It was the best four years of my life: A cliche, but true. Although I no longer reside in Bloomington, it turns out that something always pulls me back. This piece is not intended to be a reminder that you need to enjoy your time in college. You do not need me to tell you how great IU is. Instead, it is a warning to the IDS’s current readers to help prevent the same mistakes.\nMy (now) wife and I graduated from Indiana three years ago. At the time, she lived in a house owned by one of Bloomington’s largest property managers. The walls had only been repainted in 75 percent of the house at the time she moved in. The property manager, for two years, promised her and her roommates that it would be repainted but it never was. At move out, a verbal agreement was reached that the girls would not have to repaint the house due to the company never living up to its end of the contract. My wife and I graduated, move to start our careers, marry and move on only to receive a summons three years later for not repainting the house. As it had turned out, the verbal agreement was reached with a now ex-employee of the property manager who abruptly left the company six months ago, leaving behind the original contract and not the amendment. I will not name the company due to the ever-so-famous chilling effect. (Who wants to get sued – twice?)\nAt this point, it is not the money. My wife’s share of the damage is only about $400 – not worth taking time away from our careers to fight it (and the conniving property company knows this). I am writing to warn that a verbal agreement is not worth the paper it is printed on. I now know this lesson. Hopefully, future memories of Bloomington will be to remember good times and not as a reminder to mail a check.
Todd Machowiak\nAlumni
