Sometimes I Should Just Keep My Mouth Shut!

First, I whined about the fact that I had no money, hoping nothing major would break down until my wife got out of school.

Then, my fence fell down, and I joked that I was "... wait[ing] patiently for someone to call about the hot water heater exploding..."

(By now, ALL of us can see what's coming now.)

When we moved to the North Texas area, we already owned a house back in Louisiana. It was a relatively small house, and I had a solid, affordable mortgage on the place. The real estate market stunk at that time (as opposed to the goldmine it is today), and for various unimportant reasons, it was going to be difficult for us to move directly from one house to another. Given those criteria, we decided to rent out the house instead of selling it. We make just enough in rent to pay for the mortgage, so all we get out of the deal is the increasing equity and the hope that we'll eventually be able to sell the place for at least a modest profit.

I mention that fascinating tale of asset management because I received a call yesterday. My property manager dialed me up and informed me that ...



... wait for it ...



THE HOT WATER HEATER BLEW OUT!!

Sometime today, a plumber is heading over to install a new hot water heater for our tenant. Fortunately, there doesn't appear to be any damage to the floors or any other interiors, but it's still going to run me somewhere between $600 and $900! Needless to say, we will not be making a profit on our rental property this year.

Seriously, what are the odds? Am I approaching Nostradamus territory now? Does this mean everything I write will come to pass, or just the pessimistic, crappy things that I've come to expect? Because if I can only predict crappy things, that doesn't seem like much fun at all.

...

...

(...waits patiently for someone to call and offer a million-dollar job as the next writer on The Green Lantern ...)

Hey, might as well give it a shot.

Until next time,
The Jim