Random Bama--Legal Style

As I understand it, Kirby has fought for Legal Owl to be the closing attorney on my home I am selling. I sent a note out to her, cc'ing Kirby, letting her know this was coming. In my e-mail to Legal Owl, I mentioned there was an omission to the contract: Marty Sunshine is a licensed (inactive) real estate agent in the state of Arizona. Because I couldn't think of another word to describe the gravity of the situation as I saw it, I mentioned in Arizona it is a "big no-no to omit this." I also explained that "no-no" is a highly technical and legal phrase. Legal Owl wrote back and said law school has an entire semester which solely deals with important legal phrases such as "no-no" and "oopsy".

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Apparently the competition for closing attorneys in Alabama is pretty hot. I got a weird e-mail from some other attorney's office saying if we use them instead of the attorney we want, they will "waive the $85 notary fee." Seriously? $85 for a notary?? Why not waive the Fed Ex fee instead, because all they are doing is overnighting us a few documents. 

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Diamond Jim got a weird fax the other day. Someone from some "Mortgage Risk Service" asked him to verify our tax return and mortgage information from 2004. He immediately called me and wanted to know if I could shed light on what this was about. No, I couldn't.

I was impressed. Since 2004, Diamond Jim has had four addresses, including one in a different state. His phone and fax numbers have changed in that time too. This guy took some effort to find him.

My best guess is it is related to the home that was just foreclosed and the "Mortgage Risk Service" is about to file a judgement against us. Legal Owl has another theory (and one I like significantly better): the mortgage processor is being audited. The Feds are still going after predatory lending from years gone by. I doubt this property will fall under predatory lending guidelines, but here's hoping she's right.

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It is time to look at talking to a bankruptcy attorney. I have been putting this off. We are not ready to file, but it is time to buy an hour of someone's time and find out what our options happen to be. Ideally we don't file and life goes on. But I suspect it won't be that easy. It never is.

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Speaking of weird Alabama stuff (when, I ask you, aren't we?). The Alabama purchase contract has the following verbiage in it. It is bolded for impact, I suppose: "After closing, the home is the responsibility of the buyer."

How cute.

And finally, a Happy Birthday to one of my three readers: Home Jeanne: I hope you have a great day! Enjoy your day and have a beer for me.