$150/year for a water bill?? When I live in town on muicipal water, I used to be billed $65-$75/month for water and sewer...now I'm in the "country" on a well and have no bill but I have the responsibility of a well, well house, well pump, pressure pump, pressure tank, storage tank, ozone water treatment system etc...In either scenario, I'd shake your hand and thank you profusely for an opportunity to have unmetered water needs met for only $150/year...I can't imagine bellyaching about this.WmZiggy wrote: If a house has changed hands during the year I always hold my breath when I bill each member because of the damn real estate companies. Either they take the escrow funds to pay the water fee, forget about it, don't inform the buyer, or what have you. Most times, I don't think they ever collect the water fee from the seller. Invariable, when the new member gets their bill for the preceding year they throw a fit and get in my face and call me all sorts of foul names for billing them. I have to refer them back to the seller and the real estate company and tell them it isn't my fault. Yesterday, after the young man calmed down I asked him what was the biggest contract he ever signed? He said it was his house. I asked him if he had a lawyer? "Nope". "So to save a legal fee you signed the biggest contract in your life without someone representing you", I asked? "Uh....I guess so", he said. People are ignorant that real estate agents do not represent the buyer and barely the seller. In his case, three years after he purchased the home he finally figured out that he had paid the seller's water bill in 2010. I doubt he can go back and get it now. Good thing it was only $150, the price of a really fine dinner for 2 in an expensive restaurant.
I guess my point is if everyone is honest who needs a contract and lots of paperwork. The problem is, since the Garden of Eden there have been snakes at work. The bigger the deal the more important the paperwork and people (lawyers) who know how to deal with snakes. I would add that all lawyers are snakes, but my son is a lawyer and I know he isn't a snake. One size doesn't fit all.
When we bought our current home, we are on a private road with about 10 other property owners and one of the neighbors who's lived here for 40+ years approached me about a similar situation, as he's the head of road maintenance committee and they collect $125/year to help offset road maintenance expenses. I promptly pulled out my checkbook and paid him (even though I was paying a time period that was 50% the previous owner)...I know enough about road maintenance to know a bargain when I see one. SInce then, this same neighbor has spent countless hours on his tractor, grading the road, spreading fresh gravel for the wet season, repeatedly fixing pot holes and water bars - there is no way the $125 even comes close to covering his time on an annual basis. When X-Mas rolled around, I rounded up the kids and we took him a bunch of X-Mas cookies and some honey from my beehives as a token thanks for all he does.
