House Fire - and Auto Accident

UPDATED: As if today hasn't involved enough headaches, my youngest daughter just called to say she was in a fender bender down at Virginia Beach oceanfront. Fortunately, she is unhurt, but the car is not so well off. Hopefully, the other drive was at fault so their insurance can pay the repair bills.

*

There are definitely days that I think that God - if there is one, and I do have my doubts at times - is trying to see what it will take to put me over the edge and simply end it all. Today was such a day. I had just left court on a petition for an estate matter client when I checked my voice mail on my cell phone which had been in silent mode only to find several frantic messages that there had been a fire at my house. With all the recent court drama and other issues, my first thought was I just cannot take any more and that perhaps I should go by the drugstore and fill a Xanax prescription and take the whole bottle. I maen, why do I seem to have my own personal ever present black cloud over me?

*

I pushed aside the overdose impulse and went straight to the house - shown above in an old photo before the lower porch rail and front door rehab had been completed - to meet the fire department personnel. Fortunately, the damage was confined to the exterior of the second floor porch seen behind the tree limbs and the main structure was undamaged other than some dirt and water tracked in by the firefighters. More importantly, my tenants were physically unharmed and merely emotionally rattled. The cause is unknown - possibly a stray spark of unknown origin, etc. or spontaneous combustion in leaves accumulated behind flashing - but the electrical wiring all checked out fine.

*

I will be meeting a contractor tomorrow to get an estimate and will secure another later in the week. Most of the cost other than the $500.00 deductible will be covered by insurance. With the post divorce wars, however, that $500.00 would have been better used towards paying off the former wife. As always, the boyfriend is a source of calm and stability. He lost a home to a fire some years back before buying his current house and had rebuild completely, so this mishap is minor in comparison and he helped me keep everything in perspective. He is the one that lined up the contractor coming by tomorrow, in fact. I'm not sure why he is so enamored with me, but I am lucky that he is.

Gay Marriage and Homeownership

With gay marriage so much in the news during the last week the Washington Post has a brief story that looks at one of the ways in which LGBT couples are placed at a legal disadvantage when they are denied marriage rights: home ownership and the ability to hold title as "tenants by the entirety." Holding title in this manner adds a great level of protection from claims of creditors unless both members of the couple are on the debt. Thus, credit card debt or an auto loan in the name of one spouse that has gone bad due to a job loss or illness will not be able to attach to the couple's residence unless both were on the card or loan. This is a huge benefit and but one of over an estimated 1000 benefits denied to gay and lesbian couples who are not allowed to enter into civil marriage. Currently, the best that LGBT couples can do is hold title as "joint tenants with right of survivorship," but this form of title provides none of the protections from creditors enjoyed by heterosexual couples. Here are some story highlights:

*

One of the benefits to being married is that in many states, including the District, Maryland and Virginia, couples can choose to take title to their home as "tenants in the entirety." It means that each person is 100 percent owner of the house. If one dies, the house is automatically owned by the survivor without the need for probate. And it's much more difficult for a creditor (aside from the IRS) to take away the home because of the non-mortgage debts of only one owner. An irresponsible spouse can't gamble away the house; a spiteful spouse can't sell it out from under the other. In happily-ever-after land, those problems should never come up, but in the real world, they sometimes do, and this kind of ownership is a great protection.

*
More gay couples who marry elsewhere and live in Washington, D.C. -- and those thinking of moving here -- will probably be able to take advantage of that protection soon. Yesterday, the D.C. Council voted unanimously to recognize gay marriages performed in other states. The District already allows civil unions that permit partners to hold property as tenants by the entirety.

*
Yesterday's action still requires another vote, and Congress always has a say over the District's affairs, so it's not a done deal. But it's a big step closer.

The Joys of Home Ownership - The Money Pit

I was just finishing the firm corporate tax return yesterday when I received a call from Matt, one of the roommates, advising me that there was a sound of running water under the dining room of my house (pictured at left in a nearly 3 year old photo). Having done much of the rehab work myself with my former b/f, I am well acquainted with where all the water lines run and the ONLY section of pipe in the entire house that had not been replaced runs right under the dining room. I rushed back the house – a 5 minute or less drive – and sure enough that pipe had sprung a leak and was spraying water everywhere. Fortunately, (1) the hole in the pipe was not big and (2) the roommates were cool about it all and we filled jugs and pails with water and shut the water off at the meter, turning it on only while we showered this morning (not together for those of you with dirty minds, although they are both really cute).

Most likely the pipe that blew out is as old as the house – circa 1917 – and gave out now that the 1909 vintage city water lines on my street have just been replaced, thereby significantly increasing the water pressure (the street has yet to be repaved and resembles a war zone). Since Old Dominion University is expanding closer towards my street (I am 3 blocks from where new low rise office/research buildings park will be constructed), the city is upgrading all if the infrastructure in the area. It will be nice when it is all done, but until then it sucks.

I much prefer being a homeowner as opposed to renting, but there surely are days when it would be ever so nice to just pick up the telephone and call the maintenance folks and throw the problem into someone else’s lap. Like last month when it was the furnace that decided to have a small part that controls the ignition system/thermostat go out of whack. Sadly, the cost of replacing the part was not in keeping with its diminutive size.