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Hey all,
I wanted to post an apology here for my absence the last several (more?) months.I know many of you reached out to me but I was MIA. Life gets complicated as we age and our responsibilities change. In my case I have several elderly relatives that have serious health conditions and I am either their primary caregiver, or my wife is and I am primary back up,chief cook and bottle washer.Sometimes things go well with their health awhile and I am able to be here on the forum regularly....but sometimes things go really wrong and I have to focus elsewhere. Hobbies get put on hold. The last several months was one of those times... no hobbies.. full on damage control mode.
Without too many details, One of our elderly is suffering from Dementia, and he lost his wife to old age/stroke. His condition as a result got worse. With no other relatives to help, The burden fell on Carrie and I to take care of him. He lived an hour away in a very rural area. It took us awhile to get him to agree to move to assisted living with a track towards dementia care. We finally got him situated in a facility close to us but its so insanely expensive...$7500 per month. In order to have him stay there, getting his house on the Market was urgent. That is where I came in.I had the task of cleaning out the house mostly alone. My wife and Kids helped as they could on the weekend. I would not say that he was a hoarder, but he was a man of hobbies and an electrical engineer and for a time home builder. His hobbies included rebuilding English cars,and his 2 car detached garage was filled with used auto parts. He was an electrical engineer working in aerospace/xray equipment and held patents on his xray equipment...and when I say there was old electronics there, you would not believe the things I found and had to safely dispose of.
Over 50 years of living there, I don't believe he threw out much. I donated tons to goodwill, and I filled three 30 yard dumpsters of old furniture and house goods on top of that. An additional 4 pickup trucks full of old electronics removed from rafters, loft and crawl spaces,over 5 pickup trucks of scrap metal/autoparts. There was a lumber yards amount of lumber in various locations...he saved all used lumber. After finally getting the house empty I started repairing walls and woodworking that had been neglected for years as his mental faculties declined. I repainted the whole inside, and cleaned up the outside. We are finally at a point where we can get it on the Market and are in talks with realtors.
We still have issues with the property to resolve, he got taken to the cleaners by a solar panel company here is locked into an unreasonable lease.. 25 year lease. He was age 80 and his wife was 88 at the time. This was done with out our knowledge. The Lease has a clause that restricts buying the panels out for 5 years( we are 2 years into it) , so basically we have no choice but to find a buyer for the house to assume the panel lease, which has been made complicated by the solar panel company going bankrupt and its really not a great house for solar.. Please be very careful if your elderly family members are considering Solar, there are many many bad players out there targeting elderly. This solar issue is going to be a nightmare to resolve. Not saying Solar is bad, but it can be if you are not educated and careful.
So, there you have it, my life the last several months in a single post. Wish I could say I was doing something fun or interesting but thats not the case. Just helping family in need and of course dealing with all the normal day to day mundane stuff.. Can't promise I am back online but I will try to be.
Al
I wanted to post an apology here for my absence the last several (more?) months.I know many of you reached out to me but I was MIA. Life gets complicated as we age and our responsibilities change. In my case I have several elderly relatives that have serious health conditions and I am either their primary caregiver, or my wife is and I am primary back up,chief cook and bottle washer.Sometimes things go well with their health awhile and I am able to be here on the forum regularly....but sometimes things go really wrong and I have to focus elsewhere. Hobbies get put on hold. The last several months was one of those times... no hobbies.. full on damage control mode.
Without too many details, One of our elderly is suffering from Dementia, and he lost his wife to old age/stroke. His condition as a result got worse. With no other relatives to help, The burden fell on Carrie and I to take care of him. He lived an hour away in a very rural area. It took us awhile to get him to agree to move to assisted living with a track towards dementia care. We finally got him situated in a facility close to us but its so insanely expensive...$7500 per month. In order to have him stay there, getting his house on the Market was urgent. That is where I came in.I had the task of cleaning out the house mostly alone. My wife and Kids helped as they could on the weekend. I would not say that he was a hoarder, but he was a man of hobbies and an electrical engineer and for a time home builder. His hobbies included rebuilding English cars,and his 2 car detached garage was filled with used auto parts. He was an electrical engineer working in aerospace/xray equipment and held patents on his xray equipment...and when I say there was old electronics there, you would not believe the things I found and had to safely dispose of.
Over 50 years of living there, I don't believe he threw out much. I donated tons to goodwill, and I filled three 30 yard dumpsters of old furniture and house goods on top of that. An additional 4 pickup trucks full of old electronics removed from rafters, loft and crawl spaces,over 5 pickup trucks of scrap metal/autoparts. There was a lumber yards amount of lumber in various locations...he saved all used lumber. After finally getting the house empty I started repairing walls and woodworking that had been neglected for years as his mental faculties declined. I repainted the whole inside, and cleaned up the outside. We are finally at a point where we can get it on the Market and are in talks with realtors.
We still have issues with the property to resolve, he got taken to the cleaners by a solar panel company here is locked into an unreasonable lease.. 25 year lease. He was age 80 and his wife was 88 at the time. This was done with out our knowledge. The Lease has a clause that restricts buying the panels out for 5 years( we are 2 years into it) , so basically we have no choice but to find a buyer for the house to assume the panel lease, which has been made complicated by the solar panel company going bankrupt and its really not a great house for solar.. Please be very careful if your elderly family members are considering Solar, there are many many bad players out there targeting elderly. This solar issue is going to be a nightmare to resolve. Not saying Solar is bad, but it can be if you are not educated and careful.
So, there you have it, my life the last several months in a single post. Wish I could say I was doing something fun or interesting but thats not the case. Just helping family in need and of course dealing with all the normal day to day mundane stuff.. Can't promise I am back online but I will try to be.
Al
contract, or the office may be able to advise if a private lawyer has grounds to get the contract voided.
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