OUR STORY Part 24: "HELLO, THIS IS CHASE REGARDING YOUR INSURANCE"

We are still waiting to find out what the judge will do about setting our new trial date. Will the defense be forced to go with a June 14th date? They were certainly willing to agree to that date in exchange for us agreeing to voluntarily withdraw our "Default Judgment" in the amount of $1,177,500.

You would have to understand what it was like to be presented with that option, especially when we know we can't trust defense counsel to stick to any agreement with regard to calendaring or efforts to approach a settlement.

Here we sit facing homelessness, losing everything; and someone expects us to just throw away a paper we have in our possession granting us $1,177,500?

Now we get to sit here dealing with the reality that we have no Default Judgment and no June 14th date, unless God moves on the heart of the judge. So, we wait.

In the meantime, Chase Home Finance just caught up with the fact that our homeowner's insurance policy has lapsed and is threatening to enforce their own policy if we do not provide proof of coverage within the next 5 days. Their policy will cost us over $6,000.00 and has already begun retroactive until such time as we provide then with a private policy.

How do they come up with a policy amount of $6,000 plus a year? Our homeowner police was $2,092.00 annually. I feel like I am in some communist third world country. Next they come to remove my vital organs.

Oh, it doesn't matter that the house has been appraised at $0 or that the land has been reappraised at $25,000. Nope, they want insurance for coverage on the amount of their loan!

We don't sleep any more and the stress has been so overwhelming. So, today we packed a lunch and went over to the local nature reserve to clear our heads and attempt to destress; only to come home and have to deal with a message left by Ryan from Chase Home Finance about a $6,000 plus insurance policy to be enforced. Mike then got to endure being shuffled through multiple telephone extension transfers in the Chase Home Finance 800 abyss.

I think I know what the Chase logo represents. It's symbolic of the double vice grips that will most assuredly come down on you when your going through a financial crisis. Yes, it looks to me like the symbol of financial DEATH resulting from Chase's greed!

OUR STORY Part 23: DEALING WITH DISAPPOINTMENT

Interestingly enough, we had a good day yesterday when we received notice of the judge's ruling. It wasn't what we wanted to hear, but we spent some time of fellowship and prayer with our friend, Linda Rose.

Today was a much different story. It was a very difficult day; another night of little to no sleep leaving Mike exhausted. Mike didn't last long before he had to head back to bed.

As time goes Mike seems to get progressively weaker physically. The other day his face was white as a sheet, and he wasn't cognitively functioning all that well. He said he felt dizzy and just needed to lay down for a bit. He went in to the bedroom and I followed shortly thereafter.

I know we are to walk in faith as professed believers of Jesus Christ. But, I often feel the need to be near Mike when he gets like this. I want to be close by just to make sure he is still breathing. He works every day to be strong emotionally and spiritually for me; but the toll it is taking on him is beyond description.

Mike used to read to me every night as I lay on his lap on the sofa. It was a very precious time. We have a collection of A.W. Tozer books that we would also sit side by side reading and highlighting. That has pretty much dwindled away as Mike becomes weaker and his voice strained most of the time.

As though it was yesterday; I can still remember our plans moving here. We were looking so forward to the physical benefits of working our property. We had great plans for planting a large garden of fresh vegetables and herbs; hoping to be able to donate some food to the hungry and homeless. Now we are facing the reality that we may be the "hungry and homeless."

Although, due to the water flow across the property we never were able to fulfill the dream of a large garden, we did begin to get into great shape working around the acreage. We were eating healthy, had rid ourselves of television; and tried to have a positive attitude and work at a healthy productive pace.

Unfortunately, the stresses of the flooding issues, the subsequent economic backlash of flood insurance and loss of property value have been devastating. The failing economy didn't help matters with loss of business. We would have been able to jump start something had we been able to access equity in our property. We put $80,000 cash of our hard earned money as a down payment when we purchased this property. But with the home now valued at $0 "ZERO" and the land reappraised at $25,000, we are unable to refinance against any equity or sell the property. Even if we could dump this property for $25,000, we still have a mortgage obligation to Chase Home Finance for $319,000.

It is very hard to put into words what this has done to us. Besides robbing us of more than three precious and unrecoverable years of our lives, and our only savings in the form of our investment in this real estate; this situation has robbed us of the ability to see our elderly parents. I was forced to miss my father's 80th birthday party. The only thing he told my mother that he wanted for his birthday was to have all three of his daughters with him.

Two years later my mother's 80th birthday arrived, and again, I was unable to be with her. Moreover, we almost lost my Mom to issues with her blood pressure and kidneys. Instead of being with my parents, we have only spent moments in tears on the phone.

Failed efforts to revive our business and generate income along with attempts to generate other new business has been painfully unsuccessful. In the process we have drained my parent's of much of their retirement savings as they desperately try to keep us in this house so that we do not compromise our case; and of course they worry about me.

While we had been receiving help from my elderly parents, we at the same time recently had to stop assisting Mike's elderly mother who lives in a trailer park in a rough area of Las Vegas, Nevada.

This summer she called us in desperate need of help because her swamp cooler was not working and the temperatures were peaking at 114 degrees. I can remember the look on Mike's face as he had to tell his mother that we did not have the finances to repair her swamp cooler or to replace her a/c unit. She is not in the best of health, and had to dig into her meager social security income to have someone come out to address the issue.

I'm sorry, am I using the word "desperate" a lot? Well, that's our situation. While greedy attorneys appear to be needlessly and maliciously dragging out this case, our lives and the lives of our parents are being stressed to their painful limits.

It's one thing to feel you are not providing for your wife; and yet another to have to turn away your elderly, single mother. We tried to get her to come with us to Texas, but she is a stubborn woman, set in her ways and Las Vegas is where she wants to be. Nonetheless, she is his Mom, and he is her only child.

We stand at the precipice today teetering between moments of faith and assurance that God's will shall be done, and those moments where we are tempted to jump. God forgive us for those weak moments. We are just so tired.

All I care about is having my husband whole and alive at the end of this.

OUR STORY Part 22: THE JUDGE RULES

Well, today the judge finally ruled on the matter of our Default Judgment which he had granted on January 7th, 2011. Motions were filed by the defense in an effort to have the judge vacate the judgment and order a new trial. The judge granted the defense's motion and we are now awaiting confirmation of our new trial date.

Events and Orders of the Court
03/22/2011 ORDER
SETTING ASIDE DEFAULT JDGMNT AND GRANTING MOT FOR NEW TRIAL

A MUCH NEEDED CALL FROM JOE!

Today we experienced a miracle. We contacted the dealership to finalize some on-going discussions regarding them taking our tractor and attachments on consignment. The gentleman told Mike that he would call back with a firm time tomorrow for their driver to come pick up the tractor. He called back a couple of hours later and said they would be here in the morning to pick up the tractor and leave us paperwork for the consignment.

The past couple of days I have not been sleeping well. Dealing with my heart issues over the past year, today was one of the worst. I literally couldn't sit up without struggling with my breathing and severe weakness. After ending up in the bed twice, Mike finally came in to check on me and see what was wrong. He was concerned because I never nap, and any suggestion that I take one has been met with just about the same resistance as an obstinate child at nap time.

Mike didn't know that I had been holding in some very serious stress factors regarding the animals. We have not been able to find homes for the donkeys, not even rescue. I just couldn't find it within myself to burden my husband about the need for veterinary care when he is battling with the issues of potential foreclosure, unpaid bills, utilities and food. Today as he was paying bills he asked for me to go online and check the balance. That experience did me in and I crawled in bed, curled up in a ball and listened to “Worn Out Saints” x 2!!!

Later I was on Skype with my best friend Linda, weary and in tears. I unloaded a little to her explaining that all of the animals were due for Rabies vaccines and I didn’t know how I could go to Mike. Moreover, one of the donkeys has a foal due any time now. The dogs are in need of Heartworm medication as well, and the wet season is approaching. In Texas, when it comes to animals you don't play around at all with Rabies or Heartworm. In fact, we had a rabid raccoon on our property a year or so ago, and that picture was running through my mind.

Then, it happened! At approximately 5:00pm this evening we received a surprise call from Joe over at the tractor store. He had been speaking to the owner about our consignment and the owner told him to approach us about a deal. Joe related to Mike that if we were willing to reduce the tractor by another $500.00 they would cut a check for the full amount and send the check along with the driver when he came to pick up the tractor in the morning. This was a miracle of miracles in that we live smack in the middle of tractor country, and not only did they take the tractor but all of the accessories. PRAISE GOD!

We are just over three months in default on our mortgage payments, defaulted on homeowner insurance, defaulted on property taxes and other stuff. John Deere was giving us two months grace on our remaining tractor payments, but with what we had in our account we were not going to make it past another couple of weeks on basics.

We are not out of the woods by any means, but we are so encouraged and trusting God that this blessing will help see us through as God continues to work out the issues of settlement and a resolution of our real estate fraud matter.

We are surviving on God's grace.

UPDATE: We were unable to bring the mortgage current. We had to chose between electricity, food, our truck payment and auto insurance The mortgage company mandates full payment and will not except partial. They also eventually enforced their own homeowner insurance policy at about $6,000 per year on top of the flood insurance policy. At this point we just have to ride this out and survive until we get a trial date, hopefully before money runs out.

OUR STORY Part 21: PARKER COUNTY TAX APPRAISAL DISTRICT

In 2009 we attended a review hearing with the Parker County Tax Appraisal District in order to contest the actual value of our house. The Review Board received our evidence and unanimously agreed to reduce the amount of the improvements. However, due to a lack of information available at that time, they stated that were not able to reduce the amount as much as they would have liked to. The Review Board made sure that our rights were preserved and that we understood those rights to pursue the matter further in arbitration.

An arbitration hearing was held a couple of months later. During the arbitration hearing the county appraisal district offered no evidence or verbal argument to refute ours. The end result was a quick ruling by the arbitrator in which she concluded that the improvements to the property (a.k.a. house) had a $0 market value. It should be noted that the arbitrator was also a licensed Realtor.

At the time of the initial hearing and arbitration, we were unaware of our ability to contest the land value as well. Following a professional appraisal being done in preparation for trial, and subsequent testimony provided during trial; we decided to proceed with another hearing before the Review Board.

Today the Appraisal District's Review Board considered the professional appraisal and additional testimony by Mike regarding the estimated value of the land. Not knowing exactly how to handle this animal; and admittedly not having any comps to compare our property against; could not conceive of land having now value. However, the board clearly understood that the structure had no value and that the land can not be used commercially since it is located within a private association. Moreover, the structures would need to be torn down; and then there is the issue of the entire property being located in Flood Hazard Zone A.

The appraiser shrugged his shoulders looking over at the Review Board, not knowing how to handle this value because he admittedly has no comps with the same characteristics as ours; in that he has no land located in an association with a designated drainage easement; the property completely located in Flood Hazard Zone A. The Review Board also had pause as they turned and looked at one another perplexed, until one of them decided to pull a number out of his hat. That's right, no comps or official data to back up his recommendation, just a number that wasn't "ZERO" $0.

The Review Board decided to ignore the appraiser's professional report and follow the "alpha" of the group; arbitrarily using some random number, reducing the appraised market value from $75,000 ($15,000 per acre) to a value of $25,000 ($5,000 per acre).

Towards the end of the hearing the one gentleman who came up with the random property value, scoffed at us with this sarcastic smile, asking something to the effect: "How do we know you won't get all this money from your lawsuit after we do this and just split?" It hurt so deeply when he said that to us; all I could think was, if he only knew we are just weeks away from being homeless. All I could get out with tears rolling down my face was: "You have no idea how badly we wish we were in a normal home paying normal taxes, our lives back."

It was a pretty difficult morning for us both. My head was throbbing, chest hurting; at one point it felt like the room began moving. Neither one of us are handling stress very well these days physically. We are just exhausted.  We just keep crying out to God for mercy, and His grace.

ARBITRATION RULING - HOUSE APPRAISED VALUE "ZERO" $0

OUR STORY Part 20: THE KINGS HEART IS IN HIS HAND

"The king's heart is in the hand of the LORD,

as the rivers of water: he turneth it whithersoever he will."

Proverbs 21:1

We received an email from our attorney today. I would venture to say that this is the first formal letter we have received from him since he was retained over two years ago; discounting our retainer agreement that is. I think this is what one might refer to as a CYA "Cover Your Attorney" letter.


On January 7th a Default Judgment "prove-up" hearing was held; a Default Judgment was granted to us by the judge that same day, in the amount of $1,177,500.

 As a result of the ongoing arrogance of defense counsel; although they knew the January 7th hearing was scheduled, they elected not to attend the hearing in order to contest the judgment at that time. Instead, they simply wasted the court's time and chose to engage in yet another series of calculated delays, and abuse of the judicial system.

 You can almost picture all of these overpaid, pious and self-loving attorneys, rocked back in their big overstuffed leather chairs; cigar in mouth as they fold up one legal motion after another like paper gliders aimed to hit the Parker County Clerks office with the synchronized precision of the Blue Angels. Bam, bam, bam...

 My favorite post on the website was:

1ST SUPPLEMENT TO DEF'S REPLY TO PLNTF'S RESP TO DEF MOT FOR NEW TRIAL AND MOT TO SET ASIDE DEFAULT JDGMNT

Interpretation? That's "first supplemental to defense's reply to plaintiff's response to defense's motion for new trial and motion to set aside default judgment." Yes, and I estimate that this all plays out at an average of about $350 per hour...per attorney.

 Finally on March 3rd a hearing was held for defense counsel to present their argument in opposition to the Default Judgment, arguing case law. And, during the hearing the defense counsel pulled a rabbit out of their hat; otherwise referred to in this case as a "hyper-technicality."

 Apparently the return of service from the process server, did not include a notarization or a description of his official capacity. So what defense counsel did was sit on the serviced petition and not answer because this is a game they admittedly play all the time. In fact, they told the judge that very thing during the hearing, which apparently ticked off the judge; or so our attorney related.

 So even though the defendant's admitted to receiving their petition; and admitted to signing for receipt of their petition; and admitted to giving said petition to their lawyers; who admitted to receiving said petitions . . they refused to answer them within the allotted timeline under current law.

 Nonetheless, that being the case, there is a possibility that; should the judge stand with the judgment and rule in our favor; case law may afford defense counsel victory if it is overturned in appellate court.

According to our attorney, the court “seemed” favorable to our position, and "chewed" out defense counsel for playing games. Defense counsel agreed that their clients were served; and it is supported that they were served properly. However, the hyper-technicality of the process server's signature throws a little wrench in the mix and the judge has now taken the matter under advisement. And, we wait again.

On Friday, one day after the hearing; we received a telephone call from our attorney telling us that defense counsel had agreed to an early trial date of June 14th  "IF" we would be willing to an agreed order setting the Default Judgment aside prior to the judge making a ruling. We told our attorney that we wanted to take the weekend to discuss the matter and pray. He chuckled, as usual, mocking our faith.

Monday morning Michael contacted our attorney and informed him of our decision to forego the deal with defense counsel, and instead, await the judge's ruling. Thus, the reason for the "CYA" letter we would later receive from our attorney.

The bottom line is that we have been assured trial dates and settlement offer proposals to no avail for the past two years. Now it is time to trust in the Judge of all judges, and follow peace as we know it.

 

OUR STORY Part 19: IT'S ALL RELATIVE?

I will never forget that horrible day, early February 2009. It was an early afternoon and we had just received a rare return telephone call from the Texas Real Estate Commission (TREC) investigator assigned to our case. He was the second investigator assigned; the first one never contacting us, had subsequently been terminated by TREC.

The investigator and I were discussing the sellers' Realtors and, specifically the listing agent as I was standing at our living room window looking out across the yard at the natural gas pad behind our home.

The investigator asked me if I thought that the two seller's agents were equally involved in the non-disclosure issues on our property. I told the investigator at that time that I felt the one Realtor was the main culprit in the non-disclosure and efforts to illegally pull our house out of the flood zone. I went on to tell him that the sellers' listing agent was young, and probably the least experienced of all the Realtors.

The TREC investigator disagreed with me stating that the listing agent was "not that young," "was quite experienced having been an agent for some time"; and that she was not just an agent but actually "a real estate broker at this time."

Upon conclusion of our telephone conversation I went to the TREC website to look up the listing agent's educational portfolio and see if I could determine her years of experience. That's when the horror hit, and I ended up literally sick to my stomach. I immediately phoned the investigator back after confirming what he had stated earlier to me; and in addition shared some information that began to paint a very ugly picture of fraud beyond that which we had originally thought.

I told the investigator that when I looked up the agent's information she had her maiden name listed hyphenated, as many professional women do these days; and that her maiden name was a very well known name by many in these parts. The family name is linked to hundreds of acres of land in the immediate area; and that included about 200 acres on which our entire association was developed. What's more, the Realtor's family name was posted on the natural gas well installed behind us; the family alone having collectively approximately 388.463 acres leased in the pool.

The Realtor's "Uncle Anson" lived right behind us, owning most of the acreage which drained water runoff onto our lot. Uncle Anson had sold the acreage where the well sits now to our neighbor just a month after we closed escrow. Our neighbor spent the next couple of months battling to keep landsmen off of his property and a natural gas well from being installed.

During the sale of his 11 acres to our northern neighbor, Uncle Anson made an interesting comment while walking the property line one afternoon. The details can be viewed here. Uncle Anson's conversation with our neighbor.

At her deposition. the sellers' Realtor (a.k.a. Uncle Anson's niece); stated that she was unfamiliar with the area, and specifically with our property (a.k.a. Grandpa Jim's old cattle ranch). Yet, I will never forget the nervous look on her face and the fidgeting as I looked across the table at her during my deposition.

Her attorney asked me why I felt that his clients knew about our property and why they should be held accountable for non-disclosure. That's when I bellowed out the whole scenario of Uncle Anson, the neighbor's conversation, the gas well with grandpa's name branded on it, and the fact her family once owned all this land; their precious relic of a historical barn not far behind our property.

And although I was not given opportunity to share additional information that I was aware of; we had information through county records that showed that she had a relationship with her beloved Uncle Anson. He apparently (being a contractor) built a home for she and her groom. Records also show that the Realtor was the listing agent selling Uncle Anson's home which sets on a hill right behind us. He listed the property shortly after he unloaded the 11 acres platted separately to our neighbor, which ended up being a massive drill pad site.

County records and documents obtained from the Texas Railroad Commission website affirm that the family is clearly on lease and benefiting from royalties received from grandpa's natural gas well located behind our property. I should add that this natural gas pad site is located in Flood Zone A; and was installed without any formal flood studies done prior to installation. It wasn't until after we contacted the County Flood Plain Administrator and made some noise that an engineering firm came out to the area and did a belated study.

The belated engineering study done by Dunaway Associates leaves us with more questions than answers. Such as:

1. How is it that a drill bad is allowed to be installed in Flood Hazard Zone A without a flood study?
2. There are no Base Flood Elevations in the area; so how did they determine elevations in their study?

We had gone to this same engineering company asking for help in obtaining an elevation certificate for our home. The response was that there were no benchmarks for Base Flood Elevations in the immediate area to be able to determine this without great costs. So how did they do so for the drill pad?

Here are the maps included in the Dunway Engineering report in original color format.

Map 1

Map 2

Overlay Map 3

OUR STORY Part 18: GAZING OVER THE PRECIPICE

I've explained in earlier blogs that we initially filed a law suit against three Realtors in 2008; our Realtor and the two (2) sellers' Realtors. The sellers' Realtors being major conspirators in the perpetuation of real estate fraud against us.

On the day of trial, the sellers' Realtors' attorney came in to court too ill to try the case. Consequently, we had to non-suit the sellers' Realtors out and refile in order to proceed with the case against our Realtor.

On September 27th the petition against the sellers' Realtors was refiled, and this began another period of patiently waiting to know the outcome of our life. 

The last several weeks have seemed like forever. On January 7th we were granted our Default Judgment as a result of defense counsel's failure to answer our petition.

Almost two weeks later, on January 19th and 20th, defense counsel filed their answer (response) to our original law suit (petition); At that same time they also filed a motion asking the court to have the Default Judgment thrown out; and a new trial granted in its place.

Finally, almost one month later; our attorney filed an answer to the defense's motion on February 14th. And, once again the defense filed yet another motion on February 16th in response to our answer to their motions.

The silence has been somewhat deafening. All the while this prolonged legal chess game just continues as we deal with the very immediate issues of delinquent mortgage payments, a cancelled homeowner insurance policy, and the very serious reality of homelessness.

This past weeks had been particularly difficult.  Our attorney not responding to emails or voicemails. My stomach wrenches up in knots as I click on the bookmarked tab to go to the county judicial website to check on the status.

Finally, updates hit the county judicial website and a hearing is set for March 3rd to argue the Default Judgment of $1,117,500. A few faithful brethren have aligned themselves beside us to intercede and fast on this day; a couple of saints encouraging us and exhorting us on the phone. Thank God for true brethren.

Something had dropped in both Mike and my heart at separate moments of prayer. We both had a check in our spirit as to whether we should be attending this hearing. We had always attended hearings up to this point, but for some reason on this very important day we did not believe we were to be present in the court room. We consulted with two brethren and confirmation was made; we were to stay home. Our attorney stated he did not need us there, and in fact, that it may hinder the judge in expressing himself at that time.

So, hearing day arrived and it was a very long exhausting day for us. The hearing began at 1:30p.m. and we heard nothing until approximately 4:30p.m. or so when our attorney called; just as Mike was in the kitchen fixing a bite to eat after a long strenuous session of intercessory prayer in his prayer closet.

Speaking to our attorney is never a pleasant event; and it has become increasingly unpleasant since the fiasco involving the jury verdict form error with the first trial where we were awarded punitive damages of $125,000 and additional $43,000 in attorney fees that we will never be able to collect.

Well, on hearing day our phone call from the attorney was "bitter sweet" as they say. I will begin by taking you back a few weeks earlier when I was awakened with what seemed like an audible voice of the judge. I was standing outside the courtroom doors and could hear him rebuking the defense counsel; and then heard the words "Default Judgment stands as is." I shared the dream with Mike as I hurried out to where he was that morning, and then later with my best friend, Linda.

I am one who is not big on dreams and such, but this one felt significantly different than anything I had experienced. It was put on the memory shelf and not given too much credence until I received some sort of confirmation.

Well, during our phone call with our attorney on March 3rd, he started off by sharing that the judge was "yelling" at defense counsel. Apparently, they admitted that they sat on the petition and failed to answer it based on what they deemed was a "technical" error in service. He also apparently slammed them for not showing up at the January 7th "Default Judgment" hearing, wasting the court's times with delays being played like a game.

But then, during the conversation, our attorney shared that another wrench had been thrown into the process. He stated that; should the judge rule in our favor and the Default Judgment stand, defense counsel had legal grounds on a "hyper-technicality" to appeal, and would probably succeed. Apparently, a police officer (sheriff) served the defendants. The service was done correctly, but the police officer (a.k.a. officer of the court) failed to have his signature properly authorized or notarized on the returned receipt.

Again, the defendants and their attorneys agreed they received service. The defendants both signed for receipt of their service, as did the police officer. He just didn't process his signature properly with a notary or something.

So, we await the judge's decision; yet in the meantime we received yet another phone call from our attorney. Defense counsel has approached him agreeing to set an early trial date of June 14th (early?) if we will agree to have the Default Judgment tossed. Really? Now why would they want a Default Judgment tossed if they are sure they can have it overturned in appellate court?

So....was my dream from Abba knowing that we would be facing this situation? Do we await the judge's ruling, perhaps standing with the Default Judgment? Or do we toss it out and head to trial on June 14th believing He will make a way for us to have a roof over our head until that time? We are in $7,100 default on our mortgage payments along with other issues. If we are foreclosed upon, it harms our case significantly in damage recovery.

We are now seeking wisdom from our only true source, and the One who knows all things, Abba.

It kind of feels like we are standing on a precipice with heated breath on our backs. Praise God we are not of this world, but merely pilgrims passing through.