Monday, February 16, 2009

Forever in debt to your priceless advice

Dear God! I don't really have much to say; I just HAVE to post something to get rid of that horrible picture up there! I swear on my left boob that was the LAST post I'm doing on that freakazoid. No, really. This story happened to coincide with something going on in my life, so I couldn't help myself from talking about it a little, but trust me when I say I didn't write nearly as much as I wanted to. Self-control, FTW!

Oh yeah, I need to wrap up the Separation Saga, don't I? Eh. I'll do it sometime later. MTAE reminded me that I forgot to include the ancedote about the time I gave Brian a sweet uppercut to the jaw, so I'll have to make sure to remember. It's not that I usually condone hitting but sometimes it's totally warranted and what? It could've been worse - lucky (for him!) I didn't have access to a baseball bat at that moment.

Disclaimer: I don't believe in PMS. With that said, I woke up this morning feeling like ass and pissed off for no apparent reason. Once I got to work and counted the days on the calendar, I went Aha. Maybe it is real. Or maybe, just maybe, I get in a really bad mood once a month and cry over really stupid shit and want to eat nothing but salt. It's possible. Either way it should pass in a day or two. Just in time for the cramps and yuck-yuck to start. Sing it with me - IT'S FUN BEING A GIRL!

One of the funnest (I know it's not a word, shut it) things about having a blog and cyberpals is the free advice. So here's my question. Our redneck friends are about to lose their house. I won't go into specifics about how much behind on their mortgage they are; let's just say it's substantial. However Redneck Husband has done many rennovations over the years they've lived there, including building a free-standing, two-story building behind the house that he uses for a workshop. That thing is all kinds of awesome. But beside the point. His latest project is a bigger master bedroom on the end of the house. About a week ago, he broke through the wall between the addition and the room they'd been using for their young son's bedroom and found a scary mold situation going on. As we all know, mold is bad. Their son, who has slept in there almost every night of his two and a half years, has developed a bad problem with Croup. Last year he was even hospitalized for it for almost two weeks and it was horrible. I hate to say he came close to dying, but it was pretty touch and go there for a few days. So. Was mold the culprit? I know it can affect sinuses and the respiratory system. My point: Do they have any legal recourse? I don't have all the details yet, but I know they've lived in the house for almost five years and when they bought the house from an older lady, some shady stuff went down. Whether or not an inspection was ever done I don't know.

I know what I'm really asking for is free legal advice. Like Crisitunity, I was a paralegal for awhile, so I know that's sort of a no-no. I guess I'd really just like when we see them in a few days to maybe give them some info that could possibly help them. If all I should suggest is for them to see an attorney, I'll do that. The whole thing is a big steaming pile of crap and I feel awful for them. Way to go, economy; I'll see you in hell.

And with that, I guess I'll leave you for now. But don't forget: Tomorrow night = sex toy party. I am prepared to give, if not a photographic, a detailed and thorough report.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

My advice is worth less than you paid for it, but my guess would be that there is no recourse against the BANK that would stop the foreclosure. There may be some recourse against the lady they bought the house from - slightly doubtful, but they'd have to ask an attorney to be sure. Possibly a homeowner's insurance claim? I dunno.

Kim said...

I guess I'm just frustrated because we just dealt with people who hadn't paid their mortgage in six months and swore Obama was going to save their house for them and it took two months of pain-in-the-ass effort to kick them out. These are good, honest, hard-working people and they're about to get screwed.

Anonymous said...

Amateur opinion,
Even if you could uncover that the previous owner knowingly covered up this condition, I can't see how you could get to them in any way to be responsible.

Homeowners Insurance possibly. It would also be a way to get quick cash for the repairs, but he probably couldn't legally perform the mold remediation himself.

Kim said...

I'm wondering now if maybe they should look into the homeowners thing b/c both of you guys mentioned it. Anything is better than nothing.

Anonymous said...

If it's possible that there wasn't a home inspection, I'm thiking that means your friends bought that home "as is" mold and all.

There might be a way they can save their home, but it's painful. I'll e-mail you.

Anonymous said...

They should have some recourse against the previous homeowners if they deliberately covered it up - the tort there is fraud, MTAE. A real estate expert would be able to tell how much less the house is worth, and they would (maybe) be responsible for the kid's medical bills. If there was any kind of home inspection, they have recourse against the inspectors. Even if they get kicked out of their house, they could probably still go this route, especially if the kid has permanent damage of some kind. But if the bank gets the house, the bank would be the one to sue the prior homeowners for value lost out of the house.

I'm sorry for them. Foreclosure is awful.

Anonymous said...

Oh, and if they do get to keep the house and the prior homeowners knew and covered it up, the priors would probably be responsible for the cost of removing the mold, replacing that area of the house, etc.

But it depends on what kind of warranty was in the real estate contract. It might have been a form of "as is", like MTAE said.

Kim said...

Cris - Thank you so much; that could really help things along. I found out they're definitely moving, today as a matter of fact. But if they can recover anything, it would help. A lot. I'll find out the whole story Friday when I help the woman finish unpacking her stuff at the new place.

Anonymous said...

You're welcome, but hey, you know the drill...I'm not an attorney, and I don't even specialize in real estate. A real estate lawyer would be able to tell them for sure. (And paying a lawyer to help them might not be worth it at all - and they might not be able to get a contingency-type lawyer for an amount that could be quite small.)