Before the hurricane
This is my post for #freewriters 2576 prompt The last recession hosted by @mariannewest
In 2005 we received a letter from the County saying they were going to buy our house and we had no choice but to sell to them. Either let them buy it or they will place it under eminent domain.
Lucky for us, we were in a housing bubble and houses were going for triple what they were the year before. I held out for as much as I thought I could get them to pay, we got a lot more than the house was worth.
It was not long after we sold and unfortunately, it was before we bought the place we now live, we had the last recession. If the timing had been in our favor, we could have sold our place for a high price and bought this place at a low price, but it did not work that way, we sold high and bought high. Ain't that how it usually works? My husband calls it 20/20 hindsight.
After being rebuilt
During Hurricane Jean the flat roof on this side of the house peeled halfway off, this is the living room. We heard something heavy hitting the side of the house and water was pouring in everywhere. I was running around putting totes under the bad ones and my husband was laughing at me. Within minutes the totes were overflowing and I gave up on trying to save my floors. The floors were 3/4 inch oak. They curled from being so wet, but we were able to rent a big sander and filled 3 55 gallon garbage cans with sawdust, after staining and putting a coat of polyurethane they came out beautiful.
After having to hire a public adjuster, we got a settlement with the insurance company and bought a camper to live in for the next 18 months. With the house remodeled and a new roof, we moved back in. We lived there 6 months, I was unpacking the last of the boxes from storage when the letter came.
This was the house that we paid off when we were in our 40s. We raised our kids here and lived in it for over 20 years. When the hurricane did what it did I got the chance to redesign it and put everything new, new tile in the bathrooms, kitchen cabinets, tubs, showers toilets, and new windows. It was everything I dreamed it could be, we even put central air and heat, we had never had either in the entire time we lived there.
Sorry, I am still a little sore about it.
photos are mine