I know this town has always had a lot of characters but the most recent one I’ve noticed is a black lady that wanders around the downtown area and always asks for $60 every time i see her. When she asks the amount never changes but the story around why she needs it does. Anyone else encountered her?

Advance apologies for any possible ranting I may be doing here.

Earlier this year I bought a house here in Corvallis after renting for a while. I paid too much for the place but we desperately needed a home because the one we were renting had problems, both structurally and with the landlord, and my wife was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer and needed to be by the Samaritan hospital.

We paid just over $1.5million, which is insane amount for me. The house was on the market for about 4 years and had been vacant since 2022, so it was not in the best of shape. The one nice thing was that it came furnished: from bedroom and living room sets right down to the books on the shelves, pictures on the walls, and the kitchen full of nice cookware. It even came with stereo systems and tv sets, even yard equipment that included a zero turn electric riding mower.

The house is a bit of a pig, but pickings were slim in Corvallis at the time.

Anyway - enough of the background, because I just got my 1st tax bill in the mail today. Now, I knew the taxes were crazy high, but I had not expected the county to jack up the price of the house over 10%.

Five months ago I bought the place that was on the market since 2022. Five months ago.

Benton county has this property valued a million dollars more than I paid and my tax bill is close to $24,000. That is basically half my annual income.

There is no tax break for seniors in Benton county. There is no homestead in Oregon, The county said I must pay it and then fight it in January for next year.

Seeing that I bought the place just a few months ago and they say it was worth over $900,000 more than I paid for it, not taking into account the place came furnished.

The guy at the tax office was a real asshole. He actually looked me in the eye and said that the taxes are based on square footage, so if I wanted lower taxes I should tear down 30% of the house. He also said the county tax system is not based on actual purchase price, and pointed out how some neighborhoods that have cookie-cutter similar homes can see tax differences up to 2-3 times different, on the exact same style homes on the same street.

For the record: I did not want to buy this white elephant. My wife loved the place and since she is dying of cancer I bought it to make her last year or so nice for her.

Can anyone recommend a good law firm to address this matter against Benton county? Thanks for any info.

I've seen flyers for women's leagues at back to the 90s but wasn't sure if there's a mens/open league. Would love to try to get better and meet fellow pinheads casually!

Me and my coworkers are gonna go to the bars after we close around 11, Peacock will be open for sure but it's gonna be a shit show I bet

Hello! I am looking for anything and everything to do this Halloweekend! Any events from the 29th to Nov 1st are appreciated! Me and my friends are of age to drink so bars are welcomed!

Hello everyone, i just found fleas on both my cats and i was wondering if anyone knows any affordable vet i can get flea treatment from ? i also want to make sure theres no tapeworms

Hi all! I’ve posted this before to no avail, so here we go again! I would love to get a group of ladies together for a small league or just group of gals to play disc golf with! Mostly at Wilamette but could jump around to courses nearby! I’m a 24 year old woman who very regularly plays disc golf at Wilamette and it would be awesome to have others to play with! I know there’s currently a handicap league weekly at Wilamette but I’d love to get a women’s group together!

We have the Monday Rage Thread where we rant about things that displease us and it was suggested that we also do the opposite. So here we are.

What is something good that happened to you this week?

What is something wonderful about Corvallis (and the greater Corvallis area)?

I am looking for a maternity photographer in the area. Not looking for anything fancy, just a few pictures outdoors for 30-45 minutes. I am looking away from experienced photographers to keep my costs low.

Anyone have any leads or suggestions? Thanks in advance.

I need a transmission replacement for a 2009 Toyota matrix 5 speed.

I like doing stuff myself but a transmission replacement is probably past my abilities.

Best place for this? considering Crossroads since they specialize in toyotas and other imports

Anyone know of a salon? Im brunette and want to touch up my roots and don’t have 200$. I’m out of state and weary. I miss my trusty stylist back home

Does anyone know of evening yoga classes happening after 5 pm on weekdays? I’ve been enjoying yoga and would like to do it more consistently but I’m not seeing many options that fit my 8-5 work schedule.

What’s going with all the burn outs and shitty music at the high school ? Tuesday night ffs ?? Tired old grumpy man complains.