my mother in law (RIP) whenever I could talk to her peacefully, reminded me of how she was the hard working daughter, but when her mom died, the laziest got a gas station and a mansion back home. Then, we had my brother in law building a second story apartment on a home that belonged to her. The guy would rent the place, even when he was living here in the US. I told them that he was gone from home, gone from enjoying any income from it. He alleged he had ownership because of the apartment, which I didnât agree because to me, both him and my wife should share that income.
She came here, and she was thrown out of her sonâs house. She came here to live with us, and it was a nightmare, she was possessed by that episode where her sister got the better of the inheritance. She enjoyed her miserable $600 from SSI. I told both my wife and her brother that she deserved to be back there, getting not only the $200 a month from that apartment, but another $200 from renting the rest of the house.
She returned home, 6 months later she was dead. The house is rented now, my wife gets half of the income from the bottom part of the house, her brother gets the other half, plus the rental of the apartment above. I had to let it go, we are in peace now, why bother?
Now, to be fair, there is a lot in there to pick apart. First of all, the brother in law did put out money to build the apartment. I am assuming your wife nor you contributed to that construction. So, shouldnât your brother-in-law be compensated for doing that work? Also, the house is presumably more valuable as a result of the additional unit. Again, shouldnât your bro-inlaw be compensated for adding value to the property that you both are sharing now?
Ok, so you edited your post some. He gets the additional income from the unit. But still, the whole building is technically more valuable now.
Well, you may be right, if we put aside the fact that their mother was the owner and once you are gone, you are gone. Dad left the house to her when he died, and she left the house to both of them. My idea was that she deserved the income of the entire house once they both left home.
Remember, either a tenant or a son, or daughter, when you live for free in a house or apartment, and you leave, was there any written agreement of you deserving any income from whatever you built on it? I donât think so. Besides that, he lived there with his wife, for free, same as my wife with nobody but studying. He never paid rent.
The apartment has generated income since he left Guatemala. We are talking about 16 years +. He didnât have any ownership on the house at all, that happened when their mom died 2+ years ago.
By the way, the same thing happens here, anything not recorded, meaning any additions, donât provide any value to the home. From the so called Realtors back home, it can even be demolished if the city finds out. Whenever they want to sell it, the second story apartment comes to be a pain in the butt.
They should be receiving the income of the entire house half each. Thatâs what I think.
The only reason why I responded that way to your story is because frankly that may be what my siblings and I will encounter with our family building. You know me, I am all about remodeling the âold girlâ and dressing her up to the 9âs and some so that our ancestors would have been proud. But, I sense a sibling or two might not have the gusto or cash to do what my Big Bro and I want to do. So, what do we do? The property can not be sold, has to stay under the Dragonboy surname. Buying out one or two siblings will be costly but we are committed to it. The preference is that all siblings contribute equally so that all fruit is shared equally. Now, youâre right, we are childless whereas everyone else has kids. Well, I will need to negotiate something then since my share can not be sold or given to say UCLA. HmmmmâŚ
If you are not selling the house you can fund some scholarship with the rental income. My wifeâs hometown has some association in Chinatown and they give out annual scholarships funded by the membership dues. If we are talking about big money you can even fund a professorship down in UCLA. Just make sure the professor is against rent control.
I guess we are in a tough situation. I have kids, but I am broke.
The dilemma many people get into, and allow me to insert something about my trade, is that either they spend their money to soon, or their money survives them when they are cheap *astards not enjoying life as they should, and my apologies for saying that.
I have a plan, working on it. Once I make that $1M, I am gone to enjoy life somewhere I canât mention. My kids? Sorry, they are on their own. That doesnât mean I wonât be there for them for advice.
Absolutely correct. We need to get out of the mind set that we will sacrifice everything for a few years and then enjoy. We need to have fun as we work towards our goals. Just like exercise and vitamins, we need to have some dose of fun everyday.
Um, can you paste this to my âStop Complaining, You Are Probably Doing Okâ thread too? Mr. Seattle is all over me⌠Appropriate too, I think. Not everyone is going to just leave a job for another all the time even if a highly valued star employee. Something about life balance. Yes, work hard, but find time to playâŚ
