The news that Men’s Fitness ranked Tampa as the fifth fattest city in America may startle you. You would think the comfortable climate year round and surplus of fitness centers around here would make indoor and outdoor exercise easy to get, but so many factors go into these types of surveys. The amount of fast food restaurants has something to do with it, but we’re not judging your dietary habits. Blog-reading with a glazed donut in hand is sort of a national pastime.
Fitness seems to get a lot of attention these days. Whether it’s about personal fitness or financial fitness, someone is telling you how to improve your health, your wealth or your life every day. So we might as well jump in and talk about getting house-fit. Don’t sweat it if you haven’t heard that term. It might be made up.
On a scale of 1-10, how would you rate your home’s fitness? 10 means your home is in top physical condition. If it’s closer to 1, you might want to put on a hard hat before continuing to read.
You might think a new home is instantly a 10. Not true. Maybe you haven’t heard the stories about the failures of new construction, including roof replacement that became necessary less than a year after installation. That can happen to a homeowner who relied on a less-than-adequate contractor who lacked a) experience b) expertise c) quality materials d) all of the above.
Just like it takes time to get in shape, returning your home to a high level of fitness won’t be accomplished overnight. Beginning a regimen of maintenance of all areas, including your roof, will help. By keeping an eye on the exterior and interior components of your home, you can avoid the financial burden of having to face multiple repair or replacement projects simultaneously. Not only will your bank account be better protected, so will you by a more secure home.
As for Tampa’s place among heftiest cities, maybe we could all agree to avoid fast food restaurants for a month. Or a week. Or how about just for today?
