Things will be normal...one day....

Hi there.

It's been a while since I wrote....over a year.

Here's what's happened.

1-We LOST our case against the well company 2--the ones that broke the well that was in place (paid out $11,000 for previous work and piping, then $5600 on a water filtration system on that hole) then left and charged us $8,000. Our lawyer called us in to talk to us about our options. He said we had a really good case and we should, appeal, but he no longer wanted to be our lawyer. He didn't wan to drive the hour to the courts. We walked out of the office and I burst out laughing. Roberto looked at me like I was nuts.  I just couldn't believe that we are held liable for all the damage done to our property, have to pay or hire a new lawyer to fight it more. We said screw it and said we will just go on a payment plan so we are currently paying them $100/mo. I wanted to put a nice solid FU in the memo each month we send the check. (I learned PUP--Paying Under Protest-- is a way we can give the company a piece of our mind but being protected by law. A lawyer friend, Kim, told us about it.  Roberto hasn't taken up that right just yet--I think he is much more laid back than I am. :)

We still do not have a well. Water is still being delivered ever 10 weeks at about $130/month. We've never run out yet but we came close when the water company just didn't come one day in the fall. It was tight. Our well guys didn't come out in the Spring. They are our only saving grace so we can't be pushy...besides...trying to get water on our property has cost about $50,000 so we don't have any money to really troubleshoot anything or dig a new well. 

One night I popped up because I had a dream....(nothing like the historical MLK, but a dream to say the least) that something was up with the land. We've had some significant settlement all around our house....some areas around the house were 5-7 feet deep, boulders appearing to be tipping. I couldn't shake it. I was up all night thinking about it. I started doing some research on the geology of our area and I got on the phone with anyone that would talk to me. I emailed the EPA, I spoke with a really great guy at DEP (Department of Environmental Protection), PA Sr. Geologist, the Fry's Run Watershed, the zoning officer, the contractor, the environmental engineers...you name it I called them. My concern was the water recharging basin on our property, that was 20 feet from the well that worked. What I found online was that with certain geologies, like limestone, you should disrupt the land as little as possible, and refrain from installing infiltration basis because you are at a higher risk of sink holes...guess what....we had that--our house was built in an area of limestone and we had a water infiltration basin--AND--there was a sinkhole in our cul-de-sac before we started construction. The cul-de-sac is at the base of our property. 

I thought....since we had this infiltration basin, 20 feet from our well(should be 50 feet), and was positioned lower than the well, that when the rainwater recharged it broke up and/or dissolved some of the limestone which is what collapsed the well. I felt like I had it...I felt like that was it. From what I read, this basin should have never been put on our property (several thousands in cost by us) and they made this a blanket law without investigating each property like they should have. They didn't do their due diligence and the risk is put on the homeowner. I could not get one person  to wholeheartedly say, yes, it could be it. They all danced around the answer yes and most said to fill in the basin. I am frustrated for sure. I need #HolmesonHomes, #Geologystudents, #Amiracle...someone that will do research on our property and tell us what's up. I feel like I'm right...if I spend thousands I could be told if I am...yeah, cause we have thousands laying around...

Since then we added sink-hole insurance to our policy. Better safe than sorry--We spend all this money on a brand new house, thinking building will get us out of the problems you would have when you buy a "used" house....boy that couldn't be any further from the truth. We've had more problems here than we did in our townhouse. I am just hopeful that the days of rest, peace and mind at ease comes sooner rather than later. It is very discouraging to have this weigh on you day in and day out. I wish there was something or someone that could help us.

Until then, I will have my days where I want to have a pitty party for myself (like today)--but most days I can realize how blessed I am. If anyone can help, please reach out...please!

Just Because It's Legal, It Doesn't Make It Right!

Well -- HAHA--I guess say well a lot...awfully ironic since we don't have one--anyway--Roberto was in court last week to try and battle with the second well company and their outrageous bill. Unfortunatetly, the courts didn't see it our way and we received a letter from Berks County stating we owe Well Company 2 a little under $7200. We have a call into our lawyer to see what our options are. I know we can appeal...that is common knowledge but is it worth the money? If it were up to me we would hop on our soapbox and lead the march for what is right. I want to prove they are creeps and have totally screwed us over. I want to hire those sign carrying planes and rent billboards warning everyone of these people. I want to take the crazy route! I am pissed. I am outraged. My insides shake with anger and disgust. I just don't understand why this is our path? I just don't understand why! I cannot believe we are at fault. Really? We invest $11,300 into a well, this company comes along says they can "complete" the well (their words, not mine), then break what we have and then bails--They leave us high and dry. They never offered an alternate plan. They never offered to dig another well.  They left us--with no other options except to pay them $7200. How is that our fault? So now, there is $18,500 in a well hole that can NEVER be used! (That $18K doesn't include the state of the art water filtration system we were told could clean up the water too that we paid $5000+ for...yeah, we weren't even using it on the well that worked, yep, we didn't need it!) It is just insane!!!

Just about 3 years ago I thought we were going to have it all! I though we were going to build our dream home and live the life you see in magazines and pictures, the life I want to give my kids. But that just isn't going to happen just yet...I guess! God has another plan for us. We must go through this-- It doesn't make sense now, maybe I need to do some deep breathing to rid myself of the anger I have to see the light! I will keep you all posted in the next coming weeks as the well guys come back out, and when we meet with our lawyer about our next steps! Please send positive thoughts, prayers and strength our way! We need it all!!!

We have not disappeared...

It has been a while from my last post. I swear we haven't disappeared.

Just days after our last post we were served with papers from one of the well companies...they were suing us! Yes, that is right....they are suing us. We go to court this week so I don't want to get into it too much. They are suing us for monies that were unpaid. Hopefully our lawyer can prove our case!

After laughing really hard because I seriously feel like we can't make this up...I contacted my sister, Maura, about a process called smudging...we stopped at an all natural store here in Easton, PA and bought sage and blessed our house. We had all windows and doors open asking all those negative energies to leave our home. We even blessed the well piping and the perimeter of our lot...I am sure if our neighbors saw us they would think we were doing a strange exorcism...but I guess we did...we kicked out the negative energies! We had 2 bits of really good news in days of doing the smudging...so maybe it worked...


As for our water situation.... We are still having water delivered. Since our initial fill back in January, we have only refilled once....we are getting ready for our second fill. That's not so bad. We aren't being overly frugal with our usage so it is lasting about 2 months...We can handle this!

Two of the well guys are supposed to come back sometime in May to see what they can do. Roberto has done some research about how people in the south, like Florida, get wells....since it is all sand. He found that they do this liner inside the steel casing... like a PVC pipe that has holes drilled in it and then it is wrapped in a filtering fabric. This way the water is filtered before it even goes through the well pump, into the house and through our water filtration system. We don't know if this will work or is even an option. The well may be bad and may not be usable.  We may need a new well all together!  If our only option is to drill a new well, we will probably just wait a few years. We can budget for water delivery, we know what that will cost. We don't know what a new well will cost so that will have to be saved and budgeted for. I was really angry when I first heard this is what might happen.  But then I realized it is what is best for our family. We can get a handle on our finances (we have come a long way in the short few months) and pay off debt before we dump more money in another potential money pit.

I am still so lucky to be where I am and be with the person I am going through it with. Roberto has been so proactive, hands on, and patient during this entire process. He has educated himself and taken a slow, steady, and calm mind as we jumped each hurdle. I think I would have been a lot more impulsive if I had to be the one on the forefront...I am glad he is taking it on!

Keep tuned it...and keep your fingers crossed the hearing goes well on Tuesday!

Well (no pun intended)..."When it rains it pours!"

And this saga continues. I seriously can't make this stuff up. Here's what's been happening since Sunday afternoon.

Sunday we left Braden with my in-laws so he can play with his cousin and we could clean out the garage so the installation of these temporary water tanks goes smoothly. Coop goes for a nap and Roberto and I haul a$$ to the garage taking bikes, tables, chairs, etc to the basement. Since Roberto knew the diameter of the tanks we took chalk and mapped it out so we would install them using space wisely. Here's a pic of what we accomplished. Roberto was mapping out where the valves would go so they would hook up to the house. We felt good about what we accomplished. We were at terms with our situation and we were moving forward.



On Monday, Roberto and his dad took off from the Lehigh Valley, PA in a budget truck and headed to a little town 30 minutes north of Binghamton, NY to pick up the temporary tanks. However, when they got to the truck rental place he measured the width of the truck and it was too thin to fit the tanks. Now please note. The past 2 years have taught us to prepare for everything....so, with that said, when Roberto ordered the truck he asked the place how wide they were. He was told they were over 90 inches. That was perfect because the tanks were 84 inches wide so 90 would be more than enough. Roberto had to call the plastics place in NY to cancel the order and order new tanks...yep that cost us an additional $600...They gentleman at the plastics place said, "It's JUST $600 more." SERIOUSLY....JUST $600....I give Roberto credit for not jumping through the phone and strangling him. If this guy ONLY knew. Not only were we over budget $600 on the tanks, all the time spent planning this out was out the window.

Anyway, they are now super late. They have a very LONG drive from PA to NY...I know this because Roberto was texting me the whole way..."on 80," "on 380," "just passed the "new highway."" (a highway that was build a while ago in the Scranton area, but because it was new back then it is still called the New Highway)...I got a play by play...I liked it though. It made me feel like I was part of the trip. 

They finally arrive in NY around noon. While at the plastics place loading these tanks one of these HUGE tanks fell and landed on Roberto's father. There is a huge cut on his head...he probably needs stitches but wouldn't go get them. Roberto was really scared for him. He felt so bad.

Roberto arrives back here in the Lehigh Valley with the water delivery truck in our driveway waiting for him. He still needed to put these babies in our garage, GET the PVC piping, tanks, and other supplies to set them up to run. The water guy had a doctors appointment at 4:30 he ended up missing. 

I get home from work at 5:30 with B and Coop thinking I can wash the dishes in the sink, the floors, flush the toilets, clean them and then finally...finally take a nice HOT shower in MY OWN HOME! But NOPE...Roberto was on his way out to pick up the pump. I was frustrated but I know Roberto had run himself ragged trying to fix this so I didn't let it show. I fell asleep (shower-less) as Roberto is still in the garage with his dad, who's head is still bleeding by the way, to get the pump to work. I wake up at 11:30 to Roberto dumping gallons of water down the toilet and hearing the news that the $800 pump(that we thought would be more like $300) DOESN'T WORK! I looked at him and said, "I need to shower for school tomorrow." After a few seconds of panic and consideration of going to school without showering, we decided we would boil water (we could manually pull from these tanks in the garage) and pour it in the sinks...we would shower that way. Again, annoyed, but I figured....o-well!

Over night, Cooper was very fussy and wouldn't sleep. I chose to stay home. I was sleep deprived and dirty...I figured I was in no shape to be in charge of other people's children. I consider this a public service...:) LOL

This morning well guys C and D came to look at the pump. In an hour and a half they got it up and running. I am ending it here so I can shower and clean! Roberto may add some details to this since he went through this yesterday while I taught.

Background

This is where it all started! This beautiful piece of land that was cleared and ready for construction. As soon as the crazy, exited jitters of participating in a real estate auction diffused, my wheels started turning! Oooohhh, the possibilities!









Roberto and I were in the real estate market for about a year looking to move out of our townhouse that, quiet frankly, didn't fit us! With the crime scene unit showing up outside after the second shooting in 6 months, we knew it was time to get f*#k out! We installed a security system since Roberto traveled for work. (This was our townhouse... cute... right? I thought so!)
In our quest to have the security system installed we met this guy. He was a young 20-something that was starting his own businesses and was awfully successful. He conveniently was starting his own real estate business after working with a bigger company for a while. He let us know we can list our house for $185,000 and make some money. That was ALL I needed to hear! I basically jumped all over him to sign the papers to sell. In just a few weeks we were set up with one of his selling agents (great guy!) and we were looking to buy. We scoured the market here in the Leigh Valley looking for the perfect house. We were hoping to take advantage of the distressed market. We found a few short sales and foreclosures we tried to get but they didn't pan out. We decided to post our house for sale in March of 2010. After 6 months of showings and it getting us absolutely nowhere, we chose to do a rent-to-own situation with a neighbor. We had a lawyer to do everything on the up and up...then we would be protected....right? HAHA-things just don't work that way for us.

In just one week I packed our entire townhouse and we moved...to the in-laws...I went kicking and screaming...I mean, I have been on my own since 1998 and couldn't imagine living with parents again. I was NOT happy. But, if it meant I could get more out of my house, then I did it. Imagine moving in with your in-laws or parents....There were 6 adults, 2 toddlers and one 90 pound lab in a home that couldn't be more than 1600 square feet....oh yeah, and just 1 bathroom for 5 adults and 2 toddlers...CRAZY!  In the end we survived this and I think gained even more appreciation for one another. I love my hubs! :) 

There's so much that happened from Sept. 2011 to now that contributed to our financial demise! I will bullet it out for you and spare you some of the details:

• The bank we were using to do the mortgage process had calculated our debt to income incorrectly. Roberto dummy proofed the mortgage documents to prove she was wrong. They got into a heated argument over the phone. Once she saw what Roberto what highlighted for her, she didn't have a leg to stand on. In less than 24 hours she sent the ok to start construction! We were elated! We couldn't believe our dreams were about to happen!
• The amount we (the tenants and us) agreed to sell our house for ended up not appraising. We agreed upon $150,000 but it only appraised for $135,000. The buyer tried to walk away but if she did, she would have lost her $5,000 deposit and monthly installments she made. We ended up selling it for the appraised amount, but ended up losing ALL our profit we were banking on using to purchase new furniture and appliances. This sucked since we already had them financed with intrust free financing...SUCKS!
• OUR HOUSE IS DONE!....Well, not completely....we don't have a well....BUT it should be done over the weekend. We moved our stuff in over Labor Day weekend 2011. We just showered at friends houses...no big deal! 
• We had a state of the art water filtration system set up in our house. There is a lot of science that goes into this system...let's just say, it's crazy! Maybe we should bottle this sh*t and sell it to supplement our income...hmmm.....
• SERIOUSLY! We can't get a well. Company A tried several different ways to get the well and each time tacked on  $1,000s here or there. We were about 8% over the amount for a well when Roberto said "ENOUGH!" We (Roberto and I and Company A) agreed to be done with one another. Our outrageous bill was negotiated down to a more reasonable amount. This was September 2011.
• For the time being, we were filling up 15-1 gallon jugs at the in-laws to flush toilets, cook minimal meals and wash hands. This happened EACH NIGHT for 2 months. I thought for sure I was going to commit myself!
• We moved on to well Company B. This was one of the WORST decisions ever. Well Company B said they would work with us. They charged us "by the hour" however they were never there when Roberto would "show up" to check on progress. In just a few days (less than 2 weeks) they cracked the steel casing Company A installed and decided they didn't want to work for us. In those few hours we lost the money we paid Company A and on top of this, Company B sent a bill for the same amount we paid Company A. At this point we are 300% over the quoted amount...AND WE STILL DON'T HAVE A WELL!
• We had temporary tanks installed in our garage. The two tanks totaled 1300 gallons. Water was delivered every 2 weeks at $126 a pop! But now we can use our house normally!
• Now we move onto our savior...Well guy C! He wanted to work with us. He wanted to help. He sat with us and came up with a plan. He started drilling in November of 2011. In his first hole he lost a part to his well rig, couldn't retrieve it and needed to close up the hole. He started a new hole. It is now December 2011.
• He drilled, and drilled, and drilled, and drilled,  and drilled, and drilled....ok you get the point. Roberto was out there with him each Saturday and Sunday helping him get us running water. In Feburary 2012 well guy C needed to stop. The poor guy had such a bad back he couldn't continue....he needed surgery! He said if all goes well with the surgery, he would be back in a few weeks to finish up. 
• Well, it didn't....in April 2012, well guy D came and finished the job! Finally! The well is working...
• SCREEEAAAACHHHHH...that's right....stop right there! You didn't think it would be over...did you!
• Our state of the art water filtration system isn't working. I am 6 months pregnant sitting in a tub of orange slime. I was greasy! My hair was so gross (after washing it) I broke my brush! Our wonderful water filtration guy rushed over to help us out. He has been really great through all of this!
• Turns out, we don't need the part of the system...the coagulant. So now that is off and we are loving our well! This is May 2012.
• Everything is going great! The water tastes fabulous and we are finally settling in. It is starting to become a home!
• In July 2012 we welcome our second little monster...Cooper. Two boys...what will I do! LOL
• Fast forward to New Years Day 2013: We just got done with our pork dinner and we rang in the new year! 2013 was going to be a fresh start! It was OUR year to get back on track! Roberto gave the boys a bath earlier in the afternoon. We hung out and enjoyed each other. That night we put both boys to bed and I was ready to jump into the shower. I had to go back to school the next day! I turned the handle on the shower to warm it up and NOTHING...NADDA...NIENTE...nothing came out. My heart sank. I calmly came out to Roberto and asked if there was reason nothing would come out of the faucet...his face turned white as if he just saw a ghost! This is where we are at. Over $40K invested in water and we have none!   We don't know what is wrong. 3 days of specialists coming out and we don't have any answers yet. No one knows.

We will not let this define us. Over the next, however many months, we will blog about our experience getting out of this hole. We will not lose! Roberto is very competitive...he will certainly prove this situation wrong...he will be in control and we will get out of this!  We have been without water for the past 5 days, traveling back and forth to the in-laws to shower and fill gallons again. In the time being, we have purchased 3-1100 gallon tanks we will install in our garage and go back to having water delivered each month. Stay tuned....this will be interesting! For sure!