We rented the house and came back to San Antonio to pack. Then to find a truck. It took seven different tries to get someone actually who would work and take our "stuff" - of course for a price. But we did get the truck loaded up.
We arrived at the plaza in the closest town to the house and called the owner. They have pay phones there but it is different than in the states. There is an office and in the office are four different phone booths and then there is a girl at a desk with four phones on her desk. You give her the number - she calls it and tells you what booth to go into. Then you go talk on a regular desk type phone. You come out and she tells you how much you owe.
The owner drove us up to the property and helped us move in and showed us how to turn on the generator - water etc... It had been a very long drive because we had to go so slow with the truck full of our stuff. Ken crashed right away and I sat up and just looked out the window into the valley below and the lights with the moon shining it's harvest best. What a wonderful site it was to just watch.
I got my bed put up and was on top of the mattress before it hit the box spring. The house, since it is adobe and was closed up, was very warm so I opened some windows and was fast asleep.
In the morning I really had a chance to look around and the owner had not cleaned it up and stuff was all over in the bedrooms and kitchen. Went to take a shower and the shower did not drain. Went to use the hot water in the sink - was not hooked up. And there was the owners dog looking for his breakfast.
Welp it was time for a come to Jesus meeting with the owner. So we drove to town and phoned him and he came over to meet with us. I had my say and then he tells me that he wants me to sign this contract and it is all in Spanish. Then he tells me that the house has this dog that also is part of the deal. Oh and he would now like me to pay him first and last up front money which he never talked about.
Well we did not come to an agreement about things. (nor will we). You rent my house and you rent my dog? Just a tad bit of miss-representation going on. Now I have to explain some things here. I sold real estate for about 18-20 years. I know real estate law - even Mexican real estate law. I first sold real estate as a Realtor, then I was a broker, then I trained experienced agents how how to be mega stars. You have seen them on the grocery carts in the markets? Or on bill boards? In high end home design type magazines. Then I went to work with a huge international moving corporation. They move all the diplomatic folks and everyone else who is on the worlds well known lists. I was the companies only negotiator for the properties that the company purchased - world wide. I had to get them listed through agents in the country where the property was located and then when a sales agreement to purchase came in I became the seller. I had to know real estate law in all countries over the world in order to do my job.
Here is how this sits. Three fourth of my "stuff" is in his home. One fourth of my stuff is in the San Antonio house. We do not have a contract signed by him or by me. I have not paid him any rent money as of yet. He has now changed the verbal agreement we had. Verbal agreements have zero value in real estate matters.
What would you do at this point? Well what I did was leave the area and come back to the Chapala area and collected the rest of my things. We are going back to the property - that I do not have a rental agreement on - and move the rest of the things into the house.
I will stay in him home until He finds me another suitable rental and moves me out at his expense. You see once you have someone who lives in your home, you actually have to get the law to enforce them to leave. He really can not do that because he helped me move in. Now I can get there tomorrow and find all my personal things gone, but I do not think that will happen. If it does then of course I will reconnect with an attorney in the area who specializes in real estate law and I have done business with her before. I think that he made a very large mistake. (I also am not doing to well on the mistake monitor).
Now I have another friend in the area who has some vacant homes and he is due back in town on Monday. I may be able to rent one of his places - we shall see.
I also have to explain that at the house we rented in Lake Chapala we also did not have a contract. The house that we rented in San Cristobal de los Casas also did not have a contract. Cultural issues often do not follow laws and so I really did not question the lack of paper work on this house, well I did ask him if he wanted me to write up a contract for rent and he said no.
Boy did he throw a porcupine in my lap. But I will throw it back into his lap tomorrow when we move in with the rest of our stuff.
This reminds me of the time that we were in San Cristobal and we just moved into this apartment. We got this taxi to take us to the grocery store and get supplies. We came out with a trunk load of stuff and then the cap driver asked "where to" I had no idea what our address was and I did not write it down. So the cab driver was driving me all around looking for my house. He was getting mad and madder. Then he telling me off in Spanish and then he was cursing me out in Spanish. Well I told him off in English and told him to drop me off at this corner in one of the plazas. He did and I got all my groceries out of the trunk of his car and told him to just leave. I hurt his feelings and he cried. I stood on this corner with ice cream melting and meat rotting waiting for a cab driver who would even talk with me cause now the cap driver I made cry had told all the other cap driver about me.
Long story short and I think it was six hours later we did find out home. The next morning a friend of mine came over and told me all about my reputation in town. Word spreads fast in small Mexican towns.
Having now lived here for about one year, I have found that cultural differences is the hardest bridge. Not the language but understand how and why of the other person in connection to their culture is the bottom line for misunderstandings. That of course is universal even within the same cultures but it is more present when you have two people from different cultures.
Well - wish me luck tomorrow. Keep your fingers crossed that my stuff is still there when I get there. I will be back when I figure out where and how to get Internet. Until then - adios
We arrived at the plaza in the closest town to the house and called the owner. They have pay phones there but it is different than in the states. There is an office and in the office are four different phone booths and then there is a girl at a desk with four phones on her desk. You give her the number - she calls it and tells you what booth to go into. Then you go talk on a regular desk type phone. You come out and she tells you how much you owe.
The owner drove us up to the property and helped us move in and showed us how to turn on the generator - water etc... It had been a very long drive because we had to go so slow with the truck full of our stuff. Ken crashed right away and I sat up and just looked out the window into the valley below and the lights with the moon shining it's harvest best. What a wonderful site it was to just watch.
I got my bed put up and was on top of the mattress before it hit the box spring. The house, since it is adobe and was closed up, was very warm so I opened some windows and was fast asleep.
In the morning I really had a chance to look around and the owner had not cleaned it up and stuff was all over in the bedrooms and kitchen. Went to take a shower and the shower did not drain. Went to use the hot water in the sink - was not hooked up. And there was the owners dog looking for his breakfast.
Welp it was time for a come to Jesus meeting with the owner. So we drove to town and phoned him and he came over to meet with us. I had my say and then he tells me that he wants me to sign this contract and it is all in Spanish. Then he tells me that the house has this dog that also is part of the deal. Oh and he would now like me to pay him first and last up front money which he never talked about.
Well we did not come to an agreement about things. (nor will we). You rent my house and you rent my dog? Just a tad bit of miss-representation going on. Now I have to explain some things here. I sold real estate for about 18-20 years. I know real estate law - even Mexican real estate law. I first sold real estate as a Realtor, then I was a broker, then I trained experienced agents how how to be mega stars. You have seen them on the grocery carts in the markets? Or on bill boards? In high end home design type magazines. Then I went to work with a huge international moving corporation. They move all the diplomatic folks and everyone else who is on the worlds well known lists. I was the companies only negotiator for the properties that the company purchased - world wide. I had to get them listed through agents in the country where the property was located and then when a sales agreement to purchase came in I became the seller. I had to know real estate law in all countries over the world in order to do my job.
Here is how this sits. Three fourth of my "stuff" is in his home. One fourth of my stuff is in the San Antonio house. We do not have a contract signed by him or by me. I have not paid him any rent money as of yet. He has now changed the verbal agreement we had. Verbal agreements have zero value in real estate matters.
What would you do at this point? Well what I did was leave the area and come back to the Chapala area and collected the rest of my things. We are going back to the property - that I do not have a rental agreement on - and move the rest of the things into the house.
I will stay in him home until He finds me another suitable rental and moves me out at his expense. You see once you have someone who lives in your home, you actually have to get the law to enforce them to leave. He really can not do that because he helped me move in. Now I can get there tomorrow and find all my personal things gone, but I do not think that will happen. If it does then of course I will reconnect with an attorney in the area who specializes in real estate law and I have done business with her before. I think that he made a very large mistake. (I also am not doing to well on the mistake monitor).
Now I have another friend in the area who has some vacant homes and he is due back in town on Monday. I may be able to rent one of his places - we shall see.
I also have to explain that at the house we rented in Lake Chapala we also did not have a contract. The house that we rented in San Cristobal de los Casas also did not have a contract. Cultural issues often do not follow laws and so I really did not question the lack of paper work on this house, well I did ask him if he wanted me to write up a contract for rent and he said no.
Boy did he throw a porcupine in my lap. But I will throw it back into his lap tomorrow when we move in with the rest of our stuff.
This reminds me of the time that we were in San Cristobal and we just moved into this apartment. We got this taxi to take us to the grocery store and get supplies. We came out with a trunk load of stuff and then the cap driver asked "where to" I had no idea what our address was and I did not write it down. So the cab driver was driving me all around looking for my house. He was getting mad and madder. Then he telling me off in Spanish and then he was cursing me out in Spanish. Well I told him off in English and told him to drop me off at this corner in one of the plazas. He did and I got all my groceries out of the trunk of his car and told him to just leave. I hurt his feelings and he cried. I stood on this corner with ice cream melting and meat rotting waiting for a cab driver who would even talk with me cause now the cap driver I made cry had told all the other cap driver about me.
Long story short and I think it was six hours later we did find out home. The next morning a friend of mine came over and told me all about my reputation in town. Word spreads fast in small Mexican towns.
Having now lived here for about one year, I have found that cultural differences is the hardest bridge. Not the language but understand how and why of the other person in connection to their culture is the bottom line for misunderstandings. That of course is universal even within the same cultures but it is more present when you have two people from different cultures.
Well - wish me luck tomorrow. Keep your fingers crossed that my stuff is still there when I get there. I will be back when I figure out where and how to get Internet. Until then - adios
No comments:
Post a Comment