Tag Archives: vandalism and theft

Sweeping needed under the carpet

deconstruction, ,

When we first viewed the building in August 2008, the carpet in the dining room looked like most other normal carpets. It was only after the scavengers got into the building a couple of months later and ripped the back porch windows out to extract the aluminum that we had this mess of glass left behind (see also 04/06/2009 post).

under-carpet-01

We cleaned the glass up not too long after we had purchased the building. It was a given that we would eventually remove the carpet, but we did not want to track the glass through the house, nor did we want our dog to run through this stuff.

The concept (or reality!) of the broken glass on the carpet was somewhat interesting. But it got really spectacular once we started to pull the carpet up.

under-carpet-02

Someone, sometime must have done some drywall repairs, and decided that it was a good idea to leave all the dust on the floor and put the carpet and backing right over it – in the dining room, entrance hall and living room. And we were wondering why we got these little plumes of dust emerging from the carpet when we walked over it. I can only imagine what this did to the indoor air quality (IAQ).

Water service

plumbing, ,

Whether and how to upgrade existing utilities is, of course, a basic consideration for any rehab project. Some connections may need to be upsized, upgraded, changed or relocated. But where do you start?  Figuring out the location of the utilities is a good idea.  For us, locating the electrical and gas, and also the sewer connection, was easy. The water service, on the other hand … not so much.

While we were deciding if we should buy the house (in late fall of 2008), it was broken into and vandalized.  Some of the copper piping was stolen, presumably for its resale value by scavengers (see also 04/04/2009 post).  So we ended up with pipes leading to nowhere, and no idea where the water service entered the building, no matter how hard we looked. We decided to try again once the basement was gutted.

vandalism-01

Fast forward: The basement is now gutted, and we invited Larry Harpster from C.J. Erickson Plumbing Co. back to help us look for the water service connection once more. We carefully rummaged around all basement walls, and still no luck.

Larry suggested following a cold-water plumbing line, which should lead us eventually to the water service connection. He started in the former basement bathroom, where the sink once was. Hot water is the right faucet, cold water the left. We followed the line, came to a critical T-connection – and – S.O.L! The line that would have given us the clue had been removed by our friends, the scavengers.

basement-bathroom

removed-cold-water-line

Just to be safe we tried the hot water line too, and ran into the exact same problem. What options did we have left now? “What you could try, as a last resort, is have the water service [at the valve box in the parkway] turned on and see where the water comes out in the basement” was Larry’s suggestion.

I got in touch with the people at the Chicago Department of Water Management, who sent me a crew to turn the water on. Standing in the basement at the front window, I gave the go ahead to open the valve, and lo and behold, the water gushed out the floor almost right next to me.

water-service-line

No wonder we could not find the water service. It was snapped off right at the floor slab. Boy, am I glad that this mystery is solved, thanks to Larry and the Department of Water Management.

Securing the House

starting up, ,

Like we have not secured the house before… (see also 04/08, 04/10 and 04/14/2009 posts). But this time it’s a little different, as the house is now ours for real. We removed the Realtor’s lock box and replaced the dead bolt lock on the front screen door and front door. The screen door is a nice, very sturdy, decorative wrought iron piece, which we like a lot.  I ordered a dumpster and we are now ready to start the big clean-up in the basement.

After a couple of days, I find the screen door and front door unlocked upon my arrival! I questioned my sanity for a minute: Did I really forget to look both doors last time? I could not figure out how someone could have gotten in, until I noticed that the narrow bay window facing the front porch was forced open, but then carefully closed again.

Nothing else in the house was missing, damaged or altered. My guess is that whoever went in must have been looking for tools, which I always take back with me at the end of the day. There is really nothing in the house right now that is worth taking away. Even the remaining copper piping in the walls is not worth much since the prices for scrap metals collapsed late last year.

I barricaded and boarded up the narrow bay window, which, in hindsight, was clearly the easiest entry point into the house. I wonder what other easy entry points there are? Because there is nothing in the house to steal, another forced entry could be a plus – it will point us to the next best easy entry point and allow us to improve security.

Of course we’ll need to figure out something different once we have building materials stored inside. We’ve started a little security to-do list:

  • Install solid back doors on every floor with proper dead bolt locks
  • Get temporary electricity set up
  • Install sensor-triggered security lighting on all four corners of the house.

Will that be deterrent enough? We don’t know but we surely will find out.

Buying a foreclosure – Part 7

house hunting, , , , ,

We have read a lot and had numerous discussions with friends who have bought houses. Everybody has a story how something goes astray last minute. We are no exception – and just in case you are interested – here is our account of how our resolve got tested:

3 days to closing

We really need to get the mortgage commitment letter from ShoreBank so that we can formally schedule the closing that has been set for this Thursday (see also 04/13/2009 post). I started to poke around and finally found out that nothing is moving or happening because ShoreBank had no proof of insurance and no loan approval.

What?!

Didn’t I just send our proof of insurance (see also 04/13/2009 post)? It turns out that the preparation of closing documents is passed from Phil (our banker) to a different person (Pat) in a different ShoreBank branch office. Resolving the proof of insurance issue is easy: I just e-mailed Pat the documents.

2 days to closing

I receive an e-mail from Joe Ziccardi (our attorney) that the proof of insurance has to be re-issued. ShoreBank needs us to change the mortgagee information on the document and also a copy of the receipt as proof of payment. I scrambled to get the insurance broker to re-issue our proof of insurance and e-mailed it with receipt of payment to ShoreBank.

29 hours to closing

The loan approval is still missing! I am back on the phone to find out that it got somewhere stuck in the transfer from Phil to Pat. The seller told us in no uncertain terms that closing would not be delayed again and we are still fussing around with a critical document lost in transit. Phil was very apologetic and went personally after the documents to make sure they arrived at Pat’s desk. Finally, the mortgage commitment letter went out.

25 hours to closing

We receive good news from Joe . We have our closing scheduled, with confirmed location and time. We will still close on Thursday – hurray, no further delays!

20 hours to closing

We stop by the two-flat to have a last look before we purchase it. Everything seems normal until I notice that the front basement door is not closed. The locks are busted! Thanks God I have the tool bucket in the car. Cathy and I are able to barricade the door and have the property secured again. Not how we wanted to spend the evening.

basement-door-board-up

16 hours to closing

Back home, we had the HUD-1 settlement statement and other paperwork in our inbox for us to review. We e-mailed a couple of questions to Joe.

What is a HUD-1?  (HUD – U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development)

“The HUD-1 Settlement Statement is a standard form which is used to itemize services and fees charged to the borrower by the lender or broker. The borrower has the right to inspect the HUD-1 one day prior or day of settlement. The form is filled out by the settlement agent who will conduct the settlement. Borrowers may compare their Good Faith Estimate to the HUD-1 Settlement Statement and ask their lender or broker about any changes.”

Source: Wikipedia
Other resources: HUD1 Settlement Statement form

14 hours to closing

I had a few beers to calm me down, and am pleased to report that this proceeded without any delay or glitches – which was very refreshing indeed.

7 hours to closing

We got a prompt, first thing in the morning and straight forward response from Joe on our HUD-1 questions. This is what we love about Joe: very responsive, extremely reliable, and really good at explaining things.

2 hours to closing

Michael (our Realtor) called: The seller’s Realtor does not have the earnest money! Well, we are confident that they received the earnest money, but probably misplaced it – which would fall right into the pattern they displayed in the past (see also 04/08/2009 post).

OK, let’s assume that, for whatever reason, they did not receive the earnest money. Why on earth are they noticing 2 hours prior to the closing? I can’t believe they are still in business, operating like this…

We resolved the issue by agreeing to bring another cashier’s check to the closing table to cover the missing earnest money.

1 hour and 30 minutes to closing

Cathy is back from the bank with the earnest money cashier’s check. She also made sure to stop payment on the original earnest money check.

1 hour prior to closing

Departure to the title company office for the closing.

At closing

I have to say that I had imaged the pile of paper we needed to sign to be much more intimidating and big. It was not that bad at all. There was not one document that we did not expect or did not know about.

In addition to that, Joe did an excellent job walking us through every document, explaining it, and making sure we understood the legal jargon and knew what we were signing. We also took our time in reading through some of the less familiar documents.

1 hour and 30 minutes into the closing

S. O.  L.! Because of the missing earnest money check and having to replace it with a cashier’s check, our HUD-1 has changed: the line item for the earnest money needed to be removed to reflect the fact that we were now bringing it to the closing table. To finish the closing process, everybody has to sign the new HUD-1, including the bank that owns the property – that bank that has been so unbelievably elusive. “May be we’ll hear back from them today, if not hopefully tomorrow…”

We have to leave the closing table without completing the deal, without any keys. Actually, there were no keys anyway. The seller’s Realtor, who misplaced or lost our earnest money check, did not show at the closing. So we will have to go to the property and retrieve the key from the lock box – once we have the signed HUD-1 back from the seller… Can it get any more anticlimactic that this?

Related posts:

Buying a foreclosure – Part 1

house hunting, , , ,

Now that we put another offer down on the foreclosed two-flat we like so much, we have an interest in having the property secured (see also 04/06/2009 post). Vacant, unsecured buildings (often foreclosures) are a big problem for the City of Chicago. They invite illegal activities such as prostitution, drug dealing and drug manufacturing, and often become a safety and fire risk. The city takes this very serious and has an abandoned building program where such nuisance properties can be reported.

back-porch-no-window

The back porch windows at our two-flat are knocked out and relatively easy to climb through. Michael Salvatori, our Realtor, contacted the seller’s agent and was told they can do nothing to secure the property. We learned that the seller’s agent had literally hundreds of foreclosures to deal with and was completely overwhelmed. Never mind that the seller does not want to spend any money on the property…

We decided that we’d have to take it upon ourselves to secure the property. That said, we have to wait until we have an executed and ratified agreement:

  1. We did not want to run the risk of trespassing.
  2. We did not want to invest in securing the building without some certainty that we actually get it.

What happened next is what we call the dance:

  1. Michael received a phone call informing him that our offer was accepted.
  2. Excellent – until the next phone call came, asking for our final and best offer. This had déjà vu written all over it (see also 04/06/2009 post).
  3. We were confident that this was just standard protocol by the seller and raised the offer by a few hundred dollars to show our good intent,
  4. Upon which Michael received another verbal confirmation that our offer was accepted.
  5. All we need now is the paperwork, the executed contract.

We waited and got more and more nervous because we were about to leave for a two-week vacation. We were  still waiting as we packed and went to the airport. We waited while we were gone, and we returned and waited some more. Finally, one day prior to the proposed closing date, Michael was able to reach the seller’s agent, only to learn that our deal got canceled! Why? Your guess is as good as ours.

We asked, “Can we submit the offer again?” The answer was yes and Michael wasted no time doing so on our behalf. And we started the dance again:

  1. Michael received a verbal confirmation of acceptance
  2. We received another request for our final and best offer
  3. We raised the price by a few hundred dollars
  4. Michael received another verbal confirmation of acceptance
  5. And we started waiting again for the paperwork

Except, this time Michael received a phone call from the seller’s agent (I had given up to believe that this could actually happen), informing him that our deal was once more canceled! Still no real good reason as to why.

Does the bank, who has ownership of this property, really want to sell it? We constantly hear in the news how bad these foreclosures hurt the banks, and how desperately they would like to unload them. But we also hear that they have difficulties to keep up with all the paperwork. May be that is where we keep getting stuck with our purchasing attempts – in that huge pile of paperwork.