Mortgage Monday: And Then That Happened…

Last week, in the early afternoon, I was in the middle of a project at the office. The deadline wasn’t until the end of the day and I was looking forward to taking care of a few other things before leaving the office that evening. After my phone had vibrated for the fourth or fifth time I found a good paragraph after which I could take a quick break and read the messages. I knew that they had to be from my wife but I had no idea what she was writing to me about.

Well, it could have been worse but it also could have been so much better. It turns out that the air conditioning, a project still lingering in the middle of our to-do list, decided to stop working in the middle of the day. And, of course, it was one of the hottest days of the year. That short break from the project I was working on was no longer a short break as I had to make half a dozen phone calls before a “solution could be found”.

Between the calls with my wife to get some additional details, texting my brother in law (this is what he does for a living), calling and emailing the home warranty company (the AC is covered under our policy), and finally trying to get a hold of the referred service company, all that time that I once had quickly went up in steam. Thankfully, I had gotten enough written before the chaos and I was able to get the project completed by the time I left the office (which was a little earlier than usual so I could meet the repair person when he arrived at the house). Driving home, I was expecting the worst as the half sized unit had been struggling lately.

I arrived at the house just as the service window was opening. Not surprising was the fact that it was another two hours before the technician pulled into the driveway. Almost immediately he began making comments on the small AC unit tucked away behind the garage. What did provide us with a rather pleasant surprise was the fact that it was a relatively simple solution to our problem with a loose wire (likely due to the constant usage) being the culprit. Thankfully, the air conditioning was restored quickly allowing for the house to cool a little before we put our son to bed.

Of course, this little hiccup has really put our renovation list in focus as the overhaul needs to be completed in the near future as I doubt that the next stoppage will be remedied so easily. We really are just waiting for the next time at this point and hoping that it holds off just a little longer until we can budget for the replacement system. But, for now, we are just going to enjoy the cool air for as long as it lasts.

Less Than Some, More Than Others

Having paid closer attention to the number of miles that I accumulate over the year, it is a bit staggering to think about all of the driving that I have done over the past year. Given recent circumstances, it is difficult to determine a truly accurate number but I still have a good sense about how many miles I can expect to put on the new car. This is especially true given the fact that I have already tallied about 2,500 miles over the first nearly three weeks since I picked it up. Of course, that includes some of the usual trips just to get acquainted with the car during the first week.

For someone who used to put 10,000 miles or less on a car annually, the numbers are pretty surprising when I sit down and calculate my travel from the past year. Just between the miles that I put on the Jeep (22,500/ 9 months) and those that I have put on the Mercedes to this point (2,500 / 3 weeks), I can already expect to see approximately 25,000 miles annually. Add in the miles that I put on the rental cars over the month and a half of use (3,000) and the additional miles that we put on my wife’s car over the past year during family trips and while driving the rentals (4,000) and the total miles over this past year jumps up to 32,000. Yes, this pretty much ensures that I will be replacing my car every three years to keep from driving beyond the warranty.

To put that total in perspective, I drive enough miles annually to travel around the Earth along the equator (24,900 miles), complete a cross country trip across the United States and back (2,800 miles each way), and I would still have 1,500 miles remaining in case I wanted to take a detour to two. Of course, that adventure would be much more interesting than the vast majority of the miles that I have driven this past year as the bulk of my total (over 25,000 miles) consists of my daily commute to and from the office during the week. Especially given recent events, this is not a fun nor interesting part of my year behind the wheel.

In fact, I remember more about those other 7,000 miles than I do about my time commuting. In addition to the 2,500 miles that we put on my wife’s car exploring Virginia last summer, we also put some miles behind us driving over the Pittsburgh, Hershey, and a few day trips here and there. It was also enjoyable (and highly annoying) driving up, down, and across different streets during our prolonged home search. I would like to experience more miles exploring this year. Not as many as a couple of years ago when we traveled all over the Commonwealth (and then some) but somewhere in the middle. Of course, it helps that our son enjoys exploring new places and doesn’t mind (too much) being on the road.

Mortgage Monday: Where’s The Warranty?

Over the course of the past several months since we purchased our home, there have been a few things here and there that we have found that need replacing. Nothing major at this point but all items that we are trying to address in as timely a manner as we can manage at this point. Of course, there is also a process that we must follow when assessing each of these minor issues the first step is to assess our home warranty to see if any of these items are covered. This, as should be a surprise to no one, involves scanning a lot of fine print and numerous phone calls to clarify the coverage of some items.

The first issue that we encountered shortly after moving in was the self-destruction of our garage door… no one told us it was made by Mission Impossible Brands. It was a simple matter of a single bolt coming loose but it was enough to grenade the door. And, of course, it is something not covered under the warranty. So it remains one of the small but annoying items on our list of things that we need to address in the coming months.

It is the little things such as this that just seem to add up and it is never a small item that is included in the fine print of the home warranty. The wording is almost clairvoyant in the way is side steps many of the minor issues that we have encountered. While nothing is of great significance and would be considered an annoyance more than anything, they all add up as more and more small items turns into a rather large list.

And, right now, we are only in the very beginning of this process. As many of you know, all of the little quirks and minor repairs usually pop up within the first year… we are only half way there. I can see a few things that may be problematic in the coming months and have already started checking for warranty coverage. Our luck could turn in this regard but we won’t really know until we try to use it. However, we can’t lose sight of the simple fact that this remains a solid house.

There are many issues that I have heard about from others that are nowhere to be found in our home. Again, the ‘issues’ that we have encountered are very minor and it shouldn’t be an issue making these small adjustments, changes, and repairs. As was written about before, the optional list is something completely different. But, so far, things are good and we will make the necessary modifications… one project at a time.

Mortgage Monday: Just In Case

When my wife and I originally made an offer on our house one of the things that we made sure to include was a home warranty policy. While we didn’t expect to find anything during the inspections and we don’t anticipate any major issues in the near future you just never know what might happen. The last thing we wanted was to invest such a large amount of money into a home and soon thereafter have to increase our investment because the AC unit finally gave up or the well pump decided to take some time off.

Actually, the reasons are quite a bit more mundane than the major issues that one could face in that first year. Usually it is something as simple as an appliance acting up or a garage door opener that was older than you expected. These are the things that fall beyond the purview of the regular homeowner’s insurance policy and, just like insurance, you never know what might happen. The last thing that I want to happen is that we don’t have something covered, particularly during this first year, and then all of the sudden we have to spend thousands of dollars that we were hoping to keep in the bank.

I’d rather have it and not need it than need it and not have it… sounds like I’m referring to something else doesn’t it. But the same line of thought applies. I don’t want to be caught without it especially when it can impact the well-being and comfort of my family.

This is the just in case for those things that we can’t anticipate happening but, as we have heard and read about, they happen all of the time. So, I guess this could go back to my weekly checks that I referenced previously. Not only checking for the major things that everyone does like the roof and boiler but also the minor things like making sure the appliances sound the way that they should and that the garage door isn’t straining to open.

It really is a nominal cost or, as in our case, no cost option that brings a tremendous piece of mind to this first year in our new house. If something breaks we can take care of it right away and not worry about the financial impact that the repair or replacement might have. Rather than thinking and incessantly worrying, we can focus on enjoying our home and, more importantly, see the enjoyment on our son’s face when he is exploring the play room, looking outside, or watching the buggies as they sway down the road.

Bubble Bubble Toil And Trouble

Over the weekend my wife and I had a particularly rough time on the road as no matter which route we took there were a plethora of potholes that seemed to jump out and attack our tires. It even got to the point that I scrolled through the data on my dashboard (it really isn’t as fancy as it sounds) and would constantly monitor the tire pressure after each thump and jump of the suspension. Given my constant glances, I think if the township, county, and state really wanted to do something about distracted driving they should put more of an effort into filling all of the asphalt craters scattered about the paved terrain.

Last night, on my way home from work and knowing that it was a fend for yourself night for dinner I stopped at the Wawa on my way home which is conveniently located about a mile after I get off the highway. After grabbing a quick sandwich (no hoagie this time) I stepped out back into the strangely barren parking lot, put my food in the passenger seat, and walked to the side of the building to light a cigarette. As I was standing there reading through the impatient list of emails streaming to my phone I glanced just beyond the iPhone screen and saw Lincoln staring back at me.

Not one to pass up any kind of luck at this point, I bent over, pinched the penny between my fingers and on my way back up turned my head to the right for some reason. That is when I saw it, a bubble in the sidewall of my right front tire slightly larger than a golf ball. I guess finding a lucky penny isn’t always about making good things happen, sometimes the luck is in preventing bad things from happening. If it hadn’t been for that penny I would have never seen the bubble and I would have probably not noticed the defect until my commute either to or from work later in the week when the sidewall finally gave way.

So now I find myself in the waiting room of the car dealer instead of at my desk getting work done. Thankfully I do believe in one form of extended warranty when purchasing a new car… tire and rim protection. While it is, without question, an inconvenience it could have been a lot worse and I could be out a lot of money. Sometimes the luck isn’t about making good things happen, sometimes luck is what you need to prevent the bad things from being nothing more than an inconvenience.