Family and Money

[Anonymous]

Hi all!

Alright so I am selling my trailer to my aunt, yes I realize now I should never do business with family. We came to a verbal agreement on the amount of $12,000 dollars ten for trailer and two for the huge deck (12x20) deck that me and my dad built onto it. He paid for all the materials and said if we ever sold it he either wanted the material back or the money which I can understand it is good material and a lot of work. She is closing on the land which a house sits on and so does my trailer. We were renting the .34 of an acre from my grandmother and have paid 3,000 in all for rent. She is purchasing the land and the house from my grandmother also. My aunt is finally closing on everything and she called me and told me that she would have the check for 11,000 tomorrow. That is a thousand from what we had discussed and she is now saying that we agreed on that amount. My fiance and I both remember specifically saying 12,000 and that is where it was left. She is also giving the money to my grandmother and she is suppose to pay us, she didn't include the trailer in the loan because she said it was not hers. I am using the money to pay off debt that I accumulated when I was married and so on. We were really counting on the full amount as to it would be a great burden lifted off of us and we could finally breath, I have a revolving account at 29% thanks to my ex husband and it is killing my credit. Any ideas on how to deal with this without tearing my family apart over 1000 dollars. I thank you for the time.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Hi all!

Alright so I am selling my trailer to my aunt, yes I realize now I should never do business with family. We came to a verbal agreement on the amount of $12,000 dollars ten for trailer and two for the huge deck (12x20) deck that me and my dad built onto it. He paid for all the materials and said if we ever sold it he either wanted the material back or the money which I can understand it is good material and a lot of work. She is closing on the land which a house sits on and so does my trailer. We were renting the .34 of an acre from my grandmother and have paid 3,000 in all for rent. She is purchasing the land and the house from my grandmother also. My aunt is finally closing on everything and she called me and told me that she would have the check for 11,000 tomorrow. That is a thousand from what we had discussed and she is now saying that we agreed on that amount. My fiance and I both remember specifically saying 12,000 and that is where it was left. She is also giving the money to my grandmother and she is suppose to pay us, she didn't include the trailer in the loan because she said it was not hers. I am using the money to pay off debt that I accumulated when I was married and so on. We were really counting on the full amount as to it would be a great burden lifted off of us and we could finally breath, I have a revolving account at 29% thanks to my ex husband and it is killing my credit. Any ideas on how to deal with this without tearing my family apart over 1000 dollars. I thank you for the time.

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 Hi krzyvern,

From your post you have already gone through the agonizing reappraisal of having a verbal financial agreement with anyone. Family makes it just that much more sensitive. You didn't say if the $9,000.00 left, after the deck is compensated for, will pay off the trailer.

To tell you what you already know. You have 2 options.

1. Stick to your guns and risk going to war with your family. And you still might not get the extra $1,000.00

2. Accept the $11,000.00 and walk away. Pay off a substantial portion of your debt. Consider this a valuable, albeit expensive, lesson.

Best of luck,

CB

[Anonymous]

Hi CB..

I thank you for your post. I am probably going to go with option 2. I myself am not very much of a material person. Yes, some of it goes to paying off the trailer and the rest will go to paying off the yamaha (revolving) credit card I have. I myself want to get that off my credit and be done with revolving credit forever is possible. My fiance on the other hand is mad because we are getting screwed out of money that was agreed on. I don't think it has anything to do with the actual money, just the principal. I do not want to divide our family anymore than it is, so I do think your advice would be the correct way to go.  It is indeed an expensive and valuable lesson. To never go on a verbal agreement and never do business with family. Thanks for your reply.

[Anonymous]

I understand that paying off the revolving credit lines is important and it is indeed a great feeling to be out from under the debt. You may want to keep the lines open though and just make small purchases that you can pay in fill (PIF) every month. Revolving credit and how you use it is a substantial part of your credit score. Take a few minutes and read through the Closing Credit Cards thread posted under helpful threads in the Credit Card forum. Tons of great info on this site. Lots of good people who have been where we have been and will offer their advice.

CB

[Anonymous]

krzyvern, just of of curiosity...are you living in the trailer now?

If so, are you intending to remain in the trailer after the sale? 

And has any of the rental for the lot been prepaid, and for how long?

And, have you signed or are you going to sign documents transferring ownership of the trailer?

Please let us know.

[Anonymous]

Well. We called each other almost at the same time.  I told  told her that the money wasn't worth more than family and that what if all she could do is pay the 11,000 then that would be fine. To my suprise she said she remember us dicussing the 12,000 and that she was sorry for the misunderstanding. I told her if it was going to put her in a bind then the 11,000 would be fine so we settled at 11,500, I didn't want to take the money she couldn't give up and she didn't want to take the money I couldn't afford to lose, so it worked out. I think that helped both of us, because we have a good relationship and both of us realized that it wasn't worth fighting over. I feel better about it this way too, now their is not going to be anybody thinking they got the shaft. I talked to my fiance before she called and explained to him that I felt it was better we just walked away with what she could give than going through all that and then not getting the money and having us in a tension everytime we were around each other, he understood finally lol. It makes me believe that if you have good intentions, that it does pay off sometimes.

Thanks CB for giving me the advice and being an ear so I could see and think clearly.

[Anonymous]

UBorrow.

No we are no longer living in the trailer as of two months ago. She had a roommate and at that time she was only waiting for the apprasial and it turned out that we had to wait until today for her to close. We moved into my fiance's place and her roomate moved into the trailer. She paid us last months rent.

[Anonymous]

What would be better?

Pay off the trailer myself and then do the title, or have her go with me to do a title transfer? Which would be better on my credit or does it matter?

[Anonymous]

I'm glad you guys came to an acceptable resolution of this, and everyone's happy!  That's the important part, for sure.

As far as the title, if you owe on the trailer, whoever is financing it actually has the title.  The loan has to be cleared for the title lien to be released for a transfer to the new owner.  At least, that's my understanding of it for my state.  Could be different where you are, I don't have a clue.

Glad this all worked out for you!

[Anonymous]

Thats right... whoever owns the loan will maintain the title until the loan has been paid off. Upon final payment the title will be returned to the owner. Be sure they have the correct address on file because if they send the title and the address is incorrect they will destory the title if it is sent back to them.