Lately I have felt like one of the Three Little Pigs whose house got blown in by The Big Bad Wolf. We had to buy a house at our last duty station and we put it on the market when we moved last summer (but couldn't sell it, thanks to the economy). We now have tenants who are renting the house and the house seems to keep falling apart.
In January the tenants called us because of a leak in the basement. Fortunately the guy living there is handy and was able to fix the problem (we paid for the supplies he needed to fix it). Then in late February the heater went out. Got another call from the tenants and we were able to get them a new furnace in less than 24 hours. Note the fact that we had to buy a NEW FURNACE!!! Apparently the old furnace was much older than we realized and the part that broke could not be replaced.
And this week I got another call that a pipe had burst in the ceiling in the basement and all of their possessions in that part of the basement have been ruined. JEEPERS!!! I have a good friend who builds houses and other amazing handyman work so I gave him a call. We now have to replace the insulation and ceiling tiles because they are ruined from the water.
The thing is, we never had any of these issues when we lived there. I am not blaming the tenants in any way, but it seems like "Murphy" is teaming up with The Big Bad Wolf and trying to drain our bank account!
Sadly, the tenant never purchased renter's insurance so they have to foot the bill to replace the items that got ruined. I really feel for them.
So here's a take-away from this: Make sure you have renter's insurance!!! Even living on post/base, you need to have renter's insurance!!! So if you don't have it and you are renting off post/base or living in government (now privatized) housing, go get renter's insurance because you just never know when you'll need it. Believe me, it is worth it for peace of mind or just in case Murphy and The Big Bad Wolf stake out your house.
