Revised DeKalb Property Tax Assessments Beginning to Show Up Online and in Mailboxes
Decatur Metro | June 22, 2012 | 1:18 pmWord on campus is that DeKalb is beginning to post revised property assessments online. Gabriel wtote in with this tutorial of how to find it online if you haven’t yet received it in the mail…
New property assessments are starting to pop up on the Dekalb Tax Commissioner website. To check if you are included, go to this site:
http://web.co.dekalb.ga.us/TaxCommissioner/TCSearch.asp
Search either for your last name or your address. Click on your property
address. Scroll to the bottom left and click on the “Additional Property”
button.In the box labeled “Appeal Status,” you may see a code under 2012 that reads “BTA Change to Value – New Notice Mailed.” If so, scroll down to the section that reads “Current Appraised & Assessment Value.” The value listed under that section is the value of your re-assessment.
You should get a copy of the new assessment in the mail soon. We got ours this week. We had not yet appealed.
UPDATE: And now an informal poll for your enjoyment!
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Looks like i am getting one, too! Amen and pass the tabasco!
Ok, informal survey on 2012 reassessments showing up for you on the Tax Commissioner website:
+1 = Reassessed value returned to previous year
+2 = Reassessed value even lower than previous year
0= No reassessment
-1 = Reassessed value is higher than original 2012 value
+1 HERE!
Yeah, I’m wondering what will happen to the city’s tax digest if all the reassessments are in a downward trajectory. Maybe a poll IS in order! Haven’t done one in a while. Let’s see if I can add one to this post.
I found at least one reassessment in our neighborhood that went up. It had gone down a ridiculous amount from last year to this year for no reason I could discern. I checked and the house has not blown up nor has part of the property been sold off. But the reassessment just went back to last year’s value so the owners should be ok with that.
Is the City depending on an increased tax digest? I’m thinking that a level tax digest for residential properties is what’s fair in this economy. Houses seem to be moving on our street but slowly and at prices that don’t look any higher than 5 years ago to me.
yep — our building value and land value are back to last year’s assessment ….we are among the “Reassessed” and the brief feeling of euphoria is over over lower taxes ..however, good to know our home value has remained stable …
Mine too.
No, I don’t believe the city is depending on an increased budget. I think they received projections of 2% growth from the County though, and I think some of that could be lost with all these reassessments downward. Based on the fact that the city manager and the mayor went to the assessor’s office and got the only explanation I could find online, it seems obvious that they want the real values, but I wonder if there will be any affect on the budget. Probably not, but I’m sure it’s still a bit of a pain for Ms. Arnold and her crew.
I’ve looked at almost every house on our street, and every single one that has been re-assessed was assigned the 2011 value (though with the land value dramatically increased). This includes several houses that had seen reductions of 10-20% raised back to their prior year’s assessment. Those seem to be less common, however, which suggests to me the city is going to see a net decrease in revenue.
+1 here also, but property value stayed the same, at quadrupled value and building value dropped to an absurd $12800. May name my house the “beach shack” and start wearing a grass skirt.
Same here, only my property value nearly tripled and my building value dropped to 28k. Insane, but there is no change to the total value, so whatever.
$12,800??? I know where you live in a general way and that is CRAZY
Yes, nelliebelle, Oakhurst 2 blocks from 5th ave school, and IMO a cute bungalow. Just a simple house, but it’s been mine for 15 years. So the oft discussed “aging in place” is not just a racial issue, but really an economic issue
They put my overall value back to what it was last year, but did it by just lopping value off the house, which now represents slightly less than 4% of my total property value. Still seems like a mad, mad, mad, mad world to me.
STG, I think a gleaming, Frank Gehry tower would be ideal for your high-dollar real estate.
I’m kind of partial to that dancing house in Prague that he designed.
http://www.pragueexperience.com/places.asp?PlaceID=651
Problem is, all my cash is tied up in this land. Care to invest?
J_T is rich lawyer. He can build it for us.
LOL. You got me moderated by responding to this. Well played, Nelliebelle, well played!
Same for me. NO WAY that my lot is worth more than double what it has been since I bought the place in 2008. And NO WAY my house value dropped by half. But at least the total value is back in line with what it has been for the last few years.
We’d already appealed, but were relieved to get the re-assessment so quickly. We were also relieved to see the assessment go downward, since we’re selling our current house & were worried the (unrealistically high) original tax assessment would make it less attractive to buyers. We’ve bought a smaller house (which we’re renovating), so it’ll be interesting to see what next year’s assessment on our new (to us) house will be…
Concerned about inflated land values and ridiculously low structure values. No way you can build a 1,700 sq ft home for $50,000 even if you did it all yourself.
Don’t trust the assessments
$50,000 is a lot by comparison. The 2000 sq. ft. 3/2 across the street from me now has a land value of $385,600 and a building value of $4,900.
Re weird house values relative to land values: I’m afraid this is still just the first shoe. In the future will the Tax Commissioner’s office argue that our bizarrely low house values are wrong and need to be raised………and then proceed to raise them to appropriate levels but leave the land values high?
Exactly what I am worried about!
+1 – exactly my fear
+1 more
+1
I had asked a question about insurance when all this originally happened. Since then, I’ve spoken to my insurance company (USAA) and they said tax values and assessments are irrelevant. We are insured for the actual replacement value of the building. Whew.
And Cuba, I’ll be expecting that housewarming party invitation in the mail.
Thanks for this info. My wife was wondering something similar and I hadn’t gotten around to investigating the answer.
Hmmm…only if you promise not to turn your whiskery little nose up at all the wine & cheese that will be served. 😉
I am new to the world of homeownership and yes, our house was up last year and is up again this year. My question is (and sorry if it is super stupid) is it good or bad that the tax values go up? Of course we pay more taxes but then does that mean that our house will be appraised higher when trying to sell?
A higher appraisal for property tax purposes only means that you will pay higher property taxes.
It really has no correlation to what your appraisal would be if you tried to sell your house. I doubt the appraiser would even look at that information. All they look at is actual comparable sales.
Gigi, the assessment value of your house is not related to the appraisal. When I BOUGHT property, the following year the county assessed it much higher. I mean, I argued, HERE, this is the VALUE, this is what I BOUGHT it for, from a stranger. I admitted I got a great deal (Real Estate Agent Mary Rigger is the BEST!!!). So I eventualy got an assessment that was higher than I paid for it, but lower than the original assessment.
This year comes around, and it just so happens that I refinanced this property in February. The value for the first assessment was $90,000 more than the appraisal. (A higher appraisal would have allowed me to borrow more against the property, money I used to buy another property). The second assessment went back to 2011 value.
So no, the assessment is not closely related to the price you’ll get if you sell the house.
It’s a classic “good news/bad news” issue, and it depends on several things. Your tax bill might go up because your property has increased in value and been reassessed. As long as the assessments are being done consistently and fairly and competently, and you can afford the tax, that’s okay IMO. You want your asset to appreciate. (You might take issue with how tax dollars are being spent, but that’s a different issue.) Your tax bill might also go up because the taxing entity (city or county) raises the millage rate — you pay more tax per dollar of value. Whether that’s good or bad is highly debatable, depending on how well you think the money is being managed and spent. (Some people think any tax increase for any reason is evil. I’m not among them.)
Someone more knowledgeable should (and no doubt will) correct me if I’m wrong: an appraisal done at the time of sale will reflect the condition and nature of teh property and the comps (what comparable properties nearby have recently sold for), independent of the assessed value for tax purposes. I’ve also heard that the assessed value should be slightly lower than market value. Don’t know where I got that, but it makes sense to me intuitively.
Public service for anyone who BOUGHT a house LAST YEAR: Your appraisal for assessment purposes should be the SALE PRICE. As long as it was an arms length transaction (i.e. not a foreclosure, short sale or some other unusual situation) you cannot be taxed over the sale price for at least the first year after.
I bring this up because we bought our place last year for about $80K less than the previous assessed value. Our first notice in May was for the correct value. Then we received the second notice increasing the value back to last year’s. So if you bought a house last year and didn’t think twice when you got a correct notice, look out for a revised one and/or check online!
The good news is that one phone call to the appraisal office confirmed that the assessed value should equal the sales price. And a big thank you to BRIAN JENNINGS in the office for specifically checking on our property and letting us know exactly what to do to correct it!
Ha! I knew it! You DO have a pro bono instinct.
Shhhhhh!
He doesn’t want me to know….
Distress sales, short sales and bank sales (REOs) ARE considered arm’s length. If you bought a house last year and it was a short sale or an REO, or any other arm’s length transaction, the Tax Assessor cannot value your property at more than the purchase price.
My apologies if I was wrong about the definition of “arm’s length” sale. That said, a closer look at the law makes me question what sales are excluded from the rule of appraisal value = sale value. You’d all be best warned to check it yourself if you bought a property in DeKalb in the past year!
This happened to us too. Purchase price last year was lower than the county assessment. First tax notice from the county was high – well over the sale price and last year’s assessment. Second notice from the county – assessment amount = sales price.
The only remaining question is whether to appeal the disproportionate land v. house assessments. But I don’t know what the benefit to appealing that would be. Previously, we lived in an expensive northern city. According to the tax assessirs there, my land was worth $500,000 but my house was only worth $50,000. Ha! LOL. But I guess this is how the county gets the most revenue?
I will not pretend to know the correct answer to any exact degree. However, from what I understand, the county is installing a completely new appraisal system for next year. In fact, the folks in the appraiser’s office are being tested this week on the new system. In addition. they seem to understand that the whole land/building values are out of whack. Given the overall craziness in the distribution, I can’t believe that this is an intentional strategy to increase tax revenues (and if it was, it was a bad one). Unfortunately, we won’t know the real story until next year’s appraisals come out. In any event, I don’t think it’s worth getting too worked up over until we see what pans out next year. For now, I’ll be crossing all fingers and toes hoping that I’m not proven wrong!
I am familiar with the appeal process having used it four years ago ‘successfully’ to gain a whopping $3000 reduction in assessed value.
With land lots of similar size and location valued the same and in my case creating the bulk of the total value, what’s the best strategy for an appeal? I can’t rebuild my home for $76,000 nor can a nearby neighbor on a slightly larger lot for $9,200. But my total is close to the fair market value.
How are you appealing the lot value? What can I use for comparables when similar lots on my street are all the same? It’s not the total concerning me but rather the distribution.
The scenario I foresee: Once the land value is set through no appeal or an unsuccessful one, then the structure assessment will go up to reality. What was a fair market value in the total assessment is no longer.
I understand that the County’s land to structure value ratios are preposterous. However, so long as the total this year is what you would consider “close to fair market value,” I doubt you will have much success on appeal, particularly since you admit that similar sized lots are the same as yours. You are not being treated any differently. You also run the risk that the Board of Equalization sees that your structure value is way too low and goes ahead and decides to increase it this year. I would think twice about appealing if I were you.
You may be right about the foreseen scenario – that they will come along in the next year or two and increase the structure value. If at that time the total is more than fair market value, then appeal. But until then, I don’t think you’ll have much success.
Looking at the poll, there not be a big change in the City’s tax digest as a result of the reassessment. My guess is that the percentage of owners who had no change from last year is higher than the ~35-40% reported here because owners with no assessment changes probably aren’t following this story as much as the rest of us. So maybe 1/2 of Decatur properties had no change in assessment during Round 1 for 2012. For the other half, other data (neighborhood listservs, word of mouth, total conjecture) suggest that the reassessments are all going back to the 2011 level. The poll suggests that twice as many responders had a decrease due to the reassessment as those with an increase. Since I had perused a lot of Decatur 2012 assessments, prior to the reassessment, and noted that the increases (from 2011 to 2012) usually ranged from 10% to 20% but the decreases were often dramatic, sometimes as much as 30% to 50%, the effect of the reassessment may be a wash.
This poll certainly displays why it behooved the County to do reassessments ASAP rather than wait for appeals. It could have had 50% of residential properties in Decatur appealing and who knows how many for the rest of the County. It could have been overwhelmed. Next time….pilot the new software a bit more before rolling it out!
To those with on-line re-assessments, i.e. the “BTA Change to Value – New Notice Mailed” note: Have you gotten the hardcopy notice in the mail yet? We haven’t and it’s making me nervous.
I wouldn’t worry. We got the online notation a week before we got anything in the mail, and that was before the mass re-assessment from last week.
Does anyone know if all of the re-assessments are complete? There is nothing on the tax commissioner’s site stating I have been or will be re-assessed, but I would like to know once that is final.
How hard would it be to draft a press release and put a copy on the website to let everyone know once they are done with re-assessments? The lack of communication is frustrating to say the least.
According to the Dekalb County records in the CGLNA area in 2011 FOUR single family residential lots were sold for development.
The details of the sales are below
List Price Sale Price Closing Date Address Acres
$169,900.00 $135,000.00 11/18/11 238 Forkner Dr 0.53
$169,900.00 $110,000.00 11/18/11 236 Forkner Dr 0.53
$125,000.00 $70,000.00 8/18/11 303 Lansdowne Ave 0.22
$89,500.00 $55,000.00 3/4/11 223 Fairview Sr 0.15
These were level undeveloped lots. Notice the first 2 are side by side lots.
According to the comments made by the mayor and city manager “”The appraisers are attempting to adjust land values to more realistic(their words not ours) levels based on market conditions.” http://www.decaturmetro.com/2012/06/06/wait-until-july-2nd-to-appeal-1500-decatur-properties-to-be-reassessed-and-an-explanation/
By law the tax assessments are supposed to be based on 2011 sales in the same area, yet nothing justifies the land value increases being experienced by the CGLNA. However because of how the assessments are presented most people are not aware that the land value has increased substantially and therefore probably will not appeal the assessments. If they do not appeal the unreasonable land values then the land values will become permanent.
If the current assessments hold once the housing market recovers (and it will eventually) the taxes on the building will have extremely large increases in value. Add the increased land values to a similar increase in building value and taxes on the properties will increase exponentially.
Based on the information in the new revised assessment the land my house sits on (.29 acres) is worth MORE than an undeveloped 1.06 acres in the same area. The long term implications of accepting the greatly inflated land values will result in significantly higher taxes with no option to appeal since the land values will have been in place for more than a year.