In the long litany of things that didn’t go according to plan, a small victory has emerged. Though I doubted the insurance adjuster’s intelligence and cursed him in my mind, the one thing I hadn’t counted on was the system actually working to my favor.
There was an offer on the house after 15 months. The home inspection found mold. Buyer walked and estimate for remediation was about 4 months living expenses. Homeowner’s insurance claimed to include mold coverage, but it looked shaky.
Twelve years of paying the premiums and doing my best to maintain the dwelling finally repaid me with coverage of said mold and then some; for the niggling repairs that it will take to say good-bye to home ownership. The Check is in the mail.
I have lived in 13 homes over the past 40+ years. I have owned 5. As a couple, (i.e. two-responsible-adults-in-case-one-fails,) four pieces of real estate bore my name. This one has always been just mine; the joy, the headaches and the scary moments of ice storms and generators. I shared it with daughters, dogs, cats and friends, but it was always my responsibility.
“Maybe it will miraculously be fixed the next time I try it. I’ll just give it a minute…”
This has been my mantra when things got wrong around the house. I have only enough knowledge to be dangerous when it comes to electricity or plumbing. Paint covers a lot of mistakes. If things get desperate enough I will call one of the long-suffering tradesmen who have bailed me out of nasty situations over the years. We catch up on mutual friends and talk about how fast kids grow as these kind souls do their best to patch up whatever has gone wrong. They give me a cash discount because that’s just what folks around here do for each other.
I think they are tolerant of my emergencies because they see me as an eccentric who pops up every few years and they just can’t believe I hang on alone. I almost want to throw a last house party and invite them all to say good-bye to the house with me.
Over time I have become amazingly frugal and self-sufficient. I’m not blowing my horn here. It has been a long lesson in financial responsibility and what it takes to make myself happy.
Where you get your mail is home. Today’s bundle of flyers, post cards and catalogs also included a missive to the buyers who backed out of owning this little piece of paradise. They went so far as to send in a change of address to AAA! I will put it back in the mailbox and marked it: RETURN TO SENDER – ADDRESS UNKNOWN!.
The Check was in the mail…
N.B. Comments are closed but thank you for including me in your day!
Therapeutic Misadventures 