Good News...

Several years ago we bought 1.7 acres of bare land in Northern California from my great-grandmother. She was tired of paying taxes on land she would never use; most of the other family members really had no desire to own the land either and strangers weren't offering her anything she was even remotely interested in considering, so we happily bought it (for such a dirt cheap price that even today I feel terribly guilty). The area is stunning and Matt and I had ideas of retiring there.

But, we began adopting and, most recently, we wanted to adopt our 3rd child internationally. So, in November 2007 Matt and I sold the property in order to help bring home our next child. We had enough capital gain on the land to cover about 1/2 of our expenses.

The purchaser offered us our full asking price plus 10% interest if we would carry a note for 18 months. Knowing that the wait to bring home a child was lengthy we complied with her request. Sadly, the purchaser made only 5 payments, of which only 3 were for the full amount, before coming up with excuse after excuse for not paying the note.

Needless to say, after giving the purchaser more than 4 months to catch up on what was owed, we began the foreclosure process. It has taken several months and nearly $2,000 to get here, but we finally saw the light at the end of teh tunnel. The property was set to be auctioned off last week for nearly $10,500!

BUT, as is usual for me, something went awry: The original purchaser SOLD the property out from under us, TOOK THE CASH and RAN!!! Yep, she sold the property to an inexperienced 20 year old who didn't know that title checks were needed or that he should verify the legitimacy of purchasing the land... The poor kid got SCREWED!!!

I couldn't believe the gall of this lady... And, to be honest, I would love to track her down and sue the pants off of her for messing with me, my family, making me loose out on adopting another child, for screwing with a KID and, most especially, for getting away with EVERYTHING she did!!! I ABHOR people like that. It's those kind of people that make humanity so lacking in trust and trustworthiness... SO SAD!!!

Anyway, back to where the good news comes in. On March 4th we got a call from our foreclosure agent who explained what had happened, which, of course, made me panic because I could just imagine all that I would loose. Thankfully, the new turn of events just put the auction on hold for an additional week. The new owner had to be notified, in writing, of the foreclosure and he had to be allotted a certain amount of time to come up with the appropriate funds to legally purchase the property, if he so chose. The new date for the auction was set for March 18th at 11:00am... Which will never take place because the new owner was able to come up the money, which I will have in my hands by Friday (Monday, at the latest).

Needless to say, as soon as that check gets here my happy little self is making a nice little investment in preparation for our next adoption (after I take myself out for dinner in celebration, of course... Cuz after this fiasco I deserve it)!!!

PS... To all my bloggy friends... I'm so sorry I haven't had great opportunities to read your sites or to update my blogs, but know that I'm always thinking of you!!!