You get all sorts of fun twists and turns when you least expect them. The following events have all occurred in the last week and a half.
1. Losing a piece of my heart
I got a new laptop last year. All my wedding memories, honeymoon, other vacations, my entire year of Sheridan study and a lot more were on this laptop. Imagine 40 GB of just pictures and countless videos of memories that I wanted to cherish forever. For example, the first day of being married. None of it is ever coming back. Because nothing was backed up. I installed some stupid Windows Update on October 9, 2016 - the day I was leaving for Vegas. I was trying to get some songs on my mp3 for the flight. When I came back from Vegas and opened my laptop to start studying for my CHRP exam - everything was gone.
All my e-books, the notes I took in class, the workshops I attended - EVERYTHING. I was in a moment of panic. Imagine an entire year of college erased! I started chatting to Microsoft experts at 6:00 pm that night and I was sitting in front of my screen until 3:00 am. After 9 hours of troubleshooting with 4 different technicians - I achieved nothing. The only thing they were able to do for me was to waive my service charge at a local Microsoft store. Usually, they charge $150 to have a look at your laptop. I went to Yorkdale the next morning with hopes that they would be able to do something. My laptop has been there for 3 weeks as of today - and they have not been able to retrieve a single thing. Not sure what the issue is here. I went last Sunday to check progress but unfortunately they are all about retail. They want to focus on people coming to the store for sales rather than repairs. I've gotten different answers over the last 3 weeks and their service has been terrible. May be, they just don't care about fixing it because I haven't paid for the service. I will wait until the end of this week and bring it back. My last hope will be to take it to another computer repair store in Brampton. I think it's worth a try.
2. Writing a National Examination
Now onto the CHRP exam for which I paid $800 for in total. You have to renew your HRPA membership in order to write the exam and pay exam sitting fees along with transcript fees. Without my notes, ebooks, or any study material - what was I going to do? Nothing. I went without studying a single word. I was the only one in that exam room who wrote the exam based on recall memory from the course. I wrote the exam based on whatever I remembered from my courses from being in class 6 months ago. Lesson learned: BACK UP EVERYTHING every month! I know this is common sense for most people. But sometimes, people like me need to lose everything in order to learn a lesson. And believe me, lesson freaking learned.
3. Experience of a lifetime
Now, moving onto bigger issues in life. Last week, my parents were supposed to move out of their old house and move into the new one - all in one day. A day before the closing date, we discovered that the house is not in move-in condition. The builder was trying to push them to move-in without a kitchen. Believe it or not, people who don't know their buyer rights probably fall for this kind of crap. But my parents refused during the PDI. For those who bought new homes with builders might understand that there could be so many shortcomings in the construction of your new home. The site supervisor kept telling my parents that the house will be ready for "occupancy." In that sense, you can move in but the work pending on your house can be done after you move in. My parents wanted the house in move-in ready condition and were not just seeking occupancy. Later, we realized that they did not even have an occupancy permit for us to move in. They were originally supposed to move in May 2016. The builder delayed the closing date twice as he was entitled to under the contract. However, any further delays were to be informed at least 60 days in advance. But we got to find out ONE day before the closing date that we cannot move in. We walked into the house and there were holes in the wall, vents had to be filled in, garage doors had to be put in, the kitchen was missing countertops and appliances. Are you kidding me? How do you expect us to move into a house where we can't cook? The builder says, "The City By-Law allows residents to move in as long as their toilet flushes and sinks work." Get out of here! We were informed that our kitchen will not be ready for the next 15 days. Are you going to buy us food for the next 2 weeks? What were they doing this entire time between 2 delays? There was absolutely no way they were going to move in. And they didn't.So, we ended up speaking to our lawyer and figured out what our rights are. Normally, a litigation lawyer is needed to sue for things like this. A real estate lawyer is only responsible for the purchase and selling of homes. However, in our case - we decided not to sue as long as they are willing to compensate for the inconvenience. And how was this inconvenient, you ask?
Firstly, my parents made the mistake of not hiring movers and wanted to do all this themselves. That's totally their fault. So, all of us woke up early and spent the entire day moving and cleaning. Where were we going to move our things? Our new house had no garage doors or locks. Their neighbour was nice enough to offer them his garage for storage. We moved majority of our stuff there. And whatever was left had to be moved into a rental storage unit. My parents are living at a hotel from the last couple of days. In the midst of all this, my brother had decided to surprise my parents for house-warming. He skipped an entire week of classes in Florida (Optometry School) in the hopes of celebrating the move-in for the new house. Poor guy had no idea that he would be living at a hotel the entire time with the feeling of homelessness. Imagine your things being in 3 different places, with uncertainty of not knowing when you will have a house. The builder's lawyer did not bother to follow up with ours as to when the house will be ready. Using a little bit of my Legal background, I wrote quite a bombastic letter to the builder, their lawyer, the project manager, site supervisor and whoever else I could include. After reading the letter, they responded almost promptly with the new move-in date which is November 17th. I find that they are babysitting the house now. I am sure that not everyone is aware of their buyers rights. Another house on this street was presented in the same condition to residents and they accepted occupancy without a kitchen. Most of the time, builders make up these "City By-laws" in their favour because not everyone cross-checks information. It's been a week with all this chaos. My 80 year old grandmother is living with me while my parents are at a hotel. My brother just flew back to Florida yesterday. My parents come here for meals and to relieve their stress whenever they get a chance. Imagine going to work not knowing where your clothes are. Everything is packed away. Imagine not having peace of mind, a routine and basic necessities for almost 2 and a half weeks. Inconvenience is an understatement to this situation.
Ready for part 2? We purchased a house first and convinced our parents to move in the same area. Luckily (or, so we thought), their closing date was before ours. We are in the middle of selling our condo and if the transaction falls through, we are supposed to be out of here in 2 weeks. Imagine if there is another issue with my parents' house and they don't get their house for longer than a week. Then, that makes 2 families homeless. Because we were counting on them. We were going to move our things to their house until our closing which is in December. Our closing was also delayed from September until December. What the hell is all this madness? This builder totally sucks. I don't want to defame him on my blog but if anyone wants to know my experience - I will happy to discuss it in private. The administration staff at the storage facility informed us that many houses are being delayed this winter. I am assuming a lot of people are moving their household items to storage units.
The only good thing about this inconvenience is that they get reimbursed for accommodation and meals, gas, moving and storage expenses incurred during the delay period. I also believe that the builder pays a minor penalty of less than 2 grand - which in my opinion is NOTHING compared to what he put us through. I still don't find that $150/day is enough for the amount of distress and disturbance it has caused our lives. Usually, I tend to be the mediator in my family. We've got some short-tempered people in my house (ahem, dad - cough-cough, brother). And it's hard to keep calm at a time like this. So, everyone is testing my patience a tad bit more than usual these days. I am hoping and praying that this never happens to anyone. Also, just a simple tip for home buyers - try to negotiate your closing date for your old home AFTER you've moved into your new one. Moving and closing on the same date was nothing less than a disaster for us. Another lesson learned.
Sorry for the major rant and if anyone has any suggestions as to how we can help alleviate some stress off my parents - please do not hesitate to get in touch with me. I am going to speak to my lawyer today to find out if we have any options to negotiate for some compensation.
Last, but not the least - another disaster took place last night. America's future has landed into Trump's hands. I am pretty sure this is way more catastrophic than everything I've said above.
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