What Foreclosures?
Decatur Metro | April 23, 2009Oh man…what delicious blog fodder!
If you thought a massive budget deficit and a drawn out fight over capital improvement funds that bleeds legal fees aren’t insulting enough, take a gander at DeKalb’s latest budget tourniquet!
You see, while you may have heard rumors about some sort of “slowdown” in the national housing market, DeKalb insists that things aren’t all that bad on the east side of Atlanta. How did they come to this obscene conclusion? Its the result of a “very detailed analysis” done by the assessor’s office. So detailed, you or I wouldn’t even hope to understand it. So please, stop embarrassing yourself by trying.
So, while zip codes like 30032 continue to watch their real estate values fall through the floor, DeKalb County politicians can rest easy that they won’t have to raise taxes on an already struggling population.
No difficult explanations or interventions on poor spending practices. All that can’t be skipped, thanks to a “very detailed analysis.”
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Congressman Hank Johnson (GA-04) is holding a pre-foreclosure town hall called “Save the Dream” on Saturday, April 25 at Salem Bible Church in Lithonia from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Some lenders and qualified counselors will be hand to begin modifying eligible loans. For more infomation, call 770-987-2291.
Anyone want to have a local tax tea party with me outside the Dekalb assessors office?
Ask anyone — I make delicious tea.
Out of general principle, each and every one of us should contest our appraisal.
Unless you filed an appeal prior to March 1, I don’t think you can file an appeal.
Am I wrong? Someone please tell me I’m wrong.
In the meantime, I’m gonna have a tea party outside the assessor’s office. Anyone care to join me?
NOTE: If it’s hot, we may switch to sweetened iced tea. BYOLemons.
There is something really fishy going on with the county’s appraisals, even if you ignore the fact that they are breaking the law by ignoring foreclosures. The foreclosure issue may not affect us either way here in the city (ever seen a foreclosure here?), but it’s certainly not fair to the rest of the county.
A neighbor on our street had filed an appeal last year because she felt they were valuing her property a little too high for taxes. Well, she got her appraisal back this week only to find that Dekab county apparently decided to punish her by RAISING the appraisal by more than 30%. Unless it was a mistake, that’s a serious slap in the face.
We also filed an appeal last year because our appraised value was an apparent mistake (or a slap, not sure which). At least they lowered ours, though not by much. We are in the process of refinancing so had to hire a certified Georgia real estate appraiser for the loan this month. Even with Dekab county’s reappraisal, they are still valuing our home more than 25% higher than a GA certified appraiser, who spent more than three hours in and out of our home and evaluating comps.
Needless to say, we are going to appeal yet again, but I have concerns about getting punished by the county’s appraisal department, like our neighbor did.
What I would really like to see is for the city to STOP using Dekalb County’s appraisals, which are neither legal or accurate, even if foreclosures are ignored. Can we petition the city for this?
There is a foreclosed home on Clairmont Avenue. They were supposed to “auction” it off, but it still looks empty to me.
A former foreclosure on 2nd avenue recently sold for $92k.
I live in a former foreclosure in oakhurst. There are quite a few
scattered around. But nothing like 30032 where reo’s rule.
You must have filed a property tax return by March 1 if you want to see a reduction in your current property taxes, but if you are one of the “lucky” DeKalb residents who was mailed a new property tax assessment that shows that your property increased in value, you are allowed to appeal and I would definitely do so asap.
The City did have its own appraiser and appeal board until about 15 years ago. It was done away with as being redundant and duplicate expense.
“The foreclosure issue may not affect us either way here in the city (ever seen a foreclosure here?), but it’s certainly not fair to the rest of the county.”
There is/was a house on Clairemont, just north of Commerce, that was being advertised as bank-owned. I don’t know if they ever found a buyer.
We were one of the “lucky”, and will.
There’s also an unfinished house on Superior, between N. Dec Rd and Scott that was in foreclosure. It’s is in the city.
That foreclosed home on Clairemont seems like a scam; it’s been about-to-be-auctioned for over a year!