...that has happened to me from a financial standpoint was when my fence fell down.
My state is famous for its winter skiing, but it's not uncommon for the metro region to have winter temperatures well into the 60s and even 70s at times. Such days are usually accompanied by strong winds, since it's the Chinook winds rolling off the Rocky Mountains that causes the warmth. (At least, that's what I remember from Meteorology class in high school.)
In early January of 2017, our warm temperatures came with far more than strong winds. One day, the winds were approaching hurricane force, which was phenomenal. I'd never seen anything like it, with the trees swaying so much, especially with the sun shining bright. It seemed to go on and on and on.
At one point, I was on my computer and I heard a fierce cracking noise. I forgot about it a moment later, as I continued to work. When I next got up from my desk, I saw through the back patio door that my small dog Fergie was staring at the south end of the yard, her eyes wide as though thinking, "Holy shit!" I got closer to the window and saw that three panels of my 5' wooden fence were swaying in the wind, having lost the ground support of the posts, which explained the cracking noise as those posts broke. Within an hour of further wind, they eventually broke from the upper support and fell flat to the ground.
With three dogs, including an active beagle, the idea that my yard was no longer enclosed was quite concerning. The neighbors that shared the fence were renters and their landlord sent out a man to look at the fence, and I thought, "Oh, good, this will be taken care of and I don't have to deal with it." I told the man that of course I would pay half for getting it repaired, and he said, "I can't speak to any of that. I'm just here to look at it."
A few days went by, of my having the extreme inconvenience of taking my dogs out in the backyard, one at a time, on leashes. I was texting the neighbors and they reported that their landlord said the fence was my problem, since the posts were on my side, and I would have to pay for the entire repair myself. Huh??? When I moved in, when the neighborhood was first being built, we were all told that neighbors were expected to share the expenses of their backyard fences being built. I had mine built first, since I couldn't move my dogs in without a fence, and only the neighbor behind me wrote a check for his portion of our shared fence. The houses on either side never did, and both properties went through many subsequent ownership changes. Now, I emailed the neighborhood HOA (homeowner's association) for clarification, and was shocked when they confirmed that whoever had the posts on their side was responsible for fence repair. The representative said she wasn't responsible for what I'd been told when I first moved in. Brief communication with a lawyer and a client that manages HOAs all confirmed that unless the HOA documents specifically say that neighbors had to share fence costs, I was out of luck and couldn't force anyone to share the fence cost. Indeed, my HOA documents didn't made any mention of fence repairs. Never mind that everyone in the neighborhood I talked to felt as I did -- of course, neighbors shared the cost of fence repairs.
Thankfully, I'd taken out a HELOC (home equity line of credit) the prior summer and used very little of it. I'd wanted it just in case I needed to do any major household repairs, and paying for a new fence, even if just for one third of the yard, definitely qualified. Unfortunately, while mine was the only house I saw in the middle of a block with a fallen fence, there were houses at the end of various blocks that had damaged fences, and that was surely the case throughout the vast metro area. So, phone calls to fence companies meant no returned calls, because they were so overwhelmed. After a few days, I finally got hold of a small local outfit who came out a couple of days later to do an estimate. He said I needed to replace the entire row of fencing and it was going to cost well over two thousand dollars. But he could get started in a few days, and the project would take three days.
So, I signed on the dotted line, feeling grateful that I could afford to do this, via the HELOC. The outfit I hired was very professional and true to their word about everything, and I've since referred them to other neighbors. By the end of January, I could finally let my dogs run loose in their own yard again.
I thought about pursuing the idea that I shouldn't have had to pay for the fence all by myself, but I couldn't see that I had a legal leg to stand on. Therefore, under the heading of "the path of least resistance", I decided to let it go and instead wallow in the appreciation that I'd been able to afford the unexpected minor catastrophe.
The latter has been the lasting legacy of the fence incident. Whenever my thoughts turn to "when my fence was blown down", the overwhelming feeling is of extreme appreciation that I was able to pay for the replacement without it being A Big Deal, in terms of my financial health. Ironically (or not), that set off a long-term beneficial financial vibe. Income from my business gradually began to build, and it's only recently that I've realized that I've consistently maintained a goal I'd set into place early in 2017, in terms of average monthly gross income. This past October, I had a record month far ahead of anything I've achieved before, and it was without working many more hours than normal.
Now, I always feel wealthy and can afford most anything I want. It's such an amazing sense of freedom -- that I've wanted for a long time -- and it came about because of the unfortunate incident of having my fence fall down. My dominant point of view of appreciation made all the difference.
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