If you are like many people, you do not pay too much attention to your property tax bill. When it comes in, you glance at it, shake your head at the amount you have to pay, and then you pay the bill. However, you might be paying a lot more than you should be. There is a chance that the Fulton County tax assessor might have made a mistake with your property. Whether you own a residential property or a commercial property, it is always in your best interest to check to see if your taxes are correct or not. Everyone, even the Fulton County tax assessor can make mistakes.
Why Might the Assessment Be Wrong?
There are many different potential factors that will affect the actual value of your property. Some of them might be legitimate reasons for your property value to increase, such as changes to the real estate market in the area. When the market improves, there is a good chance that the value of homes in the area will increase, as well.
However, there are plenty of other reasons that the assessment could be higher than what you believe it should be. For example, you might find that the records for your property are inaccurate. The records might say that you have four bedrooms when you actually have just three, for example. The square footage of the property might be off, as well. Of course, human error and also be a culprit, as could incorrect data from comp properties, for example. As you can see, there are many potential problems that can cause your property tax assessment to be incorrect, resulting in you paying far more taxes than you should be paying.
Filing for Your Appeal
When you get your property tax bill from the Fulton County tax assessor, you will want to look at it carefully. If it appears that you are paying more than you should, or more than you think you should, you will want to make sure that you don’t take it at face value. Make sure that you start to look at little deeper. Check to see where the error might be. You will have a limited amount of time that you can challenge your taxes and file an appeal. You want to do this as soon as possible, so you do not miss the filing date.
You will also want to check to see what information was used by the Fulton County tax assessor when your home was being assessed. What data was used and what assumptions were used for the property. There could be changes to the property that the assessor was not aware of. You might find errors made on the data that the assessor was using. You want to look for errors and evidence that the assessor’s office was mistaken and that you should be paying less in taxes.
Even if you find that they were using the correct information, it does not mean that the assessment was done correctly. They could still be wrong. You will have until the date of your hearing to gather the evidence needed to prove that you are correct.
There are many different types of evidence that you might be able to use for your case. You could use maps and land surveys, blueprints, appraisals from third-party professionals, contractor reports, comps, and photos. There are many types of evidence that could potentially be used when you are looking for errors on your property’s assessment.
You likely won’t need to have all of these types of evidence supporting your case to get your reassessment. However, the more evidence you have on your side the better. It helps to increase your chance of getting your property tax reduced to the proper amount. It also ensures that if you made your own mistake with one of the pieces of evidence, you will still have other pieces that can help to back up your claims.
Take your time to look at all of the areas that could be pushing the value of your home higher than it actually should be. It is often these areas that are the cause of the problem.
What If You Aren’t Paying Enough?
While many people might jump for joy if they find they are not being taxed enough on their property taxes, this is not always a good thing. Having the property valued at a lower amount will mean that you are not going to get as much money when you sell the property. People who are looking to buy will be looking at the records and the value of the property, and they will compare that to what you are asking. If you plan to sell soon, and your property is not valued high enough, you will also want to appeal.
Moving Ahead with Your Case
Naturally, you will want to make sure that you are not paying too much in taxes. This means filing for your appeal. However, it also means that there is a lot of work that needs to be done, not just with the filing, but with ensuring that you can gather all of the evidence that you need. This can take up a substantial amount of your time and energy, and you only have a limited number of days before your hearing. If you have other things come up in your life, you might end up pushing back evidence gathering until it is too late. That could be a huge mistake.
Fortunately, you do not have to make that mistake. Instead, you can get in touch with the professional team at Fair Assessments, LLC. We have a lot of experience helping property owners just like you, and we have a successful record when it comes to helping people reduce their taxes. You can get in touch and let us get to work on your case, so you can take care of everything else in your life that needs attention.
