For those with mortgages at Bank of America, take note!  Robert just wrote this into the Oakhurst Message Board…

For any of you un-lucky enough to have both BANK OF AMERICA as lender and DECATUR your city, you may be getting a collection letter from Decatur saying you are delinquent on your property taxes even though you have been paying into an Escrow account with BOA that should have automatically paid your taxes with Decatur.

I was blessed with this letter today

After calling both Decatur and BOA lender couple times, here is what I found out:

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Have you seen this great, new home appraisals map/search feature on the AJC?

You type in your home address and it compares your 2009 home appraisal AND a previous appraisal with other residences in your immediate neighborhood.  (Note: you have to have an AJC sign-in to see appraisals for other properties.)  Also, it will provide a “return value” of the property if a homeowner appealed the 2009 appraisal.

A quick look shows me that we were one of just a few homes that received a lower appraisal in 2009 than 2008 (though that may be due to the County lowering our heated square footage space in 2009).  Five of 21homes in my area appealed their appraisals.

h/t: Political Insider

Aw heck…

Georgia appears to have won as little as $750,000 from the $8 billion pool of high-speed rail grants that President Obama was scheduled to announce this week…

The money to be announced Thursday would pay for three feasibility studies, at $250,000 each…

Last fall, U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood told a number of states, including Georgia and Florida, that they had better get their act together on rail transit or risk losing out on the high-speed rail grants. In a special session weeks later, Florida voted additional annual funding for one rail transit line and expedited buying track for another.

According to the AJC, it looks like Florida will be the big high-speed winner in the Southeast.  I guess the fed wasn’t all that concerned with investing in a state that could serve as a regional hub.

Or we just totally blew it.

h/t:  Terminal Station (actually I also used Ben’s cut-and-paste)

From our friends at the Decatur Minute…

What: Decatur for Haiti. Local Decatur merchants and restaurants donating to the Haiti earthquake relief.

When: Monday, Feb. 1

Who: The following businesses have agreed to donate a portion of their proceeds from Feb. 1 to the American Red Cross.

See the full list of participating shops and restaurants after the jump.

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Decatur Metro continues to evolve.  It can’t be stopped!  A few updates for you…

1.  Target locals without all the Craigslist clutter!  The once pay-to-play classifieds are now FREE.  While we had a bit of momentum on the pay classifieds early on, it became obvious that most residents didn’t want to pay for classifieds (yes, yes, Craigslist, I know), and that most businesses, who might be willing to pay, wanted more than a classified.

So, if you have info to pass along to the Decatur/DeKalb community, be it an Announcement, Available Job, Lost or Found object, a Garage Sale, some Merchandise, Real Estate, Services, Tickets, Vehicles, or Items Wanted, head over to the Classifieds section and post away!

2.  I’ve added an “Events” tab to the top of the page, which will take you to a new page that hosts the “Featured Events Calendar” in a monthly calendar format. Great for making plans in advance!

3.  And finally…Take your DM addiction on the road!  If you use an iPhone, iPod Touch or anything operating Google’s Android OS, viewing DM is now easier than ever.  Seriously, it’s awesome.   (Judd, it’s not an App, but it might just be the next best thing!)