Random questions

My state has relatively low property taxes, but I refied my house and used appraisal to challenge assessment, dropped valuation by $100K. The next year (annual reassessments here), the county popped it back up to where it was previous year. Stupid rich neighbors. :joy: I am tempted to get an appraisal every year.

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I only challenged my property assessment once after I got a ridiculous and unfounded increase.

Where I lived at the time, the first time you challenge the appraisal the assessor has the chance to review and revise. They denied it. The next recourse is to appeal again and appear before an appraisal board. I did that. I didn’t pay anyone, and did my own research. By the time I finished my presentation the county appraiser was apologizing and making excuses. If you beat them in front of the board they are not allowed to change your appraisal for at least 3 years. Felt good.

Everyone I know here that challenges their appraisal pays a company who gets a cut if they win.

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Lol, thanks. Seems to indicate their estimated savings are BS. Not that they can’t actually save consumers money in many circumstances, but rather that the estimate provided is garbage. Sort of like calling a lizard can save you 15% on your car insurance.

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I had challenged a different property once before, based solely on comps with my neighbors. Somehow mine had gotten way out of sync with theirs. Won that one. It has gotten a little more formal these days, but the appraisal was enough to get county to accept value without a hearing.

Oh, looking at the land value part of the assessment, it jumped almost 60% from 2023 to 2024. Holy crap I’m rich!!! :laughing:

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I challenged my assessment and got them to reduce it. Not by as much as I was asking for, but it was a significant decrease all the same.

Where’s Sheba when we need him to say ā€œmark it zeroā€?

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Or casinos claiming ā€œloosest slots around with 97% winning ratesā€.

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why does Selena Gomez have food network shows? she doesn’t know her way around a kitchen and there is nothing all that endearing or interesting about her personality

Was she cooking with kidney beans?

Is there a term for people who sit on social media and repost practically everything they see? And is it enhanced in some way for people who do this and comment on everything? Because holy fuck, I’m trying to scroll through the bonus kids’ mom’s FB account to find something and it’s like everything she saw, she did this.

Was over at the inlaws today and spotted a resident in a tree cavity. We were unable to make a positive ID. What is it?


You may have gotten lucky. How far up the tree? How big? Could be skunk.

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15 ft up the tree maybe. Hard to tell size since we could only see part of the creature. I’d estimate the hole at 4-5 inches across

Could be a possum?

possums here are usually light gray. I have never seen a dark colored one.

From the picture it looked gray, but just in the shadow

My guess is a gray-tailed squirrel.

Or a bird’s nest.

It’s a good thing you took two completely different pictures, I would never have been able to tell what it is with just the one. [/sarcasm]

It appeared much darker than typical grey squirrels or possums here: black or very dark. It’s possible it is a fox squirrel, which I gather can sometimes be very dark. I’ve never seen one like that, but they do exist here. Grey squirrels are everywhere here, but fox squirrels are not.

It appeared more like fur than feathers to me, although we did consider whether it could be a bird. Within a few minutes of taking this pic, it moved further inside the cavity so we could no longer see it. The nest is obviously freshly made, as the plant material is bright green. There was another smaller entrance to the nest on the other side of the trunk, and that hole was totally packed with fresh plant material.

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I just thought of another possibility: porcupine