Recently much news has been made about the increasing house values around the country. Apparently the depths of the Great Recession are behind us and real estate is in full recovery mode. According to the Case-Shiller Atlanta home price index, housing values increased 18.44% year-over-year as of August 2013.

This is, of course, an average increase in house values for Atlanta real estate as a whole. I have found wide disparities from this average as I analyze values by neighborhood throughout the metro area. If we dig into the Case-Shiller Atlanta home price index a little further we can see where some of the variation is coming from.

The Fulton County tax assessors have begun work on the 2013 property tax appeals. Some Fulton County property owners have received no change letters from the tax assessors regarding their 2013 appeals while some have been offered reductions in what is called a 30 day letter. After you receive a reduction offer from the tax assessors you have 30 days to either accept the reduced value or appeal to the second level of appeal, which is the Fulton County Board of Equalization.

Recently, some of the 2013 property tax appeals have been scheduled to be heard by the Fulton County Board of Equalization. As recently as last month, the Board of Equalization was continuing to work on 2012 property tax appeal hearings and even a few 2011 property tax appeal hearings were being heard. They are not done with 2012 hearings, however. It appears that the Fulton County Tax Assessors staff is frequently using the board of equalization hearing as a tool to gain access to properties.

The Fulton County Tax Assessor's staff just can't get enough of being one year behind on their property tax appeal work. Twice in the past month I have been at Fulton County Board of Equalization hearings for tax year 2012 and the staff appraisers have requested a "field check." Once the appraiser produced an aerial photograph of the property in appeal and proclaimed that the size of the building in the County record must be wrong based on the photo alone. The other time the appraiser just seemed unprepared and wasn't willing to present what he had and let the Board make a decision. Again, he claimed that he needed to inspect the property before making any recommendation. 

This would be a reasonable request if this was July of 2012 but it is July of 2013. The worst part is that the Fulton County Tax Assessors have really just begun the process of pushing all of the 2012 appeals through to the BOE. Just like the Fulton County Board of Equalization was hearing 2011 property tax appeals earlier in 2013, they will be hearing 2012 property tax appeals in 2014. 

The Fulton County tax Assessors have posted some sale ratios statistics on their website showing how well they have done with their 2013 reappraisal. At first glance, these statistics look stellar given that Fulton is such a large, diverse county. Take a look:

The DeKalb County tax assessor has released the 2013 values and the assessment notices are dated May 28, 2013. With the Georgia mandated 45 day appeal period this makes the property tax appeal deadline July 12, 2013. The DeKalb County tax assessor has instituted a new online appeal option. If you visit their real estate data search page and input your name, address, or parcel ID number you will find your property description, and an option to file your appeal online. You will need the access code found on the bottom right of your property tax assessment notice in order to complete the online filing. 

We haven't heard any screaming yet due to large increases in taxable value as there were last year. Last year the neighborhood I live in was cut about 35% and there wasn't any complaining about it, except from those that were trying to sell their houses and thought the the DeKalb County tax assessor's values would have an impact on what potential purchasers would offer. I hate the think that there are people out there that actually think that the tax assessor is so correct that it sets an upper limit on value. 

The Cobb County tax assessor appeal deadline for commercial properties is coming up very soon. The 2013 deadline for commercial property is June 3. You still have approximately one week to appeal these commercial values. After the June 3 deadline there is no option for for a property tax appeal in 2013. The law is very clear in this respect. The appeal period is 45 days from the notice date, no if's and's or but's.

If you want to ensure that your Cobb County property tax is as low as possible be proactive and get your property tax appeal filed. Although the commercial real estate market has recovered since the Great Recession the amount of recovery depends on the property type and the market area. Not all of Cobb County has experienced appreciation that some of the news would have you believe. Some of the commercial property types that are still suffering are limited service hotels, restaurants, and golf courses.

Today we are looking at the trend in office values in the Atlanta metro area. Based on information from LoopNet sale price per square foot has been on an uptrend for approximately six months. The median sale price at the start of this year was approximately $70/SF.

The Georgia tax assessors are sending out 2013 tax assessment notices and it is time to take a look at Atlanta commercial real estate values. Below is the sale price per square foot trend for retail real estate in metro Atlanta. It appears we are still bouncing along the bottom:

Heads up Gwinnett County propery owners! Time flys and the Gwinnett County Tax Assessor notices came out on April 5. The 45 day appeal period ends in nine days, on May 20th. You can file your Gwinnett County appeal electronically. You can file your appeal in person at 75 Langley Drive in Lawrenceville, GA. You can file your appeal by mail provided it is postmarked by May 20. I recommend you send your Gwinnett County appeal certified mail with a return receipt requested, if you choose to use the postal service.

Many people ask me if there is anything we can do for them when they miss the Gwinnett County Tax Assessor appeal deadline. The answer is no, there is nothing we can do. The law in Georgia is clear, the time to appeal is within 45 days after the tax assessment notice date. Others wait until their tax bill comes out, and then wish they had taken steps to lower their tax burden. Again, we can do nothing at this point as there is no legal way to challenge a property tax bill, only the tax assessment.

The bells were tolling for the Fulton County Taxpayers Foundation in December of 2012 when the AJC reported that the nonprofit was on the verge of collapse. Apparently spending exceeded donations by a large margin and heads needed to roll. I reported in this blog that they had ended property tax appeal work at the Foundation. 

However, I have spoken to two members of the Fulton County Taxpayers Foundation this week and the property tax appeal work has not ended. The problem was the Foundation was short on cash and unable to pay the appraisers that were working the appeals. The Foundation kept asking the Fulton County Board of Equalization to reschedule the appeals so they wouldn't incur the monetary obligation to the appraisers.