Yes, the company can sue you at anytime and will win, because you legitimately owe the money. When they win, they get a judgement against you and they can use that to put a lien on any other assets you have (house), clean out your bank accounts, or garnish your wages. You do want to settle with them before the court date, because after they've got a judgement you no longer have any leverage. But they usually take a while to get around to suing you, opting for collections agents harassing you first. Next time you talk to them, ask them what the deficit is (the difference between the $12K you owe and what they sold it for at auction). That's what they can sue you for and win. So there's the deficit balance, and then there are all sorts of "garbage" fees that they will have added on. Don't make baby payments at this point, as they'll just get swallowed up in the extra fees they keep adding, and it could be never ending. What you want to work out is a settlement where it's defined in time and amount. The best way to do this is as a lump sum. You save up 25-30% of the amount they say you owe, and offer it to them as settlement in full for the debt. Don't give them anything until you have it in writing that they'll take that amount as settlement in full. And don't give them a bank account number, as they'll electronically clean it out. Mail them a cashier's check or money order after you have the written settlement agreement. Until you have the money saved up to settle, don't have long conversations with them. Tell them "I don't have any money, I'll call you when I do" and hang up. But don't stick your head in the sand. It won't make it go away. You don't need a lawyer, you can do this yourself. And in the meantime, until you have a full time job, go make some income on your own. Clean houses, mow lawns, deliver pizza.

I grew up in Ann Arbor and believe I even know the house you're looking at! That looks like it's right next to the high school? If all is solid with the structure, I would not hesitate to make an offer on it. It's a wonderful area; if you have kids, do check into the schools in Saline to make sure they're what you want, and spend some time in the house during rush hours / school hours to gauge the traffic noise on Saline-A2 Road, to make sure it's not too much from the bedrooms etc. The great thing about no updates is that you don't have to undo bad work from the 70's, while retaining as much of the original structure as you like. The bad thing is that it's expensive to bring systems up to code. We just bought an old house in Maine and are spending quite a bit replacing the old knob&tube wiring (c. $12k) and ancient original boiler (c. $15k). But if you factor this into your offer, you will be good to go and have plenty of time to schedule the work before snow flies this fall. I grew up in a 1960's ranch but have lived in older houses my entire adult life: absolutely no comparison. As brickeyee says, we're sitting pretty while the cheaper materials on the newer homes are failing at a rapid rate. The best thing about old houses? Anything that can break can be repaired. This is not the case with McMansions and their scary vinyl windows, plastic doors, plastic trim, cheap drywall, hideous siding and manufactured flooring.

Burma/Myanmar has a huge army ... plus warplanes. Making forbidden aid drops (water, tarpaulins, mosquito netting, hammers, nails, etc.) by planes would have to be low ... and slow, to allow kicking a lot of stuff out quickly. Sitting ducks. Some have suggested pre-notifying the authorities, daring them to shoot the aid planes down. They could find that choosing to do so could be costly. It can't be a U.N. deal - for the generals are good buddies with the Chinese ... who own a veto on the Security Council. It's interesting that the Chinese are permitting much more foreign help than earlier for their earthquake disaster. One person who'd spent time in that part of China not long ago says that the people in that area were unhappy with the shoddy building of schools ... thousands of which fell apart ... killing thousands of kids. And that the people there were unenthused about China getting the Olympics ... for they were sure that there'd be even less support for needed development coming to their area than the meagre amount that they'd been getting, previously. ole joyful

Full disclosure: My husband and I have no children, but we know many people who struggle with situations similar to yours. It's unfortunate and he may or may not be a "good person", but the bottom line here is he's a loser! Toss him out on his arse, change the locks on your house - be sure your car(s) is/are locked and ignore any pleas for help. There's an excellent blog called LIVING STINGY and it addresses many issues and "basement living children" is one of them. It's ridiculous to constantly bail this kid out - he's got to learn that in real life there ARE no safety nets. I'm sure it'll be the toughest battle of your life, but you really have no choice - otherwise he'll nickel and dime you until you have NO money left and that is not acceptable, right? Good luck.