In 2002, my boyfriend and I bought a 70 year old cape cod on Kessler in Broad Ripple. We purchased it after the property taxes were reassessed. Our taxes monthly were $200.00. Over the last five years, we have tried to make home improvements with the cash we have at the end of the month. We are not at all handy and have to pay for the expensive labor, but I love old homes.

I love how well they were made and the feeling it gives me to nurture this house into a home. I love it even though it is the definition of a "money pit." We have a water leak on the west side of the house that is still a complete mystery and poor drainage in our backyard. When it rains, we have our own little lake. Our "garage" is more of a shed and the plumbing in the bathroom runs up hill. Not one room is done and now I have to pay $400.00 a month to live here.

Jim and I are not poor. We make a respectable $130,000.00 a year, but $200.00 more a month is going to hurt. My family and friends laugh at my home and my vision. They tell me to move out to the outlying areas and "build" a home. If I do, who is going to buy and finish this house? Jim and I planned on living here for at least 15 years, but now even I think my situation is funny.

Sincerely,

Jamie Pinter

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I live in Forest Hills and I've lived in my house almost 30 years. I am a senior citizen and I love my home, neighbors and beautiful neighborhood.

I worked very hard for a large company for 40 years and when I retired at age 65 I was looking forward to gardening, volunteering and travel.

Then my property taxes tripled, and I had to go back to work part time. Now they have doubled again and it breaks my heart to know that I and many, many others in similar situations will be forced out of our homes that we love so much because of the horrendous taxes. Is this the American Dream?

Name withheld

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I bought my house in 1956 for $24,000. I have no add-ons, no renovations. The house is a 1956 house. It has a 1950s bathroom, a 1950s kitchen, the house is exactly how we bought it in 1956, but it's being accessed at the same value (around $300,000) as every other house in the neighborhood that has been fixed up.

When we bought our house, it was a high price for this neighborhood. It was a very stable neighborhood, and we lived here long enough too see the neighborhood become an aged neighborhood.

Then we watched as these younger people moved in and invested their money and time to improve their property and, as a consequence of trying to improve their neighborhoods and making the area a better place to live, both they and I are penalized by these excessive taxes. It's because of the energy and dedication that the neighbors have to improve their neighborhood that it is what it is. If these young people had not come in and made their improvements, this would have been a very old neighborhood with much depreciation. So why were they penalized?

Gloria Poore, Forest Hills

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