I got a nasty-gram from my home owner’s association a couple of weeks ago reminding me that my townhouse was starting to look less than desirable - I think the exact words were “thirty day notice before ruling the dwelling uninhabitable.” Okay, so the place needed work. Yard work. Roof work. Rotted wood work. Sanding, painting and sprucing way beyond my normal monthly spend on house maintenance. Luckily, the gentleman that I hired was fantastic - honest, motivated and very skilled. Adding to my luck, he found a sizable hole in my roof yesterday. Normally, finding a hole in one’s roof would not be counted as lucky, but he found it before hurricane Hana rolls through my neighborhood tomorrow. In fact, I am pretty sure the hole was letting various squirrels and chipmunks into my attic. Long story longer, the roof has been patched - the wildlife expelled - the rotted wood replaced - and the bill came due.

I have to tell you, I was honestly sweating the final tally on the bill. It “only” came out to $2800. Again - as luck would have it - all of it good - I had recently received one of those consolidate debt checks in the mail which allowed me to get cash for only 1.9% interest (well, plus an additional finance charge). This is not something you can play fast and loose with - the terms on these offers can escalate into imposing rates of 31.99% and overwhelm you in no time. This was one of those times where I felt it was a worthwhile risk to take on the debt for a limited time, because of the possible ramifications. Firstly, my HOA was going to take some type of drastic action that possibly involved legal action to fix the urban blight my townhouse had turned into. Secondly, I was tracking the long line of hurricanes headed for various areas of the US and with a sickening turn of fate realized that Hanna was headed for Virginia.

So, there is a time to take a risk in light of certain facts on the ground. The $2800 that I spent - invested - on my house will most likely save me many extra thousands of dollars in repairing water damage from an extraordinary tropical storm being lodged over my neighborhood pouring water into my unprotected attic. The risk is calculated and I know I can pay off the loan well before the rate goes back to a usury - albeit legal - level. Plan for the worst and hope for the best!