Well, this is depressing. Last month, we featured the story of Jack Potter, a World War II veteran, who was being evicted from the Zaleski, Ohio house that he built with his own two hands, by his daughter, who had inexplicably signed the deed to his home over to herself when he granted her power of attorney years ago. Fortunately, “Grandpa Jack” received an incredible gift from countless strangers who donated more than $139,000 via a GoFundMe account that was set up by his granddaughter.
At the time, it seemed like the perfect story, as Potter had the money he needed to keep his own house, and just in time for his granddaughter to throw him a party for his 92nd birthday. Naturally, this all ended up being too good to be true, and it turns out that Potter’s daughter, Janice Cotrill, still has no intention of even letting him buy the home back.
A 92-year-old veteran will be evicted from the house he built after his daughter rejected an offer to buy the home for above market value.
An appraisal valued the home at $47,000 plus land worth $2,830 and an offer was made, ABCNews reported. Cottrill rejected the offer with a counter-offer of $85,000 plus legal fees.
A second offer of $60,005.23 was rejected outright, ABCNews reported siting court documents that state “They find the offer unacceptable and decline the same.” (Via Sun News Network)
So now Potter’s granddaughter, Jaclyn Fraley, is going to use the money to find a suitable alternative housing option for him, and she also vows to be completely transparent with the money now, just as she had before.
“He will be evicted,” Fraley said of her grandfather. “The judge has no choice. His hands are tied.”
There is a silver lining at least: The money raised through Go Fund Me will be enough for Potter to find a new house or help remodel his caretaker’s home so that he can move in there, Fraley said.
“Some people who donated were adamant that they didn’t want (Cottrill) to get the money anyway. They said, ‘Don’t give them this money. Go buy grandpa another house!’” Fraley added.
“We’re trying to move forward,” Fraley said, “and just hold our heads up high.” (Via the NY Daily News)
What the latest news also revealed that I hadn’t even realized before is that Potter was actually at one point the mayor of Zaleski. So to recap, Potter was a WWII vet who returned home and borrowed a power shovel and some tools from a friend to build his own house that he would live in for 56 years, while also serving as the mayor of his city, before it was (allegedly) stolen from him by his own daughter when he was critically ill, and now the daughter, who hasn’t even tried to defend herself to the media, has evicted him because he didn’t offer her enough money.