[wdfifteen]

I'm trying to buy my parent's house from their trust. The house is a wreck and needs a complete renovation. This house is just frustrating the heck out of me. Money pit doesn't even begin to describe it. I wish all the problems were financial.

The state has a lien on the house because my father was on medicaide for 6 years. I made a deal with the AG and we had a closing scheduled. I scheduled the big jobs so I can get the house secure and liveable by winter. At the last minute, instead sending of a simple release of the lien, the AG sent a document that essentially said, "this is good enough for now but we reserve the right to come after you for more money if we want to." My attorney said I'd be crazy to sign it as it would be nearly impossible to ever sell the house with title that has an encumbrance that can never be lifted. So I'm fighting with the AG. In the mean time I had to put the new furnace installation (scheduled for Monday) on hold, as well as the tree removal, window replacement, and septic system installation. I don't want the house to sit all winter, but I don't want to put a lot of money into the house until the AG gives me a clear title to it.

I think one of the neighbors had a key to the back door of the house. It appears that someone has been in it daily for who knows how long. Things that seemed kind of odd in the past - finding the door unlocked when I thought I had locked it and things that I thought I left in the house disappearing - have come to a head. Tuesday my workman left a radio in the kitchen when he went to lunch. He was gone about 30 minutes. When he came back the back door was open and the radio was gone. The house is three miles from my home and I've been keeping an eye on it since, driving over to see if the doors are closed and stopping a few yards away and watching it before going in. Yesterday I drove by the front of the house and the front door was closed. I parked in the driveway at the back of the house when I walked into the house through the back door I found the front door wide open. Someone had been in the house. Because the latch on the front door barely works, when I'd found it open in the past I thought the wind or something was blowing it open, but now I think not. Since I'm going to replace it anyway I just nailed the door shut. When I left I KNOW I locked the back door. As I left I noticed some guys building the church half a block away and I stopped to to talk to them on my way home. I drove back by the house after talking to them and the back door was wide open! I had been gone less than 10 minutes. I called the police again and they came out and went through the house with guns drawn and I was really hoping to hear shots but they found no one. There is no evidence that anyone broke into the house or jimmied the lock. The police and sheriff are keeping an eye open (the house literally within sight of the police station) and checking the doors for me. It is kind of creepy to know when we are over there someone is watching and waiting to go in and steal anything we've left. I have no idea what all was been stolen when my mother lived there, but with free access to the place they certainly took everything they wanted. I suspect the kid next door, since the back of their house is about 50 feet from mother's house but the police talked to him and his mother and they aren't convinced.
I have a feeling I'm really going to regret trying to hang on the the old "home place."
Thanks for letting me vent.