I received my DeKalb County assessment notice over the Memorial Day weekend. The county's market value estimate on my house has been 4.6% higher than the 2003 sale price for the past several years. My new value is now 1.9% lower than last year but is 2.6% higher than the 2003 sale. This is interesting given that the Case-Shiller home price index is indicating that values in the Atlanta Metro area are now below year 2000 levels.
The County annual notice of assessment is dated May 27 with a last day to file appeal of July 11. Everyone who has had little movement in their assessed value for the last several years should consider appealing. The county probably hasn't moved much because they think they have a lack of sales data to change values in your neighborhood. But they should be looking in other competing neighborhoods for indications of value.
In my experience it is harder to work with the county's residential appraisers than the commercial appraisers. The residential appraisers are married to their values or they take changes to their values much more personally than commercial appraisers. You need to go into a formal hearing on a house value with all the ammunition you can muster.
