Are you worried that your DeKalb County property tax assessment might be wrong, and that you could be paying far more than you should be on your taxes? You know that you have to pay your property taxes each year, but you do not want to be overpaying on those taxes if you can help it. However, with the way that the assessments happen, there is always a chance that the amount you are paying could be wrong.
It is important that you always take the time to look at your assessment when it comes to you in the mail. This is your chance to make sure that the DeKalb County property tax assessor did not make a mistake when they were assessing your property. Keep in mind that any mistake – even if it seems minor – is going to cause problems with your payments.
Research the Problem
If you feel that there is a problem, there is no reason to get upset quite yet. There are things you can do to make this problem go away. The first thing that you need to do is review the assessment and commit to filing your appeal for a new assessment. Keep in mind that you will need to do this within 45 days of receiving your assessment. The sooner you act the better.
While mistakes are not common, they do happen. This is because most of the time the DeKalb County property tax professionals can’t provide individual assessments for each property. Instead, they will utilize mass appraisals to make the process go faster. However, this does not mean that they are accurate.
There is a chance that they could get one or more elements wrong when it comes to your property. For example, they might have the square footage wrong, or they might have the lot size incorrect. They might not have the correct number of bedrooms or bathrooms, or they might not have considered the overall condition of the property. There are plenty of little things that they might have gotten wrong or missed.
You will want to look for mistakes that the county might have about your property because they are going to continue taxing you incorrectly if you don’t. You want to look for any information that could be out of place, and that might lead them to believe that the home is newer or larger than it truly is, or that there have been improvements made to the property that were not made.
Sometimes, it is as easy as finding one of these mistakes and pointing it out at the tax assessor’s office. Most of the time, though, you are going to need to file an appeal. This can take some time, and it will require that you provide and file certain documents according to a timeframe.
What Information Do You Need?
The types of documentation that you are going to need can vary based on what you are trying to prove. For example, you might be trying to prove that you have two bathrooms, and not four. You might need photographic evidence, and contractor reports or information. The same is true if you are trying to prove the condition of the home.
If you feel that your house is not being judged in accordance with the other homes in the area, then you will want to have comps of other homes. This means that you want to see what the prices of other homes in your area were valued at during the time when the county assessed your property. If there are vast differences between your home and the other homes, they could have made a mistake. A third-party appraisal is often a good idea, as well.
It Is Worth Appealing?
Even though it might take some additional time and effort on your part, it is certainly worth appealing the DeKalb County property tax if it is incorrect. It could help you save a substantial amount of money. If you were to let the problem continue for year after year, just imagine how much money you could be losing in the end.
In those cases where they have assessed the property and have lowered its value and lowered the taxes, you might still want to appeal. While you might be saving some money on taxes in those cases, if you were going to sell the home, the prospective buyers are going to look at the property taxes. If they see that the taxes are low, they are going to believe that the house is worth less, and they will try to lower their offers. It’s always best to have an accurate assessment of your property.
Getting Help from the Professionals
As you can see, there are many reasons that your DeKalb County property tax might be incorrect, but there are ways to make things right, so you are not paying more than you should. If you believe that you are paying the incorrect amount for your property tax after your research, then you want to have it taken care of properly, of course.
While you could try to handle it all on your own, you will find that it tends to be much easier when you work with the professionals. You can get in touch with those who are at Fair Assessments, LLC. We can work to take care of your appeal and to guide you through the entire process, so you do not have to worry about missing any of your deadlines. It also gives you peace of mind knowing that there are professionals who are taking care of the issue for you, not to mention, you will have more free time now that you don’t have to spend all of it working on your appeal.
We have more than two decades of experience working in this field and have even work for the tax assessors in the past. We know and understand how the system works, and we strive to make sure you are treated fairly and have the appeal that you deserve.
