You know the old saying “When it rains, it pours”? That’s how I have felt for the last few months, but ten-fold recently because literally and figuratively it was happening.
My basement had flooded for the first time and while dealing with all of that grossness, and I mean GROSS, I realized my hot water tank was producing anything but. I thought to myself oh sure, just keep dishing it out, I can take it; Covid-19, murder hornets, heavy rains and breaching rivers…just…whatever anymore, right?
I had heard that it’s not uncommon to lose your mechanicals in a situation like this, such as hot water tank, furnace and even appliances like washer and dryer, so I immediately assumed the worse, naturally.
A friend said the hot water tank may just need to dry out a bit and asked if I had “checked it”. I said, “Oh, the pilot light thing!” Re-reading my text I thought to myself come on Michelle, you know this. Get your head on and stop embarrassing yourself! So I hopped downstairs, sloshed over to my tank, sat down on the damp floor and read the teeny-tiny instructions. (Why isn’t something as important as safely relighting the pilot light on a hot water tank written in bigger text on this thing? I mean, there’s PLENTY of room on it.)
I got this. It’s probably pretty unlikely it will blow up, right?
Right??!
I turned the tiny knob, clicked a few times. Nothing.
Clicked a few more.
Nothing.
Great.
Either it’s broken or I am going to blow up.
Abort mission!
When I think about who to ask for help in these situations I often go with the least embarrassing. My family isn’t local. I can’t just call Dad over so I shoot a text to my handyman asking if he knew anything about hot water tanks and told him about my basement. He was over within a couple of hours. It took him all of one minute to light it. So much for least embarrassing. As he came up from the basement he said “It’s all good.”
Really?
Did I just actually catch a break? A real break?
He went on to explain how you have to click about a hundred times before it lights and I explained how I only clicked five times before worrying about the whole blowing-up-in-my-face-thing and getting out of dodge.
But it was this one other thing that he said that really stuck when we were chatting afterwards at my dining room table.
“I know how bad you want to take care of this house. It’s impressive, kid. You’re doing it.”
I’m doing it.
I’m doing it!
I needed that little boost. Words of encouragement. Aknowledgment, if you will. Motivation to keep going. To muster up and power through.
I really needed it.
As a real estate professional and an individual home owner, I will openly admit to the world that I was feeling discouraged. Like I said, the months leading up to this had been and still are VERY disheartening. I kept thinking, how am I going to get through this? How are any of us going to get through this? I’m pretty sure nearly everyone was thinking and feeling the same in some form or another, for one reason or another. But that statement gassed up my tank. Suddenly I felt proud. Empowered. Hell yes, I am doing this! And I’m kicking ass, too! (Technically it was kicking my ass, but not anymore!) I’m taking charge of this ship and we are forging ahead! I will not give up. Good will prevail!
Okay maybe there is a smidge of drama there but owning a home is hard work. No one should ever tell you it will be easy. It’s amazingly rewarding of course, but something will always need to be fixed. Something will leak. Something will need to be painted. Roof replaced, furnace serviced. Weeds pulled, grass mowed, shrubbery trimmed. And just when you figure one thing out, another challenge will present itself. Just when you think you’ve finally caught up, another problem will arise. When you finish one project, you’ll find the next. You’ll watch YouTube how-to videos, call friends, ask Mom or Dad for advice. You will learn. Why? Because it’s YOUR UNIVERSE and you need to defend your property against the enemies of destruction!
Slightly dramatic again, I know, but you get my drift.
So, what does that all even mean?
Well, it means taking care of your property so that it maintains or increases in value.
It means protecting your investment.
There will always be outside factors to take into consideration, but this is your home. Your home is an investment. It’s your biggest asset. You signed the papers, you pay the mortgage and one day you will sell your home and, if you have taken care of it and done the right things, you will likely walk away with a nice bit of proceeds; aka, money back at closing. Maybe that becomes a down payment for your next home or money that you reinvest in something else. One of the best things you can invest your money in is real estate. Like rental properties, the purchase of your home is an investment. Think of yourself as the landlord and the tenant all in one. When something breaks, you fix it for yourself or for you and your family. When the next thing breaks, you fix that, too. There may be times when you can do it yourself and there may be times when you need to ask for help. There may also be times when you feel like you can’t catch a break and you start to hear that old saying in your head “when it rains, it pours”, just like I did. You may even sit at your dining room table and have a good cry, just like I did. (Did I just admit that?) Well, you do that. Have that cry. Then, get yourself up, put your superhero cape on and GET TO IT.
This is your home.
Take care of it.
Protect your investment.
Trust that what you do now will put you in a better position later.
I repeat: what you do now will put you in a better position later.
You will never regret taking care of your home, I can promise you that.
The sun did eventually come out and it actually did dry up all the rain and while I’m still getting things back in order and trying to figure out if I will have anxiety every time it storms, (so far, yes) I can honestly sit here and say that it’s worth it. All of it. I defeated the enemy so that I can continue to create memories. I fought off the evil destruction of the rain so that I can share my home with family and friends. So that I can keep watching my daughter walk to friends houses from my front window. So that one day when I decided to sell my home and welcome the next person to begin creating their memories, I will have maintained or improved it’s value. I will have taken care of my home and thus taken care of myself.
You will, too.
It’s hard work.
It’s worth it.
Protect your investment.
