It was a total gut job and it could have been avoided….
The past 2 years have been tough as far as out of pocket expenses go. I had two big ticket items, my rental house and my mouth. Both of those items are about the same age and both of them had little or no maintenance over the past twenty years.
For some reason, I was under the impression that my teeth would be in my mouth until I died, much like the battery that I thought had a “Lifetime Guarantee” until the mechanic corrected me by saying “Not your lifetime lady!”. I thought brushing morning and night would be enough. Hadn’t the dentist in Greenfield told me that I had “long” roots and that should insure that my teeth wouldn’t fall out? Never mind that it was 35 years ago he had made this prediction, and that both my parents had lost their teeth. When I heard those words I was sold! “No worries about my teeth.” I thought. “My parents live in a place with bad water. I’m sure that’s the reason they have dentures.”
Twenty years ago, I bought a rental property. The house was built in 1956 or something like that. It was in pretty bad shape at the time I bought it but it was a solid house, so with a little elbow grease and not a lot of money, I did a few renovations and called it good for the next twenty years…. Now, I’m not saying that I didn’t fix things that were broken. I did put a new roof on it and I did replace the garage doors, but still, I didn’t really do anything other than that. It was fine, right?
Back to the teeth. I started noticing that I looked like a rabbit in pictures. My front teeth didn’t seem to look the same as they did a few years ago, then I noticed that it looked like the cap was falling off a back tooth so I went to my dentist and he gave me some disturbing news. “No, the cap is not loose, but your tooth is. You will need to have it pulled.” He gave me the name of a person that could pull it and I made an appointment. When I arrived, she gave me some bad news. She thought I had 3 teeth that would need to be removed. I panicked and left without having her pull the tooth. After two other consultations with different experts, I found that I needed 10 teeth pulled along with an array of other things in order to keep the now diminishing set of teeth I still had left in my mouth. I cried and yelled a few choice words before accepting that it had to be done. In January of 2021 I started on a journey. It would consist of 10 pulled teeth, gum surgery, braces, bone transplants, a bridge, two implants and a root canal. It was a LOT of out of pocket money and all because I pretended that everything would be okay, until it wasn’t.
Now to the rental. I got a loan for nearly $100,000 with the thought that it would not cost nearly that much to renovate the house, but I was wrong. Everything in the house needed to be updated or repaired. I needed new HVAC, plumbing, wiring, windows, floors and chimney. I renovated a kitchen that would be considered functional in 1956 but didn’t accommodate things like a dishwasher or space to store all our kitchen gadgets that are necessary in 2023. I renovated the bathroom for the same reason and added an additional half bath because having only one bathroom lowers the value of the home considerably. I also added a laundry room. In 1956 many people did not have a washer and dryer in the house. If anything, they had a washer in the garage and used a clothesline to dry everything. If you are young you might have to Google it.
I found that fixing a house is like fixing your teeth. They both include “tear-down, foundation repair and re-building”. They also use similar tools like drills and wrenches. I know, right? Nothing like a small woman telling you that when you hear the click of the wrench, your crowns will be in tight. I learned to meditate while all of this was going on because there is nothing like having your gums cut away from your teeth and then sewn back up again. I saw instructions that included the sentence “Do not spit, pull on your lip or act aggressively.” I tried my best to follow the instructions.
What is the lesson? You must be willing to look at the truth of a situation. Making a decision to fix something when you have no choice is expensive! What happened in both cases is called DEFERRED MAINTENANCE on both my teeth and the house. Both were expensive and if I had acted sooner, I wouldn’t have paid so much and I probably would have kept my teeth and my house wouldn’t have needed all the repairs.
As a realtor, we know when we walk into a house if it has deferred maintenance issues. You can see it everywhere. Chipped paint, dry rot in the wood, dirty return air vents, cracks in the tile and loose caulking around the tub and sinks. If the furnace is 27 years old, it needs to be replaced and if your roof is starting to curl you should think about replacing that too. If you haven’t taken care of these things, a buyer will wonder what other things you haven’t done.
It is a new year. Take a moment to make a list of items around the house that need a few minor repairs. Change your filter, fix the caulking around the windows, sinks and tub and touch up chipped paint. It doesn’t take long to do and will help your pocket book in the long run. Trust me, no one wants to spend what I spent last year because I just didn’t want to deal with the truth. Oh yeah, and go see your dentist!