2012: Sign one year agency agreement with The R___ Tax Group to protest my appraised property value. Attempt to contact them regarding protest, but find them unresponsive. Get no information about the hearing, or the negotiations, or any of the steps in the process. Receive de minimus property tax reduction (less than 1%), and small invoice from R____ Tax Group. Grumpily pay invoice, and months later, grumpily pay essentially the same tax bill that I paid in 2011. Choose not to renew agency agreement for next year.

2013: File property tax protest myself. Attend hearing myself. Obtain $81,000 reduction in appraised property value. Happily pay reduced tax bill. Several months later, inexplicably receive giant 40% contingency fee invoice from The R___ Tax Group for the work that I did myself.

Learning to recognize and relish the gifts that we are handed is the key to a happy life. The invoice I just got, and the phone call I get to make to The R___ Tax Group about that invoice, is without a doubt one of those gifts.