This is a long story. It began when my grandpa passed away and left his house on a small piece of land to my mom and my two uncles.
One of my uncles was living at that house so, the siblings decided he should keep on staying there. That uncle's business was going poorly and at one point in time he borrowed money from the bank showing the house as collateral. Both siblings agreed to this so, there were no problems between them. Then my other uncle passed and now 1/3 of the place belongs to my two cousins and their mom.
At one point in time my sister and I told our uncle to file for bankruptcy seeing that he will soon be a lot more in debt. He reluctantly agreed. Mind you the failure of the business was not his fault. His lenders were expecting payment but the organizations who owed him, did not pay him on time or at all. So, the cash flow situation became very problematic and we wanted him to stop working to stop the loss.
He spends his time between an apartment I have bought from him to help him with his cash flow a few years ago and my mom's apartment. He has a small Social Security income and I pay all his utilities and whenever he needs a car, he uses my 2010 Nissan which I am not using. I have another car I bought this year. He is not happy since he feels he screwed up and he thinks he is a burden. Very far from the truth. He is our only uncle, my mom's only living sibling and his failure in business was no fault of his. Lots of bad luck. He also took care of my grandparents for many years since he lived with them. Also he is the only living man in our family. He is only 9 years older than I am and I consider him more a brother than an uncle.
I own his portion of the family home left to them since, I took over the bank payments for the loan he took showing the family home as collateral. Lately my cousins and their mom declared that, they are in need of money and they would like to sell their shares. Mom does not know this, since she will be upset if we sell the home. The property isn't worth much. So, selling it would be meaningless and would upset mom. Therefore, I have decided to step up (again) to purchase their shares. Tomorrow I will talk to my cousin.
When all is done, I will be owning 2/3 of the family home. 1/3 belongs to mom.
So, now I own my current residence, a two bedroom apartment in Istanbul, another two bedroom apartment in Ankara which I rent (still looking for a new tenant), a three bedroom apartment in Antalya which is mostly used by my uncle although everybody goes and stays there a few weeks a year, and 2/3 of a small house in Konya which is desperately in need of repair. Except for my residence, I truly have no need for any of the other properties. I would much rather have cash in a savings account than all this real estate. However, I cannot sell them for obvious reasons.
The bank loan will be gone in October 2019. Before that, I cannot really do any repairs on the home except for the much needed roof. I will probably slowly do the repairs and use that place as a weekend home for all the family. I intend to plant some fruit trees too. My grandpa used to have a great garden. So, at least we can go and stay there any time we want. I think this will make both mom and uncle happy.
I am glad I have the means to step up and do all this. I do not know what would have happened if I did not.
Showing posts with label purchase decisions. Show all posts
Showing posts with label purchase decisions. Show all posts
Monday, December 17, 2018
Saturday, July 14, 2018
Why an SUV? The Decision Process
I never thought I would buy an SUV in my entire life. So, what got into me? Linda asked me my criteria and since it took me a lot of research and quite some time, I decided to share my decision process.
First of all I started looking for small cars on the market. The selling price is a factor but I concentrated on total cost of ownership in the long run. There are many variables affecting that, such as gas per mileage, yearly tax, routine service, cost of spare parts, cost of new tires.
In this country diesel is cheaper than regular gas so, the car needed to be a diesel. The yearly tax is based on the age of the car plus the engine size. I checked the tax table and decided that the car should have a maximum of 1600 cc engine. For Americans that is not even an engine I know, but the gas prices in this country are 3x what they pay.
Then I looked up service charges at 15,000-30,000-45,000-60,000 etc. kms. along with spare part costs. It was such an eye opener to see how small cars were not necessarily inexpensive. Tire costs vary due to size. (My new car is expensive in that respect.)
At that point I became skeptical about small cars especially in the gas/mileage department.
Then I decided that I need an automatic car. I can drive a stick shift but as I age, it is so much easier. At that point I realized that there are not many automatic small cars with diesel engines. Then mom said she hates to get in and out of cars because they are so damn low. She even brought a thick pillow to the VW Passat, my company car that I am driving. She sits on it. I do not think it works well because after all, it is a pillow.
Mom is 75 and is getting old. So, the travel we can do together is somewhat limited to perhaps the next 10 years, may be less. I want her to be comfortable.
This way,, I started looking at crossovers and SUVs. I do not need a 4x4 since they tend to consume more gas. However, all the available options were beyond my budget. I decided that I could buy a gently used, new-to-me car below 50,000 Kms.
After looking at used cars every night online for quiet a while, I found that Nissan Qashqai, Renault Kadjar, Jeep Renegade were possible options. I found a couple of cars that were worth looking at and sent the links to a friend of mine who is very knowledgeable and who has quite a network of technicians and car salesmen. He researched the cars and told me that the new Ford Kuga (Escape) has a better 1.5 TDCi PowerShift engine. Since Ford sells many cars in Turkey the spare part industry is pretty good and this engine is fairly new with pretty good gas/mileage. The routine services are very inexpensive compared to most cars.
This way, I added the Ford to my list and started following sales ads. That is how I made my decision.
Due to a change in tax law, since this car was a 2017, the yearly tax is lower than the same exact car that is a 2018. With about 6,250 miles, it is practically new. That was my bonus. It is the simplest version. For instance, it has parking sensors at the back, none in the front. It has a screen and bluetooth but, the screen is not a touch screen. However, all the standart features are pretty good and I will not miss anything.
First of all I started looking for small cars on the market. The selling price is a factor but I concentrated on total cost of ownership in the long run. There are many variables affecting that, such as gas per mileage, yearly tax, routine service, cost of spare parts, cost of new tires.
In this country diesel is cheaper than regular gas so, the car needed to be a diesel. The yearly tax is based on the age of the car plus the engine size. I checked the tax table and decided that the car should have a maximum of 1600 cc engine. For Americans that is not even an engine I know, but the gas prices in this country are 3x what they pay.
Then I looked up service charges at 15,000-30,000-45,000-60,000 etc. kms. along with spare part costs. It was such an eye opener to see how small cars were not necessarily inexpensive. Tire costs vary due to size. (My new car is expensive in that respect.)
At that point I became skeptical about small cars especially in the gas/mileage department.
Then I decided that I need an automatic car. I can drive a stick shift but as I age, it is so much easier. At that point I realized that there are not many automatic small cars with diesel engines. Then mom said she hates to get in and out of cars because they are so damn low. She even brought a thick pillow to the VW Passat, my company car that I am driving. She sits on it. I do not think it works well because after all, it is a pillow.
Mom is 75 and is getting old. So, the travel we can do together is somewhat limited to perhaps the next 10 years, may be less. I want her to be comfortable.
This way,, I started looking at crossovers and SUVs. I do not need a 4x4 since they tend to consume more gas. However, all the available options were beyond my budget. I decided that I could buy a gently used, new-to-me car below 50,000 Kms.
After looking at used cars every night online for quiet a while, I found that Nissan Qashqai, Renault Kadjar, Jeep Renegade were possible options. I found a couple of cars that were worth looking at and sent the links to a friend of mine who is very knowledgeable and who has quite a network of technicians and car salesmen. He researched the cars and told me that the new Ford Kuga (Escape) has a better 1.5 TDCi PowerShift engine. Since Ford sells many cars in Turkey the spare part industry is pretty good and this engine is fairly new with pretty good gas/mileage. The routine services are very inexpensive compared to most cars.
This way, I added the Ford to my list and started following sales ads. That is how I made my decision.
Due to a change in tax law, since this car was a 2017, the yearly tax is lower than the same exact car that is a 2018. With about 6,250 miles, it is practically new. That was my bonus. It is the simplest version. For instance, it has parking sensors at the back, none in the front. It has a screen and bluetooth but, the screen is not a touch screen. However, all the standart features are pretty good and I will not miss anything.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)