People have been talking about the possibility of frozen/burst pipes in Texas, and let me tell you: A burst pipe can destroy an entire home. If you had to leave because you have no heat, and your water is still on, check on it. If you can, turn off the water and drain the pipes.

Here's how I know. When I moved to MA in 2014, I still had a house in GA. We had all been confident that I could break even on selling it. Like, not recoup any of the money I had put into improvements and repairs, but just not owe the bank anything at closing.

But then only a couple of people looked at it. My agent advised me to get an appraisal so we didn't lower the price TOO much when we did.

It appraised at a LOT less than I owed the bank. This shocked everyone involved. It was way more money than I had, and I had already moved.

We found a tenant to occupy the house while the market continued to (we hope) improve.

Long story short both the hot and cold water pipes froze and burst while he was not there, and because he was not there the break went undiscovered for some time.

The house had bamboo flooring that was buckled throughout, and the baseboards and lower parts of the drywall were soaked. But the worst thing was the mold. The mold remediator said it was the worst black mold infestation he had seen in his entire career.

The entire house had to be gutted to the studs, with a microbicide applied before it could be rebuilt.

Fun fact: When you gut a house, it means inspectors can see things like outdated wiring that now need to be brought up to code. So the whole house had to be rewired as well.

Between permitting and insurance delays and just the pace of construction, the rebuild took almost a year.

The upside (?) is that in that year the market did continue to improve, and after the repairs were done I was able to sell the house and break even on it.

The entire thing was so harrowing that I did not tell anyone I had a buyer until after the closing was done, because I was afraid something was going to go wrong.

I understand that there's a lot of privilege in owning a house at all and I was really lucky in that my insurance ended up covering the damage. But there was a 24-hour period when they told me my claim wouldn't be covered. It was the most financially terrifying moment of my life.

I still don't know what I would have done if they hadn't changed their minds. I would have had about $140,000 of mortgage debt on an uninhabitable property that needed more than $100,000 of repairs.

As all that was happening, our pipes froze in our apartment in MA. This shocked our landlord, who had never had an issue in about 20 years of owning the building. We'd left the faucets dripping but that does more to prevent pressure in the pipes than prevent freezing.

I was home by myself that weekend and spent that entire Saturday patiently thawing pipes with a hair dryer. Nothing broke and everything was fine.

So, try to keep your pipes from freezing. But if they do freeze don't delay at taking care of it. https://www.redcross.org/get-help/how-to-prepare-for-emergencies/types-of-emergencies/winter-storm/frozen-pipes.html

Also I don't want this thread to be about the tenant, but get renter's insurance. Your landlord's insurance on the home does not cover your belongings.