The Persistent Residue of Error
The drywall dust, two years in, is still the dominant scent profile of the main floor. It settles on the freshly sanded floorboards, a fine, aggressive layer that mocks every entry in the budget spreadsheet marked ‘Completed: Yes.’ We’re holding a flashlight up to a section of the basement where the cheap plumbing-the thing the inspection report mentioned in passing-is now seeping, not dripping. A relentless, quiet failure.
Another $2,800 estimate arrived this morning, not for improvement, just for keeping the structure from spontaneously generating mold. We haven’t had a real vacation, the kind where you stop checking email, since we signed the closing papers. We’ve been living in a constant state of resource depletion.
The Chronic Condition Arrives
The mistake wasn’t the purchase price. The mistake was buying the illusion of potential, believing the future cash flows would solve the current structural problems. That’s how the chronic condition begins. You don’t realize you’ve invited Financial Long Covid onto your balance sheet.
The Decade-Long Confinement
When you buy a terrible asset-especially an illiquid one like real estate-the cost doesn’t end with the closing attorney’s fees. Those fees are just the admission ticket to a decade-long confinement. Every surprise, every delay, every project that balloons from $58 to $478, chisels away not just at capital, but
