Fine Friends, Fine Prints

Dear mouse,

In my blog, I prefer to focus on the good nature of human beings. I hate to admit that just like us cats, there are many who are compassionate, generous and are always willing to help other people. But there are also dark souls who will not hesitate to take advantage of the weak, the ignorant, the illiterate and the clueless.

My friend who’s always been defensive whenever I asked her questions on slips of her tongues finally confessed why she’s able to apply for a housing loan as a first time buyer. Before the housing bubble burst, the first time buyers could avail of the no down payment scheme.

Four years ago, she broke out the news that they’re (her and the husband) buying a house. My brain started morphing into an abacus. Even with the combined monthly paychecks, they would not be able to afford a monthly amortization of 3,500 a month-interest-payment-only-for-the-first-three-years-low-variable-rate.

The next time we talked in a birthday party (God knows how many birthdays, her husband celebrated just to have an excuse for drinking marathons)… and that was one legitimate birthday… she introduced me to a fellow Accountant. That’s what she said but when I was talking about some accounting stuff, he merely said yeah, huh and nodded his head for questions I intentionally twisted to test him if we are in the same boat… paddling in the same direction. Force of habit of my teaching style. I said something or wrote something wrong and waited for some thinking guys to spot the hidden error. I met one student who was able to discern my method and he was bold enough to say that he can’t solve the problem because something is amiss. Smart guy.
That time, it was not an intentional error but rather I-am-here-in-spirit-but-my-mind-is-somewhere-kind-of-error.

Break, stop and make a detour back to the original topic.

Before I left, I told my friend, I did not like the “accountant ” even though he is a good buddy of her husband.

I was expecting her to believe me when she called to ask my advice what she’s going to do because it seemed that the husband’s friend was excluding her from the purchase…she will not be included in the title…only her husband. Cheat.

Weeks passed and she informed me that they’re moving to the new house which was valued at 800,000 dollars. Very overpriced as far as I am concerned. I was expecting that for the house area, the high price could be some extras threw in by the former owner…maybe a whirlpool bathtub? gold plated door knobs or upright freezer and silver toned 9-foot fridge. But no. It was a 50 year old house originally owned by the mother of the seller acquired for less than 100k in those times. The mother was moved to a nursing home.

Her name (according to her was the one included in the contract because her husband’s credit is not only in the gutter but was already in the brink of dropping in the manhole.

The equity partner was paying a negligible amount for his share in the monthly amortization while they were paying at leat 3/5 of the amount. My friend assured me that everything’s under control. Hoke.

Months passed and they refinanced because the value of the house already increased by 120,000. Lucky them. So they split the amount. My friend bought another car; paid off her credit cards and that of her husband. Before their money were reduced to two digits, the amortization increased by another thousand. So whatever, gain they had were also paid back to the bank because their combined incomes were not sufficient to meet their obligations.

They were about to default payment when they consulted one realtor.
tinamaan ng lintek, wala ang pangalan niya sa titulo. And she had been paying her share to the “accountant” who issued his check for payment to the lender.

How did it happen? I asked. Did he make you sign anything with fine print? She could not remember. Her husband assured her that he is a friend who would never cheat on them. But her husband can not talk and understand English. My friend can speak English but what does she know about contracts and about waiver?

My real estate agent/friend told me that they had been had. She was made to sign a quitclaim after everything was in order. That paper removed her name from the title but not in the bank loan they had secured in buying a house.

Anyway, they left the house to the “accountant” and moved to another state. That house was also foreclosed by the bank. There is no more friendship to talk about. The friend was a predator.

The Ca t