Just GRRRRR....

The sepia sky yesterday morning turned out to be from smoke. Ugh. It was pretty heavy all day yesterday, along with being 98 degrees. I was just out watering my flowers this morning and it's not as smokey as it was when I went out yesterday afternoon. We are under a weather alert/fire danger all day tomorrow for winds that are expected. Hot, winds and fire - a bad combination.

I ended my work day yesterday with a headache over my eye and feeling a bit nauseous. I made a quick and easy dinner of salmon, though I gave most of my piece to dh to eat and then took a nap for a couple hours, along with some Tylenol. 

A news article came through my feed yesterday, about our state property tax system. It was an interview with the former head of the state's dept of revenue. He was the longest head they've had, from 2005 to 2013. He says the system is rigged and broken. He and some others spoke to a group of a hundred or so. Pretty bad when the former head person says this, eh?

Yesterday I called and closed out that checking account I had set up online, in order to earn the $325 bonus. It was a quick call, so that was good. 

I just got a call from an independent company the place my mom lives (they have several facilities in several states) to see if I would answer some questions to rate where she lives, her care, etc. I gave them a 5 on everything, except the move in process, I said 4, because there was really no one that day who welcomed her or took charge of helping her get settled. But, other than that I have been very happy with her care there. The staff is nice and the place is really clean and safe. Well, it better be for the cost per month! LOL. It's interesting how different views people can have of the same place. My neighbor had her mom there, in m/c, quite a few years ago and was very happy with her care there. But, they have a friend who had her husband there and she wasn't happy at all with the care. They said she was there every single day, so I'm guessing that has a lot to do with it. When you are there that much you are going to be hyper aware of every little thing going on. It sounds like she was always complaining and I'm sure being there, hovering over the staff, would make it hard for them to do their job. I think her husband's death was the reason there was an opening earlier than anticipated for my mom. My mom is cared for and safe. I'm not going to nitpick that she has on 3 tops, LOL.

We've been meaning to make a list of things we would want to take, in case we ever face an emergency evacuation. I made my list and told dh he can make his own list. He was laughing that the cat is 3rd on my list, haha.

So, this assessor is starting to annoy me. I'm tired of his stupid and vague explanations. The sales data they are using is sales from 2020 and 2021. He is telling me the reason our land values went up 113% is because of the sales of lots 4 and 5 next to us, sold in 2021. Those lots sold for $156,000 each (DAN paid way too much, LOL). Lot 6 (same exact size) was sold to a couple, in 2020, for I think around $100k. Why wouldn't that data be taken into consideration? or at least use a mid range between the prices? I called the owner of lot 6 and left him a voicemail that I am appealing our property tax increase and was wondering if he would mind sharing how much he paid for the lot? I told him if he doesn't want to share that info, that is totally fine, but I'm just trying to get as much data as I can.

Then he used one of my examples of a river lot just a bit down river from us. Said it sold for $115k mid year 2020, so that is why the lots there in that neighborhood (and EVERY lot in our county? LOL) didn't got up as much as ours did. And his "opinion" the reason it sold for less than what DAN paid is because they are close to the railroad tracks. OMG! You CANNOT live on the river here in our county without being next to or across the river from the tracks. And guess what? that property he thinks sold for less due to being near the railroad? it's 1500 ft from the tracks with NO view of the train as it goes by. We are 690 feet from the tracks and can see it going by (a little between the trees on the other side). Good grief.

So apparently the sale of the 2 lots next to us are not being used as a comp for valuing river lots RIGHT in our own zipcode/town, yet my house is being comp'd to homes 200 miles away. He also wanted to verify the info they have for our house: 3 bedrooms, 2 1/2 bathrooms, crawl space, central heating with AC. I am drafting an email back to him with my above opinions and also saying, yes, the info you have on our house is correct. In August of 2019, 2 months after our house was completed, an assessor showed up. We answered his questions, gave him info on our cost to build AND let him inside the house to see what it has, as well as he measured the attic living space, so that we would be accurate for our assessment.

GRRRR!! He doesn't get to make assessments based on his "opinion" ie guesses, as to why something sold for what it did.