Congratulations to Johanna and Sara

28 May 2005 We celebrated Johanna and Sara’s graduation from High School today. Their parents held a picnic for them and three other graduates. They walked the line last night, and this was one of several celebrations planed. You know, if they manage to succeed in their college aspirations, they may graduate college the same year I do! Scary thought! Tina and Randy cooked entirely too much food, as is their modus operandi. After the numerous guests had all passed through the line a time or two, there was still more food in the various platters than had been eaten! Among the guests were Johanna and Sara’s brother Joseph. His wife is obviously expecting and must be due some time around the end of the year, by the look of things. That will make two children for them. Martin arrived also with a new girlfriend who came with her daughter. The cute little girl looked to be about 6 years old.

PARENTS!

No matter how old you get, it seems that some parents just never stop seeing you as their child. Are you 18? 20? 25? and still struggling to prove yourself to your parents? Give it up. Just stop worring about it. Here I am, age 42 and my parents STILL persist in treating me like a little boy. I get no respect in my own familey! The current issue is the sell of our old house in which both of us are invested. This house had its good points but it was built around 1915 and was in need of major renovations when we bought it ten years ago. My parents fronted the down payment, well, to be honest, they bought the place and put our names on the loan as fist signers. I did not like the house at all, but what are you going to do when your mom has the control of the money and will not listen to you? Like I said - I get no respect. You see SHE fell in love with the place and put money down on it before we even had a look at the place... basicly forced us into it because of the "great potintial" the place had. Well the plan was good. They had money and I had time and ability. They were going to fund the remodel, and as owners we were going to do the work. The first problem was that between us, no one could come up with a game plan that was acceptable to all. Then, the next thing you know, their money for the remodel was gone! Spent! (They always seemed to need a new car or truck ?!?) So I was stuck in a house that was too small for my growing familey, that needed remodleing but had no money for it. We made repairs as needed of course, and I did a lot of work to improve things. I cleaned out a mess in the basement, put in a circle drive, added some fencing and enclosed the carport. All at my own expence. There were problems too with the initial loan agreement we had. I had never gotten a lone on a house before so I let mom and dad walk us through the procedure. As the years past, it became clear that what we thought was an assumed morgage with some four payments having been made.. was an assumed morgage that was already in default four payments behind! We strugled to get it caught up (which should have been resolved by legal means, because the purchase was missrepresented in the contract that we signed) but my parents (supposedly savy to all of this) preffered to do nothing until (after I'd paid a ton in late fees) the move to forclose was made and my parents (concerned that they would loose their investment) refinanced the place and took our names off the new loan. They also took a lot of equity out of the house at the same time. About $8,000 and not a penny of that was given to us! So now we have moved out, and they need to sell it and part the procedes from the sell. How should we divide the net gains? There is income from the appreciation of the property. There is income from the accrued equity from our house payments. There is income from the improvements I did out of my own poket. There is the issue of their initial down payment. We statred with a $40,000 loan and a $10,000 down payment. We are hopeing for a resale around $80,000. One more item I need to mention here. I have in my file a document that states that we agreed to split the net profits of the sell of the home 50/50. We both signed it in the presence of two christian witnesses. Should not this agreement be honored? My parents want to throw it out the window because, just like in the first loan, the new loan was fouled up too. When they refinanced they made they mistake of assuming that taxes and insurance were included in the monthly payments. We agreed to make the monthly payments and signed off our rights as owners in exchange for the reduced monthly terms. *Then* it turned out that taxes and insureance were *not* included, and never were. Inspite of my warnings.. and I did plead with them to READ the contract before signing it... (I get no respect see)... they still did not read it. So this caught them in the shorts. We had already agreed to the terms and it was too late to start renegotiating them. As it stands now, they are pissed that they have had to carry insurance on the house.. and the taxes are almost three years in the rears because they have not paid them. I should have known... They are the elders here. If I should have known.. shouldn't thay have known and been doing something to prevent the problem? I hate to say it, but I know them. They are my parents and I've had to live with them as long as they have had to live with me. The reason they are pissed right now is beacause, when they had the new loan contract in front of them, all they could see was the bottom line that put money in thier pockets. So they can just eat it for once and perhapps become the wiser for it. Now I must sound like a spoiled child in light of all this. I mean they did front a lot of money to put us in a home and they deserve something for thier sacrifice - right? Consider this - After running the numbers, they could walk away from this house with about 22,000. Not a bad return after only 10 years. I should see about 11,000... 8,000 of which is from equity that our monthly payments have accrued, and the rest from the improvements we funded ourselves. So is a 50/50 split too much to ask? I ask you.