This picture was on the front page of the newspaper last weekend. This picture is of my neighbor's house - their previous house. See the sold sign in the front yard? Many in our area have decided not to rebuild, but to sell their homes for much less than their original value.
What does this mean for our neighborhood? This picture was also featured in an article online that explains home owners' decisions to sell and what may come of the houses in this area. Check out the article here when you have time.
We decided to stay, but here is what we are realizing as we rebuild:
- Value of our Home - The value of our property will probably never be the same. When we sell our house some day down the road, we will not likely get a great return on our investment as this area will then be known for flooding. With our addition and now rebuilding, much time, effort, and money have been put into this house - what will we get back some day?
- Quality of Furniture - We are still making decisions about what couches, chairs, tables, desks, shelves, etc. to buy. The question is, do we buy quality stuff this time and chance having it all flood again? (Yes, we realized the possibilities of another flood.) How much money do we put toward this project?
- Use of Money - Rebuilding costs money. Lots of money. We have money, but this is not what we thought we would be spending it on at this point in our lives. So then it goes back to - how much money do you spend?
I'm sure deciding to "walk away" and sell your home for a fraction of the value was hard. It's also hard to rebuild. There really is no easy answer to all of those post-flood decisions. We will continue the rebuilding process and trust the Lord's plans for our neighborhood.
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