Hold On There A Minute, Will You?
I should have known that the offer was codswallop. It's a local realtor trying to buy my mother's house at a fire sale price. Nope. I know what it's worth. I know what others on that block not on the golf course have sold for when they needed a complete remodel. Oh please, I know for a fact that the few undeveloped lots in the neighborhood are going for at least the amount of the offer. I think some folks see an empty house, listen to town scuttlebutt and try to get in at an unbelievably low price. I can afford to sit on it for the right buyer.
And now the Aunt Heap has spoken. Late last night one of them messaged me, telling me to call the across the street neighbor. I told her I would have the husband do it. He's the one with the relationship with the eighty six year old man there. This is the same neighbor that emailed the husband last week saying I must have left the hot water tap going in the tub.
I'm starting to think perhaps this gentleman is a bit touched by Mr. Dementia too. Why? I couldn't find his phone number this morning. Yeah, maybe I have it too. So I messaged the aunt who is my primary contact down in Louisiana. She's the family baby, slightly older than I, we were raised like sisters. She said she was immediately calling me. Oh boy that is rarely good news!
The skinny is that the neighbor is acting odd. He claims he's been telling my husband for weeks about getting someone to cut the grass. I asked husband and he said this neighbor guy said no such thing! We do have someone we call, someone I pay via one of the payment apps. Not a big thing at all. I've already shot the lawn service an email, asked to be put on the schedule and for an invoice. Easiest mended.
I'm not even perturbed that the neighbor had the city out to dig up half the yard looking for the water shut off valve. This house was designed by my late step father, who was a chemical engineer, not an architect. There was some very weird choices, like no water off valve. I know where it was in my old house and I know exactly where it is in my Costa Rica home too. Do you know where yours is? Possibly important to know. If your hot water heater started mysteriously leaking on the weekend you're going to need to know. I am a little worried about the yard digging situation. The live oak in the front yard has pushed the driveway up, another thing I have to deal with soon.
It's the other thing the neighbor alleged that sticks in my craw. No, not the "You left the tap on!" because I understand maybe how he might think that. He told my aunts that my husband was ranting about how all the money was his! Now, I have seen the correspondence and it said no such thing! I am cc'ed on all conversations about mom, even when the husband is running interference for me with the neighbor. I just couldn't care less what this guy thinks should happen with the house, hence the husband talking to him about the house. They've exchanged a munificent two emails only.
It would be so much easier to live in this world without having to deal with problematic people. This guy is starting to be a problem.
It was overall a good phone call. The aunt and I needed to touch base. I told her what my next moves were, asked if she was okay with some ideas about the investments I'm planning. She told me all the latest sad news about my mother, including that the latest medical exams showing too much spinal fluid in her brain, and her loss of coordination and balance. Mom's no longer able to hold conversations. I am sad, but I've been steeling myself to hear this news. My aunt tends of avoid me like she has for the past six weeks when there is bad news. I teasingly call her Chicken Little. There just isn't an easy answer here.
This afternoon I cancelled our plane tickets for next week. I really don't want to fly right now what with the military flights over Nicaragua nearby, this war with Iran, it being Spring Break (hell in flying!) and looming Easter mixed with the hours long lines at TSA at major airports. Looks like a lose-lose. Checking right now on tickets after Easter. I do have to make the trip, that's for sure. This trip I'll take care of the last few things I need to handle so that everything runs like clockwork. Almost there.
Let me just say Easter week here sucks so much! It's the second busiest tourist week of the year. Even doing simple things like going to the grocery store means battling through crowds of folks.
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