MasConcepts Incorporated

Hi all, I am so tired of not sleeping and being so anxious every day for the last two years. I haven’t posted for fear of being judged, but you all have given me the courage to finally do something. I am going to contact several lawyers tomorrow to set up consultations, but I wanted to ask in preparation for that call, how screwed we are. So, quick background, I am 52 and my husband is 57. In early 2022, we started a new business. We purchased land with a house on it, and the plan was to build out a large building we planned to use for our business, with a total cost of close to $310K. We had saved every dime from the sale of a business we owned for 7 years; we worked ourselves to death and did well. We paid a little over $400K down on the property and mortgaged the rest. We had an investment property we had planned to sell at the right time for our retirement, 15ish years down the road, and my husband had about $37K in 401K. So, after 6 months of research and planning, we hired a contractor we thought was legit, after checking them out as best we could. Turns out he wasn’t. He took a $240K deposit to do 70% of the build to add onto the business that we were adding onto to accommodate the contracts we were already selling. 3 months in, everything seemed ok, slow, but ok. There was a lot of bad weather, so it was easy to blame the weather for the delays. I talked to the contractor about building my mom a house on our property, which was kind of the plan all along, but we wanted to speed it up b/c she lived an hour away, and her health was starting to decline. He offered us a nice discount if we did the build and her house at the same time, he could save a lot on materials, etc., having the jobs so close. So, mom signed a contract with him and put her house up for sale. I paid the $90K deposit on mom’s behalf until the sale of her house went through and she would pay us back. So, if you haven’t already guessed, what idiots we were. Within the next 6 weeks, the contractor ghosted us. About a week after not being able to get in touch with him, I started fact-finding, only to figure out that he already had about $2 million plus in liens against him. I tried everything but ultimately knew we were screwed. Hindsight being 20/20, we should have thrown in the towel, we should have sold the property, repaid the deposits, and called it what it was, but my husband and I have always worked so hard, and we just knew we could outwork this problem. Not to mention, we had a 20-25% finished building sitting there incomplete, and we thought, if nothing else, to finish the build-out and sale then. To finish the building, we sold our investment property, my husband cashed out his 401 (k), invested most of our savings, and ultimately used a small inheritance his mom left him. My mom loaned $70K on top of the money the contractor took from her to finish the building and run the business as long as we were able. Of course, now she can’t live on her own, but has no money to buy a home even if she could. We thought several times we might see a good outcome, but in between, my mom had a stroke, then fell and had a terrible head injury that required two surgeries, my dad got really sick within the same year and had to come live with us, and then my husband’s mother developed a brain tumor that took her life within 4 months. It was just the two of us to deal with all of this together. To make this long story short, about a year later, once we had worked until our bodies were almost broken, our spirits beaten down, and scared to death of going into foreclosure, we listed the property, which, ultimately, thank God we did, but then it made the business come crashing down. We sold the property within the week, and closed 60 days later. We literally couldn’t pay our light bill when we closed. The clients who paid us deposits filed lawsuits against us in small claims court, rightfully so, for about $65K. (The money I owe my mom and the clients has been why I have wanted to leave this earth; the shame and guilt are unbearable.) After paying off the mortgage on the property, we had $350K left. All in all we lost close to $400K. In our part of the country, we were able to buy a 3 BR house that wasn’t falling apart, for the two of us and my two parents to live in. By this time, our credit was shot, and we just wanted to get my parents moved and settled and have a few weeks to breathe and figure it all out. We cannot take out a mortgage; our credit is shot, and we now have one judgment against us, with more coming. The clients didn’t just file against the business; they filed against us, my husband and I, by name. I don’t know if the judgments will ultimately force our house to be sold, but based on my research, it is very likely. I recently took a certification to become a phlebotomist and start my first job next week, working full-time at $18/hr. My husband started a small landscape business just mowing grass and has started to earn some money. So here we are, with a paid-for house and taking care of two elderly parents. No savings, credit ruined. I owe my mother $70K, I feel like I owe her more than that. The bad part is I can prove I owe her the money from bank records and a note we signed at the time, but I don’t know how the court will treat this. She never filed a lien, and I think it’s too late for her to do that now. We owe about $ 20K in credit card debt and other outstanding debt. I don’t know if filing bankruptcy is even an option, and I can’t imagine having to move my parents again; the expense and the hardship it will cause will keep us from working again. Not to mention finding a house that will accommodate their disabilities. I am so sick of being up all night with my heart pounding and seeing my husband turn into someone else b/c of the stress of not knowing. This is the first time I have posted or spoken about this at all; it’s just too much to deal with, to be honest. I don’t want to owe people money, I hate that I have hurt all these people and would do anything to make it right again, but at this point I can barely put one foot in front of the other out of fear. Any prayers and or advice would be appreciated.