Everything happens for a reason

That's what I keep telling myself anyway.

Josh finally stopped into the office here in the community where we live yesterday. He talked to the manager here (L) and asked her if they would be interested in buying back our house & letting us out of our lease. She said currently there are no homes for sale in here so that could be an advantage. She asked him if we have tried to sell the house at all. Josh told her no. She said she would make a phone call to her boss (K) & that we would be getting a phone call from them.

About an hour after Josh left for work, K calls me and asks what's going on. I tell her that we need to vacate the house by the end of the month due to there not being enough room in this house for us. I told her that's why we were inquiring to see if their company would be willing to purchase our house from us & allow us to break lease w/out any penalties. She informed me that they don't purchase homes from customers & as for the lease, they won't allow us to break it. I told her that we would have to walk away from it all if we can't get out from under it. She says "So, you mean to tell me that you will file bankruptcy on what you owe the bank and what you owe us?" I said "yes, that's right. If we have to, we will." She then turns into a totally different person. She became rude & nasty. She wouldn't allow me to get a word in edge wise. I had about enough so I ended up hanging up on her. About a half hour later, I get another phone call from K's boss, M. M tells me that K called him and wanted to know what was going on. I told him everything & he informed me that since we are financially able to make the payments & are just choosing not to, they can file charges against Josh for fraud. He wanted to come out this morning to sit down w Josh & I to go over some things and get some options. He asked what the main concerns were for wanting to move and I told him that the house is too small for 5 of us and that we are unhappy with the school system. I also told him what L had said about there not being any homes for sale & that could be an advantage for us. I told him that it sounded like they would be willing to help us out. He said that L is new & is in training, so she didn't know for sure one way or another. I told him about K talking to me the way she was and that I wasn't happy about that at all! I said "I'm a human as much as she is, I'm a mom of 3 and I don't deserve to be talked to like that at all!" He said he understood and would be discussing it with her.

M shows up here this morning and we had a really good meeting with him. He first informed me that he had coffee this morning with K, and that if she were here right now, she would apologize to me. He said she didn't mean to come off rude by any means. Then we went right into the "business" part of the meeting. He gave us the option of doing a "seller finance" situation which means someone could buy the house from us, but we would play the part of the bank. Meaning, the house would remain in our name but the new "owners" would pay us, instead of a bank. We would then take the house payment from them, and pay the bank we owe for the loan. Once the house was paid off, it would be put into the new "owners" names and ours would be removed from it. This would only happen if a bank wouldn't finance the people that wanted the house. If a bank would finance them, then they would just buy the home outright, and we would play no part in it.

Another option we have, is to sell this house and upgrade into a bigger home. They can get homes from all over the state and bring them here into the community. We would get a much larger home w/ the possibility of having a garage (that would be wonderful!). So, M is going to get us in touch with a guy who sells these homes. He's #1 in the state of Michigan right now for selling these homes 3 years running. He will meet with us & help us get our house sold. That's the first step.

He wanted to know why we aren't happy with the school system. He informed us that they "Carry a big stick" when it comes to the school system here. I was curious as to why. He told us that 10% of the schools population lives in our community. The school system here gets some $500,000 a year for the kids that live here that go to that school. M's business partner actually rents farmland to the Mayor of our town. The Mayor is great friends with the president of the school system. As soon as M informed his business partner that he was coming to meet w/ a couple that lived here that was contemplating moving due to the school system, he jumped on the phone and called the Mayor. He told the Mayor that they are losing people from their community because we aren't happy with the schools! Crazy, eh?!? So, M asked us if they can get the school situation taken care of, would we be willing to stay here in the community. We told him we would, as long as we could get a bigger house.

So, two things are happening right now. M & his partner are getting together with the Mayor about the school system. As that is happening, L & K are going to be asking other parents in the community how they feel about the school system. The other thing that is happening, is that M will be sending out the guy who will list our house for sale. Fingers crossed we can get it sold one way or another and fairly quickly!

He asked us about where we would be moving to. When we told him, he informed us that he knows the vice-principal of the high school in that school district. He went on tell us that said high school is one of the worse schools to put a child in. The VP said he would be retiring this year due to the fact that he can't even be an educator there anymore. He spends his days, not educating, but instead trying to keep drugs out of the school and keeping the kids safe. The VP said that he gets the kids there and hopes that by time they leave at the end of the day, that they haven't been beat up, sliced with weapons, or worse. Said high school also has the 2nd highest pregnancy rate in the state! Holy cow! Do I really want my kids going to a district where they will end up in a high school like that? Where each day I'm not sure if they will come home, end up in the hospital, or worse? I don't think so! Granted, I have about 9 years before Garrett will be in high school and about 13 years before the twins get there, but who's to say it won't be worse by that time? It's not a chance we are willing to take.

That said, after M left, Josh called the landlord of the house we were supposed to be moving into at the end of the month. He informed her about everything & she was totally understanding. She said she was disappointed because she really wanted us as tenants, but she didn't want charges brought against us. She said if things work out where we could move in there, they would still be more than happy to have us. She's awesome! I'm sad that we won't be in contact with her anymore as she is just a great person!

We don't really know what's going to happen right now, but we know for sure that we won't be moving at the end of the month. I will update as I know more about what's going to happen.

Everything happens for a reason, right?