This story started way back in 2002 or 2003, so this is liable to be a loooooong post. If it gets too long, I guess I will break it into two posts. But, now that my part of it is over and done with, I need to write it all down and get it out of my system, so I can truly put it where it belongs… in the PAST.
Shortly after Ken was diagnosed with cancer, he got into a “business deal” with a woman I will refer to as “Kooki”. (I won’t use her real name, because I don’t want anyone to accuse me of slander. And, in all truthfulness, “Kooki” is a much nicer name than I feel she deserves! Besides, truth is an absolute defense against accusations of slander, so in this instance, I am safe.) Anyway, back to the story… Kooki was a woman Ken originally met because she was managing a property in which several of his rental trailers were located. She didn’t manage the property for long, because she was accused of taking money that didn’t belong to her. (That was the first bad sign.)
In the years between meeting Kooki and being diagnosed, Ken would run into her occasionally because they ran in the same circles. Kooki always had some kind of “deal” she wanted to rope Ken into. The woman could talk the paint right off a wall and she was relentless when she was trying to talk someone into something.
Ken was not usually the sort of man who was easily talked into things. In fact, he would think about things for such a very long time before finally deciding to do them, that many times it was too late and the opportunities had already passed. But, the cancer diagnosis scared him to death and he began to think that he had to quickly do something to “build up our income”. Now Ken had been in the rental property business since he was 16 years old, so to him, building up our income meant one thing – buy more rental properties.
Once Ken started earnestly looking for properties to buy, it didn’t take long for Kooki to show up. And, she said, she had the “perfect deal” for him. Here’s how it was supposed to work: Kooki knew a couple of guys who worked at a finance company that handled a lot of mobile home/land packages. That’s where you buy a new mobile home and the company will sell you a piece of land to put it on at the same time, so you can get the whole thing financed in one loan. Unfortunately, a great number of these deals fall through for lack of payment and the finance company has to repossess. The hard thing about trying to sell a used trailer is that it would have to be moved. Moving a trailer can be costly and generally always damages the trailer in some way, so not many people are willing to pay for a trailer and the cost of moving it too. Even the finance company does not want to have to pull a trailer that is already set up so they can resell the lot. It would be more beneficial if the finance company could find someone who would buy the trailer and lot “as is” for cash, to get it off their books. And that is where Kooki’s “deal” came in.
Kooki had the connection with the guys at the finance company, but no money to spend. Ken had money to spend, but no connections. So the “deal” would go like this… Kooki would find out from the finance company guys about a repossessed property they would sell for cash and give Ken all of the information about the property. Ken would go out to the property, look it over, and if he thought it looked good, he would give Kooki the money to buy it. Kooki would buy the property (with Ken’s money) from the finance company and would then deed it over into Ken’s name. Then, since Ken was busy with cancer treatments and various surgeries, Kooki said she would find someone to buy the property on a rent-to-own basis. At the end of the lease agreement, when the property was paid for, Ken would pay Kooki a certain percentage of the purchase price as a “finder’s fee”. After countless meetings and much discussion, Ken finally agreed to Kooki’s deal.
I know what you are thinking… sounds a little fishy, right? Well, it did to me too and I talked to Ken about it. It felt like a scam from the beginning because all of the “tenants” Kooki found for the new properties were either her friends or her family members. I told him that I didn’t trust Kooki and that I felt like she would do and/or say whatever she had to in order to convince him. I even told him that I got a strong vibration from Kooki that if Ken were to ever give her a second glance, she would gladly enter into a more personal and physical relationship with him even though they were both already married to other people. At this, Ken smiled and said, “Well, I think you are right about that”. Fortunately, he believed in the sanctity of our marriage and that sort of relationship, in Ken’s mind, was NOT a possibility.
Okay, I know what you are thinking, again… if Ken knew how I felt and was aware of the serious misgivings I had about Kooki, why did he go ahead and get into business with her?! You have to understand that Ken started his rental property business when he was just a teen-ager. He had been making his own decisions for a very long time before I came into the picture. As far as the business was concerned, we would discuss different issues, and I would give him my opinion. Ken would listen to my opinions and seriously take them into consideration. But ultimately, business related decisions always belonged to Ken. And in most instances, prior to him getting sick, his decisions had been sound and had benefited our family. So I trusted him to make those decisions.
Unfortunately, the cancer diagnosis, coupled with Kooki’s relentless pursuit of Ken’s money, created an atmosphere that, I believe, clouded Ken’s judgment and caused him to agree to things he never would have otherwise. In his mind, he was only trying to increase our income so that if the worst did happen, the boys and I would not have to give up the lifestyle to which we were accustomed. Had he lived, I am sure that every one of the properties Ken bought through Kooki would have paid for themselves and turned profits. And Ken never intended to die... he thought he would be here to handle things and make sure everything worked the way it should have. Sadly, Ken did not live to see the plan through.
You are probably wondering how this all landed me in court seven years after Ken died. I am getting to that, but I needed to build the back story first. I think, though, that I will stop here and tell the rest of the story in a separate post. Stay tuned ...
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