Peter’s Soapbox

Owning Property Sucks

So, I bought this building last year, and it’s far from what I’d call a “fixer-upper.” Despite this, it still needed a bunch of work. For starters, the oil tank was buried. For some reason, this is deemed a Bad Thing by lenders and insurance agencies, although the folks at the State didn’t seem to think so.

So, for starters, I had to remove the oil tank, and that required putting it inside, which necessitated putting up a firewall in the furnace room so the tank could be there. Furthermore, we remodeled the upstairs to convert it to an apartment. Halfway through the remodeling, we were informed that I’d need to pay for a building-wide sprinkler system or a full set of stairs from the third floor off the back of the building. Either way, this is not a cheap venture. So, instead, we’re moving. On average, I paid about $4,000 a month for rent for the time I called this place home. Swell.

To add insult to injury - that’s one of my favorite sayings… think “Hey, you in the cast! Nice tie!” - I got the property tax bill today. Apparently since we decide to live here, our town Listers, following the rules of Act 68, set a homestead value of $100,000 on the apartment. Wow. We redid some floors, added a tub, a washer, dryer, and kitchen full of appliances, and BAM! $100k of higher taxes. Awesome. My average monthly rent just went up.

The (very, very faint) light at the end of the tunnel is that I should be able to drop the homestead property tax rates on my other house in town as (unless things have changed) I can only be “living” in one place at a time. Yes, that’s right - because I’m not living there, my taxes will be lower. Right - folks who live here have the privilege of paying higher taxes than folks who don’t. Thanks, Montpelier. That makes a hell of a lot of sense.

So today, we’re having some work done in the alley, having the dirt dug away from the building. Over time, dirt has built up along the side of the building, causing water to seep through the bricks in to the building. Furthermore, when there are heavy rains, water leaks in under the door, ruining the nice new floor we had put in last year (to make up for this very problem…).

While digging, our digger hit the line coming from the water main. Awesome! Fortunately, Bobby Hyde and Bruce Newell of our town road crew were on site very quickly and remedied the problem within a couple of hours. Thanks, guys! I appreciate the prompt response.