Having issues with trust, again

I'm really disappointed in people. You just can't trust people anymore.

Tomorrow we should be closing on our first house, isn't that exciting?! Well, it should be. But for some reason I'm not that excited. Probably because I've been completely jaded by all the bullshit process and countless number of hands touching everything that I just don't care anymore. I've learned so much about the homebuying process and about how this part of world works, and I hope that I will never have to go through this again, at least not in this godforsaken state that I live in.

Here's a tip for the first-time homebuyer: Don't trust people, period. If someone tells you they're going to do something, definitely without hesitation, get that bad boy in writing. For example, if your mortgage broker with whom your real estate agent says he "has clout" says that he's going to lock you down for a certain rate and you believe him because your real estate agent assures you that this guy doesn't dick around and give people surprises at closing, don't fricken take ANYBODY's word for anything. People are full of shit and don't care about other people. It drives me insane that people do business dishonestly and hope that people don't catch them or call them on it. Why don't people just be HONEST and try to CARE about people they are doing work for?

Also, make sure that you understand that a mortgage broker does not lend you money, they just find a bank to lend to you, they probably don't have control over what fees the bank will end up charging you. I think I knew this but I sort of ignored it because I thought the clout-man would take care of us. BUT I WAS COMPLETELY WRONG. Especially since people seem to think they can just go on vacation WITHOUT TELLING THEIR CLIENTS. I know I don't tell everyone in the world when I go on vacation, but if I'm in the middle of some sort of important project or transaction, OF COURSE I would send a note to important individuals who would probably benefit from knowing that I'm going to be away during a critical time where they might have questions or problems and need to talk to me. BECAUSE I CARE. Obviously, other people don't give a shit because they're too busy keeping it inside their colons by sticking their thumbs up their asses. THUMBS UP THEIR ASSES!!!! (that's from Office Space...great movie!)

Here's another tip: If you absolutely have to work through a lawyer because your stupid county requires it as such, make him work on your terms. For example, if the lawyer gives you some sort of contract that you have to sign that outlines the work that he will do for you and how much he is going to charge you, don't be afraid to append your own terms onto the contract. Lawyers do that shit all the time, why can't you? You are looking out for yourself (because no one else does, even though they tell you all the time). If you tell the lawyer in writing not to do any negotiations or have conversations with the other party without your consent, PUT IT IN WRITING. AND write down that any breach of contract would result in you not having to pay the lawyer the fee (or at least not the entire fee...we don't want to go overboard).

I don't get why lawyers are so damn expensive anyway. If I were getting that much money, I would at least take the time to be diligent about something and inform my client of everything and CARE. And I can't believe a lawyer would have the gall to say something to me like, "Sometimes I have to work late, if I'm really busy, I might be in the office until 6 or 6:30pm." OH POOR, POOR YOU! Did you know, jerkwad, sometimes I'm in the office until 8:30pm (and online even later after I get home), and sometimes I care enough about the people I support that I wake up at 5:30 in the morning to answer emails? And I don't even get paid overtime! If only I had the luxury of getting paid even half as much as lawyers do. And the difference is, I TRULY CARE ABOUT WHAT I DO AND THE PEOPLE I WORK FOR. But I guess in this world of corruption and greed, who cares if you care?

Also, if you're supposed to close at 9am in the morning and your walkthrough is scheduled to be at 8am the same day, and the lawyer's office didn't get your final settlement amounts that you have to get in the form of certified checks from a BANK to you until 6pm the day before...WHEN ARE YOU SUPPOSED TO GO TO THE BANK AND GET THE MONEY???????

If they know it already, why do they ask?

Filing taxes is one of those overly complicated processes that I really don't get. Every year when I file my own taxes, I wonder who in the government makes up these equations and processes and why is it that they can't figure this all out themselves? I don't know if I'm not like the majority of the country, but I don't have dependents, I don't do anything special with anything, I don't own any property (yet!), I don't fill out more than half of the blanks on the tax form, yet why is it still so complicated? (if you got the 1040 booklet, turn to the page where they talk about how to calculate your qualified dividends to see what sort of complicated i'm talking about...)

This year I decided to try e-filing. If you go to the IRS website, you can choose a free filing website to do your taxes. (I used Turbo Tax because everyone always talks about how great it is.)

There's an option on there where you can enter your employer's id number from your W2 and it will find your electronic W2 information directly from the payroll keeper, you don't have to enter in all that info (unfortunately it didn't work for mine, don't know why). But you can also ask it to lookup any interest or dividend income. If they can look all of this stuff up themselves, why do they even make me do anything? I guess it's more complicated if you own property or you're self-employed or whatever, but for the lame brain like me who has a very EZ form to fill out, why not make it easier? One click tax returns. That's all I'm asking. It also saves time and money for the government too, if they're in charge of it, there are less likely to be third party errors which result in auditing and sending nasty letters to you to make you correct your problems. Although maybe that's a little scary, to have the government in full control of your money. What if they don't fill it out exactly as you want it and they end up maximizing their return and not yours? Well, I guess someone will have to figure out what the best balance is.

I mean, I realized that while I saved 37 cents by not having to send out a paper form, I also lost some cents on my refund because they rounded to the nearest dollar. I wonder if the government has that program from "Office Space" installed somewhere so they're actually making a ton of money off of rounded off tax returns. That would be a ton of money. I guess they really ARE thinking up there in the government. That's pretty smart but shady. But why round anyway?