[bearishgurl]

I don’t know exactly how RE transactions are conducted in your neck of the woods, patb, but before you throw the die and pass go to collect $200, I’d stock up on “Get Out Of Jail Free” cards if I were you. And while inching my token around the board, I’d locate the most reputable title officer in your area (or abstract lawyer – whatever the case may be) and chain him/her tightly to my ankle until my rehab was completed, I had my takeout loan and the property was titled in my name only and lien-free.

Promptly throw whatever exemptions your title officer provides you to the estate’s attorney, certified mail, return receipt requested, with a counter offer and cover letter stating you do NOT approve of any of them (excepting already-established easements) to be present at the time of closing.

And if you haven’t had the property fully inspected by a licensed contractor or civil engineer (including the lot) then do so ASAP and provide his/her report to the estate’s attorney (for bargaining leverage).

Remember that this “estate’s” lawyer is NOT YOUR lawyer! I’m not saying he’s proposing anything illegal, but I can almost guarantee that he has a very different agenda than you do.

I think you would be better off with your own counsel to handle a transaction for you such as this one, who could also double as your title abstractor in many US jurisdictions. Your RE agent is likely unqualified to handle these tricky, gritty details and also unqualified to give you legal advice.

‘Nuff said. Caveat emptor applies here, with a capital C.

[bearishgurl]

Thanks so much, ER, especially for the advice on keeping the “Member Since (2009)” date. I have already been told by their CSR this morning that they were pretty sure I could keep my same card number for the Blue card if I chose to later downgrade. If this happens, it is likely that no change at all will appear on my AMEX account on my credit reports, except, possibly a new “credit limit.”

It seems like a new “credit limit” will only serve to help my credit score, not hinder it.

Well, I guess I better check out Amazon and spend whatever remaining points I have pretty soon ….

[bearishgurl]

[quote=Blogstar]…If it was from bad luck, maybe some school debt and the person just wasn’t the greatest saver, I would probably work with her…[/quote]

Russ, I don’t think a school debt is due to “bad luck.” A person who applies for student loans knows exactly what they are doing (trying to get $ for school and possibly to live on) even if they do not completely understand the terms. And these borrowers have a responsibility to know how much they owe on their SL’s at any given time.

How would you feel about your (joint) tax refund being garnished or a lien being place on your (jointly-owned) home due to delinquent student loans your spouse never disclosed to you that they had (or never disclosed to you that they weren’t paying on them)?

And how would you feel about having a spouse on an income-based repayment plan who is paying such a meager amount every month on their SL’s that the balance is actually growing every year?

[bearishgurl]

[quote=kev374]@bearishgurl, I don’t think that was me as I was never engaged.[/quote]

Sorry, I must have mixed you up with someone else.

[snip]

[quote=kev374]I guess i’m just trying to find solace in the fact that I did break up with someone I loved for what I think are justifiable reasons but sometimes I have some self-doubt and guilt if what I did was a bit superficial although a huge number of people tell me that it’s quite reasonable to not want to take on a burden like that since I am debt free.[/quote]

It certainly is. Stay that way and find somebody equal to you in every way.

[bearishgurl]

[quote=kev374]what if the financial liability was from a real estate scam that was orchestrated by her mother? And she committed misrepresentation and is thus being sued along with her mother but claims innocence in the whole thing saying she trusted the mother who said all was legit?

So Blogstar, you’re saying you would be ok marrying someone who had $90k student loans and earns $35,000/yr? After marriage what if she decides that it’s best for her to be a stay at home mom while you have to slog your behind off not only to support a family with one income but also pay her $90k in student debt off.[/quote]

The emphasized portion is my greatest concern in your situation. Not only that, but she is currently a party to suit (which could go any which way but loose) and, under the circumstances, you could never buy real property with her unless you bought it by yourself and then quitclaimed the title to you and her (a very bad idea).

Stay AWAY!! There are so many “fish” out there to choose from!

[bearishgurl]

The red flag for me would be that she told you that she didn’t know she had this huge debt (or didn’t know precisely how much it was). She has had 2-3 years to tell you about it, and, in my mind, she probably should have told you about it in the first 4-6 months of “dating” you.

Correct me if I’m wrong but I think you posted before here that you found out that your SO (fiance’?) had a huge student-loan balance that she withheld from you (even as she presumably accepted your proposal) and you eventually called off the engagement (and rightly so) because you didn’t want to be left stuck holding the bag, especially if you later had children and she left work for a period of time.

As far as the character of her parents, she’s not responsible if they were addicted, had bad credit, FC’s, BK’s or did jail time, etc, but you have to ask yourself who her “role models” were growing up.

kev, I can’t remember how old you said you were, but, contrary to popular belief, as you get older, you will realize that there are more and more single people in your age group. They may or may not want to have more kids or be able to have kids, though, if a biological family is what you ultimately seek.

I wouldn’t trust her to tell me the truth about money so that alone would be a deal killer for me getting back with her.

[bearishgurl]

I just pm’d ER to see if he can contribute his wise counsel here on manipulating the CC companies (and his extensive knowledge on AMEX, in particular) …

[bearishgurl]

[quote=harvey]Your credit score is high enough that it won’t matter if it drops a little.[/quote]

harvey, I’ve been told that but JUST IN CASE I want to take out a small residential mortgage on my own, I want to retain the “sterling” FICO score because my “income” is very low by mortgage lenders’ standards. I wouldn’t want anything but the very best rates available to me at the time.

I’m one of those people who could comfortably make a mortgage payment indefinitely on time which was 55% of my monthly income. But telling this story to a lender isn’t exactly what they were hoping to hear.

Most likely, I’ll pay all cash for my next home but prices have gone up a bit in some of my “choice” retirement areas, mainly in the last 2.5 years.

[bearishgurl]

[quote=livinincali]Maybe this helps.

http://www.creditcards.com/credit-card-news/help/cancel-credit-card-6000.php
[/quote]

I can pay off the $39 balance I owe on the card today and have already transferred two small reoccurring charges I had on it which the vendors assure me will not appear on my AMEX bill for May or beyond.

The $64M question I have from your link is “If I cancel the acct, how will my utilization ratio be higher (and thus have the potential of lowering my credit score) if AMEX Gold has no utilization ratio (because they have no credit limit)?” Acc to the article, in my case it appears that the only way my FICO score can be “dinged” by my canceling the acct is if AMEX’s reporting of my cancellation to the credit bureaus make it appear as if I have a higher utilization ratio after cancellation.

If AMEX IS using some sort of (unknown and unquantified) utilization ratio when they report to the bureaus on a customer, then what if I asked my longtime Visa carrier to upgrade my credit limit, say, by $5K (not that I’ll use it but for the purpose of creating a higher “utilization ratio” for me on my credit reports)? I have a perfect payment record with them over ~15 years and so I would probably be successful. If I did this BEFORE canceling my AMEX acct, would this prevent my credit score from being lowered by the acct closing?

[bearishgurl]

[quote=spdrun]I thought if your balance-to-limit ratio stays the same (i.e. you open another card w/o annual fee with same limit) then your credit won’t be affected. Closing an account IN ITSELF isn’t a reason for damage to credit.[/quote]

AMEX Gold doesn’t have a “limit.” When Gold (and above) cardmembers want to buy something expensive using their card, they will “consider” it based upon prior payment record and known assets.

[bearishgurl]

Sevilla has until Monday (the 14th) to file a Petition for Review:

http://www.courts.ca.gov/7260.htm?title=eight&linkid=rule8_500

Don’t discount this step. He’s “comfortable” doing so.

[bearishgurl]

[quote=sdrealtor]Too much fun here. I almost had to jump back in. Carry on Piggs[/quote]

If you’re “jumping back in” then where is your worthwhile contribution to this thread??

Are you “out?” Am I missing something??

What do YOU predict will happen here?

How about you, flu? What ends up happening to wayward, sex-crazed wives with no other hobbies in your neck of the woods??

[bearishgurl]

[quote=ucodegen][quote=bearishgurl]If I got into deep doodoo, Sevilla is one of a handful of practitioners in this county I would hire without a backward glance. And you should, too.[/quote] For some reason his name keeps ringing a bell.. haven’t figured out why yet. I do think that Rowe’s best option is to negotiate a plea. What she did, people find offensive. She would not do well with a jury trial and probably not well with a judge trial. It is a good question if she will do time. I suspect she might get a bit more of a penalty than you have listed.[/quote]

I predict if she DOES end up having to cop a plea to a felony charge, then the T&C’s of her (3-yr?) probation (to a probation officer) will have a provision that upon successful completion of all of them, she can go back into a review hg in 3 years and get it reduced to a misd. Then she will be able to apply for relief under PC 1203.4.

http://www.sdcounty.ca.gov/public_defender/expungement.html

Not sure if she was ever booked at all or had time served but I honestly don’t see her as being ordered to “do time” if her plea is accepted.

[bearishgurl]

AN, if you don’t mind my asking, aren’t you raising your kid(s) in the exact same (or adjacent) neighborhood as the one you grew up in (so your family can have extended family nearby)?

If so, what exactly is your beef about the public schools there? Are any of YOUR old teachers still there to teach your kid(s)? Don’t the schools in your attendance area have pretty high API scores?

I mean, YOU turned out okay and made it into a UC and graduated, right??

I’m just wondering why this whole thread from the start consists of your complaints about your public schools and teacher’s unions.

As you know, my kid(s) graduated (the last one will in ~7 weeks) from SUHSD, here in SD County. I don’t have ONE SINGLE COMPLAINT about ANY of their teachers from K-12. Some were absolutely fantastic and ALL were/are very dedicated. My kid(s) went onto CSU (the youngest just accepted one of their admission offers this week), graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree and are successfully supporting themselves making more $$ than I EVER could.

You and I are NOT public school teachers so neither of us have walked in their shoes. I’m a lot of things, but a schoolteacher is not one of them. Nor am I remotely qualified to teach any HS subject (exc poss English Grammar and Composition). I so appreciate what all these dedicated public servants (incl those VERY EXPERIENCED and WELL-CONNECTED academic counselors) have done for my children or on their behalf!

[bearishgurl]

[quote=Gunslinger]Like it or not bearishgurl is spot on. Great summary of the situation there mam'[/quote]

Gunslinger, if I was as accomplished of a “profiler” as you, I’d be a multi-millionaire by now! For the first half of my “illustrious career, “I was one of those local gubment “grunt workers” who got all your reports after the fact, sorted through the (often) graphic photos you took, subpeonaed you to court and then called you off when the def copped a plea.

For the second half of my “career,” I prepared all the documents for Pitchess hgs (to attempt to obtain YOUR personnel records) and prepared suppression motions and statements in mitigation, transcribed YOUR interviews with suspects and wits (where you bought them McD’s and gave them free cigarettes to get them talking and a box of tissue to keep them wailing while you recorded everything) and prepared various and sundry other court filings for the defense.

Although “semi-retired” now (if you can call it that, lol), I’ve walked on both sides of the fence and also balanced myself on top of that same fence. Although a bit hobbled by budget cuts in recent years, the justice system works ONLY because of the dedicated foot-soldiers who keep it running day to day. It DOESN’T MATTER which side of the fence they are working. Without BOTH SIDES of the fence working all day, every day, the system would collapse …. immediately.

I like your direct “spade is a spade” style, gunslinger. But you must know that Brian is really okay. He doesn’t mind pointing out the elephant in the room, which I appreciate. I finished a HUGE project the end of March and so had to drop out of coming to Pigg for awhile but I’m glad to see Brian’s refreshing posts are back here again!

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