Bad News, Good News

I got a call from my landlord on Sunday. Essentially it was to notify us that they received the village's tax appraisal that was done earlier last year. (Ironically enough, I wasn't at home for the tax appraisal appointment, I imagine the appraiser took an average of the neighboring properties.) While some properties tripled in their taxes, our property wasn't quite that bad off. Therefore with the tax increase, she found it necessary to raise our rent $20 more a month starting in April. Our last rent increase was just a year and a half ago, however we still have a fairly economical rent given the scale of economy for our area.

I took this opportunity to point out that our range is failing - we could only use 2 out of 4 burners (one was structurally broken while the other caught flame and the knob didn't correspond with the burner heat - my wife was afraid to use the stove, especially with small child in the house, she wouldn't use it until we got a new one). And without question or inspection (or a whole lot of persuasion or negotiation on my part), landlord called Mrs. Redbeard yesterday and said your new oven will arrive tomorrow! Now the sting of higher rent isn't so stingey. Not too shabby considering last year we were lavished with a new water heater and refrigerator (both of them needed it - next year, maybe we should go for new kitchen flooring or cabinets).

And isn't it lovely! It even has a timer, self-clean, drip pans, under-oven storage, oven light and window, somethings the ancient one didn't have! Maybe now I can have a nice hot cooked meal waiting for me when I come home. Then again, she isn't quite the house chef.