I've been cogitating on this all morning and I think we could use some prayer!
You all know, we have our house on the market...well, this week we've gotten several calls from Realtors that would like to help us sell our house. We've also gotten several emails from people asking if we would do an "owner finance" to sell the house and we've said "at this point, we're not interested." It makes me wonder, where are the people with bank approved financing...they have to be out there, right?
This morning, before we left to go to church, we got a phone call from the author of one of the emails. He is a retiring E7 and I guess his first wife and teenage son have done some damage to his credit. His new wife and young children would like to move on from this and buy a home, they are tired of renting. I guess they were looking on-line, saw our house and the wife said "I want that house"...this really resonated with Indy because he remembers me being the same way when I saw the house, I just knew it was the one for us. Well, they would like to sign a 3 year lease and do a rent to own scenario. He is retiring, will be getting another job, his wife just got hired at Memorial and he says they should be able to improve their credit in the next year or so and then buy the house. Sounds good???? I'm not sure...
We don't know these people personally at all, could it be a con? We've been praying for the right family to come along and for them to just "know" that this is the house for them...is this an answer to prayer? In so many ways the Lord asks us to take steps of faith and trust him with everything...to walk out on the limb when it doesn't make sense to other people. Is this one of those situations? Is this the Lord saying "trust me with everything, even with the only 'thing' perse that you own and have money invested in..." I really don't know, I can't say one way or the other.
Part of me is terrified, what if we are 9 time zones away and they stop paying the rent...what if they trash the house (believe me, we've heard horror stories about renters)...what can we really do from Africa? I don't want to have to deal with legal situations and again, the money that is invested in this house is supposed to be our future down payment on a property in NC. Part of me also wants to be a 'helper' and bless someone that is having a tough time, that just needs a 'break'. I am really at a loss as to what to do.
Is this a matter of having faith and doing the right thing, the hard thing that the Lord is asking us to do, OR, is this foolishness, are we acting too quickly and 'giving' our house away and the Lord is up there shaking His head saying "I tried to bless you, but you didn't wait for me..." (I'm remembering the irreverent old joke of the lady that kept wondering why she wasn't winning the lottery and the Lord saying 'I tried to help you; but you wouldn't buy the lottery ticket' ;))
Have any of you ever had this dilemma? What did you learn from it, any verses or pieces of wisdom would be appreciated.
We did tell them we would pray about it; but, out of kindness I don't want it to go on too long and give them false hope. They first emailed us on Thursday and then followed up with the phone call today....what to do, what to do!
Michelle Tanis here: There are all kinds of ways to help people, but this is absolutely not one of them. There is too much liability involved with what this man is asking you to do. If he has such bad credit, then why can't his new wife get financing? Not something you want to get in the middle of. Folks who ask you to finance usually have issues all their own and the LAST thing you want to do is finance someone with rotten credit. There is a reason they have rotten credit...bad choices. Who's to say they won't make another bad choice and hang you out to dry. God will take care of you while you are waiting for your house to sell. We are in the same boat and, believe me, it's tough to wait, but, like I said on the phone, God is rarely early, but His timing is perfect. I believe there is also some scripture to back up not giving someone a personal loan. Proverbs maybe?
ReplyDeletefrom Lydia: Sadly, I would put this in the "foolishness" category along with co-signing (see Proverbs). We did not sell our house when we moved to Africa 2 years ago, but that doesn't mean I don't believe the "nightmare renters" stories. We hired a real estate company that also does property management. We have already had a renter threaten lawsuit over mold that wasn't there and refuse to pay rent. The property management knew the system, had lawyers on the ready, and had her out in less than 3 months. They changed the locks on the doors and they found us new renters. We kept the down payment (equal to one month's rent) and so lost only 2 months rent. On our own the situation would have been impossible and extremely costly. Extremely. To answer the question "what can we do from Africa?" the answer is "nothing but call on your friends and relatives back in the US and ask them to save you." They will respond that they don't have authority and are helpless and you will have to go back to sort things out. Using a Realtor may be less stress and cheaper in the long run.
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