[Newfie]

Sometimes we all just need a place to vent about something or anything or everything.

Catharsis.

Well here it is…..Bitch, Moan and Groan to your heats content …. Just keep it clean and without attacking fellow corespondents.

[Newfie]

I will start.

I am feeling a bit better but yesterday was tough. I won’t go into details because it is an obscure bit of international law but….

We are selling our house and need to get a notary on a signature satisfying a trust. This needs to be done in Germany.

The (ahem) gentle folk at the title company have sat on this issue for over 2 months and now (2 weeks to closing) that they have surfaced it they have completely botched what needs to be done. They gave us an utterly incorrect description of the problem, miss-identified the principal parties, and demanded an impossibility. Then they went on vacation leaving an intern with the mess.

They have us trying to request services from various foreign offices which do not provide said services. Of course no one will answer a phone or an email or provide even the simplest bit of explanation or guidance. “I can not help you. Click” I find nothing quite so aggravating as having someone demand something impossible while remaining ignorant of the facts.

Clearly there was something wrong in the process because it has been done before. It took quite a while to sort it out. The German sites would not appear on my Google search until I switched my VPN to Germany. Eventually I was able to locate someone with relevant experience and get advice. It now looks like (hope, hope, hope) I have resolved the issue, but won’t know positively until next week.

That time when you are faced with an impossible task within a sea of stupidity is distressful.

[Plantagenet]

You have my sympathies on that, Newfie.

I just sold a small rental cabin here in Alaska last summer and had better luck. MY real estate agent handled everything....all the adverts and all the site visits. Then when I got an offer he did all the paperwork...and he handled all the money and all the title change issues. I didn't even have to deposit the check .... my real estate agent had the money deposited directly into my account at the bank. It all went off like clockwork.

Of course I had to pay the real estate agent 7% of the sales price of the house (ouch!), but it was well worth it for me.

Are you using a real estate agent???..... If so then why isn't your agent handling all at the paperwork for you?


A good real estate agent does all the work in selling a home

Cheers!

[Newfie]

The Philadelphia Recorder of Deeds requires a foreign Notary to be counter signed by an Apostille. It is apparently not uncommon in foreign transactions, but the TITLE agent had not heard of it and sent everyone on a wild goose chase. Of course she waited to the last minute to uncover the issue, so now the closing may be delayed.

Americans abroad can get a notary at an American consulate. But that requires an appointment and that is not always easy. They have limited times and book well in advance.

In essence it was a simple matter made difficult by confusion and stressful by inattention to detail.

I have to get a notary at an American consulate before. It was interesting. It took some weeks to get an appointment. Make sure to show up presentable. You do all the normal notary stuff but they also make you do a verbal swearing. Raise hour right hand and repeat after me. Do you xxx solemnly swear and aver that……. Etc. VERY formal.

An Apostille “legalizes” a document between countries. For example the NY Dept. of State applies an Apostille to aver the notary is licensed to practice in NY and is acceptable. A Bavarian state official does the same in Bavaria. All set down by the Hague convention.

Just in case you come across this in your travels.

[vtsnowedin]

My biggest BMG right now is inflation and the fools that caused it.
Consider that a $30,000 per year fixed income after three years of ten percent inflation will have just $21,870 of purchasing power left.
There maybe some COLA adjustments but experience from the 80's tells me they will lag by at least half.
And then we have the administration that will not admit or realize what they have done or failed to do that has caused it so will take no positive steps while they remain in office.

[Newfie]

AND when you go to sell your house you will pay capital gains tax in the inflation.

[vtsnowedin]

AND when you go to sell your house you will pay capital gains tax in the inflation.

I had not thought about that but at least you can pay the tax with inflated dollars worth a lot less then the dollars you bought the house with.
If all capital gains were adjusted for inflation would the government get much revenue at all?

[Newfie]

f#%^ing double taxation.

The IRS computer system was down for the month of December. Or so their drones tell us.

[Plantagenet]

There is no way to keep up with inflation. Salaries are going up more SLOWLY then inflation, the market is down, interest rates are below the inflation rate, and housing prices are starting to soften as the interest rates go up.

Nope....Biden and the Ds WANT inflation because they think people can't do math and won't understand they are falling behind in their incomes.

Biden and the Ds started this inflation by printing and spending MORE AND MORE money, making each dollar worth less. They were told their policies would create inflation but they didn't listen. The only possible interpretation is that the Ds WANT MORE INFLATION.



You can see this because Biden and the Ds spent many months lying and claiming inflation was "transitory" and lying and claiming it only affects rich people. Clearly Biden and the Ds wanted to delay as long as possible the needed steps to stop inflation. Biden and the Ds don't care about working people or people on pensions, and their failure to take prompt action on inflation proves. They WANT TO IMPOVERISH average Americans because they think poor people vote for the Ds. Its a dastardly scheme, but then the Ds think they can get away with anything because the MSM won't honestly discuss what they are doing.

Cheers!

[vtsnowedin]

You are implying that the Democrats led by Biden have an evil plot to impoverish middle class American's. To what aim would that be directed? It also assumes they have enough intelligence to formulate and execute said plot.
I think the obvious better answer is they are so stupid that they think the way they are pursuing their "Green new deal" is good for the country in-spite of all the facts to the contrary.

[AdamB]

I will start.

That time when you are faced with an impossible task within a sea of stupidity is distressful.

Ick and BMG indeed.

[AdamB]

f#%^ing double taxation.

The IRS computer system was down for the month of December. Or so their drones tell us.

i'm still waiting for last years tax refund myself. The drones aren't of much help.

[Newfie]

Another one if my agitations, and I have had my share recently, is ordering some equipment from New Zealand. A small family style operation with an excellent reputation. My unit needed a “standard modification.” That was supposed to delay delivery a month. A month passed and the delivery date slipped a month.

Finally I said just ship what you have without the modification, supposedly a 2 week delivery. I sent the NA rep a 50% deposit, it took him a week to get bank info for the deposit. Now I am awaiting a delivery date.

Their NA rep says “It seems like they have simply lost interest.”

[Newfie]

House closing tomorrow. Hope everything goes OK. There was a bunch if last minute stuff came up today. Title agent NOT on the ball.

Shipping company did NOT pick up the furler today, as promised. But definitely will this week. Apparently took 6 days to get a quote.

Arrrgh!

[vtsnowedin]

Worst mud season here in about twenty years. Vehicles getting stuck side by side totally blocking roads and mufflers ripped off and standing witness mile by mile.
Had to take a tire off the wife's SUV and flush the frozen mud out of the brake assembly with hot water to make it stop squealing like a stuck pig. Saw one picture of a two year old standing in a rut. The top edges of the rut were level with her waist.
Some of the anti slip systems in modern cars do not work very well and rob you of power and traction at the worst times. Even ones that supposedly have an off switch for such events continue to malfunction with the switch on. Might have worked when new but ten years down the road it is just a meaningless warning light like the tire pressure alarm.

[Newfie]

Those new “assistive driving” crap sucks too.

[Newfie]

Back from the closing.
What a circus.
We were there for hours because the Title agent didn’t have her paper work together. And other additional agitations. The transfer is supposed to be in the works but they inly did it so late in the day we are still awaiting confirmation.

My Lawyer knows the title agent and feels it is all legit. So we hope. This has been a fight every step of the way.

[vtsnowedin]

Back from the closing.
What a circus.
We were there for hours because the Title agent didn’t have her paper work together. And other additional agitations. The transfer is supposed to be in the works but they inly did it so late in the day we are still awaiting confirmation.

My Lawyer knows the title agent and feels it is all legit. So we hope. This has been a fight every step of the way.

Have you pulled the last of your hair out? If so you maybe almost done.

[evilgenius]

I went to the auto parts store to buy a new serpentine belt. They sold me one that was too small! I bought it as a spare because there was some damage to the old one. I figured I would replace the belt when the weather was better.

When the weather was better, I jacked the SUV up and took the front tire and undercover off. It's the best way to get to the tensioner, so that a single person can get at the belt. After doing all that I found out the belt didn't fit. I had put the old belt, which was more damaged now, back on, an put everything else back together. I was mad!

The biggest issue of all was going to the store and, while still being angry, not being too angry. I had to find that place where I was assertive, but not over the top with shouting or allowing my feelings to get the best of me. I thought about Will Smith at the Oscars, and made certain that wasn't going to happen. At the same time, my usual take it easy attitude, the one I had toward the clerk who sold me the wrong belt in the first place, would have been too weak for the situation.

I used a voice that contained more force, trying to convey assertiveness. I didn't want people to feel threatened, but I also didn't want them to screw with me again. I stressed how I could have been in a snowstorm, finding out the belt was too small. I tried to make them feel what it would have been like for them.

The woman did screw up the second belt as well. She wasn't the person who sold me the first belt. When I compared the receipt she gave me, in the car, I saw she had charged me for a more expensive belt, about $5 more. I had to go back in and confront her again. I still was not overly mean, but assertive. In the end, she gave me a $20 off coupon for my next visit.

[vtsnowedin]

I took a first stab at doing my income taxes today. What a convoluted mess the instructions and worksheets are. Consider the worksheet to determine how much of your Social Security is taxable. ( never mind that none of it should be. ) eighteen lines of subtract line 6 from line 3 multiply by 0.85 and spin around three times while holding your nose. It has driven me to drink. But that did not take much.