There are 3 things certain in life-death, taxes and crazy people
Time for an installment called: Some People Are Craaaaaazzzzy (or Ignorant) You decide.
My husband & I bought a house this past June. At closing, the previous owners paid their half of the year's taxes, which was deducted from our closing costs. Therefore, we were made well aware by our closing attorney that we would be responsible for the entire year's taxes. For some stupid reason, the county does not change over the addressee on the tax bill until the next year after purchase. Therefore, the tax bill was sent to the previous owners. Most normal people either show up to closing so they know the drill or their real estate agent informs them of what has transpired. Most normal people know, or at least when they find out what they should know, send the tax bill to the new owners.
Well previous owner, who shall be referred to as Mr. Ass from this point on, became very agitated when he received the tax bill in August addressed to him. I know this for several reasons. The first one being my Mom is the receptionist at the closing attorney's office. So Mr. Ass called the attorney right after receiving the tax bill complaining about the bill, at which time it was explained to him to send the bill to the new owners-he knows the address-and we that we knew it was our obligation. Well, the other way I knew he was agitated was that he showed up at 10:00 at night ringing our doorbell. I did not answer the door at that time of night, and thought it looked like him out there and wondered why he was paying us a visit. So, when he showed up the next morning at 8:00 am on a Saturday morning I answered the door to find out what he wanted. Well, what he wanted was to personally hand the tax bill to us. At that time we had the discussion, where I verbally acknowledged that yes, I knew we were responsible for the entire year's taxes and that he needn't worry about it anymore.
Well taxes are technically due on Sept 1, but you have until Jan 5 to pay before interest starts to accrue and collections measures are taken. I shouldn't have mentioned this to him during this conversation, because he became even more agitated because his name was on the bill. I informed him that the county had sent me a statement notifying us that they had record that we were the new owners and that we were responsible for the taxes-so there is no problem.
Months pass, and the due date for property taxes to be paid before interest accrues finally arrives. Mr. Ass was most likely on pins and needles these past few months wondering if we were going to pay the taxes and if he was going to have his credit record ruined because of us. I'm assuming this to be true because once again he calls the closing attorney to smear our name and threaten a law suit. Why he was telling this to them is beyond my scope of logic and understanding. Because I have an inside source of information, I was informed of these events. The reason for this grave misunderstanding is that the taxes were paid last week, but the payment has not posted yet-lest dear readers you assume that I'm a deadbeat that refuses to pay my property taxes.
So I take it upon myself to contact the Tax Collector to see what I can do to alleviate this lunatic's fears. I talk to the representative who informs me that she has spoken to Mr. Ass already and he refused to listen to her too. Evidently, there is a statute that may result in the previous owners being held responsible for taxes if the new owners fail to pay-which is stupid if you ask me. So his fear may have some justification. However, he also tells the tax representative that we told him that we were not going to pay the taxes. Okay, lunacy has now been replaced by LIAR, LIAR PANTS ON FIRE! For the record, we never said such a thing-in fact quite the contrary.
It gets better. The tax representative assures me that there is nothing we...get this.... as WOMEN can do to convince Mr. Ass that every little thing is gonna be alright. UGH! And that she would have the Collections Manager, who is a man, contact him to resolve this matter. Yeah, this is 2006 but I live in a rural area. What can I say?
Ok, what is wrong with Mr. Ass?
For one, he is an anal person. Everytime we looked at the house, or went to the inspection he was there lurking around. When we had the water tested which involved taking a sample for the outside well and did not involve any entry into his house, he had to be there. He was quite prickly when the home inspector ran the dishwashwer and turned down the AC to test them during the inspection. I guess he was afraid his electric bill would shoot up a whole $2.00. So, he's cheap too. Frankly, it was just a little unnerving having him there when we first looked at the house. He technically wasn't in the house. Instead, he was sitting in the yard of the house across the street (that house is vacant and was on the market at the time) looking all dejected and sad. The reason he was even selling the house was that he and his wife had bought 13 acres land and wanted to build. The house had been on the market about 6 months and I guess he was getting anxious. It's a really great house, it's just very remotely located so that was most likely the problem he had with selling it as quickly as he had wanted. So, in an effort to entice a sale the house was reduced by about $15,000 by the time we looked at it. Also let it be known that he had to pay about $13,000 at closing so I'm sure he wasn't all too satisfied by that.
I could give him the benefit of the doubt and figure he is just ignorant. He's just a country boy who don't know no better I s'pose. He owns about 4 monster trucks (I swear I'm not exaggerating) and we continued to receive his tool and truck parts catalogs in the mail after we moved in. So, perhaps he just didn't understand the process, or rather he was anticipating the worst case scenario from this incident. I would have thought that the Tax Collector's office would have alleviated some of those fears though.
At the risk of unfairly perpetuating the country boy stereotype with my "get it off my chest" rant, I have to make mention of a surprisingly interesting documentary that has aired on PBS the past two nights and concludes tonight. It's part of their Frontline series and is documentary that follows two country boys from Eastern Kentucky. I was impressed with the depth and honesty of these "characters". The filmmaker really illustrated how these seemingly simple people are actually really complex with hopes, dreams, and fears. I know that I'm guilty of stereotyping and making light of country boys or rednecks or whatever other label you want slap onto this group. Therefore, for the record, I want it to be known that from this day forth I will think twice about making fun of country boys.
Unless of course you're Mr. Ass. Then you just plain deserve it
My husband & I bought a house this past June. At closing, the previous owners paid their half of the year's taxes, which was deducted from our closing costs. Therefore, we were made well aware by our closing attorney that we would be responsible for the entire year's taxes. For some stupid reason, the county does not change over the addressee on the tax bill until the next year after purchase. Therefore, the tax bill was sent to the previous owners. Most normal people either show up to closing so they know the drill or their real estate agent informs them of what has transpired. Most normal people know, or at least when they find out what they should know, send the tax bill to the new owners.
Well previous owner, who shall be referred to as Mr. Ass from this point on, became very agitated when he received the tax bill in August addressed to him. I know this for several reasons. The first one being my Mom is the receptionist at the closing attorney's office. So Mr. Ass called the attorney right after receiving the tax bill complaining about the bill, at which time it was explained to him to send the bill to the new owners-he knows the address-and we that we knew it was our obligation. Well, the other way I knew he was agitated was that he showed up at 10:00 at night ringing our doorbell. I did not answer the door at that time of night, and thought it looked like him out there and wondered why he was paying us a visit. So, when he showed up the next morning at 8:00 am on a Saturday morning I answered the door to find out what he wanted. Well, what he wanted was to personally hand the tax bill to us. At that time we had the discussion, where I verbally acknowledged that yes, I knew we were responsible for the entire year's taxes and that he needn't worry about it anymore.
Well taxes are technically due on Sept 1, but you have until Jan 5 to pay before interest starts to accrue and collections measures are taken. I shouldn't have mentioned this to him during this conversation, because he became even more agitated because his name was on the bill. I informed him that the county had sent me a statement notifying us that they had record that we were the new owners and that we were responsible for the taxes-so there is no problem.
Months pass, and the due date for property taxes to be paid before interest accrues finally arrives. Mr. Ass was most likely on pins and needles these past few months wondering if we were going to pay the taxes and if he was going to have his credit record ruined because of us. I'm assuming this to be true because once again he calls the closing attorney to smear our name and threaten a law suit. Why he was telling this to them is beyond my scope of logic and understanding. Because I have an inside source of information, I was informed of these events. The reason for this grave misunderstanding is that the taxes were paid last week, but the payment has not posted yet-lest dear readers you assume that I'm a deadbeat that refuses to pay my property taxes.
So I take it upon myself to contact the Tax Collector to see what I can do to alleviate this lunatic's fears. I talk to the representative who informs me that she has spoken to Mr. Ass already and he refused to listen to her too. Evidently, there is a statute that may result in the previous owners being held responsible for taxes if the new owners fail to pay-which is stupid if you ask me. So his fear may have some justification. However, he also tells the tax representative that we told him that we were not going to pay the taxes. Okay, lunacy has now been replaced by LIAR, LIAR PANTS ON FIRE! For the record, we never said such a thing-in fact quite the contrary.
It gets better. The tax representative assures me that there is nothing we...get this.... as WOMEN can do to convince Mr. Ass that every little thing is gonna be alright. UGH! And that she would have the Collections Manager, who is a man, contact him to resolve this matter. Yeah, this is 2006 but I live in a rural area. What can I say?
Ok, what is wrong with Mr. Ass?
For one, he is an anal person. Everytime we looked at the house, or went to the inspection he was there lurking around. When we had the water tested which involved taking a sample for the outside well and did not involve any entry into his house, he had to be there. He was quite prickly when the home inspector ran the dishwashwer and turned down the AC to test them during the inspection. I guess he was afraid his electric bill would shoot up a whole $2.00. So, he's cheap too. Frankly, it was just a little unnerving having him there when we first looked at the house. He technically wasn't in the house. Instead, he was sitting in the yard of the house across the street (that house is vacant and was on the market at the time) looking all dejected and sad. The reason he was even selling the house was that he and his wife had bought 13 acres land and wanted to build. The house had been on the market about 6 months and I guess he was getting anxious. It's a really great house, it's just very remotely located so that was most likely the problem he had with selling it as quickly as he had wanted. So, in an effort to entice a sale the house was reduced by about $15,000 by the time we looked at it. Also let it be known that he had to pay about $13,000 at closing so I'm sure he wasn't all too satisfied by that.
I could give him the benefit of the doubt and figure he is just ignorant. He's just a country boy who don't know no better I s'pose. He owns about 4 monster trucks (I swear I'm not exaggerating) and we continued to receive his tool and truck parts catalogs in the mail after we moved in. So, perhaps he just didn't understand the process, or rather he was anticipating the worst case scenario from this incident. I would have thought that the Tax Collector's office would have alleviated some of those fears though.
At the risk of unfairly perpetuating the country boy stereotype with my "get it off my chest" rant, I have to make mention of a surprisingly interesting documentary that has aired on PBS the past two nights and concludes tonight. It's part of their Frontline series and is documentary that follows two country boys from Eastern Kentucky. I was impressed with the depth and honesty of these "characters". The filmmaker really illustrated how these seemingly simple people are actually really complex with hopes, dreams, and fears. I know that I'm guilty of stereotyping and making light of country boys or rednecks or whatever other label you want slap onto this group. Therefore, for the record, I want it to be known that from this day forth I will think twice about making fun of country boys.
Unless of course you're Mr. Ass. Then you just plain deserve it
posted by amyd | 12:40 PM
1 Comments:
Mr. Ass most definitely!
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