Don't Trust Taiwan Laws

3-22-13 6:52am Fri. (1)

Friday, Leona and I will go to HSBC to get our mortgage for our new home. We will pay 30% down and have a mortgage for 70%. We have to bring a year of our bank statements from TD Bank and the TRS letter stating my monthly and yearly pension amounts; the deed to 1210 Ave. Y is not necessary. The bank wants to see that we have a monthly income. We could have the keys to our place by May 1, I wish it were sooner. I don’t see why we can’t have the keys after our mortgage is approved but Leona said we can’t.

      There have been a few yellow cautionary lights about my buying a condominium in Taiwan with Leona. As I said to Leona last night, it’s not that I don’t trust her; it’s just that she doesn’t have all the answers. And although she always looks out for my best interest, sometimes she forgets. As much as I’d like to just go along with this, I think I should talk with someone. I just sent an e-mail to Richard Hartzell who I hope will know something about the law here or connect me to someone who does. It is not that I’m getting cold feet; it’s just that Leona can’t always help me right.

      I went along with Leona when Jenny, her real estate agent friend, said my name on the deed now would complicate closing on the house. Leona was told my name could be added later as a gift receiver to the deed. I don’t know what that’s about. Finally, I am willing to let Leona’s name be exclusive to the deed if the ownership of 1210 Ave Y is in my name alone, which it is not. The $70,000 Leona had wired from our TD Bank Home Equity Loan must be re-paid or the house will be foreclosed. We are currently transferring $500 a month to it but I want to change it back to at least $1000 again, the amount it was when I was a full-time employee in NYC. I changed it when I became a pensioner. Taiwan law watches out for its own people, whether Leona wants it to or not. I have to watch out for my own interests for myself and children. The yellow lights are blinking.

      This week, when the Taichung DMV took away the driver’s license they issued to me a month ago, it reminded me that the law in Taiwan has many loopholes, some of which are caused by incompetency and some that are intentional. It reminded me about the cruel twists that law took in helping Libby steal my first condo in Taiwan almost thirty years ago. The law has changed since then but how? The yellow lights are blinking all over the place.