Life hack

Story time because I need to vent.

The picture above is a photo from the house that I bought when I was 21 years old.

When I bought this house, I was with my son‘s father. I bought it on my own. My son’s father and I split up shortly after I bought the home. The house was truly a great starter home for a single mom with a 3 year old son. The home has three bedrooms one bathroom, and a half finished basement.

Well it was a half finished….

So fast forward some months and a year. I met the man who I now call my husband as much as I loved the home that I lived in. It was time for my husband and I to have a home of our own where we could raise our two children. My husband came into the relationship with a daughter who is now my stepdaughter.

Essentially, I really loved my neighborhood and the people that I lived around however, it made more sense to move to the area that I currently live in because I liked the school district more. My current residence was a place that I could see myself living permanently. Not to mention the fact that my ex and his wife were living very close to this area also so it only made sense for me to pack up and move 30 minutes away to my current home.

When I put my house up for sale about nine or 10 years ago, it just really wasn’t a sellers market at the time. I was also running out of time because I wanted to sign up my son for preschool, but I couldn’t because I wasn’t living close enough to where I live now.

Long story short I had to figure out a way to get out of the house so I could start my new life/journey and enroll my son in school.

My best friend, well the woman I thought was my best friend was currently living in a condo and being charged around $1500 a month for her rent, which was significantly more than what I paid for my own mortgage at my home. She had mentioned renting out my house which my now husband warned me was probably a bad idea because we were friends. But, I could save her some money and she would be able to occupy my home and pay for the mortgage. I thought that we could both help each other out.

Seems like a win-win right?

We had a land contract written up . Which simply stated that she and her husband would cover my mortgage every month that was around $560 per month. It also stated that because she would not be paying anything extra that her and her husband would cover any expenses related to the home.Anything that might affect the overall functionality of the home or maintenance things.

The contract was to last for four years. After the four years was up her and her husband would then purchase the home at the remaining balance that was on the loan. I purchased the home at around $75,000. The home was still in my name, as were the utilities.

Things seemed to go ok, for awhile.

Four years came and went….

Excuse after excuse was made as to why the house could not be purchased. Because I thought she was my friend and quite like a sister to me as well, I believed her.

This also began to cause conflict within my marriage. The house that my husband and I moved into needs work done we need all of the windows replaced in. Our house was built in the 60s and it has the original windows. Needless to say we have windows that have duct tape on them just to keep them together because every time we have tried to get a loan, it still looks like I pay a mortgage every month because my home is still in my name. So therefore, my debt to income ratio is not very appealing to potential lenders.

There was also the added fact that my “friend” defaulted on the payment several times. Each time I gave her the benefit of the doubt one time I even applied for the Covid relief package that the mortgage company offered, and they did not have to pay the mortgage for about a year that seemed like a pretty good time to save up to maybe buy the home.

But clearly they did not.

I had knee surgery and had to go back to work after only two weeks of recovery and received a phone call from my mortgage company saying that my friend had not made a mortgage payment in a couple of months and that my house was going to be put into foreclosure soon if a payment could not be made.

Imagine basically giving your so-called best friend a house only for them to turn around and screw you over continuously as they go on vacations, spend their money on nice clothes, random decorations for the house, and cars that they can’t afford.

After telling them, they had to leave my home if they were not going to purchase it, this friend tried to guilt trip me, and said that they put so much money into the house and that they should be reimbursed.

Boy oh boy am I glad I looked at my house before considering reimbursement.

Not only is the house covered in mouse feces, and urine. But there is a very visible foundation crack, along with urine and fur soaked carpet in the basement from their animals.

Amongst other repairs…

The house is currently undergoing repairs that will probably exceed $20,000 or more.

Luckily I have family who can loan me money for all of these repairs.

The lesson from this story is this:

STOP LETTING OTHERS EAT SO YOUR FAMILY CAN STARVE.

DO NOT GIVE SOMEONE SOMETHING THAT THEY WON’T WORK HARD ENOUGH FOR TO OBTAIN BY THEMSELVES.

STOP FIGHTING FOR SOMEONE TO WIN WHEN THEY WOULDN’T PISS ON YOU IF YOU WERE ON FIRE.

I’m selling my house at listing price so I can finally make some money for MY family.

And I’m cutting ties like I won the race. ✌🏼