Lien on Me

In order to avoid any confusion whatsoever, I'm gonna spoil the story that I'm about to tell by disclosing up front that my friend and ex, Jeff, actually did nothing wrong. Rather, he and I were the victims of coincidence and someone else's sloppiness and, in fact, he was instrumental in helping to put things right.

The closing on the sale of my house was scheduled for this week, so my realtor and I had been working feverishly to put everything in place so that all would go off without a hitch. I had already spoken to him once or twice when he called at mid-morning this past Monday (14 May) and asked a question that I never wanted to hear.

"Are you aware that Jeff put a lien for $10,000 on your house? That'll have to be paid before we can close."

The words echoed in my head and the cacophony grew until I thought my brain would burst. I was completely blind-sided and had no idea what to say, much less what to do. I walked outside, mobile phone in hand, to call Jeff, but decided to detour to the restroom so that I wouldn't have to endure a full bladder while having what I expected to be a contentious conversation.

Before I could get back outside, John called again to share additional information that he'd learned. "It looks like it wasn't Jeff that put the lien on the house. Someone sued Jeff and won a judgment against him and put the lien on the house when his name was still on it." This shed a different light on the situation, but it didn't really make it any better.

I called my buyer's attorney and spoke at length to her paralegal. She mentioned the name of the company that placed the lien, but had few other details. There was no other information in the judgment against which to match Jeff's middle name, date of birth, or other identifiers. She casually mentioned that the judgment contained only his name (a very common name which he shared with The (late) Frugal Gourmet) and address. I asked about the address and when she read it to me, I didn't recognize it as one where Jeff had ever lived. I went to the Web site of our county tax office and found that Jeff and his wife at that address. In a later conversation, the paralegal asked me if Jeff had ever been married to a woman whose name I recognized from the tax records. "Absolutely not," I replied. She confirmed that this was a case of mistaken identity and said that we'd just need to get Jeff to sign an affidavit that this wasn't his obligation.

So, now I had to get a hold of Jeff. I sent him an e-mail message. I called his mobile phone. I called his office. He finally replied to a text message, saying that he was in a meeting and would call soon. When I spoke to him, he met my recounting of the story with shock and indignation equal to my own. He promised to contact the attorney and help me to clear up the situation as quickly as possible.

I called my realtor to update him on the situation and then called the attorney to tell her that she could expect Jeff's call, but she was already on the other line with him. When I went the next day to sign my half of the closing papers, the paralegal told me that they had received from Jeff everything that they needed to remedy the situation.

What a scare! Though it's cleared up now, I'm outraged that a lien could be placed on my property without my receiving any sort of notice. I plan to contact the state attorney general to file a complaint against the company that placed the lien, Unifund CCR Partners of Cincinnati, but I wonder what action could be taken beyond a black mark in some record somewhere, since I suffered no real damages other than an hour or two off of the end of my life and a scorch mark on the ceiling tile above my work cubicle. :J

Turning Blue

To say that the past couple of weeks have been a flurry would be the metaphorical equivalent of saying that Katrina was a bad thunderstorm. (I don't mean to make light of the profound effect that the hurricane had on an untold number of lives, but rather to illustrate a question of degree in an apt and effective manner.) As I prepared to move house, guerrilla packing and schlepping gave way this past Wednesday to an all-out assault that lasted for four days.

I took off last Wednesday (9 May) to pack and prepare to move on Saturday (12 May). My friend, Leslie, had lent me her large pick-up truck and I thought that two days would be ample time to move the few belongings that I had left. As I buzzed about sorting, organizing, and packing, the folly of my accomplishing this feat in two days became desperately and excruciatingly obvious. I called my boss on Thursday morning and begged off for the rest of the week. During those four days, I cried; I clawed at my face; I wailed and gnashed my teeth; I kvetched to and sought sympathy from my neighbors, my family, Chris (who was just finishing up a stay in Manila), Leslie, even Jeff, and anyone else who'd listen. In-between my machinations, I managed to convey eight (8) truckloads of stuff to a storage unit (and filled it nearly to bursting) while five (5) truckloads found their way into Leslie's garage. Everyone has been very supportive and I am indebted to my friend, Ken, and my neighbor, John, for lending their time and labor and vehicles to my cause and to my friend, Leslie, for lending me her truck and giving me space to store my things as well as my dog and myself.

About 90% of the dirty work is now finished. I'm camping out at Leslie's place in Kernersville and I am relaxing a bit ahead of Wednesday's (16 May) closing. I worked calmly today, closing and transferring utilities and planning my budget. I picked up Chris at the airport this afternoon and spent a few hours with him and his family in Salisbury. Tomorrow, I'll be up and at 'em early to swing back by my house and collect my cat, Cilly, and take him to Lucky's Pet Resort and Day Spa for several days. I'll have a day of work at the office on Monday, a final day of work on the house on Tuesday, and closing on Wednesday. [fingers crossed]

I viewed several condos in Greensboro's Sunset Hills community and finally made an offer on one that had been totally renovated, including being kitted out this year with a new kitchen with a dishwasher [drool]. The seller and I reached an agreement, signed the contract, and now the mortgage documents are working their way through and an inspection is on the calendar. I expect to close on 30 May, but hope to begin moving in around 23 May.

Things are moving along at a quick, but smooth pace. Meanwhile, I'm turning blue from holding my breath, hoping that things remain smooth. :J

Roller Coaster Week

The past week or so has been quite a roller coaster, chocked full of events.

Last Monday, I viewed a condominium that interested me in the Whilden Place community in Greensboro. It looked better on paper than in person, but its two bedrooms and attic enticed me with the thoughts of separate sleeping and studying areas and plenty of storage for all of my possessions. Later, I spent a pleasant evening with my neighbors on their front porch, enjoying conversation and camaraderie, not to mention a couple of beers and one of the cigars that I brought from Manila. I went home that evening in my altered state and laid down in the grass in my back yard at nearly midnight. Pepper ran over and licked my face. I looked up at the stars, which were finally visible after several cloudy days. I lifted my head and looked at the soft light filtering through the windows of my den and the ceiling fan turning slowly inside. Did I really want to leave this place, my home? Did I really want to move away from these people? Would it really be that impractical to find a roommate and continue commuting to Greensboro after beginning law school?

My house officially went on the market on Tuesday. I stayed at home on Tuesday and Wednesday to make the house ready for showings and engaged in a flurry of cleaning and repair projects, the most significant of which was painting the entire floor of my front porch. Pouring all of this energy into my house kept stirred-up my sentimentality for the place. As luck would (or wouldn't) have it, I'd taken my car to the dealership for routine service and received some shocking news at mid-morning -- in addition to the $550 or so just for the service interval, they'd found other problems (including the rear brakes) and the bill would be closer to $1,000! Yes, again. Yes, within a month of my last $1,000 repair bill. I took this as a sign and resumed making my house ready for the market with fresh vigor. On Wednesday, my handy-womon came over and worked for a few hours on miscellaneous projects and I met friends Travis and Tony for dinner at California Fresh Buffet, which is closing at the end of this month. (It's fitting that one of my favorite restaurants should close as I'm moving.) A handful of viewers and curious neighbors came through the house and I had pleasant conversations with each of them.

I did a few law-school-related things on Thursday, including attending a talk on copyright issues at work and the Thursday afternoon tea at Elon Law. Each Thursday, Elon Law hosts a social hour with a local judge as the guest of honor. That Thursday's judge was Katherine Eagles. Her husband, Bill Eagles, taught the civil liberties course that I audited this semester. He's enough of a character that I was interested to meet his wife and take advantage of the opportunity to schmooze with members of the Elon Law community, as it was becoming more apparent that I'd end up there. I did enjoy speaking to the Eagles, as well as several Elon Law faculty and students and members of the Greensboro legal community.

On Friday, Pepper and I hit the road for Beaufort SC (pronounced BYEW-fert, as opposed to Beaufort NC, pronounced BOW-fert) to visit Mum, who is living there part-time in her retirement. I stopped en route in Rockingham and had lunch with Mamaw and Papaw. I stopped by the Filipino grocery store before leaving Winston-Salem and surprised Mum and Mamaw with some ube (purple sweet potato) ice cream. I had a fine time in Beaufort and enjoyed the beautiful architecture, natural scenery, and seafood (soft-shell crabs -- yum!), though Mum embarrassed me at dinner one night by flirting a bit too strongly with our waiter, whom we later found out was all of 26 years old. The long drive down and back went by quickly thanks to being broken up with meal stops in Rockingham and stretch/fuel/pee breaks in Santee and Latta.

While I was in Beaufort, my Realtor called to report that he had received two written offers for my house! We agreed that, in the interest of fairness, we'd apprise the bidders of the situation and ask them to submit follow-up bids. We also came up with a plan to make an offer on the Whilden Place condo that I had viewed. He called back to report good and bad news -- both bidders had come back with slightly higher offers, but the Whilden Place condo had just gone under contract. I made a plan to view some other condos in the Sunset Hills community in Greensboro and reviewed the revised purchase offers. I accepted the offer from Norma, a neighbor who walks her dog past my house nearly every day and collects litter as she goes. I had shown her the house initially and she had returned with her Realtor. I just had a good feeling about Norma. My neighbors, who also know Norma, greeted me with elation when I returned home from signing the offer.

Also while I was in Beaufort, mail arrived from the law schools at UNC Chapel Hill and NCCU. NCCU admitted me, but UNC Chapel Hill put me on a waiting list. Besides my feeling that I had waited long enough for a decision from UNC Chapel Hill (4.5 months), they wrote that they might not reach a final decision until 24 August, almost two weeks after classes will have already begun at Elon Law. So, that was it. Decision made. Elon it is. The folks at Elon were courteous enough to give me a decision quickly (about six weeks), offered me a partial scholarship, have shown unwavering eagerness to have me join their community, and have been generally very on-the-ball with everything.

So, that's it! I've made my final decision about where to attend law school and after six days on the market, my house is under contract! Chris pointed out that the short time on the market and smooth negotiations were a further sign that selling my home is the right thing to do. Closing is set for 16 May and I have a lot of work ahead of me, both packing and finishing up projects with the house, so I'm gonna end this blog entry and get to it! :J

Gentrify my Neighborhood... Please!

I read today a great article in The Onion with which I very much identified. Sometimes I Feel Like I'm The Only One Trying To Gentrify This Neighborhood, done in classic Onion style, nearly could've been written about my neighborhood, the West Salem area of Winston-Salem NC. We already have a dog run and a community garden, but there are large swaths quite near to me that you could pick out from their seeming description in this article!

While you're at it, have a look at my favorite Onion article of all time, Rules Grammar Change: English Traditional Replaced To Be New Syntax With from 12 March 1997, which strongly appeals to the linguist in me. A friend also pointed out the me the frighteningly prophetic Bush: 'Our Long National Nightmare Of Peace And Prosperity Is Finally Over' from 17 January 2001. Yikes!

Enjoy! :J