Our personal and business lives were devastated by the flood.

As residential landlords, my wife, Laurie, and I own four rental homes in the Taylor school district. All four took full basements and several inches of floodwater on the main floor, meaning all the electric, plumbing, heating and cooling systems needed to be replaced, as well as all the kitchen cupboards and counters, appliances and flooring.

Several members of our church family and school stopped by help “muck” out our apartments. The Red Cross stopped by with food and supplies. Bob Mickey Chrysler donated generators and fans. With the help of a mission team from Shueyville United Methodist Church, we were able to meet out goal of getting the homes cleaned up and sealed by winter.

As “landlords,” we were told we would receive zero dollars from the Federal Emergency Management Agency or any other level of government. After meeting 45 contingencies, we received a loan from the Small Business Administration. In essence, we bought all of our apartments for a second time.

So our situation changed from having a small business with equity, hoping one day to sell our properties to help support our retirement, to owing twice as much on the properties and never being able to sell them. To complicate things  further, we had to put our primary residence up as collateral to secure the SBA loan.

 We have filled out paperwork for a new state Residential Landlord Rehabilitation program that may just be the first government assistance we have secured. If we meet the qualifications, the grants would be allocated this summer.

It is said that God will never give you more than you can handle. I believe that. However, I feel we are getting really close.