365 days later

On the night of August 26, 2017 torrential rain pounded parts of Houston, and flooded our house and so many other houses around us.  It seems like the longest and shortest 365 days of life. 
After 10+ months of renovation and the house sitting on the market for upwards of 70 days  - we received an offer.  If was very close to our reduced asking price, so we accepted.  If felt too good to be true; I didn't want to jinx it, so I kept it quiet.   Just like everything in this process, getting to closing has been filled with its own set of challenges.  The buyer did a final walk-through yesterday and discovered that one of the drains in the master shower is clogged.  Our stellar Mr. Fix-it took at look today and the drain in full of hardened mortar - too tough of a job to handle without specialized equipment.    Instead of enjoying the morning of the first day of school with the kids and great collaboration with my co-worker tomorrow, I will be making a trip to Houston to see the plumber and try an take care of some outstanding paperwork that in itself could hold up closing. 
Tomorrow is day 366 and the story isn't over yet.

In case you were wondering.....

It has been nearly two months since I last posted!  If anything, this has proven to be a journey of patience.  Our house has been sitting on the market just shy of 60 days, and while we have had a lot of showings, we have had zero offers.  We've offered to pay closing costs, lowered the price, fine tuned the fine tune details (repainting, trim work tweaks, etc).  Prior to the house being finished, I felt (without a doubt) that the house was so beautiful that we were likely to get multiple / competing offers.  It is hear-breaking to be on the market this long.
Right now we are 11 months out from the flood.  11 months of two mortgage payments, electric, and water bills (our house in San Antonio and the house on Rocky Creek).  11 months of worry.  So we're at an impasse, or maybe not.  Maybe are not meant to sell this house yet.  In the beginning of the rehab it was our intention to keep the house as a rental, but as time wore on ( and we grew tired) selling won out.  When we first decided that we would sell I would get teary-eyed just talking about it - the house has incredible sentimental value.  We never planned to not have a rental house, we just thought we would sell the house in Houston and buy another rental house in San Antonio.  I am not sure if I am talking myself into things, but it actually makes since to not sell.  No commission to the broker, no closing cost on a new house, and we get to keep a house the has been totally re-done.
I don't think we have made a final decision, but I know which was I am leaning.....

Flip or let's hope it's not a flop....

In all the time that we were working on the house, I always felt that if we could just get it finished buyers(s) would see the house and fall in love.  I am always anxious when a situation is unknown, so I had butterflies about pricing the house.  However, I expected that we would at least have a lot of lookers.  Brokenheartedly, I report that we have had zero showings in six days.  If you are thinking that concern is premature, most houses in the area are selling in six days with a ton of showings in the interim. 
I am beyond super thankful for our real-estate agent - for the last sixteen years she has been really amazing.  She was our agent when we purchased the house in 2002 and she been there for the purchase and sell of our other house in Houston, all of land-lording adventures, and now as we sell this house.  She tweaked the listing hoping to show up in more searches and re-vamped the photos on the listing.  But my fear is that we are too high on price.   I am willing to be patient until Thursday - if we are still at zero showings we will have to seriously think about lowering the price. 
This feels like a bunch of first world problems, but it is heartbreaking none the less....

Channeling Tarek El Mousa

If you have ever watched HGTV's Flip or Flop,  at the end of every episode Tarek and Christina discuss price. Tarek talks about the comps and always lists higher, Christina always offers a halfhearted objection.
Pricing our house has been nerve wracking, and when I think of all the challenges we have faced I can't believe there is anything left to make me nervous.  Price too high will not get enough traffic, price too low we are leaving money on the table.
I hope that I will be able to look back on this and say we priced just right - but it is too early to tell as the house went live on the market this afternoon.  There are a handful of houses for sale in our neighborhood - prices are varied, some house are on the market for a few days and others a lot of days.  Ready to check it out? Click here  https://www.har.com/s/CA699079681E18

Much Love Home Depot Service Desk

Two weekends ago I picked up my last special order from the service desk at Home Depot.  These folks - I can't even imagine how busy they have been in the last (almost) eight-months.  In the days, weeks, and early months following the flood there were Home Depot employees from other stores (out of state) brought in to help the large influx of customers and supplies.  In the last two months it seems, to this outside observer, that their store has returned to "normal" - with the exception of the large number of front doors on clearance that crowd the entrance of the store.  Why so many doors?  Many of the homes in our immediate area are located in Galveston County which requires hurricane storm rated doors (something that people have learned after ordering a non storm rated door online for pick-up in store).  I have no idea the amount of over-time, sales, number of special order items that have come through this store since Harvey - I can only imagine that it is astronomical!
When I picked up my last special order item the folks at the service desk gave a little cheer.  I have come to know these folks well - especially Chrystal, Megan, Rhonni.  Chrystal was there the day that I picked up my order - she is super friendly and always has a smile.  I appreciate all of their help over these last months -  finding things that arrived but were mixed in with the hundreds of other special order items, locating a mounting bracket for the microwave even though we didn't purchase it at Home Depot, just listening as I talk through ideas / asking so many possible questions.  As much as I am going to  miss these guys, I am not going to miss these guys.

7 months and a day....

Like the lyrics of the Hall and Oats song, So Close,  we are sooooo close to finishing the house - but  the patience needed to see the project to the end is so far away.  It is no secret that we have had trouble finding tradesmen that can do quality work and/or that can show up the entirety of the project.  Dave and I have had many conversations with each-other about what we could have done differently at this point or that.  In reality I think it is just the two us Monday-morning quarterbacking the reality of putting our house back together.  Our next-door neighbors became so frustrated (with the same issue) they decided to go with "big box store" to finish out all of their larger projects.  While I was in Houston over spring break, they were scheduled to have "big box store" install their carpet - guess what?!  No one showed up!  I have to say that I was shocked.  While you are going to pay more at "big box store", I thought that the trade off would be reliability of install and warranty afterwards.  On my list of things to do this weekend is to visit with them and find out what happened.  It will have been two weeks by the time I see them and I am just hoping that they have flooring.
On the docket for this weekend - possible inspection by the mortgage company (they are still holding a nice chunk of our insurance money) but we can not get the inspector to confirm the time of the appointment ( I couldn't make up this nonsense even if tried),  maybe the shower in the master bath will be finished, possible install of the vanities in the master bath.  Well that seems really definitive.
The yard (re-sodding and tree trimming) work is scheduled for April 10th, so in the back of my mind that is the schedule that I am working backwards from - the yard should be the last thing and the house will be FINISHED!

Here is a sneak peak of the end result:

It is spring, but not a break

Tuesday = day 4 in Houston
Spring break = pushing to finish the house

Sometimes it feels like the house will be finished any hot minute, and then I start running through the small details and I talk myself into an anticipated July 1st finish date.
This week is probably the most time (consecutively) that I have spent in Houston in 9 years - that seems crazy.  I have been staying at the house; the first time I have stayed there in 12 years!
While I am thoroughly enjoying my trip down memory lane, I know that regular life will pick back up next week when school starts back up for the home stretch to summer.

This week's tasks / accomplishments are small and time consuming; but the house really feels like it is coming back together as long as I steer clear of the master bathroom.  The walk-in shower is in partial demo and fingers crossed it will be finished before I go home (more like I can't go home until it is finished).  Items I have checked off the list in the last 4 days: repaint all of the base boards (whole house), touch up paint (whole house), repaint and install all vent covers, finish out all switch plates, argue with Home Depot (yes I need both parts of the special order toilet).  I am aiming to have 5 light fixtures / fans installed, blinds measured / cut / start install,  and finish cleaning the house.  Wondering what still needs to be done?  The whole yard (omg), replace the water heater ($$$), pressure wash the exterior of the house / patio / driveway, install vanities in the master bath, install one special order (size) toilet, locate a two-panel 18" inch door, have the carpet on the stairs installed, and a partridge in a pear tree.

Going the Distance

When the house first flooded (six months ago), I would have never dreamed that we would still be working on it in March.  In all the frustration of getting work done, one of the biggest challenges is time management.  We have our regular life in San Antonio- filled with kids' activities, demands of our jobs, finding time to clean house / do laundry / go to the grocery store.  But we are not really in a routine because we are on-demand chasing down supplies, making day and weekend trips to Houston, balancing watching the kids (taking turns going to Houston), and Dave working as much overtime as possible since we have been paying two mortgages all of this time .  We don't have regular weekends and the girls didn't play spring soccer. 
The drive from our house in San Antonio to Katy is two hours thirty-five minutes (if I am driving / #davedrivesslow), but the additional time it takes to get from Katy to Clear Lake turns the trip into three hours and forty-five minutes. Since the house flooded we have made about 24 trips (I think I counted them all, but knows), that's more than 11,500 miles (our poor cars)!
In the back of my mind I have a small running list of things I am looking forward to doing once the house is off of our plate: finally being able to buy a new phone (pardon the quality of my photos), taking a vacation (spending time with the kids that doesn't include DIY projects), and not being so tired all of the time.

Not all gloom

While the floor has been stressful / time consuming / disaster, there has been positive progress - counter tops were installed in early December.   We went with Silestone and they did not disappoint!   I love the color scheme in this house - probably because I picked out everything.  We were able to re-use the upper cabinets (money saver) and to create a consistent look in the kitchen we purchased unfinished lower cabibnets and painted everything gray.  All of the hardware (cabinet pulls, door knobs, faucets) are rubbed bronze.   Also, I am obsessed with the copper sink (right corner of the picture). 

Full Disclosure

What began as gang-buster success in repairs turned into chaos in November.  The floor (wood-look tile) seemed to stall in installation - for weeks it was nothing but excuses.  Leading up to the week of Thanksgiving we had reassurances the next time we got to the house the floor would be done; 100%.   We came on the Monday of  Thanksgiving week and not only was the floor not finished, there were a lot of workers at the house and no Contractor Brian to be found. We ended up staying in Houston for only two days as there was nothing we could do (install blinds, light fixtures, etc.) until the floor was done. It was absolutely heartbreaking - but it only got worse.
Sometime in the week following Thanksgiving the tile install was finished and grouted.  Unfortunately, the grout was left on the tile for three days.  Grouting a floor is laying tile 101 - wipe grout on and 15ish minutes later wipe grout off.  Leaving the grout on for three days caused damage to the floor that we are still dealing with.   The short version is that Contractor Brian was able to get the grout off of the floor.  At that point in time he disclosed that he had subcontracted the floor but was back on the job himself to make everything right - we thought the worst was behind us. 
The second week of December we indeed had a finished floor, but finished didn't mean right.  It was the first time was had seen the house empty of workers, and tools, and supplies - there were areas of the floor that were completely uneven.  The first area I noticed was in the living room and Contractor Brian assured us that the floor would be fixed - that was December 11th,  the day I wrote the previous entry on the blog.  When I came back to  the house a few days later I found about 250 sq feet of floor had been removed to be fixed - there were piles of broken tiles everywhere.  To add insult to injury a small portion of tile had been re-laid and it looked just as bad as before.  That's right, the floor had been installed wrong, removed, installed wrong again. Contractor Brian had been a life line and great worker in the beginning, but by this end he had scammed us of time and money. 

Even now it feels like such a betrayal.  You hear stories of people being taken advantage of and wonder how it happens - this is how it happened to us. I have had many a theory as to went wrong, and while I don't want to speculate, I will tell you how it ends.  I went to the house on Thursday December 21st unannounced.  No-one working.  It was for the best as I had several folks coming in to bid on fixing the floor / finish the tile in the shower and kitchen back-splash.  I called Brian that Thursday at 11 am to tell him we were letting him go - he was asleep and his wife had to wake him to take my call. 


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No-one said it would be easy

I wrote the post below on December 11th and I didn't share it at the time.  Other things have unfolded since I wrote this on the 11th,  and I will share tomorrow as we will have some definitive answers.  Please say a prayer, think positive thoughts, send us good energy - we need it.

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For all the struggles that we have had, the progress on the house was continuous until 30ish days ago.  It's tough to even write this post - so many of the challenges in this process have been completely out of our hands (insurance / mortgage company), but the progress on the house is something that we can affect.  Right now things are at a stand-still, if not negative progress.  How did this happen?  My speculation is that our contractor started picking up other jobs hoping to do our house concurrently.  Unfortunately for us that translated to the install of the floor
1. taking more than 45 days
2. installed hastily and parts of it are now having to be re-done
Like so many times we have a promise of completion (this Saturday), but I think I will be more surprised if it were finished than not.

Run, Don't Walk

Maybe I should have titled this, Keeping Them Honest - 4th Edition.  Today I received a letter in the mail from the mortgage company informing us that, according to their records, we have let our Windstorm Insurance expire.  Furthermore, they will be purchasing a policy on our behalf that is  "significantly more expensive than insurance you can buy yourself" - word for word in the letter.  It should come as a surprise to no-one that our Windstorm Insurance did not expire; in fact, I went to the insurance agency in person to pay so that I would have all of my documentation just in case there were any issues.  So, what does the mortgage company have do gain (other than up-charging us on an insurance policy)?  They are still holding a chunk of our insurance money and one of their guidelines states that they will send us disbursements of insurance money as long as our account is in good standing.  Pretty convenient for them that they "don't have" our Windstorm renewal - sounds a lot like them trying to create an issue.
In case you have read every blog post, our mortgage company is Mr. Cooper (formerly NationStar).  I can't wait until the house is finished and we can get away from this mortgage company that owns both the loan for Rocky Creek and the loan for the house we live in.  If you have them too, run to your nearest credit union and re-finance!

Flip or Flop

While many families are working to get their house in a "livable" condition so they can work on repairing damage while living in the house, some houses are starting to enter the housing market as "investment opportunities".  By investment opportunities the seller means that the house was flooded, gutted, and now on the market. Now that "flipping" is a thing, I think that many of these houses will be picked up by investors.  Seems like a win-win; home owner is able to liquidate a house they can not repair and an investor has an opportunity to flip a house a good price.
My concern post-flood has always been houses that were not gutted / fully gutted because folks felt that some things were salvageable / would dry out / were not damaged.
When we gutted our house, just 6 days after the flood, mold had already begun to grow - under cabinets, on plywood behind walls.  When we cut open the walls the insulation was as wet as the day the house flooded.  Everything has to come out.  Cabinets, showers (drywall and insulation behind them is wet), doors (warped from the water).  Everything.

The picture below is of a house around the corner from ours currently listed for-sale. While the drywall has been cut out, cabinets still in, shower in place, appliances and doors, etc.  It makes for a scary housing market.  As a buyer folks may unknowingly purchase a house like this post-flip that has not be properly gutted.   I worry about the effects of this now and down the road - if houses in the neighborhood develop toxic mold surely that could impact property values and buyer confidence.

Keeping Them Honest - Edition 3

This past Saturday we had the first inspection as required by the mortgage company.  Leading up to the inspection I read up on what to expect:

• inspector will come with complete insurance adjuster's work sheet
• inspector will thoroughly examine the work done
• inspector will check off items completed from the insurance adjuster' work sheet and the completion rate will be determined by the items complete vs. items outstanding

Here is what actually happened:

• inspector was 30 minutes late arriving, Dave is convinced the inspector had forgotten about the  appointment
• inspector arrives without any paperwork specific to our house
• inspector asks me, and I quote, "what all has to be done when a house floods"  ~ that was a sincere question on his behalf
• inspector walks through the house snaps a handful of photos, asks me for my estimate (percentage) of how much of the work has been complete
• inspector fills out generic form, lets me take a picture of it and then leaves

I couldn't make up a stranger scenario if I wanted to.  These inspections determine how much money we have access to and when we have access to it.  My assumption, based on the experience, is that the inspector had never seen a flooded house before, ever.  He seemed to have no appreciation for the amount of work that had occurred - every person that has been through (companies providing work and estimates) are always fast to say that we are further along than any other house they have seen post flood.  While the inspector was there I asked him (multiple times) if he wanted to see photos  and/videos documenting the progression of work that has happened.  He was totally uninterested. At the end of the appointment has asks, "So if you had to estimate, how much of the work is complete?"  Well that seems accurate.?.?  Glad that the mortgage company charges us for the inspection - if they wanted my opinion on the percentage of work complete they could have just asked me over the phone.

77 days post flood

The saying, "it is a marathon not a sprint" is a perfect for the work that is happening at the house.  Although work is continuous, my heart sank a little bit this weekend because I realized that we are not as close to the home stretch as I had hoped / thought / wanted.  Dave and I are both off the week of Thanksgiving, so I saw that as a time we would come in and "finish up".  The reality is there are still big things to be done - for example: we don't have a working bathroom in the house yet.  And then there is the yard.  Insert cry face emoji here.
On a joyful note, really great things happened around us when we were there this weekend.  Next door neighbor was helping across the street neighbor change out a water pump on a truck, other next door neighbor was mowing his yard, and kids could be heard playing outside.  It was the first time things seemed "normal" since the flood. 

The Mortgage Company Is Not a Friend

When I first decided to blog about the repair of our house, I thought it would be about design, colors, materials, etc.  But, the blog has become more about the challenges that are out there as we are trying to put our house back together.  Harvey is not always in the news, and it would be easy to feel like the city is back on its feet.  However, there are obstacles at every turn.
I am constantly reminding myself that others have it much worse than we do - without insurance, living in house that needs repair, staying with family / friends / in a hotel.  With all of that said, last week was rough.
The mortgage company is holding our insurance money hostage - for example: two of the documents that we sent in on October 24th (day they arrived in the mortgage company's hands), well they now need to be notarized.  Did it say that in our information packet? No.  Is there a designated spot for the notary? No.  It is just another "reason" why they are holding our money and have yet to issue our first check. And it is not just these forms, they reject about 50% of what I turn in (paperwork and receipts).
You might be thinking, "Your mortgage company is terrible and you should get a new one."  That question led me to do some research.  When we financed this house it was not with NationStar, now known as Mr. Cooper.  Mr. Cooper is a company that purchased the loan after closing.  This is common practice in the lending world of big banks, and if you purchased your home via a big lender this has likely happened to you.  As a borrower you have no say in who (company) can purchase or service your loan.  What!?  While consumers are protected by the original terms of the loan, the company that purchases / services your loan may be terrible in the customer service area (think the house bubble that burst in 2008 and all of the foreclosure mis-happs that followed) and the borrower has little recourse. So I did a little more research - you know who doesn't usually sell the servicing of mortgages?  Credit Unions.  If you have been looking for a call to action, this is something you may want to consider.  After the dust settles, we will be refinancing with our Credit Union!

Keeping them honest - edition 2

It has been 14 days since we received our insurance money (in full).  The mortgage company requires that mortgagees sign over insurance checks to them in their entirety so they can govern the repairs - why is the mortgage company doing this?  They say it is per recommendation of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (because I am sure that Elizabeth Warren thinks a big bank handling your insurance money is a good idea - insert eye roll here). 
It has been 64 days since our house flooded, and the mortgage is holding our money hostage for the foreseeable future.  How long is that foreseeable future?  Here is a best-case scenario:

October 18th- Sent the check to the mortgage company via FedEx
October 19th - Request put in for an inspection (see previous blog post)
October 24th -  Mortgage company sent the check to their bank
October 27th - Second request for inspection put in; no record of the first request even though I was able to provide the name of the agent that I talked to.  Someone will call me back regarding that (I'll hold my breath).
By Tuesday October 30th - inspector will contact us to schedule first inspection
By Wednesday November 1st - funds will be available and a request can be put it to send us our first payment (1/3 amount of the check)
By Monday November 6th  - request will be approved and a check cut
By Thursday  November 9th check will be mailed (currently we have spent about 2/3 of the check via our own cash and credit)
By Tuesday November 14th - receive our first check

Tuesday November 14th is 80 days past the flood and 28 days past the receipt of the check from the insurance company. And, that is the process for the first of three checks. #neverthelessshepersisted

Not so fast.....

It is easy to hit a brick wall mentally when dealing with large corporations that see you as an account  / claim number rather than a person.  50 days after the flood we received payment from the insurance company.  Before you cheer, the check is made out to us and the mortgage company.  If you have never dealt with a mortgage company in this capacity (loss coverage), I sincerely hope that you never have to. So what happens now?  The mortgage company requires us to endorse the check for the entire claim amount and give it to them.  They hold the funds and provide us payments in thirds: 1/3 paid in 7-10 business days, 1/3 paid at 50% completion after inspection that they arrange and we pay for, and the final 1/3 at 100% of work completion after the last inspection that we again pay for. They dictate all of the terms and reserve the right to with-hold payment to us based on receipts and/or inspections.  If you have been following the blog, you know that we are pretty far down the path of repairs having spent spent money and credit to bank roll the process this far.   The first allotment of money the mortgage company provides may not even cover the amount we have spent thus far!  While I can appreciate the mortgage company's desire to make sure the house is repaired, it seems very unfair that they hold all of the money for a policy that we paid for, though were not required to have.  Here is to keeping the mortgage company honest - the loan is held by Mr. Cooper, formerly NationStar Mortgage.  Expect me to report the ups and downs in the process.  Fingers cross for more ups.

Every call gets a different answer....

Insurance companies are in the business of paying out claims when disasters strike, so I'm semi-surprised at the lack of continuity in service.  One lesson I have learned in all of this - keep calling back until you get some sort of answer.   The Final Report is the last requirement for a claim to be paid and was turned into the Insurance Company on the 20th of September.  Yesterday I called to check on the status of our claim payment.  Below are the broad strokes of my conversations; these phone calls took a collective of 56 minutes.

Claims Company: Everything has been submitted from our end.  Follow up with the insurance company.

Insurance Company:  We are missing the Proof of Loss report.  Follow up with the adjuster / claims company.

Claims Company:  Proof of Loss report was submitted on the 19th of September.  Follow up with the Insurance Company.

Insurance Company:  Let me transfer you to tier 4 support, "disconnected".

Insurance Company: Let me transfer you to a claims processor. I was able to speak with our claims processor who had not seen our file before my phone call, nor did he have it on his list.  After a brief discussion he promised to call me back before 8pm CST with an update.  Never received a call back.

A house becomes a home.

In honor of Paige's 14th birthday, today October 1st.  Rocky Creek was just a house before she was born.  She fills our life with love and laughter - that makes a home.