Design on a Dime

The excitement of updating our first house is almost enough to make me want to move back in.  When thinking about the finishes I want to make sure the house looks like 2017, with-out being too trendy.  My biggest conflict to date: kitchen cabinets.  In the estimate from the insurance company they are going to give us what you would expect for 15 year old cabinets and used laminate counter-tops (read: not a lot).  While this is our first home, it is not our dream home / forever home / home we live in. So, we need to be budget conscience.  That is hard to do when you are in-store mesmerized by the fancy drawers, cabinets that lift open, lazy-susans, built-in organizers for, well, everything.  Ideally, we will purchase unfinished identical versions of the cabinets we ripped out (available at Home Depot) and re-use the upper cabinets.  To bring the cabinets into 2017 we are going with a gray finish, Silestone counter-tops (in white arabesque), and brown wood-look tile on the floor (this will continue through out the house). You may be thinking, well it looks like you have this all figured out....  Actually I am having a super hard time finding someone that can reface cabinets.  How hard of a time?  I am pretty resourceful and my current mood is:  For the love - someone please refinish our cabinets!  Headed to Houston tomorrow.  Wish me luck.

Buyer Beware

I've had this video for almost two weeks, and I would have forgotten about it if not for a Facebook post from a friend.  One of the things that we noticed right after the flood happened, when all of the interior contents of homes first made their way out to front lawns, were scavengers.  Folks driving around in pick-up trucks, some towing flatbeds behind them, looking for furniture of all types.  Things that looked good were quickly picked up.  So here was the scene: home-owners placing furniture / clothing / appliances on their front lawn (everything they own) because it came into contact with flood water.  Dirty flood water.  Flood water that had gasoline, oil, raw sewage, etc. in it.  To add insult to injury, the home-owners that lost everything were forced to watch or confront folks that were digging through and taking their personal belongings.
After seeing this happen over the course of several days, Dave and I half-heatedly discussed the advice of not buying furniture anywhere in Texas that wasn't a reputable store for fear these items that were physically in the flood water were going to be resold  via garage sales, online platforms, re-sale shops, etc.
Que the video:  this was captured at our house in San Antonio about two weeks after the flood.  The driver says he is from "North Carolina" with "new furniture" in the truck at wholesale prices.  #buyerbeware

Day 24

It has been 24 days since the house flooded and it is easy to feel removed from what is happening in the neighborhoods that suffered damage from Harvey.  If you are in an area that wasn't flooded or in another city (like us), things are uninterrupted. But for those that were flooded, Harvey damage is in full effect. In our neighborhood the city / county has begun removing the debris piled in front yards - we still have a huge pile, but I am hopeful that it may be gone by the end of the week.  While it seems like a small victory, I hope that the folks that live in the neighborhood feel hopeful when driving through sans looking at mini-mountains of trash.  Plus, those piles smell terrible!
Last night I was thinking about all of the families around our house that are displaced.  Where are they staying? With family? friends? shelters? hotels?  24 days since they have been able to stay at home; how many of them have no idea when they will be able to return?  To say this has been eating away at me is an understatement.  What if my family were displaced?  Dave, Paige, Peyton, Presley, Molly (dog), and me - staying with family, friends, in a shelter, a hotel, an apartment......  My kids (like most kids) need routines and structures and normalcy.  How would the girls cope? act out? feel?  To help myself try and process some of this I started reading 7: An Expiremental Mutiny Against Excess, by Jen Hatmaker.  Let me preface by saying I love Jen Hatmaker; pretty sure we are best friends that have never met.  If you are unfamiliar with her writing she is conversational, funny, real.  7 is her journey over seven months, each month she rails against an excess in her life: clothes, food, possessions - I am currently on chapter / month 4: Social Media.   I am still struggling, but I am also processing.  What is my call to action? 

#firstworldproblems

It seems ungrateful to complain or talk about issues with the insurance company when there are so many folks that have no insurance - I can't even imagine the processes and waiting times and uncertainties and frustrations and despair.
However, we are nearing the two week mark since our adjuster came to the house and we haven't seen any paperwork - no estimates, no working proposals, no advancement of funds to get started.  I am sure that the work load for the adjusters is large, and growing larger with the flooding and wildfire damage happening in Florida and the Northwest. But, this is the nature of their work.  It seems easy to give the insurance company a pass, but I don't think we should. 
What is the remedy?  I am not sure.  Patience.? Persistence.?
Here is a summary of the phone conversations I have had today:
Call #1 - claims company: no record of cash advancement request.  let me transfer you.  "disconnected"
Call #2 - claims company: wait to do any repairs, claims report is there but the evaluation of the report not complete.
Call #3: - insurance company:  cash advancement form has been received, but not authorized (in the que).  you can request a preliminary report by email request, or more quickly by contacting the claims company. once you receive the money advance start repairs.
Call #4 - claims company:  there are currently 43,000 claims.  preliminary reports are not made available for view.  final reports can take 45 days, sometimes longer when there are a high number of claims.

We're in a catch 22.  We have someone ready and willing to do the work, but we don't have the insurance estimate (even preliminary) outlining what they are going to cover.  Do we move forward?  To the folks working the customer service lines:  While you take calls and see tragedies all day long - here is hoping that compassion is not lost and that claims aren't just numbers, but rather people.

Houston, there is a problem.....

Deregulation of utilities......  I didn't realize how much I disliked this until I moved to San Antonio where electricity is public utility company that belongs to the city.
I called to get the power connected at Rocky Creek and here is what I found: when I called NRG and Green Mountain I am 99% certain the calls went to the same call center - same voice greeting, same menu options, same notifications, etc.  What!?  Add in the amount of time I spent calling around to get the "best rate", and I found myself wondering why?!  Electricity is a part of every household across the city, state, country.  Why would this first-world necessity be a price driven commodity?  Signing annual contracts, shopping around, wondering if you have the best rate - for a service that is required?  Then there is the issue of ownership.  For our house Texas New Mexico own the meter and lines, NRG own the power, and another company is a re-seller???  I am not even sure I have that straight. 
In San Antonio, the utility company is owned by the public.  This allows the company to invest in energy saving initiatives, community rebate programs for energy efficiency, and if I have any questions about my electricity I can get all of my answers in one spot.  What is the cost?  Less than I am paying in Houston.

Houston:
NRG - .14 cents per kilowatt hour
Green Mountain - .09 cents account

San Antonio:
CPS Energy - .06 cents per kilowatt hour

To sell or not to sell, that is the question.

Logically it makes the most sense for us to rehab the house, and then sell it.  However, that is a cut and dry answer to a complicated question.  What will happen to the housing market?  Even if we update the house to look like something off of HGTV, will people have reservations about buying a house that was flooded?  Will it be a landlord's market?   Will I be completely broken hearted to let this house go?
I am not sure that we will know the answer to this question until the house is finished.  My hope is that the market for selling will be very high or very low - essentially making the decision for us.
This week work on repairs will begin!!!  What will that really look like? Well,  it will definitely be a marathon and not a sprint (that may be my new favorite catch-phrase).  First, prepping the house for repairs.  The demo work that we did focused on opening up the walls and removing insulation for drying purposes.  The prepping that will happen includes:
- creating clean drywall lines to make it easier to replace, patch, float, and tape
- removing the tile still on the floor so that we can install a consistent flooring throughout the house
- identifying the drywall and insulation that will be used
- replacing any plywood that may have been too saturated with water.

It's really not a competition

I think it is therapeutic to chronicle the re-build of our first house-  the house is part of our family. I think that many of us that no longer live in the Houston area have felt the heaviest of hearts as we watch (via social media) those who still live in our hometown salvaging their homes and belongings. Which brings me to the picture - this is Philipsburg, Montana and Dave's home town. Currently there are 25+ fires burning in Montana, and this is the Meyers fire burning 25 miles away from one of the best small towns still around.  Whether it is a flood in Texas or a fire in Montana - the Winninghoffs really aren't interested in a competition of the worst natural disaster.

Treat others how you want to be treated.

Monday was the first day I ugly cried about the house.  I did not cry for our loss, but because I felt guilty.  Guilty that we have insurance that is going to cover the repairs that need to be made in a rental home that we don't live in,  and meanwhile everyone around us is wondering where they will be sleeping next week.
Many people are making FEMA claims and waiting.  FEMA is expecting ~450,000 claims from Harvey alone. If you divide the 13 billion dollar FEMA budget by 450,000 claims it works out to about $28,000 per claim.  But Harvey is not the only disaster happening right now, or this year- see the lesser covered natural disaster occuring right now in Montana (wild fire).  I can't imagine having to rip out everything (drywall, flooring, appliances - at a minimum) and repairing it (materials and labor), replace furniture, clothes, emergancy shelter, etc for $28,000.  What do I think is going to happen? Loans.  I think people are going to "offered" loans to cover costs.  Imagine: you are working hard to support your family and then you are told that only option to save your home - likely your single biggest assesst, is to take a loan that you may not be able to afford.  I hope I am wrong.  We are better than this.  Did I mention someone already called us about a loan?????
The amount of goodness that I saw while in Houston restores my hope in humanity and our country. It was people caring about and for other people. Period.

No where to start but from the beginning.

It is Sunday night at 11 pm.  We have two days of demo under our belt, but there are still many things to do tomorrow- along with a drive back to San Anotonio.  Being here at one of the many ground zeros that  hurricane Harvey created - it is  a separate world and disconnected from current events, what day of the week it is, politics.  People here are still waiting to go back to work, kids still have not gone back to / started the school year.  While many are aching for the normalcy that those things bring, real normalcy seems a long way off.  When Dave and I drove into the Houston area via the interstate, the city looked deceivingly good.  It wasn't until we got off the interstate that we saw street after street of houses with a majority of their interior contents on their front-yards.  When we finally made it to our house it was difficult to find a parking spot - it seemed every house had family, friends, and sometimes strangers there helping.  But, the amount of work to be done is personally the most I have every seen in real life.  Whether a house had 6 inches of water or 16 inches water, the enemy is mold.  Drywall? Out. Flooring? Out. Cabinets? Out. Bathroom vanities? Out.  Interior doors? Out.  Built in shelves? Out.  Whether these items were in water that was 6 inches deep or 16 inches deep, it comes out.  But the real heartbreaker: I have yet to meet anyone else in my neighborhood that has flood insurance.   And that lack of insurance is not local to the Bay Colony Pointe subdivision - it is estimated that 85% of folks do not have coverage. 85%!  I visited with many neighbors the last two days, each with a different story that has the same outcome.

The house on our left is a family that has lived in the home for 10 years.  This summer they repainted the interior of their home and upgraded the floor.  Now a majority of that work and dollars spent is sitting outside in the yard.
The house on the right is a young couple; this is their first house and they closed on it in May .  They didn't have shovels to scoop up drywall because they are so new to home ownership, they did not have a bank of tools built up in the garage.
What they, the folks across the street, further down the road, around the corner have in common is a lack flood insurance.  No idea what their next steps are, how long FEMA will take, or what relief will come.  Wondering what you can do to help?  These folks need dollars!  Dollars to rebuild.  While we were working on our house, people came through our neighborhood passing out free hot meals, trashbags, wipes, pillows- just to name a few.  In a few weeks Harvey may be out of the spotlight, but these folks will still be waiting on FEMA.