[Rick Lee]

I should add that my grandmother's townhouse has some serious water and structural damage and, wouldn't you know it, her caregiver has a brother who's a contractor. My GM so trusts this woman, that she refuses to get any bids for the job and just hired the guy based on caregiver's recommendation. My parents are very suspicious, but GM will hear none of it and just wants it fixed. I heard some horror stories about the repairs and price when they were here for Xmas. But I called my GM to ask how it was going and she told me it was around $6k for everything and that's about what I paid 10 yrs. ago to have a very similar problem fixed in an almost identical townhouse. My folks say it's a common scam for caregivers to get their family members involved in the elderly person's financial affairs. I don't know how they know this or that it's the case here. The money and repairs sound totally in line, if not a pretty good deal. We'll see.