All Forum Posts by: Vicki Gleitz

Robert Herrera. I can not sell it as it is a HUD owner occupied property and I have to live in it for a year without selling it. I could even be in violation of HUD because we are too afraid to live there. AND, our insurance company is talking about dropping us because we are not living there.

We have put so much love, time, and money [over $20,000] into it. We only paid $40,003 for it, but even if we were allowed to sell it now for $60,000, that would not be enough for us to find a decent house to replace it. 

It won't help our family [except in satisfaction, which is kindof a big thing] but we have a friend in the media who would like to publicize how this happened not only to us, but many of our neighbors sufferred greatly [some even moved]because the particular bank who owned the property  before we bought it not only never disclosed this, but that when neighbors called the police BEGGING for assistance that the police could do nothing because the bank did not want to press charges or go to the bother of evicting them [until they finally decided to sell the place]

Almost 2 years ago, my disabled son purchased a home as a rental [and to live in it when and if he is ever able. wIt as an extreme fixer-upper but we worked on it every week-end [commuting from Denver] I fell in love with pueblo. husband and I both have bad physical problems and he was forced to retire way earlly. moving to Pueblo, with the prices of houses made it easy to decide to move there. 

We bought a total of 3 fixer-uppers and we fixed them all up nice and rented 2 of them. one of them was a HUD home, which we would have to live in for at least a year which was fine. we wished to live there forever . When the neighbors all started coming over to see the "Gang House." We discvered that violent gang members had inhabited the house for well over a year. The police ha"d been called repeatedly but had been able to do nothing because the bank refused to press charges. The people who had been living next door had been coerced, out of fear, to allow the inhabitants to "share" their electricity until they moved out of fear. We were told that when the gang members had been forced to move [because the bank decided to put it on the market] that they had sworn that they would come back and reclaim

Last month, on a saturday, during the day, a group of people with guns came into our home. They kept threatening us and made us lie on the floor in the hall landing at the top of the stairs. They were not even wearing masks [no, I could not identify any of them] I thought they were going to kill us. I was also afraid that my son would have a meltdown, in which case they would surely kill us, and I was so afraid that even if they didn't that bobby would die anyway because he has heart failure. 

they stole everything. we lived. the cops never arrested anyone. my son was and is too terrified to live there and we are now staying in a travel trailer in a place we love but that is only for the summer.

we started receiving anonymous phone calls that this homeless lady that we had felt sorry for but eventually kicked out, had become friends with the former gang squatters and convinced tHEM to reclaim the house as they had vowed and that she knew exactly where the "valuables were." [which the robbers did know exactly where to look]

I do not know if we will ever move back there. it is looking doubtful. I think that if the police had been given permission to do something in the beginning [and this is colorado, not california] that the criminals would never have gotten into their heads that this was THEIR house. 

Please advise.

We recently had an offer accepted on a 3/1 in pueblo. Closing is the 28th. The realtor just called and told us that there is an opening in the ceiling in the kitchen pantry and that above it is a secret room in good condition. The 6 year old inside my sixty-something year old body screams "How cool is that!"

So, the realtor says that the owner had planned to knock out the pantry and put in a spiral staircase to access the room [a ladder is used now] As my six year old self starts pondering the possibility of an old chest hidden there with a map that leads to great treasure [yo ho ho and a bottle of rum!] sixty -something me decides to go on line and see if putting in a spiral staircase is even feasible.

Unfortunately, I discover that a spiral staircase can not be coded for a room if it is the primary access.

So, probably no spiral staircase....but guys, I have a secret room!

We just closed on a HUD owner occupy house last week. Other than selling Avon, baked goods, and making jewelry, we are both technichly retired [ will finally have closing on our business next week after months of title problems] and since other than some new appliances, bathroom sink, and gas furnace repair, everything else is totally simple cosmetic stuff we can do in our spare time.[ we need to live there for a year anyway, and might choose to stay after that] We won't get started working on it for a few weeks because we are getting our Bennett house ready to sell, but when we do, we only intend on making the kitchen serviceable, and the living room nice before moving in [ the bathroom works fine, but eventually we need to get rid of its' all pinkness other than a brown tub!

Off the subject, but this home was built in 1930 and is a tri level house. I had no idea tri levels were even built back then.

Brent, you got me through yesterday. thank you. The closing, is Wednesday.

I am super upset and confused and hoped someone might help.

My husband purchased his dads' brake and alignment business building in Lakewood, Co 8 years ago.  The building was appraised at $250,000 at the time, but Bobby bought it for $300,000 because, though, technically he did not purchase the business as well, in a sense he did because he pretty much inherited the customer base.

I am going to be detailed in everything going on because I am not sure exactly WHY we are having such difficulties.

We had spent over half a million dollars trying to find something to help my youngest son with an excruciatiningly painful neurological illness, so we were broke.We went through a lawyer and received 2 loans. One of them was a $140,000 owner financed loan to be paid off to his dad over 15 years with 6% interest. The other loan was through a customer, interest only, for 5 years when it was supposed to be paid off, but the man who made the loan, Mark, extended the loan another 5 years after that. Everything was signed, submitted to proper authorities, and there was a title search and title insurance that we purchased.

My FIL, though receiving monthly payments from us, and a lump 160,000 from Mark, discovered that he had accumulated huge debt that my MIL did not disclose until after the closing. So, just a few months after closing, Elroy [FIL] and Jean {MIL] went through bankruptcy. They also lost their house and purchased a little mobile home to live in.

Part of the deal with the bankruptcy was that the  bulk of payments we were making to Bobbys folks had to go to the creditors for 5 years.

About a month after those 5 years, Elroy and Jean went into assisted living. They had to get rid of the few assets that they had, and now the payments that had gone to Jean and Elroy were now going to the state. Not long after entering the assisted living, they both became ill, went to nursing homes for rehab, they both got worse and died, first Elroy, then Jean.

At this point we were owing Mark $120,000 [ had paid of 40,000] and there was still a balance on the loan from Jean and Elroy for about $85,000. The state made a pay-off offer of $50,000. We did not have the money, but Mark loaned us $50,000, bringing our loan to him back to $170,000. The state was paid off.

I was sick, as was Bobby, and he knew that working was literally killing him, but he thought he could not afford to quit. A friend who stopped by who runs another auto repair shop in the area with his many brothers, offered to buy the building, cash, for $350,000.

Mark was also happy because he had decided to retire and wanted to get all of his money from everyone who owed him. We found some really great deals on houses, and Mark loaned us the money to buy them, with us paying him back when the deal closed.

 Then the problems with the title company started. First, we found out that the state of Colorado had put a lien on the property for $85,000. They had screwed up because we had made and paid the pay-off offer. The title company told US that we had to come up with proof of all of this. We are bad about saving documentation, but luckily Bobbys' brother, Mark, and the lawyers had everything we needed to prove it. Okay, so I think that lien is gone. Now we can close.

THEN the title company wanted documentation of my in-laws bankruptcy, the agreement that was made, proof that we made monthly payments to the bankruptcy court for 5 years. So, we did. Thought we would close.

And then, we find out that 16 years ago that Jean and Elroy had borrowed money against their building. SO, we were sent looking for proof that there had been a loan and that it had been paid off [ I always thought this was the title companies job, and that since we had gotten title insurance and a title search that any problems would not be ours]

So, at first nothing shows up proving that the loan was paid off, Eventually, [after Bobbys brother and wife dug up more paperwork] it was discovered that the note had been bought by another bank. Citicorp said that they needed 30 days to come up with any records. In the meantime, Bobby brother [actually his wife] found proof that the note had been paid off in full. There were original documents, papers sealed by the county etc. We brought these down thinking that we would not have to wait 30 days. That was rejected because someone had handwritten something on the top of the document.

30 days passed. I am not exactly sure what happened, but somehow the wrong department received instructions for the search and so it was ignored. So, they told us yesterday that they would need another 30 days. I am crying. I cannot figure out why this is all happening. Please, any input?

Love this idea!

If I had the means, the youth, and the health, I would be investing there like crazy, buying entire neighborhoods, and talking my investor friends to buy the surrounding neighborhoods and businesses. And I would be applying for every revitalization grant in the book.

I am actually NOT an investor but a little old Autistic granny. I have always had a gift, despite total social ineptness, to be able to see when it is time for a trend to take hold. Many "barely well off" people are going to become multi- millionaires, even billionaires because of Detroit. I hope that no one is offended, that as a non-professional I state this.

Okay, husband and I are closing on HUD home end of month. This is a different deal. My son, who is disabled, purchased a home for $30,000 cash a little over a year ago. It is now worth about $60,000. LJ was thinking of buying another home, using his house to get a loan. My husband and I are also thinking of buying another rental, probably cash [ loans not that smart for us as we are both very ill] We were thinking, to avoid my son going through the stress of a regular loan, to purchase a home with him as a partner. He will be paying us a small amount a month for his share.Upon our deaths,it will automatically all go to him without a lot of hassle. Would this be a good idea or no?

okay guys, all I was trying to do was help my disabled kid to have some kind of future after my husband and I die. We are retired. I will be on cancer treatment for the rest of my life. husband has heart failure. We never even considered investing in real estate, not to mention starting a huge Autistic movement. We were supposed to be sitting on our rocking chairs on our front porch saying "Remember when" and then forgetting what we were  trying to remember. That is NOT what is happening.

Husband was just now finally able to retire. That's good, because we have too much to do. Closing on a HUD home on the 22nd. Then we have to move into it from the home we purchased in October [which is a block down from sons home] to owner occupy it for a year. Gotta move the chicken coop and find a way to move my compost pile too] We are looking for a home within the same block or so that son and I can purchase together and husband and I will be purchasing another when things calm down.

We are having tons of visitors stopping by for a day or 2 to see when/if they will be joining our community. And if we ever decide to go non-profit, we can have a big fund raiser and buy a HUD home for super cheap to use as headquarters.

I am on the bus every day [block from our home] checking out educational resources, checking out all of the stores and noticing what is selling and for how much. Finding rent requirements on business buildings, We are organizing a neighborhood watch and at the first meeting also would like to sign others up for 'buy nothing' and other neighborhood activities. [ like helping each other spruce up the neighborhood]

In March I have to fly back east and present on AutHaven, expanding it to local areas all over the country,growing GRASP and my vision for here in Pueblo.

So, here I am. I am not sitting in a rocker with a shawl and a lemonade, living in fear of what will happen to my son when remission is over. And you guys are to "blame.' THANK YOU SO MUCH!