ggunn
PE (Electrical), NABCEP certified
- Location
- Austin, TX, USA
- Occupation
- Consulting Electrical Engineer - Photovoltaic Systems
...use a shotgun.
I didn't get paid today.
- Thread starter Coppersmith
- Start date
- Status
kwired
Electron manager
- Location
- NE Nebraska
- Occupation
- EC
Well if you can't afford to keep it, i'd think it is better to sell it than to let the tax authorities take it and sell it. Minimum bid is to pay the tax still due, and if nobody is otherwise interested in the property can probably be bought for a dollar.
kwired
Electron manager
- Location
- NE Nebraska
- Occupation
- EC
Had lien on dairy farmer that went bankrupt and on a restaurant that went bankrupt. Both cases the attorneys and bankers took all available assets and left all the equipment vendors and contractors with outstanding debt out to dry. And the court canceled the liens.
petersonra
Senior Member
- Location
- Northern illinois
- Occupation
- engineer
That is just the way things work.
Unpaid wages have a higher payment priority in bankruptcy than other debts. Unpaid taxes are high on the list too.
Unsecured debts and liens are pretty low on the totem pole.
In any case, to resolve real property that has liens or mortgages, the courts often have to get rid of them. Few people want real property that comes with some kind of encumbrance, although sometimes that can be negotiated as part of the deal, but especially for single family residences, it is hard to get anyone to take them because title companies don't want to insure them until all the liens and mortgages are paid off, and it is all but impossible to get a mortgage without title insurance.
It seems kind of sad that the lawyers get paid, but someone has to do the legal work to get the bankruptcy moving so legal fees are high on the list too.
kwired
Electron manager
- Location
- NE Nebraska
- Occupation
- EC
But notice the attorneys make sure they get paid, even if not as much as they would prefer. IMO sort of no different than what my claim was. Vendors and contractors not allowed to reclaim property either- it has been annexed into real estate that the bank has a secure loan for. Fair, maybe not. I do understand it is what it is and have learned not to get into too much debt from a client and be careful with any contracts and conditions you sign yourself into. They can work for or against you depending on how things end up going.
ggunn
PE (Electrical), NABCEP certified
- Location
- Austin, TX, USA
- Occupation
- Consulting Electrical Engineer - Photovoltaic Systems
Something I found out is if the evidence is incontrovertible, a judgement in small claims court is easy. Collecting on that judgement, on the other hand, can be difficult to impossible.
kwired
Electron manager
- Location
- NE Nebraska
- Occupation
- EC
Yes. been down that road also. Defendant didn't even show up to court and was pretty much automatically judgement in my favor. But that is all you get is a piece of paper with the "judgement" on it. Is still up to you to collect that judgement.
petersonra
Senior Member
- Location
- Northern illinois
- Occupation
- engineer
That is why you need to understand how these things actually work and not rely on what other contractors tell you, or what you can learn from random people on the Internet. Best to pay for a decent attorney with relevant experience in this area so you can best protect yourself.
I knew a guy who did windows. He had some means by which he judged potential customer credit status. If he did not like their credit much, he would not start a job until he got a downpayment that covered all the materials. My understanding is that is not legal in all states, but at least he was not on the hook for anything but labor if things went south.
kwired
Electron manager
- Location
- NE Nebraska
- Occupation
- EC
I honestly don't know what is legal but seldom have trouble asking for materials, especially if they are already on customer site (installed or not). Seems fair and reasonable to get paid for something you have already provided (normally) and I usually invoice for major items up front or at least as they arrive. Since a majority of my work is T&M this sort of is no different than retail sales on those items. A retailer generally expects payment at time of pickup/delivery, and many even want down payment on special order items.
ggunn
PE (Electrical), NABCEP certified
- Location
- Austin, TX, USA
- Occupation
- Consulting Electrical Engineer - Photovoltaic Systems
The problem with that is that unscrupulous "contractors" will take the upfront money and run. I won't pay a dime until the work is finished, or at the very least I won't pay for any work that has not been done up to that point or materials that have not been delivered. If a contractor cannot work with that I find someone else to do the work. If they cannot afford to front the money for materials I'd rather not do business with them, anyway.
hillbilly1
Senior Member
- Location
- North Georgia mountains
- Occupation
- Owner/electrical contractor
I had one customer that was a debt collector, and he said to let him know if somebody didn’t pay. His name wasn’t Vinny, but I had a feeling people were paying up when he visited them! LOL!
hillbilly1
Senior Member
- Location
- North Georgia mountains
- Occupation
- Owner/electrical contractor
I’ve got another neighbor who does not keep up his fences, and they get in my dad’s garden. My dad threatens to put up some beef in the freezer! LOL! They don’t brand cattle here in the mountains. You might occasionally see an ear tag.
petersonra
Senior Member
- Location
- Northern illinois
- Occupation
- engineer
Unscrupulous people exist all over the place.
I don't have a major issue with a significant down payment on a project.
petersonra
Senior Member
- Location
- Northern illinois
- Occupation
- engineer
I think there is some kind of rule about being allowed to shoot nuisance animals.
hillbilly1
Senior Member
- Location
- North Georgia mountains
- Occupation
- Owner/electrical contractor
I’m surrounded by cattle farms, my other neighbor gets mad because people are always calling her, saying her cattle are out, when it’s the other neighbor! She has a different breed.
Coppersmith
Senior Member
- Location
- Tampa, FL, USA
- Occupation
- Electrical Contractor
She did pay with a CC and I was worried about it being reversed.
qcroanoke
Sometimes I don't know if I'm the boxer or the bag
- Location
- Roanoke, VA.
- Occupation
- Sorta retired........
I understand that you and her know that there are a lot of different breeds of cattle.
But to a lot of people a cow is a cow. :0
kwired
Electron manager
- Location
- NE Nebraska
- Occupation
- EC
But a rural nearby neighbor will notice such differences more so than city folk, even if they are not farmers or have any such background, unless maybe they recently moved to the country.
I never assume that about people…
I was in my early 30s when I realized cows had horns also. I thought they were like deer. Only the boys had horns…
I’ve been around farms and lived rural my whole life, just never on a farm or talked to anyone about a farm. I would just look out in a field and look at the tops of the cows.
Never studied or thought about the bottoms of them…
Quite honestly, I never cared enough to give it much thought…
kwired
Electron manager
- Location
- NE Nebraska
- Occupation
- EC
If one neighbor had all red cows and the other had all black cows you wouldn't have noticed any difference?
- Status