It's Friday.

Hi there crew! It's Friday...and well...it's been a good week so far. Daniel and I received the payoff for the closing of our house in Michigan (no, we are not buying a home in Michigan, we sold Daniel's that he owned prior to us getting married). Thank goodness that chapter is all over....

I'll try to explain to you what has happened..... part 1 of the story is here.


Parts 2, 3 & 4 are included in this post. It will not be short...so be prepared...
....we had left the story off at ...we had found out that their was a lien on the Michigan home...(transferred from the home owner before Daniel...and not detected by the Title Insurance Company, as it should have been). So....what do we do? We call the IRS to find out how to have it taken care of. They said that in order for us to sell the house, a Certificate of Discharge must be given to us for the house, but in order to receive a certificate of discharge...that means the lien must be paid.

Now you would think that would be easy, right? Title insurance had been purchased at the time Daniel bought the home and it covered the house up to the amount Daniel paid for 64K. (it was a fixer upper...its current worth is in the low 90s...) So we should be fine...just get the title insurance company to pay the lien...besides, the lien is only 17K....shouldn't be that hard right?

Here's where it gets hairy....the IRS had several liens from the previous homeowner...on several different properties. So...the IRS felt like the Title Insurance company should have not made the error to begin with. So ....the next week or so consisted of the IRS determining how much they were going to ask for...they could ask for the amount of the lien (17K), the amount Daniel paid for the home (64K) OR it's current value (low 90s). Now let me remind you, Daniel's title insurance only covered the original appraisal of the home when he purchased it, 64k....so if the IRS wanted the current value of the home (low 90s), that means that we would have to pay the excess over 64k.

Now I know that this is confusing, but hang with me....

We had our small group, parents, family and friends in constant prayer for us during this waiting period. I think the hardest part for both Daniel and me was that it wasn't our fault. The title insurance company had made the mistake, and there was definite potential that we would have to pay for that mistake. Another hard point for us to grasp...was the former homeowner....sold the house KNOWING their was a lien on it...and while we were in this whole process of getting it resolved...he kept trying to call us...trying to find out what was going on (he was scared...and needed it paid off...) and acting like the victim. ARGHH....

During this process...Daniel had to make all of the phone calls, and it was so difficult b/c everything was happening in Michigan...and we were dealing with this long distance...leaving messages and e-mails countless times...with long delays in responses...if there were responses.

So...back to what the IRS chose...The IRS chose to pursue getting the original value of the home at time of purchase (64K). Praise the Lord! One hurdle jumped successfully, by the grace of God, more to go. We were covered. Daniel had been in contact with both the Title Insurance folks as well as the IRS. I think the IRS people gave that price, b/c of Daniel's courtesy and patience with them on the phone (as well as the Lord's favor).

Now the tennis back and forth match continues.....It's the title insurance folks turn to pay the lien to the IRS, in order for the Certificate of Discharge to be issued. This part feels like it was nearly impossible. The lawyer for the Title Insurance company was not in our corner. Refused phone calls, gave us little updates, and just left us in the abyss of ambiguity. Why? I don't know.

By this point...Daniel and I have been waiting 2 months to get to this point. Our buyer is still interested in the house, and wants to know if he can rent the house until we received the Certificate of Discharge. So after much prayer, we decide to rent it to him...

We are still waiting to hear when and how much the Title Insurance Folks are going to pay the IRS so we can sell our house....while waiting we then receive two letters in the mail from the City (where the house is) stating that they had to mow the lawn for us (which we paid a friend of Daniel's to do...it was bogus...) So we try not to get discouraged and we pay the city the $113. The second letter....they say that the garage is an eyesore. (BOGUS...again) and we have to get it fixed up. Thankfully, the buyer had plans for this garage...and did all of the work on it.

So what could possibly happen next? We are 1 week into waiting for the Title Insurance company to pay the IRS to satisfy the lien. Then...we find out our buyers pre-approval for his FHA loan runs out in a 2 weeks. Prayers continue, withouts ceasing. We FINALLY hear back from the Title insurance company...and the attorney that we had been working with there...says he will be out of town all next week...and won't send the check...until he gets back. That gives us one week to close, if he sends the check when he says he will.

The last week...these things have to happen.
1. Title insurance company sends check for 64k to IRS by overnight mail.
2. IRS must receive the check via e-mail...and issue us the Certificate of Discharge...and must send it to the buyer's title insurance company as well as ours.
3. We have to sign all of the closing papers here in Charlotte and then overnight them to Michigan
4. Our buyer has to sign all of the closing papers up in Michigan.

Monday late evening, number 1 happened.. (lots of drama with this....won't get into it, b/c this post is already way too long..)
Tuesday morning, number 2 happened
Wednesday, number 3 happened (though there was lots of drama in this one too....)
Thursday, number 4 happened

All of this took us approximately 3 months. Now let me remind you, Daniel and I are newly married...talk about stress. Looking back on all of it....I see God's hand in it the whole way through. I just want to cry thinking about it...none of it was our fault, yet we had to go through it. Because we did--we are stronger. It taught me to trust in my husband and the Lord. Through this whole thing...Daniel had to do all of the calls and e-mails, because it was in his name. He was so patient and kind to those who certainly didn't deserve it. I completely feel that my husband mirrored Jesus through all of it. I just wanted to tear them apart with my vicious rhetoric, when Daniel loved through the whole thing.

We were surrounded by love and prayer from our friends and family.

Now that it's over....Daniel and I are convinced we are stronger for it. We are convinced that no matter the outcome, God was and is always in control. Thanks for sharing with us in this adventure.