OT I need to VENT!!!!! argghhhhhhh

[goofymom/pop]

I have been working for three weeks on an estate sale for very close friends of the family who have moved to Assisted Living. I cannot tell you the hours I have spent researching their fine china from Germany. They had three sets, one of which was valuable. This week we put the house up for sale, it has been shown 3 times......and today I found that an entire place setting from the china is gone along with several other antiques....oh man if I could get my hands on the person......ugh!!!!! seriously who steals from old people who need their money to live. I am angry also at myself for being so naive that I left the china there for the sale thinking it was safe even with showing the house. I am not blaming our agent as I know there is absolutely no way she has anything to do with this.She is a very close friend of mine. I realize it might have been a client who watched over the shoulder at the code....I just need to vent................................... and am so bummed because now with the missing pieces the china is valued so much less that it is unbelievable.....oh my!!! I cannot even begin to tell you how much stuff is missing.......I feel like such a fool. dah!!! And my parents who have p.o.a. over all of this don't want to do a police report as they just want to be done with the whole thing. Its been a long long process and very exhausting. Plus how do we tell them (their friends) they were robbed....oh how sad. Say a prayer we make enough on the other items this week to make up for our naive blunder

bumming out in Ohio.....

cindy

 

[ksjayhawks]

That is terrible! I know your parents don't want to file a police report, but I think I would do it. Do you know who showed the house? Was it your agent or someone else? The police should be able to go to your agent or the other agents and get the names of the people that were shown the house. Then the police could go visit them. Plus the police could dust for fingerprints as well. I don't think I would let this slip by. Will the homeowners insurance cover any of the loss if you file a police report?

 

[goofymom/pop]

I wanted to call the police but my Mom has had so much to deal with over this whole house sale, that she is just burned out. I told her their insurance would cover some of the loss, but she says we would have to prove how much everything was worth...etc. She won't do it, but I may ask her again tomorrow.

The agent we listed with showed the house last weekend twice, and then another agent showed it on Monday. That night my parents found the back door was locked but not shut all the way. Also, my Mom noticed that the china was moved from where I had put it. She said my Dad thought I moved it, but she called and I told her no. She was upset because the people looking at the house were nosing through things. We never thought to count the pieces that day. Today we had a dealer there to give us an estimate and I noticed that a cake plate was missing so I counted. There are 2 dessert plates missing, 1 saucer, the cake plate and a cup from another set that is almost identical. I assume they thought the cake plates were dinner plates and took it for that reason. Also, they had no clue of the value as they took the wrong cup.I am so sick about this. Thats when I started really looking and found several other things missing from the antique area. I have called our agent and she was flipping out. She called the agent who showed it that day and told him we filed a police report and they would be calling him. She is hoping that if he did it he will bring the stuff back when no one is there so that he doesn't get in trouble. I doubt it....she also called his manager to report the door being left open. Our agent is a very close friend and I know for certain it had nothing to do with her.

What upsets me most is we worked so hard to get the items all together and cleaning up the house, getting ready for this sale on Thursday only to have one of the items we could get the most money for ruined. I feel like I left them down, as I promised we would do the best we could so they could stay at the Assisted living as long as possible.

I am sure I will get over this but gosh is it stressing me out.

 

[impsbandaide]

You really need to file a police report. It will give the owners something to show their insurance company. It also protects you and your parents.

Realtors should be held responsible for making sure the house is locked and secure when they leave. They also need to be attentive so things are not taken when they show the house.

If the thieves were the prospective buyers, they may actually be posing as house hunters to see what homes they want to rob - they may do this to other homes.

Call the police.

 

[JudithM]

GoofyMom/Pop, I am sooo sorry this happened. I'm with the others (& you), file that police report. When is your anniversary trip to Key West? You need a vacation!

 

[goofymom/pop]

key west is three weeks away, thank heavens.

I will mention to my Mom again about calling and reporting the incident to the police. She is just so "lets get it over with" right now that its hard to push her. I can tell you this....this is hard work. Cleaning up someone elses entire life is so depressing, they worked hard all their lives only to have it all sold for a couple bucks in three days. Pooh...! Told my parents to throw all their stuff away so I won't have to do this again.

Just say a prayer for us that we get through this weekend and get rid of 90 percent of it so we can give the rest to Goodwill.

Off to bed here....I am so tired from stressing over this.

 

[pattyT]

So sorry to hear about everything your going through

it just stinks that there are people out there like that

Hope all goes well the rest of the week and you can enjoy sitting on the beach in Key West -
I want to go their someday

 

[dreams91]

 

[FantasticDisFamily]

Goofymom/pop,

I can certainly understand you and your parents wanting to "get it over with and move on". I mentioned this to DH (who is a law enforcement officer) and as I suspected he said it really isn't an option she needs to call the police, even if mom doesn't want to. As mentioned earlier this protects you and your parents. A friend of mine just went through this with her father in law. Large old home, full of antiques and she & her husband pulled all of the silver, china, and a ton of antique toys out of the house before the realtor started showing it. It is unbelievable how many dishonest people there are out in the world. Some plates and cups could be snatched up easily under the realtor's nose.

Also, since they have power of attorney it is likely at some point in time they may need to "prove" that they properly disposed of the assets at as close to fair market value as possible.

As for motive - think about what you posted. I'll bet whoever took the items probably posed as an interested buyer to get an early look at the items in the sale and then snatched just the right pieces to significantly lower the value. They come in for the sale, pick up a bargain, add the missing pieces back and voila' - full value is restored to the set.



Good luck - you need it!

Deb

 

[goofymom/pop]

Ahhhh I thought the same thing, I told my parents if anyone asks about the china set, I will probably knock them out. I had the exact same reaction.....that someone cased the place and took certain pieces on purpose. Cannot be coincidence that at least one piece is gone from all the individual sets.

I am going to try and get the parents to call but I imagine it will be to no avail. Also as far as someone thinking my parents didn't sell it at a good price, there is no one but a few nieces and nephews who don't care since they have gone into Assisted living as they know now there will be no money left in a couple years. Also, everything has already been left to my parents and so any money they are loosing is potentially their own.I guess you could say it wouldn't pay for them to sell low.... My folks however don't want the money they just want their friends to stay in a nice place as long as possible. Talk about stress!!!!