New Hotness

You know how when you buy a house there is always that sense that something is going to go wrong?  In that first five or six months, in the back of your mind there's just that little bit of an inkling that something is going to break.  Maybe it has to do with the fact that you just dropped your life's savings into this new house and you wonder what would happen if something went wrong.  No?  Just me?  Okay then.  Despite the feeling of grandeur in being a new homeowner, there should be that feeling.  That way you can prepare for it when it does eventually happen. 

When we did the home inspection, we did know that the appliances were a little on the old side.  They were all in the ten to fifteen year old range.  Things like the furnace, the air conditioner, the water heater.  All the big fun stuff that makes living in house comfortable.  The home inspector did say that some, if not all, would need to be replaced within five years.  Here's the thing though, when you hear that you might automatically think that you have that five years.  Not always the case.  Also, don't do that.  Be proactive about saving money for a bad situation.  

While we did not have anything go wrong in the first year of home ownership, we did have our first major issue last week.  We woke up to a pretty cold house.  This only happened one other time and it was right after we bought the house.  That was our 'what the hell are we going to do' moment.  Luckily, there was just a disruption of the gas supply to the house, and we were able to relight the furnace and hot water heater.  This time, we were not so lucky.  We called a local heating and air company and found out our furnace was shot.  While they were working on it, they made note that the air conditioner was about as old as the furnace was.  While this is definitely their job to try and make money for their business, it also can and will help us out.  In one fell swoop we had a new furnace and air conditioner.  

On the plus side, this is something that we should only have to do once.  Maybe twice if we live in the house for thirty or forty years.  And it adds to the value of the house.  All you have to do is try to find the positive to a situation that is kinda shitty and it can almost make you feel better about dropping a boat load of money you weren't prepared to drop.  If you look at it as a long term investment, you can almost feel better about the situation.  It's always difficult to think about it, but now that we know that at any moment something can break to the point where they cannot be fixed, we can start really look into setting aside money for that kind of situation.  Even if it is something like fifty dollars every pay period, that will build up over time.