The main challenge we faced, during my recovery, was the process of selling my Mom’s House — which was stressed by a pending foreclosure and auction sale due to the reverse mortgage my mother had signed up for.
Much of this I’ve been posting on Facebook, here’s the entry from November 9th.
So yesterday escrow closed on my mother's house and now we have 15 days to move all our belongings out.
I've arranged for a POD to be placed in the driveway on Saturday and that's when we'll really start to move things. I'm open to all the help I can get, and I'm going to post more pictures of some of my mother's belongings, furniture and clothing that we will share with family.
We're looking at homes in the Sacramento Area. We might go for a Condo but more likely we'll go for mobile home because of the costs. (We had to take a pretty major cut in the sale price because so much of the house is run down or damaged, plus the reverse mortgage cost us $258k to pay off) There are some pretty nice homes available in Sac for $150-175k, and Condos at $250k.
This is the first step in a brand-new journey for us. I hope I can
get a chance to visit with family I have down here in LA before we ultimately go.
So that was a thing, ultimately we got $340k out of the deal after haggling with the new owner. But we didn't get the cash in hand, instead, it was being held in a Probate account which we wouldn’t have full access to for a few months.
Meanwhile, we moved into a hotel — first in Anaheim.
Moving News, November 23rd.
So we're now out of the House and at an Extended Stay America in Anaheim. I signed the paperwork to gain access to the Probate account yesterday, but since it's Thanksgiving my lawyer - who is the joint owner [on the account]- is out of the office.
We'll need access to some funds before we can relocate to Sacramento so hopefully, we can get moving on that tomorrow.
Our kitty was really freaked out by the drive, he's never been anywhere else but our house since he was a kitten (last year) - now he's hiding under the bed. We'll have to come up with a way to calm him down before we drive to Sac.
The kitty — Badger — finally came out from under the bed after a day or so.
Eventually, we got $5k through my lawyer and put that into the hotel costs. But with a daily rate of $70 — we burned through that pretty fast. After borrowing a little more from my cousin Mitchel who had helped me arrange the funeral and had been in the running to buy our house — we finally set off for Sacramento where we could easily purchase a nice new house with the money we had left.
Once we got access to it that is.
December 5th.
So Robin and I drove up to Sacramento last night and checked into the Extended Stay America on Northgate and I-80.
We took the drive in a rental because my mom's Mustang still had some issues, particularly with the brakes and the estimate was over $1,000 to get them fully fixed. I left the car at the Extended Stay parking lot in Anaheim for now, I'll come back for it once the Probate process is done.
We have the rental until Wednesday, so today we're going to grab some food from Trader Joes and settle in. If we have a chance I'd like to catch up with a few old friends like Mark Sprague, Warren J. Bishop, Kevin Seconds and hang out. Maybe visit Guitar Center and see if Mark Holley is still around. I know that Skip's, Dimples and Old Ironsides are now gone [under new ownership], but there are still some interesting things in town.
It's strange coming back after 20 years.
Walking around Sacramento from December 17th.
I had my first chance to really walk around Sacramento today.
Mostly I was in the downtown Grid area which has gone through a lot of remodeling and renovation. There's an entire R Street Center with several high-end shops and a new grocery store. When we lived downtown 20 years ago we had to drive up to West El Camino to go to Raley's to have access to a full-service grocery - so that's a big upgrade. Many of the old classic Victorian houses have been replaced by condos, which is a bit of a bummer, but they're very nice with plenty of retail space on the ground floor.
I visited what used to be the Press Club but that's now apparently a club called "8 Track" while there's a new condo two blocks away called "The Press" across the street from the Sacramento Bee offices - which is ironic.
I checked out the Old Tavern 2 blocks from there where I used to hang out, it's been completely renovated and is now a sports bar with some classic video games in the back.
The Thistle Dew Theater where Nathan [my step-son] was in several plays and worked as stage manager is still there. It was really calming and relaxing feeling walking around through the autumn leaves which clump up in piles between the parking spaces with many of the Victorian homes decorated with lights for Christmas.
I stopped by the Fox and Goose tavern in the Historic Section of downtown which features the Roc & Sol Art Gallery, and the Roc & Sol Dinner which is across the street from Old Ironsides which is a Live Rock and Roll venue. They told me Old I is again being sold, but they're booked up with live bands until March.
After that I went back downtown to K Street, the Downtown Icerink and "DOCO" where the King's fans were gathering for a game.
It was good feeling being back.
So eventually I went back down to LA to get another $5k from my lawyer which I posted on Facebook on December 22nd.
Moving to Sacramento: Part 2
So I traveled back down to Socal for the last couple days and it was a hellava thing.
I took Amtrak down on an overnight right, but I didn't get any sleep. I wound up spending all my time editing the mixes for my upcoming 2nd solo CD. I arrived in Fullerton at 3am, when the city is totally completely dead. The only store open was a Chevron so I bought a soda, then grabbed a bench near the train station to try and get a nap.
I called my lawyer at 9 am for time to stop by - they told me to be there are 1pm, so I had time to kill. I used the bus to pick up my rent a car, but there was a problem with my credit card (my latest payment hadn't posted yet) so I wasn't able to get the car -- and I had been upgraded to a Camaro too. I rode the bus back to downtown Fullerton, but while at the rental place I noticed that they were on a corner of State College and that's where the bank for my probate account was located. [Noted for later]
Once I got back to downtown Fullerton, naturally, I found an Irish Pub and had a Guiness, or two.
1 pm rolled around and my lawyer Aaron told me that even though the probate process will be done on January 28th, the court may still have as much as 2 more months of processing and reconciliation to do before we finally get the money from the sale of my mom's house. He suggested that we buy a new house by leasing to buy, that way we can get into the home with our current funds and then eventually buy it once the full money from the house finally comes through.
We're currently burning a lot of cash staying in a hotel - so that's an option that could save a lot of money.
Then I had to get back to the bank, but I lost a ton of time figuring out the OC bus system. It was like a crazy quilt with buses going directly around the block I was standing on. Eventually, I realized I needed to walk down 3 blocks and go around the corner to catch the 43 bus to get back to Orangethope, then the 30 Bus back to State College and the 57 to get to Brea Mall near the bank.
After all that I arrived at 4:20... 20 minutes after the bank had closed. Sigh.
At the bus stop, I fired up my phone hotspot and booked myself into a room at the Extended Stay America in Anaheim we'd stayed at after leaving mom's house, and where I had previously left my mom's car, a 2000 Mustang because I was worried about trying to drive it up to Sacramento after partially repairing the brakes. (It still needs almost another $1,000 in repairs)
Getting back there on buses was a nightmare, it was located on Tustin Ave (the street my mother-in-law used to live on) but there is no intersection between Orangethorpe and Tustin. (Tustin turns into a bridge that travels over Orangethorpe, so the two streets don't actually meet each other). I got off at the next stop and wound up walking about 2 miles in the rain to get to the hotel.
And luckily Mom's car was still there after 3 weeks, so that gamble paid off. I checked and it started right up - so that worked out too.
I checked into my room and collapsed on the bed.
The next morning I fired up Mom's Mustang, got some Carl's Jr - breakfast burrito and a Famous Star - and hit the bank to cash the latest check from the probate account which should keep us afloat for a little while longer. Now having a vehicle I decided to drive back to Gardena and pick up all of our outstanding mail which was being held by the post office. Then I got a quick fix at my local mechanic and had the brake lights on the Mustang fixed, this also fixed the turn signals. I decided I was going finally try to drive the old Mustang up to Sac, but being nervous I re-joined AAA as I started the trip just in case I had a breakdown on the way.
I got the mail and quickly stopped by to visit my mom's house and see what the new owners had done so far. I could tell they'd completely cleaned out all the remnant furniture from all the rooms - which I'm sure was a *chore*. I had taken me 2 weeks to get all of our personal belongings out. I talked to my neighbor Karin and she said that it had taken them 3 days to get everything out. I had given them the broken-down Honda my mom bought for me from my cousin Winnie. Karin said it still wasn't running, but they would make it a "project" to get it back in shape.
So I hit the road for the big trip up north. It was pretty weird taking what may be my last-ever drive through LA. It was a little different going up 405 as it took me through Westwood (where I saw Empire Strikes Back 3 times in theaters), Sunset (hung out on the strip and at the Rainbow) and through the SF Valley (where I went to High School) I have so many memories.
Eventually, I hit the grapevine and the 2nd worst torrential downpour I've ever been through on the grapevine. Fortunately, it was still daytime so as horrible as it was, it could have been worse. I know because the worst downpour had been at night. This downpour let up about halfway through and turned into a traffic jam which lasted about a half-hour. Once on the other side of the grapevine, I took a stop for gas and finally ate the Famous Star I'd bought earlier.
The car drove pretty well, which was surprising. The brake problem we had was that the calipers were scraping against the drum which was causing a lot of heat and friction, then a pretty pronounced shimmy but I'd spent $350 to have the calipers replaced 3 weeks ago. So far it was driving smoothly and there was no extra friction or heat. The rain finally let up about halfway through the drive, which helped me relax - I was pretty nervous about the slick roads and possibly hydroplaning.
The last 3 hours of the drive were pretty calm, I kept myself awake and alert by singing along with a classic rock station out of Fresno. By the time I got to Stockton, I switched to 98 Rock and it was really like coming home. That station is just such a comfort, and I heard a brand-new Disturbed song on it. (It may have been old - f%cking stations in LA don't pay *ANY* new rock bands except Foo Fighters. Sometimes. The song could have been years old by what I knew from f$%king KLOS)
The last 20 miles went by in a flash until I rounded that final turn and downtown Sac exploded into view with the Tower Bridge and the Darth Vader tower. Wow, back at last. Back for good.
I parked at the Extended Stay on Northgate. Now we need to get to work on that leasing issue, and with a vehicle of our own we'll be able to check out homes whenever we feel like.
This just might work out after all.
So we figured out how to cut our hotel costs nearly in half by registering early and for longer periods. This has gotten us through all of January, but again while I was down in LA talking to my lawyer he told me that even though the probate process would be essentially done on Jan 28th, the court would need a couple more months to finally process everything before we’d have our money.
So that’s a bummer.
We have just enough cash on hand to stay in the hotel for another week and a half. And over the last couple weeks, we’ve had a few little challenges.
I was checking the mail that has been forwarded to us here and Sac, and I found a statement from So Cal Edison (local power company). I had set up my Mom’s account to autopay her bills after she got the reverse mortgage, and I grossly overestimated the electric bill, consequently it was being overpaid by a huge amount. We have a negative balance of $3,600 — so I gave them a call and told them that my mom had passed and I needed the account placed in my name. Then I told them that we’d moved out of that house, so I want to close the account and have them send me the balance at my new address.
They were fine with that, but the check wouldn't arrive until the end of February.
Well, shit.
I had requested a payout on this account previously when my Mom was alive, and they never sent me the check — so I’m not exactly confident they’re going to do it this time either. If they do it would totally bridge the gap to when we’d finally get the probate cash, but right now — there’s a hole of about a week or two we need to fill just to get to the end of the month. So that’s a problem.
Also, over the last couple weeks, I’ve been having intermittent chest pains.
Yes, I know.
The pains felt like they were entirely on the surface, not deep in my chest like before (which were heart attacks), but they could get painful if I was walking or exerting myself. If I stopped and rested, they would subside in about 30-60 seconds. The incidents also seem to subside when I took my remaining medicine — which is Carvedilol (Blood Pressure). but I only had 3 tablets left. And meanwhile, my primary care doctor is back in LA.
So I got on the phone and called my surgeon (who didn’t prescribe the medicine), my cardiologist (who didn’t have me listed as a patient), my primary care doctor (who didn’t answer), my provider Healthnet (who were clueless), my sub-provider Molina (who also knew nothing) and then finally MediCal (which is California's version of Medicaid) where I was able to update my address to Sacramento. They then told me to call back in 2 days to MediCal in Northern Cal to get a new local provider and primary care doctor. I did that and they told me I was “between periods” so I would be able to pick my new provider on March 1st.
Yikes.
I mentioned the chest pains and that I was out of meds so they told me to call the Ombudsman the next day so I could get a new provider immediately. I did that, and they put me on Healthnet up here, which I figured would make things easier. They gave me the number of two providers, both of which turned out not to be primary care physicians — but I eventually got a provider and they scheduled me for an appoint -— on March 20th.
Jesus.
[Deep breaths] Ok, so I told them about the chest pains and they said they had a walk-in urgent care clinic locally and I got the address.
Whew.
Fortunately, the pains have subsided and I haven’t had an incident in days — but I do plan to hit up urgent care in the next day or so, I just need to get the money hole filled first so that if they have to admit me for anything, Robin will still be ok in the hotel.
So I decided to try and get a small personal loan from Bank of America. But when I showed up I discovered they close at 4pm and it was 4:30. (Yes, too late again) I came back the next day and they told me they don’t offer personal loans, only mortgages, but they suggested I try a Credit Union. I haven't been in a credit union for decades but apparently, you can just join up even if you don’t work in that particular company or industry. So I drove to a Credit One credit union and got an appointment which was for 1-1.5 hours later. They’d send me a text.
I got some pizza and waited back in the hotel. Then after 2 hours when I hadn’t received the text I decided to drive back. The text came in as I got in the car, but I didn’t get back in time (facepalm)— so I set up a new meeting for 11 am today.
I just got back, they’ll send me an email in a couple hours letting me know whether I got the loan, or if they’re willing to give me a lower offer. My FICO score has gone up 35 points recently, so I’m hopeful. If they turn me down, I’ll probably have to head back down to LA again and talk to my lawyer once more. Sigh.
So that’s been my week.
How are you guys doing?
[Ok, I got the email back. They said “No” to the loan, they didn't even give me the option to take a lower amount. Grumble.]
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