Saturday, September 18, 2010

Updatishness


Just a little Georgie porn for you. Even though the poor little guy is castrated, he still gets little hardons, especially when he just wakes up from napping. Also it doesn't stop him from trying to hump the other dogs, though I know this is more of a domination thing than a courtship thing.

The new evaluations of property values came out this week here in Montreal. Every three or four years (four in the present case) property values are reassessed and then a tax rate per $100 of value is applied. Taxes always go up but not at the same rate as the property value and thank heavens because the building we live in went up 31% in value since we bought it four years ago. And here I was worried that we had bought at the top of the market. Nope. Still I'm kind of worried about how much taxes will go up. Our friend down the street (literally) has a condo that appreciated only 13%. Why the huge disparity just a few blocks apart? Obviously his tax increase will be smaller than ours. Do you know someone in town? Know their address? Well then you can find out their assessed value by visiting this link.  Some might be irritated at you knowing this information but it's public nah nah nah nah naaaah nah.

Hey remember that whole guvmint check snafu? You know where we filed and sent a check, didn't notice the check didn't clear, then got a notice that we hadn't filed so we refiled, paid the penalties, were told the penalties had been waived blah blah blah? Yeah well we received back in the mail our original check with a letter stating that "due to circumstances beyond our willingness, we were unable to cash the check and could you send another." Bloated. Inefficient. Beaurocracy. And they had snarled at us that we had no "proof" of having originally mailed the check in the first place. We actually felt lame and guilty and the whole time it was their stinking fault. Beyond our willingness really cracked me up though. What a load of horsestool.

I've been refreshing all the wrought iron over at the other place this week. It's a heinous job and I don't wish it on anyone. I almost bought this new system that promised a 4X faster paint job at 3X the price. There is a cool video - lemme see if I can find it - here it is, showing the difference. Well, spendthrift and skeptic that I am, I elected to do it the old fashioned by hand way. It's LONG! I spent all day yesterday over there and I only got the third floor done. Serge and I are going over today to try to finish. Don't envy us too much and have a lovely weekend peeps!

13 comments:

CoffeeDog said...

We are trying to re-fi to take advantage of the low rates and our house appraised for almost 20k less than what we woe. We didn't but at the peak of the bubble and we don't have any freaky financing. We are baffled. Maybe we can use this to our advantage and have our property taxes lowered.

Love Georgie porn!

Mark My Words said...

Yeah, could never figure out how they come up with their evaluations, so much disparity between properties on the same street or neighborhood. Apparently, they use a complicated formula that takes into account recent sale prices, nearby infrastructure improvements, major home renovations done, number of gay people that have recently moved into the neighborhood... kidding (well, partly).

But hey, 31 percent return! Fab!

Birdie said...

A couple of years ago the property tax system here was completely reorganized because it was a mess. All properties in the county were reassessed, and a number of neighborhoods saw their taxes skyrocket. One of those was the downtown gayborhood, which had been completely renovated from crumbling structures to gorgeous homes. Many had to sell due to tax burdens. (Our own tax stayed the same, pretty low. Whew!)

While you work on that iron fencing, I'll be hauling dirt from our driveway to the back yard. Leftovers from the plumbing job last week.

Snooze said...

I hope it's at least a nice, cool sunny week-end if you have to be painting!

A Lewis said...

Little hardons after napping. Just like me.

rox said...

I'd buy the tool to make life easier. Life is too short to be doing shit 3x longer than you have to! Plus, you could always re-sell it on Kijiji if you decided not to keep it. I'm a get-er-done girl. LOL!

Has it been FOUR YEARS?! God, I remember how stressed you were, taking on that debt. Seems like only yesterday! Where does the time go?! Seems like me love you long time.

Jim said...

I like the 'rusted' iron look myself. Or am I just lazy?
Jim

Mel said...

I actually like property tax websites like that. They're useful if you want to get a sense of what your own house should appraise for. Not to mention fun when you want to be nosy about the neighbours.

fromsophiesview said...

I enjoy a little doggie porn every now and again...just sayin'!

Jess said...

Love the photo! Any post starting with a photo like that is good by me! ;)

that's J-O-S-H said...

Seeing the word "taxes" along with a swarm of % signz automatically throwz my cranium into an anxiety haze. I need a nap now.

Maurice said...

"Beyond our willingness"? OMG, that really is "Bloated. Inefficient. Bureaucracy."

Anonymous said...

Lewis stole my line. Dagnabbit...