I thought I will hear stories from investors and landlords from the GREAT TEXAS Winter Storm but surprised didn't see much. Anyway, let me get started and share my story and lesson learned.

Yes we all know, we had record breaking low temperature. Did we prepare for it? Yes we did as per protocols from new channel.

Did they know lot about winter storms and houses? May be and they did bring regular plumbers to suggest what needs to be done.

Did it work? NOT REALLY. We all followed the protocol to drip the water in our faucets to make the water running the pipe but actually it caused more damage. I am not complaining about the suggestion but they should have foreseen that even dripping water at 10+ degree temp is going to freeze the water in copper or pvc pipes. That's what happened folks.

I had instructed all my 8 tenant and 40+ tenants we manage for my landlords. They all, most of them did what we said and most of the homes survived except 7 homes out of which 3 of them is ours. We had copper pipe burst in 3 of my homes and 4 of our landlord homes. Last few weeks has been crazy busy getting plumber to fix and my guy to take care of sheetrock. We were able to handle most of it in just 2 weeks and have the house remedied for the tenants. We are working on final ones since we came to know later point.

Anyhow, lesson learned, DO NOT DRIP WATER IF THE TEMP GOES DOWN BELOW 30. JUST SHUTOFF THE VALVES AND DRAIN THE PIPES ALL THROUGH OUT THE HOUSE AND STAY PUT. This has saved me hassles in the houses which we listed for rented. We shutoff the main line and drained water all pipes including pipes in the garage which is important. Most of the damage pipes are in garage area which has very minimal insulation.

Second one, If you have copper pipes, try to repipe them after this chaos calms down or atleast shield them with insulation if possible. Repiping is costing ranging from $3000 - $7000 depending on the company. Make sure you do them both vertical and horizontal which is going to cost in sheetrock as well.

Third one, I didn't realize the seriousness until few days before the freeze and took it for granted. I should have thought out and planned more in advance to buy materials and insulate them properly. We never had experienced so its big lesson learned anyway. Even if you have plumber you been working on for years, they are not going to come out help you if they are getting paid lot of money elsewhere. Make sure you work with them in advance and try to have them on call if possible. That might help.

Final one, Many of my clients are fortunate to have Water Damage endorsement which helped them to get insurance pay for their damages. So make sure to talk to your insurance agent to add this endorsement on your policy for sure.. If you want more info, I can share about it.

That's my story. I am sticking to it.. Do share yours.

Houston, Texas

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