The Everchanging Story

Hick is sometimes a bit devious. Sometimes a bit wishy-washy. And sometimes rewrites history. He thinks he can play me for a fool, or else he regrets something he's done, and rather than take ownership, declares that I CAIN'T UNDERSTAND NOTHIN'!

All this to get me off his back. Can you imagine??? I am only trying to determine facts. Whether for my self-satisfaction, or to keep our financial records straight for the flip house expenses.

Remember when we bought Lap House? Surely you do. It was only last month. At the time, Hick said he was making a deal with Some Guy for a truck sitting on the property. It's right there in my blog, plain as day! Hick was trading a couple of guns from his shop for the pickup truck. This was a transaction for Hick's business, for which he is federally and locally licensed. Everything above-board with the legalities for transfer of both such items. Background check, title and license, etc.

THEN Hick asked me for the $2000 to pay Some Guy for the truck. Which I gave him, because he said it was just another cost to get Lap House. That the deal had to include the truck. Yet I distinctly remember Hick coming home from his SUS2.5 that week, complaining that Some Guy was picking out his most expensive item, and wanting another one also. 

NOW Hick says that he was never trading guns for the truck. That WE bought the truck as part of the house deal, and HE was trading Some Guy two guns for all the tools in the basement. Some Guy had asked Hick if he wanted to buy the tools, and said he couldn't move them. Which is also a bit of a fishy transaction by Hick, because it seems to me that the tools came with the house we bought. Any other contents when we've bought a flip house were part of the deal. Whether we had to pay to dump them at the landfill, or it was furniture that was usable, Hick didn't pay the dump fee or reap the rewards. If The Pony and I didn't find the contents of any value, we told Hick he could have them for his shop. That didn't happen with the tools.

Anyhoo... this question arose because of new developments with that truck. Old Buddy has it at his house. Hick had it towed there, for Old Buddy to work on and get it running. Put the title in Old Buddy's name. The cost being taken out of Old Buddy's pay for working on the flip houses. Yet on Wednesday, Hick said he paid Old Buddy for moving furniture out of Bargain House after the sale.

"Wait! Why are you PAYING Old Buddy for work, when he's supposed to be working off that $2000 truck?"

"He ain't got it runnin' yet, Val!"

"It doesn't matter! He still has that truck, with the title in his name."

"Yes. But I told him he didn't have to pay until he had it runnin'."

"Well, isn't THAT an incentive! He can just keep working, getting paid, and say he doesn't have it running yet. And we're out $2000."

"Nooo. I'm gonna take out half his pay when he has the truck going."

"HALF? That will take twice as long! You only pay him $45 a day, four days a week!"

"He'll pay for the truck, Val."

Oh, really? Well, on Thursday Hick talked to Old Buddy about the truck. Old Buddy said it was a lot harder to figure out what was wrong than he thought. So now Hick says he will take back the truck because Old Buddy doesn't seem to want it. Hick will have one of his mechanic buddies tow it to his place, and fix it. But that we'll have to pay him for the work. And then Hick will sell the truck. But we won't make much.

Won't THAT be a nightmare to deal with in my records for expenditures for Lap House???

I talked it over with The Pony. We are in agreement that the $2000 truck should NOT be counted as part of the deal on Lap House. The Pony should not have to contribute to that cost. Hick and I are responsible for that truck, and money from the eventual sale should go right back into our household account to cover the outlay for its purchase and repair.

Hick says the truck $2000 should be added to the cost of the house. I tried to explain that at tax time, we will have documents from the closing that report the sale price of Lap House. Which does not account for that $2000. He's hard to convince when he's arguing to have things his way!

Hick needs to keep his wheeling and dealing to his business from now on.