Bill & Barbara are in tough times
Donation protected
I'm Bill Tozier . I write about complex systems and philosophy for a living, among other things. My wife Barbara and I are in a fix.
For most of a decade (2004–2012), we spent 100% our time and energy taking care of our aging parents. Our plan, at the start, was to set ourselves up as their primary caregivers. We had agreed to find a place where we could all share accommodations, and to help them "age in place" with us in a modern, accessible home.
Off-the-shelf suburban homes don't really fit that description very well, and we came up blank. So we purchased some about eight acres of vacant rural land in the northern part of our county.
But before we could break ground on the house we had designed for our family, the first of them started failing. Things being what they are, and elderly people being in the position that they are, we spent the rest of that decade doing just what we'd promised, but substantially before we'd expected to do so. That is, we were able to act as our parents' primary caregivers at the ends of their lives... but before we were able to build the house where they could age in place.
We did what we could. A lot of end-of-life care involves spending time sitting quietly at home, and in hospitals, at the side of your loved ones. During this period our parents helped support us while we lived off of our savings. But life catches you by surprise and ignores your best-made plans, and it's always hard to schedule time for depression and grieving into your work day.
So by the time we get to today, it turns out that our savings are completely exhausted—including our retirement funds—and that our debts are topped off. We make a modest income now from eBay sales and project work, but that doesn't offset the interest we owe monthly.
At the moment, the problem is simpler and more focused: The vacant land we bought to build our family home on is back on the market, but the back taxes on that property are overdue. So we're stuck in a nasty sort of race, in which we need to sell the land to be able to pay the back taxes on that same land.
And the real estate market is bad, here. It doesn't look as if it will happen before the end of March, when the final foreclosure will occur. We need your help getting the money to pay the back taxes, so we can use the rest of our income to pay into interest and stay afloat.
There's a lot more to the story, and you're welcome to read my much longer, more personal version of it all. As you probably expect, it's not happy-go-lucky. But I've tried to do what I can to explain what might be missing in the gaps.
We're petrified, I admit, that this last-ditch sale of the land won't work out. That we not only won't be able to pay our bills, but that we'll lose the last capital resource we can use to reboot our decade-stalled careers.
Your support will mean that we have a chance to make meaningful new start. I can't express how much of a weight that would lift from our shoulders right now.
Thank you for reading. And thank you for your help.
For most of a decade (2004–2012), we spent 100% our time and energy taking care of our aging parents. Our plan, at the start, was to set ourselves up as their primary caregivers. We had agreed to find a place where we could all share accommodations, and to help them "age in place" with us in a modern, accessible home.
Off-the-shelf suburban homes don't really fit that description very well, and we came up blank. So we purchased some about eight acres of vacant rural land in the northern part of our county.
But before we could break ground on the house we had designed for our family, the first of them started failing. Things being what they are, and elderly people being in the position that they are, we spent the rest of that decade doing just what we'd promised, but substantially before we'd expected to do so. That is, we were able to act as our parents' primary caregivers at the ends of their lives... but before we were able to build the house where they could age in place.
We did what we could. A lot of end-of-life care involves spending time sitting quietly at home, and in hospitals, at the side of your loved ones. During this period our parents helped support us while we lived off of our savings. But life catches you by surprise and ignores your best-made plans, and it's always hard to schedule time for depression and grieving into your work day.
So by the time we get to today, it turns out that our savings are completely exhausted—including our retirement funds—and that our debts are topped off. We make a modest income now from eBay sales and project work, but that doesn't offset the interest we owe monthly.
At the moment, the problem is simpler and more focused: The vacant land we bought to build our family home on is back on the market, but the back taxes on that property are overdue. So we're stuck in a nasty sort of race, in which we need to sell the land to be able to pay the back taxes on that same land.
And the real estate market is bad, here. It doesn't look as if it will happen before the end of March, when the final foreclosure will occur. We need your help getting the money to pay the back taxes, so we can use the rest of our income to pay into interest and stay afloat.
There's a lot more to the story, and you're welcome to read my much longer, more personal version of it all. As you probably expect, it's not happy-go-lucky. But I've tried to do what I can to explain what might be missing in the gaps.
We're petrified, I admit, that this last-ditch sale of the land won't work out. That we not only won't be able to pay our bills, but that we'll lose the last capital resource we can use to reboot our decade-stalled careers.
Your support will mean that we have a chance to make meaningful new start. I can't express how much of a weight that would lift from our shoulders right now.
Thank you for reading. And thank you for your help.
Organizer
William Tozier
Organizer
Ann Arbor, MI