Leaving the old place.

[Jody]

I have moved and am loving my new apartment. I was buying the mobile home cfd. I paid a lot of money into it, but frankely it wasn't in very good shape when I got it. It is now in worse shape because I couldn't afford to get these things fixed. I did make some improvements, new door and screeen door, new linoleum in two rooms. The original owner has a bad reputation as far as going into the home and confiscating items before you are finished moving. I will say she has been fairly reasonable working with me on house payments. I was torn over what to do. I lose my money, and she can resell the home to someone else. I called her yesterday and left a message to call me. I told her that I had moved, and we were going to clean it tonight. She became very irrate and threating. She is harassing me at work and won't stop calling. I tried so very hard to stay in the home, but it had mold and was harming my health, and I couldn't keep up the bills.

The thing is, I am having a hard time with feeling badly. I never try to do anyone wrong and I feel awful, but there wasn't anything that I could do. I feel like the lowest person on earth. Ugh. I can barely walk around right now, and I do mean barely. I have a pinched nerve from getting up and down in the Uhaul, so cleaning is going slowly. I told her I want to get it cleaned first, she doesn't want to wait. I know you might not want to write that you had to leave your home in a bad way, but if someone could talk to me about this, you could pm me. My daughter in college understands how badly I feel about this, and she says I am not going to hell for leaving a home, but boy I feel ashamed. Any suggestions on how to get over this and move on?

 

[AnnieO]

Sweetheart,

It's just a place. It's not home. Clearly this woman needs to back off. Don't let her bring you down.

I had to "skip out" on an apartment once. I did try to pay the bills. In fact one payment was late (my roommate's check to them bounced), so when I paid it? They would not accept MY check because hers was no good and it was "too late" and they started eviction procedures. I was gone before that. I found out later that roomie had gone back in and trashed the place. UGH.

Fact of the matter is, you have to do what you have to do. Hold your head high - you did the best you could possibly do, and this woman is a nutcase.

 

[HereWeGoAgain]

Sorry this woman is being such a [rhymes with witch]. You have nothing to be ashamed of. If you can't afford it, you can't afford it. You tried to make it work, you put a lot of time and effort and money into it. You were up front with this woman. You are doing the right and honorable thing by acknowledging that it is too much to handle, and saving both of you from a far worse situation. She knew it was a struggle for you to keep up. Not only was it hurting you financially but your health was suffering as well. She should count her blessings that you didn't fly by night. Sounds like she's not overly scrupulous about "getting hers", if you know what I mean. I seriously doubt she is being hurt financially here.

My dad rented a couple of houses out for a few years and I have a good friend who has a couple of houses rented out, and there are countless stories here on the board of the myriad ways in which difficult children have left landlords and creditors in the lurch. Believe me, a tenant who tries and is above board and who doesn't trash the place (as in destruction, not normal wear and tear) is above average and highly to be valued. (I know you said you were buying the place, not renting, but the principle remains the same.)

[by the way - What does buying a home cfd mean? Is it similar to a lease to own type of deal?]

 

[Hound dog]

What is cfd?? Is that like rent to own?

Ok, it stinks that you have to leave a place.......but sounds like you made a sound decision.

If the lady you're buying it from is irrate? And you have mold growing in the home? That's why. You need to contact the health dept about that mold so she doesn't scam someone else into renting to buy before taking all necessary steps to clean up that mold for good. It's not legal to sell a house with mold, unless you tell the buyer upfront. (sometimes not even then)

Me? I wouldn't clean it. I'd call the health dept, report the mold, and have them inspect it. Cleaning it is not worth your health. And yeah, I'm one that usually leaves a place more spotless than when I moved in...........

Hugs

 

[HereWeGoAgain]

OK I searched cfd on the web. It is "contract for deed". Basically the owner finances the sale and retains the deed to the property. When the loan is paid, the deed is transferred to the buyer. It might be used in situations where the buyer does not meet conventional mortgage requirements, e.g. not enough down payment. Since there is no third party mortgage holder to satisfy, there is no requirement for inspection, title insurance, etc. (Maybe avoiding an inspection which would uncover the mold problem was a motivating factor for the seller here?) Typically as the loan is paid, the buyer gains some percentage of equity, which is forfeit if the buyer defaults.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land_contract

 

[Hound dog]

Thanks. I thought so.

I have a sneaky suspicion owner knew about the mold prior to the contract........and this made her home sellable. We had an old guy who had inherited an old family home in the neighborhood. He really didn't want the house, but when he went to sell it inspectors found black mold. So, he decided to rent.........well, he's too nice a guy to be a decent landlord so after evicting endless difficult children.........he decided to go rent to own or cfd. To disguise the mold issue he'd wash down the walls in the dining area and put about 5 coats of new paint on it. Each person who took it on was about 6 mo to a yr into the place before the mold began to show up under the new layers of paint. He'd tell them that since they were buying. they'd have to bear the cost of clean up or live with it. I think he went through several people that way......no skin off his nose, he had months worth of free money (as I said the house had been in the family forever) as he didn't have a house payment to make. Win/win for him.

Finally he needed to dump the house for financial reasons. But he'd spend a lot to clean up the mold only to have it come back like before. Now we lived close enough to realize that for years he'd had bats living in the chimney of that house. You'd see them fly out at dust and back at dawn. We'd told him this over and over but he wouldn't believe us. Finally he decides when nothing else worked to get the chimney inspected and cleaned..............there was so much bat guano in there the guys doing the job were stunned, never seen anything like it. That was the source of the mold. yuk

After clean up he had an inspector come out before putting it on the market. Inspector turned him into the city......not long after the house was condemned. Seemed while he was concentrating upstairs he'd never bothered to look in the basement.........ewwwwww. Nasty.

 

[Jody]

This whole ordeal has been crazy. The furnace on this home is going out, and I had signed up for the weatherization program thru the County which received stimulus money to help people with some of these issues. They contacted me on Monday and told me they were ready to put in the furnace. I told them that I had moved and was turning over the home, they told me if I wanted to they would still put in the furnace as scheduled if someone else was going to live in the place. I went over there to meet him at the house and have him take a look and there are people in the mobile home carrying out the rest of my belongings. Nothing that I wanted but, I didn't get it cleaned up and the house was a wreck. Needed washed down and mopped and vacuumed, garbage stuff left behind. We were there last night trying to get it cleaned, but barely made a dent. People told me this is what her normal practice is and not to let them know that I was moving until I am totally out because I would never see the rest of my things. Well it did help me get over my guilt of leaving the way I did. I tried to do the right thing but they just don't want you too. They want to try to get you before you get them. I wasn't trying to get them though, I was trying to be a good person. Now they get no furnace, no clean-up nothing. I was never a bad tenant, never. It is pretty embarrasing for anyone to see how I was living this last year though. I have been sick,and dealing with depression and all of difficult child's issues. It sure took it's toll on the house. I had flooring in their for the lady I brought the home from for her to put down in two of the rooms. The workers she hired are stealing it. Unbelievable.

 

[TerryJ2]

Ahhh, now I see.

Well, I wouldn't live in a place with-that much mold. Period.

And you DID stay in touch. I guess that's what the problem was, considering what you found out afterward. I am so sorry that the workers are stealing the flooring. Do you think you need photos or receipts? Or ... as you said in the first note, you are just walking. Probably better that way. Sigh.

 

[HaoZi]

I tried so very hard to stay in the home, but it had mold and was harming my health,

I'm with HD on this, the health department should know about it, she should be made to remove it before someone else moves in and gets sick from it.