DeKalb Property Tax Assessments Are Out and Reflect Rising Real Estate Values Around County
Decatur Metro | June 7, 2016 | 11:52 am
Tax assessments arrived in the mail for many Decatur/DeKalb residents yesterday. And after big “readjustments” last year, many residents were hoping for a bit of a reprieve this year. But not so much, according to random comments I’ve seen from friends/neighbors online and the AJC…
Residential real estate assessments rose an estimated 7.8 percent this year, according to the county government’s preliminary tax digest figures. Unless the county reduces tax rates this summer, residents whose homes gained value will have to pay higher taxes.
Decatur recently lowered its millage rate for the coming year, however noted that it wouldn’t be enough to offset the rising property values in the city.
How’s your assessment look this year? Ours looks to have risen somewhere around the estimated 7.8% average. Fun, fun.
Screenshot of the DeKalb County Property Appraisal website
Ours went up 12.1% this year and that is after a hefty increase just last year. We are in Winnona Park.
Ours went up about the same, 12.8%, and it went up 15% last year. Seems excessive considering we’ve had no work done and the house is only 1,200 square feet. We’re looking at recent sales and may appeal.
Ours went up similarly, but is still valued well below what our house would sell for, so I’m not sure if I have justification for complaining. I would love to hear others’ thoughts on this perspective.
There doesn’t seem to be much consistency. We did a major remodel and ours went up, which was expected, but when compared to very similar houses in the area, the yearly average was anywhere from $1k less, to about $6k more. I was doing research to appeal, but realized I’m actually in a good spot compared to others, so I figured I’d leave well enough alone.
Even though there has to be money to pay for improvements to an already overcrowded school system, I think we may get to a point where the millage rates will start to come down, because with the yearly tax rates I’ve seen on a lot of these new homes, the tax base has got to be much higher than it used to be. Add some of the new multi-use developments, and that tax base will grow even larger. And yes, I realize that as the population grows, the taxes will grow with it to an extent, but when you’ve got many households going from maybe $4-5k a year in taxes, to well over $10k a year, my guess is there will be a surplus in the near future.
“Under O.C.G.A. § 48-5-299 (c), as it currently stands, you get the freeze for the additional two years even if you are unsuccessful in getting a lower assessment.”
Point is other than your time to research, there is value in appealing.
Of course that research will likely prove your assessment is low, and they have the power to raise your taxes if you appeal. IMHO, if you appeal while you appeal knowing your assessment is low solely to try to lock in your taxes for a couple of years, you deserve a healthy increase.
It’s hard to say–I advise doing research on recent home sales and tax appraisals of similar sized homes in your neighborhood before deciding. I did this last year when our appraisal went up dramatically the second time in a row and decided the reappraisal was too high and appealed. In the end, Dekalb came up with a new reappraisal number we thought was fair.
We did a major remodel like Dec so I was expecting the value to catch up. HOWEVER, they somehow think our house is now a 5 bed 4 bath when it is in fact a 4 bed 3 1/2 bath. I’m also not sure that $780,000 is fair market value.
Should we appeal?
If it’s not what the tax assessor has it listed as, I would. You can check what comparable houses recently sold for on sites like zillow and trulia. They probably have that at the tax assessors office as well, so you can get comps if you think your value is too high. But yeah, if they’re saying your house is bigger than it actually is, I would definitely appeal.
I agree with Dec, you should definitely appeal. It’s a fairly painless process. I appealed my assessment last year and about six months later received a notification that my assessment had been dramatically decreased – still an increase from the prior year, but significantly less than the original assessment.
Fortunately, my assessed value did not change this year.
Posting again …
“Under O.C.G.A. § 48-5-299 (c), as it currently stands, you get the freeze for the additional two years even if you are unsuccessful in getting a lower assessment.”
I have appealed before in DeKalb county and found that, although it impacts market value, they use the square footage and condition of your home as the key factors rather than the # of beds/baths. I know it does not translate to reality, but I was rebuffed on this specific point several years back. Not sure if it is still the same.
Believe this is the case. In a Board of Equalization hearing I got a reduction of $3000 because my strongest comparable’s most glaring difference was a second bathroom. We expressed our surprised but the panel stuck with that low value.
They claimed we had an extra bed, a finished basement, and about 500 square feet more than we do. Our assessment was reduced when we appealed, so I’d try.
We appealed two years ago when we realized they were assessing us as 4 BR 3Ba when we were really 3 BR ! BA. Never had to do anything except fill out the online form and “click” appeal. It worked and they lowered our assessment without anyone coming out or asking any questions. I think correcting incorrect data is different from arguing about your property value.
I have appealed twice in the past. First time based on wrong data — inspector came out, looked at house, agreed, updated data. She also downgraded condition from “good” to “fair”, which as noted above, impacted appraised value. Second time, different house, had a lengthy appeal process (they made a revised appraisal offer, which I refused as still way too high given historical data) that ultimately went my way and was retroactively applied. The system can work, but it can be slow if you wind up going the full hearing route.
In the last few years, it looks to me like there is a real (maybe haphazard, but real) effort to have appraisals more accurately reflect fair market value. It also looks like they are trying harder to seriously value the land vs the structure, when 10+ years ago it seemed like they always kind of barely valued the land and only focused on the overall appraisal. Maybe teardowns made them realize that was a bad idea from a tax point of view?
I own two extremely similar neighboring properties in Decatur (one of which I live in). I thought my appraisal last year was too high and was going to wait and see this year before deciding to appeal. I just got my appraisal in the mail and both properties dropped 2%. To pretty much exactly what fair market value is according to my real-estate agent neighbors who track such things.
Maybe it is dumb luck.
17.5% increase from last year.
67% increase from 3 years ago!!!!!!!!!
All of the increase is on the structure which is absolutely ridiculous because we haven’t touched it in 13 years. We are due and planning for a major renovation and I want to appeal before hand. However the problem is that the land is now valued ridiculously low for this area and the lot next door sold last year as a tear down for an insane amount of money. Not sure I want them coming in and changing that.
Highly recommend Rob Vinson with The Vinson Group for tax appeals. He know the system inside and out and is very easy to work with. If you suspect you’re over appraised, it’s a no brainer — he can save you money.
http://www.taxappealatlanta.com
Don’t reside in DeKalb anymore, but own two rental properties there. Both assessed for ~40 percent higher–and are still quite a bit below comps. ITP on the norhtside is booming.
4% increase in assessment this year, 22% the previous year, all of which seems fair since the assessment was flatline from 2009-2013. On the other hand, the last renovation was in 2001 and our house is nowhere near “show ready”. How does that work anyway? If one decides that it’s not worth the time and effort to “stage” one’s home in a seller’s market in a hot area like City of Decatur–how much lower should one expect the house to sell? I’m talking about selling without repainting, refinishing floors, putting pot pourri on the stove, baking fresh bread, pressure washing the outside, doing a bunch of yard work, etc., i.e. the cosmetic stuff.
0.6% decrease! Savings will buy us about two tokens at the Communion beer garden!
Motivated by your terms, my net tax savings due to a lower appraisal will cover a couple of craft beer kegs. Maybe this could become a new form of block party …
21% increase in unincorporated area. Honestly, it’s more in line with reality this year. Stinks, but it is what it is.
55% increase YoY. What the literal hell? We bought the property not two years ago for $165k LESS than what it is currently being assessed at. We will be appealing, there is no justification for this amount of an increase within a single year.
They did this exact same thing on another property we own in Midway Woods. It was a whooping 67% increase in both assessment and tax increase. What Dekalb is doing is completely asinine. I get the understanding and motivation, but the reality of what they are doing are words I choose not to describe on this site.
Yep. My assessment increased by about 65%. I purchased it just about a year-and-a-half ago. While I do not dispute it has increased in value, that’s just plain ridiculous.
Keep in mind when appealing values for this year based on sales for last year, i.e.2015, not necessarily the most recent sales. This is different from how Realtors do it.