What to Expect as A Homeowner
Whether you are purchasing a home for the first time or you are an old pro, it is important to have realistic expectations about your time in your home. While there are many directions I could go with “what to expect as a homeowner,” there is one thing that I want to highlight.
From Order to Disorder
In order to get to that point, we first need to realize that our homes are ordered systems that are bound to become more disordered over time. In other words, our homes will break down over time. No matter how well-built a home is, it’s systems will tend to lose their order and gain more disorder as time passes.
We’ve all seen abandoned homes that are on the verge of collapse. What makes an abandoned home more likely to collapse and fall to pieces than the inhabited home next door? It is subject to the same external forces as the home next door, right? So what makes it fall down when the home next door has weathered all of the exact same storms? The difference between two such homes is the human inhabitants.
From Disorder to Order
What is happening here? It’s not that the humans exert some kind of preternatural force that keeps the home from collapsing. It’s simply that the human inhabitants, through their work on the home, put order back into the system of a home that naturally tends to become more disordered. We do this through “elbow grease” or through paying someone else to put their energy into the system.
So it’s not unnatural or unexpected when things in our homes breakdown. It’s the nature of the universe we live in. Order always moves in the direction of disorder unless someone is there to put energy back into the system for the purpose of increasing its order again.
What to Expect …
So what should we expect as homeowners? We should expect that our homes require us to share our energy to keep them functioning well. Without our energy being constantly pumped into the home to bring order, disorder will increase unabated.
This understanding is important to keep in mind as you listen to the results of your home inspection. We should expect the home to have some issues that are less than perfect. But let’s keep in mind that most everything can be fixed with enough energy. If you love the home, don’t be discouraged by some disorder, rather ask yourself if you have the energy to make this particular home ordered again.
Photo by Phil Hearing on Unsplash