It was a pretty boring week here....nothing too exciting going on.
I heard back from the mortgage company..."I'm sorry, Mrs. Koch, there's nothing we can do. We have to honor the original contract, so you're responsible for the full amount." I honestly don't know what we're going to do. We have an appointment with an attorney on Tuesday. I hope he can tell us something positive.
I went to JJ's open house on Thursday night. All his teachers had wonderful things to say about him. I'm very proud of him. His football coaches told me that he does great, but they'd like to see some meanness from him on the field. I told him that we worked very hard at getting this mellow JJ we have now, thank you very much.
Braden's still on his, "I like school" kick, so we're running with it. I have never seen a more girl-crazy kid than him. He volunteered for the science mentoring program, where he'll work with 6th graders having problems in science class.
Renee is starting CNA training on Monday, and Joe's still a prison guard, although they've added him to the crisis team now, and he has to wear riot gear all the time, which he says is very heavy and cumbersome.
Tonight I'm going to a surprise birthday party for the teacher I work with. I'm looking forward to a night out. I might let my hair down and act not-my-age for a change. Although it's hard to act not-my-age when I will worry about drinking and driving, if the kids are behaving at home and all the crap I have to get done on Sunday. But, I'll give it the ole college try.
Saturday, September 29, 2007
Thursday, September 20, 2007
"Bluer than blue"
Well, the Koch family has found themselves in quite a jam.
We refinanced in order to do the kitchen remodel and fix up the basement. We found this mortgage/finance management company that does "wraparound/slider" mortgages. I'd never heard of them before, but essentially what they do is:
Appraise your home
Find out the maximum amount you're eligible to finance
Offer you a fantastic interest rate on the amount of money you actually need, if you'll agree to finance more money than you need, and they get to invest that extra money and make interest on it.
For example, if you want to finance $200,000, but qualify for $300,000....you finance $300000, then have a closing. Three days later you have a second closing saying that this company is responsible for $100,000, you're responsible for $200,000, and you pay them the payment on your $200,000, and they pay the original mortgage payment on the $300,000. Sound confusing? It did to me at first, but then it made sense. They make money on your $100,000, so they can give you a great interest rate on your $200,000.
So, of course, we went for it. The company has been in business for over 25 years, had a good standing with the BBB and references out the wazoo.
We got a letter from the mortgage/finance company yesterday saying that due to poor investments on their part, they're filing for bankrutcy. And, that they haven't made payments for the past two months, and that we're responsible for the entire payments.
We're screwed.
Keith's a mess, and of course, he couldn't wait to tell me when we were alone, he said it in front of the kids, who are now a wreck. What a jerk he was to blurt it out in front of them, "Schell, we're in trouble and I think we're going to lose the house!" I keep reassuring them that we'll work everything out, and they shouldn't worry, but you know how that goes.
If we can't do anything legally about all this, we're going to have to come up with an additional $700 a month for a mortgage payment, and be out around $90,000. Of course, we have all kinds of documentation, but if the company is bankrupt, I don't know what good that will do us. I called the mortgage company that thinks we owe them the higher payment, and explained the situation. I have to fax them all the documents that I have, then they will call me in a few days to see what they decide. Also, we have 60 days for some sort of decision to be made before anything will be reported to the credit bureau, so our credit rating will not be changed...yet.
I don't know what else we can do. There's a lot of smart people who come to this site, so I'm hoping someone has some advice for us.
We refinanced in order to do the kitchen remodel and fix up the basement. We found this mortgage/finance management company that does "wraparound/slider" mortgages. I'd never heard of them before, but essentially what they do is:
Appraise your home
Find out the maximum amount you're eligible to finance
Offer you a fantastic interest rate on the amount of money you actually need, if you'll agree to finance more money than you need, and they get to invest that extra money and make interest on it.
For example, if you want to finance $200,000, but qualify for $300,000....you finance $300000, then have a closing. Three days later you have a second closing saying that this company is responsible for $100,000, you're responsible for $200,000, and you pay them the payment on your $200,000, and they pay the original mortgage payment on the $300,000. Sound confusing? It did to me at first, but then it made sense. They make money on your $100,000, so they can give you a great interest rate on your $200,000.
So, of course, we went for it. The company has been in business for over 25 years, had a good standing with the BBB and references out the wazoo.
We got a letter from the mortgage/finance company yesterday saying that due to poor investments on their part, they're filing for bankrutcy. And, that they haven't made payments for the past two months, and that we're responsible for the entire payments.
We're screwed.
Keith's a mess, and of course, he couldn't wait to tell me when we were alone, he said it in front of the kids, who are now a wreck. What a jerk he was to blurt it out in front of them, "Schell, we're in trouble and I think we're going to lose the house!" I keep reassuring them that we'll work everything out, and they shouldn't worry, but you know how that goes.
If we can't do anything legally about all this, we're going to have to come up with an additional $700 a month for a mortgage payment, and be out around $90,000. Of course, we have all kinds of documentation, but if the company is bankrupt, I don't know what good that will do us. I called the mortgage company that thinks we owe them the higher payment, and explained the situation. I have to fax them all the documents that I have, then they will call me in a few days to see what they decide. Also, we have 60 days for some sort of decision to be made before anything will be reported to the credit bureau, so our credit rating will not be changed...yet.
I don't know what else we can do. There's a lot of smart people who come to this site, so I'm hoping someone has some advice for us.
Saturday, September 15, 2007
Too dull for a title
Sadly, or maybe gladly, I don't have too much to report. This is the thing I don't like about blogging. I feel like I "have to" update, but when I don't have anything exciting going on, I desperately try to come up with something witty and clever. As you're probably noticing, I'm coming up empty.
Braden really likes school so far this year. He likes his classes and his teachers. Hopefully it will last the whole year.
JJ's doing well. He's only home to eat, sleep and do homework. Last night, he went to his first high school dance. When he came home he said it was "Alright". Which in JJ language means good.
Braden is on a scout canoeing/camping trip this weekend. Not to sound like a rotten parent, but it's nice to have him gone from time to time. He's pretty high maintenance.
I warned Braden and JJ countless times about the state of their dirty laundry. I've always done all the laundry here, but that doesn't mean I need to turn their sweaty, damp socks inside right, or pull apart beaters and regular shirts. Over the summer, I told them that if they didn't start "prepping" their clothes, they were going to have to do their own wash. That worked for about two weeks...then it started getting ridiculous again, so now they have to do their own. It's nice only having to do mine and Keith's. I'm rather enjoying it. I might actually start making them do more things for themselves.
Braden really likes school so far this year. He likes his classes and his teachers. Hopefully it will last the whole year.
JJ's doing well. He's only home to eat, sleep and do homework. Last night, he went to his first high school dance. When he came home he said it was "Alright". Which in JJ language means good.
Braden is on a scout canoeing/camping trip this weekend. Not to sound like a rotten parent, but it's nice to have him gone from time to time. He's pretty high maintenance.
I warned Braden and JJ countless times about the state of their dirty laundry. I've always done all the laundry here, but that doesn't mean I need to turn their sweaty, damp socks inside right, or pull apart beaters and regular shirts. Over the summer, I told them that if they didn't start "prepping" their clothes, they were going to have to do their own wash. That worked for about two weeks...then it started getting ridiculous again, so now they have to do their own. It's nice only having to do mine and Keith's. I'm rather enjoying it. I might actually start making them do more things for themselves.
Saturday, September 08, 2007
"My country tis of thee...."
Well, the first week of school for Braden and JJ went off without a hitch. Unless you call me scrambling around every freaking night for yet MORE school supplies a hitch. The middle school sends home a letter a few weeks before school starts with a list of the supplies Braden will need for each class. Easy. High school doesn't do that. And, JJ doesn't have the same classes every day, so each day he'd come home and need more things. And, since he has football practice everyday after school, he doesn't get home until around 7:oo. For his engineering class he needed toothpicks, because they're building a bridge. Not just any toothpicks, but a specific brand. That was a fun night driving from store to store looking for Forester brand toothpicks. Engineering teacher, kiss my ass.
And, there seems to be a shortage of Book Sox around here. I've been to at least six different places and can't find them anywhere. Staples, KMart, Walmart, CVS, RiteAid, Dollar Store. I may have to resort to paperbag bookcovers.....if I even remember how to make them.
And now, for your entertainment, a few interesting responses from my students:
L, a 17 yr old in my class, loves to work on things. He's always taking bikes and go karts apart and fixing them. He told me he got a job over the summer working at a car garage near him. I said, "That's great, L, that's right up your alley." "No Miss," he replied, "it's a block up the road."
After the Miss South Carolina debacle, I made all my kids put their heads down and one by one walk up to the map and show me where the US was. The good news, they were all able to do it. Here's the bad news, the last one, my only girl, said, "I don't feel like getting up, but it's the green one on the map, right between Columbia and Mexico." Oh well.
During an Assessment test, I had to ask another boy the following question: How many ways are there to arrange 4 books on 1 bookshelf? After thinking about it for a while, he said, "By size, by color, alphabetically, and by genre." That one cracked me up. And I replied, "you know the word genre? I'm giving you credit for this one."
And, there seems to be a shortage of Book Sox around here. I've been to at least six different places and can't find them anywhere. Staples, KMart, Walmart, CVS, RiteAid, Dollar Store. I may have to resort to paperbag bookcovers.....if I even remember how to make them.
And now, for your entertainment, a few interesting responses from my students:
L, a 17 yr old in my class, loves to work on things. He's always taking bikes and go karts apart and fixing them. He told me he got a job over the summer working at a car garage near him. I said, "That's great, L, that's right up your alley." "No Miss," he replied, "it's a block up the road."
After the Miss South Carolina debacle, I made all my kids put their heads down and one by one walk up to the map and show me where the US was. The good news, they were all able to do it. Here's the bad news, the last one, my only girl, said, "I don't feel like getting up, but it's the green one on the map, right between Columbia and Mexico." Oh well.
During an Assessment test, I had to ask another boy the following question: How many ways are there to arrange 4 books on 1 bookshelf? After thinking about it for a while, he said, "By size, by color, alphabetically, and by genre." That one cracked me up. And I replied, "you know the word genre? I'm giving you credit for this one."
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