumping over fences for my dresser, and horseshoe pins to wear. Eventually it became horseback rides when I was older, and the adventures of trying to steer an animal who knew the routines and trails better than I. But I never outgrew it.
And now that life has advanced me to GO, the potential of a horse is all I wanted. The choice. Nowadays, it is the respite from our busy and frantic lives, with commuting, and deadlines, and endless demands until we clock out and head home to somewhere with room to breathe. It is the space.
Horse property. Learning to can fruit and sit out back in the evenings with the rustle of life all around. Listening to the hum of the saw from the workshop and the dog chasing ground squirrels along the back fence. I have dreamt all my life of open space, without the clutter of noise echoing off their houses into mine. It is not for everyone, solitude, and we will see if it is for us, if given the chance for the keys.
I can almost remember the first time 'horse' was put in little chubby letters on my Christmas list. My parents threw back their heads and laughed. But I meant it. I meant it more than anything else. Horse gifts came in a lot of forms, stuffed animals and plastic horses jumping over fences for my dresser, and horseshoe pins to wear. Eventually it became horseback rides when I was older, and the adventures of trying to steer an animal who knew the routines and trails better than I. But I never outgrew it.
And now that life has advanced me to GO, the potential of a horse is all I wanted. The choice. Nowadays, it is the respite from our busy and frantic lives, with commuting, and deadlines, and endless demands until we clock out and head home to somewhere with room to breathe. It is the space.
Jun 23, 2012
it depends on if it's you or not
This in from Huff Post. The 10 worst states for economic security. Like my obstetrics doctor said ... it may be only 1 in 1,000 for a serious problem to occur during labor, but if it's you, it's 100%.
6. California
Percentage of residents that lost at least one-quarter of their income, 2010: 22.67 percent.Jun 21, 2012
The Shell Game (or hide the hat)
You know that story about the employee who buys an expensive hat and tries to expense it on his business expense report? His boss returns it to him and says that is not an allowable expense. And so the next month, the employee submits another report, and tells his boss to find the hat. The boss looks and looks and can't find it, as all the expenses are allowable, and reluctantly he approves the expense report.
Well we kind of know a little more about what that's like. The house has no history, so we are piecing things together. And a big piece fell into place with the preliminary title report that traced back 2+ years with deed changes.
We know that the Andersons owned the place for a lot of years until the last of the elder clan passed sometime around 2006. It was resold to the Camarillo family and probably they were the ones to do all the beautiful and high end renovations, new electrical, new attic room, some extensions downstairs to add another bedroom. They unfortunately lost it to foreclosure sometime in 2009.
And now we know what happened after that. BofA foreclosed and it was trustee deeded over to Reconstruct Company, N.A. We guess that the remaining repairs, paint, finishing up the kitchen remodel, etc, were done by them. They trustee deeded it over to BofA in February 2012 and BofA turned around and sold it at auction to Alpine Holdings Inc and that was recorded on May 11, 2012. They put it on the market on May 24, 2012, and we bought it.
Some research turned up an interesting triangle. The Reconstruct Company is 100% wholly owned by Bank Of America, so essentially BofA kept possession but took it off their books as a liability. BofA could then get the insurance payment from AIG for the foreclosure for 80% of the home loan value. Reconstruct hung onto it a while and did their thing with improvements and "sold" it back to BofA which BofA then sold to Alpine Holdings to market it.
The owner's name was on the docs so it was easy to find out that he is a Chico State Univ marketing student about my eldest son's age (30) who has holdings in excess of $50Million. The Alpine Holdings LLC is just one of quite a few LLCs of which he is acting President, and all in the business of quick flips - but only on the marketing side. Fifty million in assets doesn't happen without someone fronting the money or at the very least underwriting the business with an open checkbook. Like BofA, for instance.
The house has forced amnesia. It has been intentionally cleansed, so the bank profits at each juncture and no disclosures need to happen. Records of improvements are long gone, that was two sales ago, and all between BofA and the companies they control. That is why the *current* owner Thomas Christy can scrawl across the disclosures pages -- SELLER NEVER OCCUPIED HOME. They don't have any information on the house because the deeded transfer was so recent. And all totally legal.
We approached the home with caution. We have paid over $2K in inspections, well and water test, septic and leach fields, home inspection, termite / dry rot. But I wonder had another buyer relied on the seller's disclosures to learn about the property, what they would be thinking with the non-disclosure disclosures. What a risk it would be to buy a home without history.
I was interested in this trustee's deed transfer because the process essentially cleanses the foreclosure to a non-foreclosure even though the bank still owns it. If this is going on all over the country, that might mean the statistics of our economic recovery are being manipulated by the banks and we aren't in the kind of shape that is being reported to Congress and the President.
While not illegal, it does perpetuate the mindset of manipulation for personal gain the banks continue to do in spite of the economic whirlpool it has caused. It explains why our sellers are disinterested in promoting the close, and why our agent is running around like her hair's on fire to get everything done. This is one house among thousands of others they have never stepped inside but are representing as a seller. And my hunch is that BofA will get most of the profits from the sale after Alpine Holdings funnels the cash through its LLC.
Trying to put a dollar figure to this one transaction is hard, but my guess is that BofA foreclosed on a $385K mortgage (so AIG paid BofA 80% of the loss, or $308K). Reconstruct sold it back to BofA for $65K. BofA then sold it to Alpine Holdings for $102K. And now we are buying it for a profit to them of $120K. $530K profit, $65K as a write off.
Not a bad day for the bank.
Well we kind of know a little more about what that's like. The house has no history, so we are piecing things together. And a big piece fell into place with the preliminary title report that traced back 2+ years with deed changes.
We know that the Andersons owned the place for a lot of years until the last of the elder clan passed sometime around 2006. It was resold to the Camarillo family and probably they were the ones to do all the beautiful and high end renovations, new electrical, new attic room, some extensions downstairs to add another bedroom. They unfortunately lost it to foreclosure sometime in 2009.
And now we know what happened after that. BofA foreclosed and it was trustee deeded over to Reconstruct Company, N.A. We guess that the remaining repairs, paint, finishing up the kitchen remodel, etc, were done by them. They trustee deeded it over to BofA in February 2012 and BofA turned around and sold it at auction to Alpine Holdings Inc and that was recorded on May 11, 2012. They put it on the market on May 24, 2012, and we bought it.
Some research turned up an interesting triangle. The Reconstruct Company is 100% wholly owned by Bank Of America, so essentially BofA kept possession but took it off their books as a liability. BofA could then get the insurance payment from AIG for the foreclosure for 80% of the home loan value. Reconstruct hung onto it a while and did their thing with improvements and "sold" it back to BofA which BofA then sold to Alpine Holdings to market it.
The owner's name was on the docs so it was easy to find out that he is a Chico State Univ marketing student about my eldest son's age (30) who has holdings in excess of $50Million. The Alpine Holdings LLC is just one of quite a few LLCs of which he is acting President, and all in the business of quick flips - but only on the marketing side. Fifty million in assets doesn't happen without someone fronting the money or at the very least underwriting the business with an open checkbook. Like BofA, for instance.
The house has forced amnesia. It has been intentionally cleansed, so the bank profits at each juncture and no disclosures need to happen. Records of improvements are long gone, that was two sales ago, and all between BofA and the companies they control. That is why the *current* owner Thomas Christy can scrawl across the disclosures pages -- SELLER NEVER OCCUPIED HOME. They don't have any information on the house because the deeded transfer was so recent. And all totally legal.
We approached the home with caution. We have paid over $2K in inspections, well and water test, septic and leach fields, home inspection, termite / dry rot. But I wonder had another buyer relied on the seller's disclosures to learn about the property, what they would be thinking with the non-disclosure disclosures. What a risk it would be to buy a home without history.
I was interested in this trustee's deed transfer because the process essentially cleanses the foreclosure to a non-foreclosure even though the bank still owns it. If this is going on all over the country, that might mean the statistics of our economic recovery are being manipulated by the banks and we aren't in the kind of shape that is being reported to Congress and the President.
While not illegal, it does perpetuate the mindset of manipulation for personal gain the banks continue to do in spite of the economic whirlpool it has caused. It explains why our sellers are disinterested in promoting the close, and why our agent is running around like her hair's on fire to get everything done. This is one house among thousands of others they have never stepped inside but are representing as a seller. And my hunch is that BofA will get most of the profits from the sale after Alpine Holdings funnels the cash through its LLC.
Trying to put a dollar figure to this one transaction is hard, but my guess is that BofA foreclosed on a $385K mortgage (so AIG paid BofA 80% of the loss, or $308K). Reconstruct sold it back to BofA for $65K. BofA then sold it to Alpine Holdings for $102K. And now we are buying it for a profit to them of $120K. $530K profit, $65K as a write off.
Not a bad day for the bank.
Jun 13, 2012
Homesteading
It's been a whirlwind around here, not just on the weekend with leaves and twigs in the pool and Triffin and Ron's wedding in Tahoe, but also with the Old Anderson Place.
The nickname this week is the Ranch. Sounds Cartwright-esque but it isn't a grand home with a big sweeping driveway set in the mountains with beautiful vistas from every window. Ours is a little house set back from the road with some Oaks and level land that carries your eye past the dry grass and up over the fields to the mountains beyond.
We've been out there a lot, for the inspections. I didn't know the wood used in circa.1902 is different than modern wood, more heart was used in the old stuff, and so the inspections are clean and solid. It still has the original exterior lap siding, if you can believe that. I think it's because this sweet old gal has been loved by who lived here and looked after.
All in all the house has received the Good Bones thumbs up. I have been fretting over the big holes and mounds of earth surrounding the chicken coop. We need to root that out and take that down!! But yesterday's pest guy said the critters aren't villianous, bloodthirsty vampires but ground squirrels, you old sissy, citygirl.
If things keep falling in place, we may actually have to pick up the keys! The hubs participated in most of the inspections so he has a general idea what the reports are going to say even before we get them. We're waiting on the last two that should arrive today.
We are down to two weeks before becoming a Zamoraite, population 61, with its own post office that offers free boxes because mail and newspaper delivery doesn't come out this far. It has a volunteer fire department and neighbors within eyeshot but not earshot. No sidewalks, no street lights, just us and our little spot of heaven. We'll be living our dream, and within our means.
Meanwhile, the city house is moving right along. Appraisal done. Buyers in place. Paperwork submitted to BofA. All we need now is their go ahead and escrow begins, and in a short while we will hand it off to them like a bride at the wedding, with enormous pride and best of luck for a happy future.
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| Country farmhouse |
We've been out there a lot, for the inspections. I didn't know the wood used in circa.1902 is different than modern wood, more heart was used in the old stuff, and so the inspections are clean and solid. It still has the original exterior lap siding, if you can believe that. I think it's because this sweet old gal has been loved by who lived here and looked after.
All in all the house has received the Good Bones thumbs up. I have been fretting over the big holes and mounds of earth surrounding the chicken coop. We need to root that out and take that down!! But yesterday's pest guy said the critters aren't villianous, bloodthirsty vampires but ground squirrels, you old sissy, citygirl.
If things keep falling in place, we may actually have to pick up the keys! The hubs participated in most of the inspections so he has a general idea what the reports are going to say even before we get them. We're waiting on the last two that should arrive today.
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| Entry hall |
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| our place in town |
Meanwhile, the city house is moving right along. Appraisal done. Buyers in place. Paperwork submitted to BofA. All we need now is their go ahead and escrow begins, and in a short while we will hand it off to them like a bride at the wedding, with enormous pride and best of luck for a happy future.
Jun 8, 2012
the old Anderson place
I swear sometimes I live in a bubble.
A week ago, we knew nothing about the house in the country and so we went on a treasure hunt. First stop was to the keepers of the stats, at the Yolo County tax assessor, first upstairs to look at the plot maps and then down to the records department where we tried fruitlessly to wade through the maze of recorded deeds.
Uh oh. The main screen disappeared. How do you pull up the deed again when you click on the names? You really can't just enter the address and have it pull up the property's history? Your files are really organized by family name? You really charge $10 for the first copy?
On the 2nd trip to the health department (the first time was to drop off a well water sample for testing), we were looking for past permits to piece together some history on the place. The LLC that bought and flipped it has no data, and it was BofA who sold it to them, so we were pretty much on our own. Things were looking a little grim until a man came in to drop off a permit request.
You want to find something out around here, just ask a farmer. It turns out this random guy is in the septic business with all of his brothers and their wives. He knew the place, well enough to tell us all about the land and placement of the well and septic. It turns out he dug the new leach fields in 2006. We couldn't believe our luck. Really.
He's also a volunteer firefighter and has lived here all his life, so he had lots of advice on how to research the history of the place. Just ask old Mr. Krull, who is a neighbor to the south. We will definitely do that.
The permit gal said she couldn't divulge many details since we didn't own the place, but there was an original well company name listed, and she shared that. The hubs rang them up on Tuesday, and reached a man whose father and he dug the well in 1985 and who still had the files. He had all sorts of information about the well, the pump, other nearby properties and the family.
Now that's progress! The hubs and he met today out at the old Anderson place and talked an hour more, and it confirmed our suspicions that the house next door was an Anderson house originally and is now slated to be sold separately.
A solid family of brothers lived here, and the kids after that, for over sixty years. Their paint is on the woodwork here and their patches are on the foundation.
Finally! A proper introduction.
A week ago, we knew nothing about the house in the country and so we went on a treasure hunt. First stop was to the keepers of the stats, at the Yolo County tax assessor, first upstairs to look at the plot maps and then down to the records department where we tried fruitlessly to wade through the maze of recorded deeds.
Uh oh. The main screen disappeared. How do you pull up the deed again when you click on the names? You really can't just enter the address and have it pull up the property's history? Your files are really organized by family name? You really charge $10 for the first copy?
On the 2nd trip to the health department (the first time was to drop off a well water sample for testing), we were looking for past permits to piece together some history on the place. The LLC that bought and flipped it has no data, and it was BofA who sold it to them, so we were pretty much on our own. Things were looking a little grim until a man came in to drop off a permit request.
You want to find something out around here, just ask a farmer. It turns out this random guy is in the septic business with all of his brothers and their wives. He knew the place, well enough to tell us all about the land and placement of the well and septic. It turns out he dug the new leach fields in 2006. We couldn't believe our luck. Really.
He's also a volunteer firefighter and has lived here all his life, so he had lots of advice on how to research the history of the place. Just ask old Mr. Krull, who is a neighbor to the south. We will definitely do that.
The permit gal said she couldn't divulge many details since we didn't own the place, but there was an original well company name listed, and she shared that. The hubs rang them up on Tuesday, and reached a man whose father and he dug the well in 1985 and who still had the files. He had all sorts of information about the well, the pump, other nearby properties and the family.
Now that's progress! The hubs and he met today out at the old Anderson place and talked an hour more, and it confirmed our suspicions that the house next door was an Anderson house originally and is now slated to be sold separately.
A solid family of brothers lived here, and the kids after that, for over sixty years. Their paint is on the woodwork here and their patches are on the foundation.
Finally! A proper introduction.
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