Owning Property

For only the third time in 15 years I am protesting our property taxes on our lovely home on Avenue D. 362 days out of the year, I focus my attention on the wonderful things about our house. When it comes time to appeal the tax value, I prepare the "We live in a shack with 7 foot ceilings in the bedrooms" defense. This has worked pretty well in the past, and I have learned a great deal about how they determine the value of houses. Google Earth and Ouija Boards seem to be the favorite appraisal tools these days. I am trying to get the description of the property changed, to reflect two areas where I think they have our structures overvalued. First is our garage/shed in the back. My first argument was indisputable: The county said it was 24 feet wide, not the 18 feet it actually is. Carrie took a bunch of pictures of me measuring stuff to support our case. I like this one because, "Look, there's Beau."
The more difficult part of my argument has to do with our back closet, which I am trying to get classified as attached storage, rather than living space. To make these changes required a formal hearing before a three member board, which in my case was made up entirely of white guys in their 60's. There is an adversarial feel to the formal hearing, with a county representative arguing for the higher property value for taxing purposes. The county rep took issue with my wanting to reclassify our storage closet.
You know how sometimes you think of the perfect thing to say, maybe a half hour after it would have been helpful or funny? Happens to me on a regular basis. I wished I had said to the contentious county rep, "This is a space the size of a jail cell, with a 7 foot ceiling, no windows, and no heating or air-conditioning, and you want to call it living space. Really?" Maybe it was for the best that this response did not come to my mind until I was in the car on the way home. The case was not resolved, and the county will be doing a visual inspection next week. I'll let you know how it turns out. And really, despite its flaws, and with the help of family and friends, our little house has been a wonderful home since 1995.


This next picture documents my next tax battle with the county. Last week, Carrie and I closed on a condo purchase. This is the front of the complex on Speedway, one block from our house. Our unit, a one bedroom, is in the back. So becoming landlords is in our immediate future, and we hope to lease it to a quiet graduate student in August. If we win the lottery before we get it leased, it would become a guest house, so be rooting for our Lotto numbers to come up. Of course our guest room is always available here on Avenue D. If you are reading this blog, and we have never met, the above statements should not be construed as an invitation.

Peace,

JS4