FAMILY: NY DRAMA....unfolds!

Brooklyn, NEW YORK. USA.

HIS GIRLS....

quick story about my great-uncle tsaeu suk or tsaeu keu. [uncle tsaeu] (let's just call him maggie's dad)...

he has all daughters. time after time. let's see:

1. Linda ~20
2. Jenni ~18?
3. Maggie ~15
4. Kay ~5
5. Emily ~couple months...

he's had 3 girls for a long time. until a couple years back they tried again for a boy. they failed. it was a girl. that's how they got kay. an 'accident'.

then they tried again. another 'accident.' they were wondering if they should keep it. they found out it was a girl already... they did.

he owns a laundrymat in Brooklyn. for a long time now. he left that to his girls since they're old enough now. they both (he+his wife) did not work for a long time now. he's ~50 yrs. old. his wife gambles @ home, playing 麻雀 (mah jongg). his daughter once told her recently, 呀媽, 你唔好打麻雀啦. (ma, don't play [so much] mahjongg). she responded saying: 呀女,我唔打麻雀邊度有飯開呀? (if i don't, how will we get food on the table?) even though her daughters work...

BUYING A NEW HOUSE.

he had recently bout a 3 level building. 2 apartments, 1 store space on the bottom. so his family lives on one floor, his aunt on another.

he decided to open a wholesale store. not a good idea considering that he knew NOTHING about the whole sale business or how it works. so he took a stab. he remodled the place for 2 years.

it's a bakery/whole sale place. his daughters run it. like w/ the laundrymat. it fails. but he keeps it up.

he bought it for $970,000 a few years back. now it is worth $1,200,000. he had initially paid a $30,000 down for the place. but in this friggin market, now one wants to buy, especially at that scary-high price, even if the place was worth that money, no one is willing to return calls. it scares people away.

a few months back...when this started to happen (over here)

he couldn't pay his bills. simple as that. he couldn't afford to pay his mortgage. he had to ask for money from his friends and family in new york until he had to call over here in chicago.

he called my ma a few months back asking for money b/c he was going under. he told her to not tell my grandma (his older sister...whom also objected to him starting the wholesale market in the 1st place)

but apparently, she wasn't the only one he called. he also called my aunts asking for however much money they could led him. my ma... i guess lent him ~$5,000.

yesterday's meeting.

we had cooked dinner @ the restaurant that my family owned. but then sai yee (young/small aunt) said she was bringing domino's (her restaraunt is right by a domino's). so i didn't eat, waiting for the pizza.

the meeting started ~11:30pm. i thought it would be small. i've been to meetings where there were only four of them (my ma, my grandma, 2 aunties, just sitting around a table, drinking tea, talking into 2am in the morning...), but this was a LOT bigger. we had about ~20 people show up. apparently it was a big deal.

• kee came too, to represent her father since he was in brazil. (she's only ~20, whereas everyone else [excluding me+my sister] was 30+)
• ho doi's ma came to represent her father, ai keu (oldest uncle),
• keni's ma was there+her husband+her brother ngai hung (to represent ah keu, uncle),
• sam ngee po [ah ling] (3rd grandma: 'ngee po' means '2nd grandma' (literal)=grandma's sister. she is the thrid of the trio sisters) + ah ngee (alice's ma/ sam ngee po's daughter) + chang gung (sam ngee po's husband)
• ngee po [ah fong] (2nd grandma: my grandma is a twin, her being the older one)+gem guo (brother gem: jim's dad)
• my po po (grandma) [ah ying] + my grandpa+ my ma+ my dad+ me + my sister

strangely, it was more of the women in control.... the men sat back, like my dad, keni's dad, ngai hung, my grandpa, ah chang gung. there were some that particiapated more, like jim's dad. the men mostly didn't say much except if they really had to make a point.

some women also didn't participate as much. like keni's ma, ki, & ho doi's ma.

the goal: to decide IF they were going to help maggie's dad, and if so, for how long--conditions.

everyone wants to help him of course. but everyone felt that he didn't even want to sell his house. he's asking for such a high price (in this market)--but we understand: he spent a lot of time putting work into it. it was his 心血. but he couldn't afford it, so he needs to let it go.

but it's not been put onto the market yet. there are people interested in the building, but not with that price. few have called back to return a price (bargain).

he can not be late for more then 3 months: he has already not paid his mortgage for 3 months. one month's worth will be wired over tomorrow, after columbus day since banks are closed. so he still owes the bank 2 months.

the bank has not yet foreclosed it b/c they will loose money if they do so. and b/c he gave such a high down for it, it reflects that he is able to afford the house, though he is not.

he's even thrown in his laundrymat to attract people--the only source of income besides the wholesale market.

but because he is unwilling to sell it and it's worth $1,200,000, he does not want to lower the price since he wants to get rid of the debts AND make a profit. in this market? don't kill me laughing.

he's already trying to save as much money as he can: whatever is spoiled from the shop he will eat at home... he's asked all his friends to lend money... his daughters' boyfriends has pitched in...

gum guo likened it to this: you have a pretty, beautiful daughter, but no one can afford her lifestyle. and he's not even serious about selling the house.

i asked him (we called him long-distance), "did the bank mail you a letter? if you are this far behind the payments (3 months), then they should try to negotiate with you--lower the interest rates, extend the years, lower payments...?",

and he didn't know! he doesn't know a thing! i just told him the other day, "uncle, if you forclose, the bank will not give you a dime," and he was shocked! he had no idea! he only had a friend's daughter come out, and evaluate how much the property is worth! i can't really help b/c i don't know how much the surrounding properties sell for... and he doesn't know either! (he does. i don't know why he said that)

keni's dad said this: if he was really worried about this, then he would be thinking of how to get rid of the house, not trying to scrape up money here and there to keep paying for it! (which is sorta true... but then my ma said this, which is also true: maybe he does fret. he just doesn't show it. he has to take care of his retirement-home aunt (my great-aunt), and his daughter that still drinks from the bottle.)

the fly to NEW YORK.

so. my grandma, ngee po, and a couple of other of her siblings flew to new york b/c their aunt fell and broke something. she's old enough to be in a retirement home, so they moved her in b/c they were unable to take care of her any longer. i thought that was the only reason to go there, but it wasn't as it turned out.

maggie and her sisters are very cruel to her. i've seen her before. they call her bitch, throw things at her... maybe they've changed from the last time i've seen them, but they are very mean to her. that's as simple as it gets. she's in her 90s.

they were also there to assess the situation their brother is in. when they went out for dim sum one day, one of them (or one of maggie's dad's friends) accused my grandma of wanting to put them out onto the streets because she wanted him to sell everything. 你想佢哋瞓街?! but i am on her side b/c she's right: you either foreclose and owe the bank and all these people money, or you sell it for something to pay off some of the debts. if you're able to break even, then it's a miracle. but in this market, you're looking for a miracle.

back to the meeting....

sai yee likened it to some of those people who don't consider money a factor: STORY: there was a time where her brother-in-law had this property, and this italian guy bought it for a nice price, after it was in the market for 3 years. he also bought a lot of other plots, probably to build a shopping mall/plaza, but he ran out of money shortly after he bought her brother-in-law's property, and he was able to get rid of it fast enought. the poor guy.

there are some businessmen out there who see potential in properties, and don't care about money at all--they just want it. but that's one in a million. you don't know how long you would have wait for him to come along, if at all--how long can they hold out? they can't even make it for 3 months, no less 3 years.

but ah tsaeu suk is not worried b/c "我有几個女可以自己搵錢" (i have several daughters that can work"

gum guo stands firm on the fact that with every, lets say, month, he needs to lower the price more to get rid of it. reasonable. we can't just keep hoping for someone to come along when they can't even sustain their lifestyle in the meanwhile.

ngee po stands firm on the fact that she will only support his house from being forclosed, not his lifestyle. not for his dim sum, or his extra tea times.

my grandma made a point saying, "he is my little brother, set afloat in the big sea. how can you not extend a hand out and watch him drown?"

my ma then elaborated: how can you not even try if you are able to?

verdict: they settled on giving him money. with a time limit. which is unknown.