When did you feel more uncomfortable?

When you thought there was some political maneuvering involving DeKalb County tax assessment process, or when you learned the apparent truth was that our assessors office just went rogue?

I’m still mulling it over.

Oh 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.”

Throw this tidbit into the mix, as we try to determine the direction of Decatur’s real estate market.

From an AJC article on the 27% drop in DeKalb home prices since last year…

[Real estate agent Tal] Kramer noted that there were pockets in metro Atlanta that fared much better than average, with one area – the Cobb County school district that includes highly sought-after Walton High School – even seeing a slight gain in price, of 4.4 percent. Some parts of DeKalb also were up for the year as well, such as the city of Decatur, which also has a highly regarded school system and had an increase in average price of 1.4 percent [vs. year-ago].

You may continue to call me overly optimistic, but when your county is down 27% overall and the city manages a slight increase in its real estate prices that’s not a bad sign.