I'm going away this weekend for Memorial Day and won't be back until Tuesday, so here is a quick update:
1. Yesterday (Tuesday the 20th), Clara went home. RK was there, and she said to Clara that she thinks that if the house gets a bid, we should just take it (in an effort to move past all this). (Hm... so it's "we" now even though it was just one person who put the house up for sale?) Our family members steadfastly believe that it is a beautiful house and that we should not take less than what it's worth. Clara and I agree. RK also mentioned that she is thinking of going back to Korea and could possibly just leave the building to me and Clara.
(I believe absolutely nothing that comes out of RK's mouth, so I refuse to react to the latter part of their conversation.)
2. Today (Wednesday the 21st), Clara received a phone call from a broker at the real estate agency that RK is using. (It's not the same guy whom we met at the open house.) Apparently, someone made a bid on our house on Monday, but RK did not tell us. The broker only called Clara because RK was not answering his phone calls. That means that when RK tried convincing Clara that we should just accept a bid yesterday (Tuesday), she already knew of an existing bid but did not tell us about it. The bid is actually lower. (The house is set at $1.29 million, but the buyers bid $1.05 million.)
Clara spoke with RK right after the conversation with the broker. RK claimed that she did not tell us about the bid because it was lower than what we (well... she) was asking, so she didn't bother mentioning it. The broker called Clara back, and the buyers bid $1.1 million but Clara and I are not interested.
(We emailed the brokers to let them know we will be out of town until Tuesday. Also, we ALL [Clara and I + our lawyers + RK + RK's lawyer] are meeting on Wednesday morning in New York, so even if we were not going away for the weekend, I would not feel comfortable AT ALL about any of these bids until we outlined exactly what was going to happen to the trust if the house were sold.)
3. A bit different: one of the customers at the cleaners (shares first name with Clemens from the Yankees, and the last name is a homophone of the sound that a train makes) keeps claiming that he is going to sue us. He claims that he contacted a lawyer and that we (Clara and I) were supposed to appear on court today. He claims that he sent paperwork from his lawyer to us and also received confirmation that we received it. Clara and I went to the post office the day after the fire (Monday 3/10) to forward correspondence to the house, and we received nothing from him or any lawyer (though we do receive bills and everything, so the forwarding works). He also said that he filed something with the Chamber of Commerce in the town where the building is located, but the Chamber of Commerce has no record of it.
Today, Clara saw him at our manager's store, and she spoke with this customer because he happened to be there. He was "nice" and told Clara that he was going to cancel the court appearance at which we were supposed to appear. (WTF?) Basically he's full of horse manure, but I just want to make note of this just in case it winds up being something later. He claimed that this court appearance was supposed to be in White Plains which makes no sense since it's a local issue. (Then again, it's imaginary.) Clara asked nicely whom this customer contacted, and he said it was the "Commissioner of Insurance" (again... WTF?). When Clara asked nicely for a name, he stuttered, "Eric." Clara asked, "Eric what?" Customer: "Eric-something, I forget his last name."
So that's a quick update of what's up. We'll be back on Tuesday to deal with all this.
Thursday, May 22, 2008
Sunday, May 11, 2008
5/10/08 - More house stuff
Clara and I stopped by the house today. On our way there, we saw signs for an open house. SHE wasn't home, but the real estate guy asked us if we were there for the open house... for our own parents' house. That was wonderful.
We'd left two messages for her on voicemail earlier today to let her know that we were coming. (She did not call us back. I'm still unsure whether she checks her messages.) We called her again while at the house at 15:36; she told us she was ten minutes away and would be home right away. She arrived about half an hour later.
We asked her politely why she hadn't told us that there would be an open house today (and why she didn't tell us about the open house two Sundays ago). "Why do I need to tell you that?" she asked, not meeting our gaze. We told her that we just want to know about these things that are happening. "What... are you going to come to every open house? There's an open house tomorrow. Do you want to come to that too?" We reminded her that just like she wants to know about every meeting that happens with the business (which is totally her right... and we DO inform her of every meeting with the business), we would like to know about every single step that happens with the sale of the house (which, let me remind my audience, was a process that she started completely not only without our consent but without our knowledge).
At this point, she got upset and raised her voice (in the presence of the real estate guy... haha) and shrieked, "Do YOU want to pay the mortgage?"* to which we responded that we just want to be informed of these things (which IS our right, just as her knowing about the business is HER right). We reminded her that she put the house up for sale without telling us at all (she obviously tried to keep us in the dark since she saw Clara the day before she put up the sign... and I don't know too much about real estate, but I'm certain that you can't just walk into a real estate office and request a sign; negotiations need to be made, and contracts must be signed). She responded, "I TOLD you that I was sorry about that!" but we weren't looking for an apology. We just told her to PLEASE tell us every single time there is a new development, to which she responded that there WERE no new developments. I reminded her that she has our cell phone numbers and that she should feel free to call EVERY TIME that there is a new development. I asked her whether she needs our cell phone numbers programmed into her phone, and she said no.
At this point, she went into her room (but left the door open). Clara and I took pictures of the sign outside and our mom's baby grand piano. Then we knocked on her door (she had our back turned towards the door and was folding laundry... because I'm sure she needed something to be physically DOING to avoid having to talk to us) and told her we were leaving and reminded her to please let us know about any new developments. We asked if there were any. She curtly responded no.
(This was a total lie because we heard from some people who live around the cleaners that they saw HER outside the store a few days ago with two Korean men who were taking measurements of the store.)
We said goodbye to the real estate guy (who was pretty polite... and he was only doing his job) and left.
-----
* According to the will, it IS her responsibility to pay the mortgage. Period.
SIDE NOTE:
Although this is not entirely related, I would also like to point out the absurdity of HER putting the house on sale because she has put absolutely NO visible effort into improving the house. It was built in 1995 but has really undergone no significant improvements since then (my father redid the basement in 2003, but there haven't been any paint jobs or anything of the sort since the house was built).
Part of the front part of the roof has fallen off (which is more an aesthetic thing), which is visible in the flier that the real estate company (Realty 7) put together if you know to look for it. The deck has not been refurbished and looks definitely weathered, as does the front door which has visible splinters and has discolored over the years. There are cracks all over the house on many parts of the walls, including parts of the kitchen and many of the corners of the rooms. The room doors (which are white) need a serious paint job because you can see years of dirt all over the doors, especially near the knobs. The toilet in the basement (which hasn't been used in years but was obviously supposed to be a part of the open house since the door was open and the lights were on) hasn't been cleaned, and you can see the different "layers" of dirty water that have been there over the years.
Basically, the house is in absolutely no condition to be sold. SHE is asking just under $1.3 million, which is absurd. Even the real estate guy told me and my sister (before SHE arrived) that some of the people who have walked into the open house have commented that the house definitely needs work and even pointed out cracks in the walls to the real estate guy. The real estate guy told us, "It's not just a matter of lowering the price; there definitely need to be improvements."
(Her not realizing this -- I mean, at least scrub the insides of the toilets! -- proves her idiocy. The end.)
We'd left two messages for her on voicemail earlier today to let her know that we were coming. (She did not call us back. I'm still unsure whether she checks her messages.) We called her again while at the house at 15:36; she told us she was ten minutes away and would be home right away. She arrived about half an hour later.
We asked her politely why she hadn't told us that there would be an open house today (and why she didn't tell us about the open house two Sundays ago). "Why do I need to tell you that?" she asked, not meeting our gaze. We told her that we just want to know about these things that are happening. "What... are you going to come to every open house? There's an open house tomorrow. Do you want to come to that too?" We reminded her that just like she wants to know about every meeting that happens with the business (which is totally her right... and we DO inform her of every meeting with the business), we would like to know about every single step that happens with the sale of the house (which, let me remind my audience, was a process that she started completely not only without our consent but without our knowledge).
At this point, she got upset and raised her voice (in the presence of the real estate guy... haha) and shrieked, "Do YOU want to pay the mortgage?"* to which we responded that we just want to be informed of these things (which IS our right, just as her knowing about the business is HER right). We reminded her that she put the house up for sale without telling us at all (she obviously tried to keep us in the dark since she saw Clara the day before she put up the sign... and I don't know too much about real estate, but I'm certain that you can't just walk into a real estate office and request a sign; negotiations need to be made, and contracts must be signed). She responded, "I TOLD you that I was sorry about that!" but we weren't looking for an apology. We just told her to PLEASE tell us every single time there is a new development, to which she responded that there WERE no new developments. I reminded her that she has our cell phone numbers and that she should feel free to call EVERY TIME that there is a new development. I asked her whether she needs our cell phone numbers programmed into her phone, and she said no.
At this point, she went into her room (but left the door open). Clara and I took pictures of the sign outside and our mom's baby grand piano. Then we knocked on her door (she had our back turned towards the door and was folding laundry... because I'm sure she needed something to be physically DOING to avoid having to talk to us) and told her we were leaving and reminded her to please let us know about any new developments. We asked if there were any. She curtly responded no.
(This was a total lie because we heard from some people who live around the cleaners that they saw HER outside the store a few days ago with two Korean men who were taking measurements of the store.)
We said goodbye to the real estate guy (who was pretty polite... and he was only doing his job) and left.
-----
* According to the will, it IS her responsibility to pay the mortgage. Period.
SIDE NOTE:
Although this is not entirely related, I would also like to point out the absurdity of HER putting the house on sale because she has put absolutely NO visible effort into improving the house. It was built in 1995 but has really undergone no significant improvements since then (my father redid the basement in 2003, but there haven't been any paint jobs or anything of the sort since the house was built).
Part of the front part of the roof has fallen off (which is more an aesthetic thing), which is visible in the flier that the real estate company (Realty 7) put together if you know to look for it. The deck has not been refurbished and looks definitely weathered, as does the front door which has visible splinters and has discolored over the years. There are cracks all over the house on many parts of the walls, including parts of the kitchen and many of the corners of the rooms. The room doors (which are white) need a serious paint job because you can see years of dirt all over the doors, especially near the knobs. The toilet in the basement (which hasn't been used in years but was obviously supposed to be a part of the open house since the door was open and the lights were on) hasn't been cleaned, and you can see the different "layers" of dirty water that have been there over the years.
Basically, the house is in absolutely no condition to be sold. SHE is asking just under $1.3 million, which is absurd. Even the real estate guy told me and my sister (before SHE arrived) that some of the people who have walked into the open house have commented that the house definitely needs work and even pointed out cracks in the walls to the real estate guy. The real estate guy told us, "It's not just a matter of lowering the price; there definitely need to be improvements."
(Her not realizing this -- I mean, at least scrub the insides of the toilets! -- proves her idiocy. The end.)
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