Disabled Widower Seeks Government Grant For Home Renovations
by Stephen E. Barnes
I was still working, trying to complete my career in HVAC. At that time money was available for us to do the remodeling in stages and by the time I retired it would have been completed for us to live in. We owe no money on the house, which helps a lot. As time went on I found out that at my last doctor's checkup I had several medical issues that appeared. I ultimately became disabled in 2004. I've been disabled ever since. My wife was ill with medical problems as well. Before I became ill we were in Chandler, Arizona and had left the home in a real estate agent's hand. We received a phone call about the home one evening in regards to a possible purchaser. At that time my wife and I thought about it and felt that we could build here in Arizona and we would be closer to our kids. So we accepted the offer. Little did we know that for this sale of the property to go through we were asked to owner finance. My wife and I didn't know anything about owner finance and we were more concerned about our own financing to build. We ultimately had a title company draw up the contract. The home closed in 2003. I got laid off and it was very hard to find a company to hire me. I was in my late 40s. So we came back to Missouri to look for work. The 1st payment on the home we financed was nine days late, so I had a conversation with the head of the house to be on time with his mortgage. We had debts to pay as well. As time went on our business relation got further and further apart and they were late every month with their payments to us. So I had tried to have another conversation with the head of the head of the house. He denied me coming on property and wouldn't speak with me. And then he failed to pay his mortgage, insurance and taxes. He also said if I come down to his property again he was going to kick my tail. And that's when I found out I was very ill with my medical issues. I didn't know what to do. I called my mother and ask her to loan us $3600 to hire a lawyer and to get the home back. We finally got the home back. The people that lived in it were out but the home sustained considerable damage and they had swiped all that could be taken as they were leaving during the night. A neighbor called me to tell me that the people were leaving in the night and that a big transport truck was in front of the house. There was nothing I could do about the people because they had no job and no money. They had nothing but what they stole from the home when they left. And the law said even though I had the titles to the home and I was the legal owner I still could not go on property. When I was able to go on property that's when I saw all of what was missing from the home and all the extensive damage to it. By the time I had the assessment done several months went by. The damages came to not less than $38,000 in repairs. We didn't have that kind of money to put back in to the home. So it has been empty to the present day. My wife passed away in April 2009. That made the situation even worse. Anybody that might have been interested in the property just wanted me to give it to them. I could not do that. So now I own a property I can't remodel due to being permanently disabled and the banks will not give a loan to remodel the property to make it disability accessible. I just wish I could complete the badly needed remodeling and to be able to live there in peace.
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