Topic: Starting the move to Florida project for real

[Cobra951]

That's like a horror story.  You're lucky to have insurance that actually covers this damage.  Sandy's daughter and son-in-law were not so lucky.  Their house was flooded in Nashville, and they didn't have flood insurance.  The house was supposedly not on the flood plain, so they "didn't need it".  They ended up selling the house to some contractor for way less than they owed on the mortgage.  They refused to consider walking away then fielding legal threats from the bank.  That's what I would have done, or at least threatened to do, to get the bank to be more cooperative and share the burden.

[Pugnate]

Well, furnace is definitely being replaced.  Apparently our contractor had an HVAC guy come out and that guy discovered that due to the water, the unit severely rusted and then something cracked which has been releasing carbon monoxide into the house.  It was so bad apparently that they guy ordered everyone out of the house immediately and shut off the gas right then and was planning on ripping out the furnace right then and there as "condemned".  But they need to show the insurance guy so that's happening on Monday now.

Bad news about the hardwood floor too.  Apparently the warped portion of the floor extends too far into the front room from the entryway, meaning that it isn't practical to just cut out the bad portion and replace it with tile; it would look weird.  The only other options are to replace the whole hardwood floor or carpet the front room.  We definitely want a new floor.  It's not like we have plywood that got warped, we have a hardwood floor!  Hiding under carpet is just not going to happen.

The insurance company is not going to like this development.  They've already been coming back to us and haggling on a few small items trying to get us to take less than what it would cost to truly repair or replace the items.  I don't think the furnace will be a big deal.  It was old.  We aren't going to ask for some high-end brand $8,000 99% efficient superfurnace.  We'll take a cheap brand 80% efficient unit.  But the floor is going to be a big problem.  The insurance company is very afraid of having to replace the whole thing, they've already tried to plant crappy ideas in our head several times about it like just to sand the warped parts down until it is level or carpet the front room (but not the bedrooms?  That''s backasswards!).

What a nightmare!

[scottws]

That's like a horror story.  You're lucky to have insurance that actually covers this damage.  Sandy's daughter and son-in-law were not so lucky.  Their house was flooded in Nashville, and they didn't have flood insurance.  The house was supposedly not on the flood plain, so they "didn't need it".  They ended up selling the house to some contractor for way less than they owed on the mortgage.  They refused to consider walking away then fielding legal threats from the bank.  That's what I would have done, or at least threatened to do, to get the bank to be more cooperative and share the burden.

We are lucky it was a burglary.  There is a water damage clause in our policy that limits the liability of the insurance company to $5,000.  But since ours was caused by a break it, that clause doesn't apply.  It wasn't due to a leak, natural flood, or frozen pipes.

[scottws]

I have an update, and this time it is good news!  Actually several bits of good news:

• The house was fixed.  We got a completely new basement and kitchen out of it.  The total payout from the insurance company was something to the tune of $70,000.  Unfortunately, we weren't able to sneak in a dishwasher or more cabinetry than we had previously and I wasn't able to convince Jennie that we should pony up the money to get those items to help sell the house, but at least everything was fixed and updated.  We even got a brand new 55" Samsung LED-LCD flatscreen plus a 32" LG LCD for free because we were able to show that it would cost us $2,500 to replace the old, huge 50" Sony CRT that was ruined in the flooding.
• The house finally sold!  We are closing the sale this coming Thursday.  We were scheduled to owe the bank $22,000 - $23,000 in the difference between the sale price and the mortgage balance, taxes, realtor commission, and closing costs.  Our bank was initially going to absorb a $10,000 loss and have write us an unsecured $12,000 - $13,000 loan, but the title company was taking too long and we haven't even been presented with the interest rate or term or anything so the bank is going to eat the entire loss now.  Huge news for us.  There were other bumps like the buyer wanted us to replace the electrical box on our dime.  We refused, stating that we weren't willing to take more than a $23,000 hit but the deal was about to fall through because the buyer's lender refused to buy the house with the existing box.  Our realtor got creative.  Basically the buyer didn't have the cash to fix it either, so they got her to pay a higher amount for the house and our bank footed the bill for the replacement and added it to the amount already owed.  In the end we paid for it, but since the buyer paid more for the house it came out as a wash and the deal is going through.  Anyway, it's about damn time.
• We finally got a house down here!  We close on that house on Friday.  At first we had our eyes on a short-sale house but that was taking too long.  We put our bid in in January and it wasn't resolved as of mid May when we put in a bit on the house we are getting.  The house we are buying was only on the market for one day.  Non-short-sale or non-forclosure houses are a rarity down here and people snatch them up quick because no one wants to deal with the process of buying a bank-owned property.
• I got a big raise at work.  My boss' last day was yesterday and he said he felt like I took a low salary and told the Director of IT that he was worried I might test the job market and easily find a higher-paying position.  He told him that the IT job market was really picking up and that I was a great asset and that he should give me a raise to make sure I stay around.  Thanks boss!  That is the first time I ever got a raise out of the blue like that.
• This isn't really new news, but Jennie absolutely loathed the job she left Cincinnati for.  She was miserable at the place and her boss was a total bitch with less than zero managerial skills.  After awhile, she was literally crying on the way home from work every day.  But she was able to move on to another position at a different company.  She made a lateral move both career- and salary-wise, but is much happier (and so is the rest of the family  ).

It's been a trying first year.  We completely outstayed our welcome at my sister-in-laws' when our Ohio house didn't sell in the 60-90 days our first realtor told us to expect, my Ohio house had some of its piping stolen and was significantly water-damaged as a result, we had a protracted battle for dollars with the insurance company, my grandmother died, Jennie hated the job we moved for, we moved into my mother-in-laws' after she moved here from Puerto Rico, Jennie and I were on the verge of divorce a couple of times, and we had significant trouble both selling our Ohio house and trying to buy a Florida house.

But it looks like as we approach the one year mark that things are really, finally starting to look up.

[ren]

That's awesome news! Glad to hear that everything has basically worked out. I didn't respond earlier because my only reaction to your situation was holy shit Scott's fucked (fairweather friends for the win).

Also, I'm surprised the bank was willing to eat so much of the cost.

[idolminds]

Wow, good news!

[scottws]

As far as the bank goes, all I'll say is that it pays to know the right people (or at least to know people who know the right people).  And it also pays to do business with small banks.

[PyroMenace]

Yea man, that's all great to hear, glad your marriage has managed to persevere.

[Cobra951]

Awesome, Scott!  It seems that everything came to a head and then got resolved.  It must have been harrowing, but it ended well.  Congrats.

[scottws]

Well, we closed on both houses on time (amazingly) and are moved in.  Parting with that much cash in that timeframe was sickening, but it is what it is.  We've got quite a bit of unpacking still to do.  I also had a few home maintenance treats I discovered:

• The dryer vent's exterior cover is both cracked and the flap doesn't close all the way.  When it rains, it gets in the wall.  This creates a small stream in our garage and it sounds like some water is dripping on a duct because you can hear it through the bathroom's vent.
• One of those wall mount TV stands for an old CRT was still mounted to one of the walls in my stepson's bedroom, on top of a 1x6 piece of lumber.  I removed that crap and found a nice big 4x4 hole in the drywall behind the piece of wood.  I cut a 4x4 piece of drywall only to discover they had patched right above the hole and it was 1/4" difference in depth.  I ended up cutting out like a 17x28 rectangle in the wall and putting in a piece of drywall that big in, taping it, and then applying mud to it.  I guess it's pretty standard stuff for people that are in general contracting or like to go crazy with home maintenance, but I never did it before so it took me awhile to get right.  After painting it looks pretty good, but I now wish I paid more attention to sanding down the edges of the mud because you can kind of make out where it ends in some places.
• They left us nine 7' tall Ikea CD/DVD shelves... all mounted to the family room wall.  Since these things are a light beech color and our entertainment center is a dark brown, they had to go.  Of course this left nice holes in the wall and peeled some of the paint so I have to fix that.
• The dryer vent was totally clogged and I had to buy one of those dryer brushes to clear it out.  I have no idea how they were able to do laundry prior. Clothes were coming out just as wet as they went in.

We can't find the fasteners for our desk, so I guess we have to try to buy them at a hardware store if we can, or buy a new desk.  Also I still don't have Internet.  I got the self-install kit for AT&T U-Verse, but it's not getting a signal at all.  I'll have to call a tech I think.  At least the DirecTV is working.

Anyway, standard move-in type stuff.  Everything is going well.

[Cools!]

Awesome, glad things are going well.