First let me say that there isn't a reason to not appeal your Georgia property tax unless you know for certain that your value is higher than the assessors tax value. There is a reason why there is a Georgia property tax appeal process and that reason is because the assessors can't be right all the time. As a matter of fact they should only be right some the time. In order to explain this I need to get into how the property tax assessor determines value.

When the tax assessor is trying to determine what the value is in your neighborhood, or for your property type, they have to look at the sales data that is available. For those properties that have recently sold, say in the year 2011, the assessor compares his Georgia property tax value with the sales price. If the tax assessor has enough sales in your neighborhood or for your property type he can make generalizations about values based on this. For example, if on average the assessor's Georgia property tax values are 80% of the sale prices in your neighborhood, and there are sufficient numbers of sales to make this information statistically significant, the assessor may increase all of the Georgia property tax values in the neighborhood by 10% or 15% or even 20% to get the values to where they should be.

In actuality the assessors use the median ratio of assessment to sale price to make decisions on neighborhood wide value changes. They use medians because medians are unaffected by extreme values. Now if the assessor, using this sales information and sale ratios, changes values such that their median sale ratio has an assessed value that is 100% of the sale price, that means that approximately half of the properties will be overvalued and half will be undervalued. This is why the tax assessor can only be right part of the time. It's up to you to decide if you're in that portion of properties that are overvalued or undervalued.

Given the current state of the housing market and what we've been going through for the past several years, there's little chance that the assessors will be raising values in 2012. This same process of comparing Georgia property tax assessments to sale prices can and should be used to reduce Georgia property taxes. If the median sale ratio, the ratio of assessed value to sale price, is 120% this means that the neighborhood or property type is overvalued. The tax assessor should lower all property values within this neighborhood such that the median sale ratio is near 100%. But again, half of the properties would be overvalued and half would be undervalued, even after a big reduction in value.

It's up to you to decide whether or not you want to fight City Hall, or the tax assessor. Just know that the deck is not stacked against you. You have as good a chance of getting your value reduced as your chance of getting no change in your Georgia property tax. It all depends on the neighborhood you're in or the property type you own, what the market data says, and whether you want to put in the time and effort to determine whether or not a Georgia property tax appeal is worth your time. If you don't want to jump through the hoops necessary to get a good result from your Georgia property tax appeal you may want to consider using the assistance of an expert. Here at Fair Assessments we have been helping property taxpayers get their Georgia property taxes reduced for eight years. If you need help getting your Georgia property taxes reduced please contact us.

The Georgia Association of Assessing Officials (GAAO) has released their 2012 Legislative Policy Statement. In the Policy Statement they urge the Georgia State Legislature to act on matters that they consider important to Georgia property tax. The Policy contains five main priorities:

1. Alternatives to Artificial Limitations of Property Tax Valuations - In this the GAAO is concerned that recent legislation compelling the assessors to set the tax values on sold properties at their sale price with result in inequitable assessments. For the same reason they are also concerned that the legislature will place a cap on assessment increases.

2. Correcting Valuation Errors / Statute of Limitations - The GAAO doesn't take issue with the state-wide three year refund for errors that existed for at least that long. However, they are concerned that the various counties are using different lengths of time in which to correct errors. They are encouraging the General Assembly to create a single three-year statute of limitations for the discovery, auditing, and correction of assessments.

3. Digests preparation efficiency and Simplification – The GAAO is concerned that many changes in the law have made it harder for the counties to comply with state law and submit a property tax digest in a timely manner.

4. Property Tax Exemption Applications – In this the GAAO is recommending that exemption applications be submitted by April 1 for the tax year that the exemption is sought. Currently the law is vague on a deadline.

5. Standardized Assessment Administration and Practices – Here the GAAO is concerned that the services the counties obtained from the state Department of revenue are being significantly reduced by elimination of a state property tax levy that funds the department of revenue.

As a former tax assessor employee and a property tax consultant I see no problem with these requested changes from the GAAO. Anything that simplifies the Georgia property tax code so that it is easier for everyone to understand is a good thing. If you have any questions about Georgia property tax please contact us at www.fairassessments.com.

What goes around comes around, and value weakness just won't go away. Nationally, house prices fell for the 6th straight month in October, and Atlanta house values had fallen approximately 9% from January through October. Although sales of existing and new homes are up from the depths of the recent recession (assumes that you feel it is over) and mortgage rates remain at historic lows, lending standards are still tight by anyone's standards. With all house listings competing with distressed sales value pressure is still, well, distressing.

Mr. Shiller, of Case-Shiller house price index fame, thinks residential values could fall another 10% during 2012. Foreclosure rates remain high and banks are still catching up from the robo-signing scandal from a year ago. The market may yet be flooded with even more vacant foreclosed houses. Recent house price data shows that Atlanta, and several Midwestern cities such as Detroit and S. Louis have declined at a faster rate than they did during the recession.

The most recent S&P Case-Shiller home price index shows that Atlanta area house values declined 5% in October, after a similar decline in September. House sale prices fell more in the Atlanta area than any of the 19 other metropolitan areas that the Case-Shiller index covers. Compared to October 2010 values, Atlanta values have fallen 11.7% which implies that values in Atlanta were (overall) flat prior to this fall.

If you chose to appeal your Atlanta area 2012 property tax assessment there is plenty of time to get your evidence together. However, the effective date of appraisal for property tax purposes is January 1, and the market data used to establish a value as of that date is data from Before January 1. You will have to gather comparable sales data from the year 2011, and wait for 2012 tax assessment values to come out before developing an equity argument.

For help with your Georgia property tax appeals contact us at www.fairassessments.com

Relative growth in vacancy rates since the start of the Great Recession:

A class-A office building sold in Atlanta recently. Promenade Two, a 774,000 square foot building in Midtown was purchased by Cousins Properties. The reported sale price is $134,700,000 or $174 per foot. The building is 42% vacant. Jones Lang LaSalle reports that the vacancy rate in Midtown is 24.4% and that is the highest in the metro area. Net absorption was negative in the third quarter in Midtown. Jones Lang LaSalle report that the average office rent in Midtown is $23.75

The best properties in the best locations are still commanding high prices per foot. But with Midtown having the highest vacancy rate of all the Atlanta metro sub-markets can it really be considered a "best location" at this time? Perhaps. Vacancy rates are high in most markets and relatively speaking Midtown's vacancy rate isn't that bad.

Bifurcation. There's the top tier properties, and then there's everyone else's properties. If you think the assessor has your property in the wrong group don't feel singled out. There are a lot of other properties owners being associated with the Chosen properties (you know, the only ones selling) out there. For help getting the assessors to "see the light" talk to the property tax appeal professionals at Fair Assessments LLC.

Back from Thanksgiving with a cold, but all is well otherwise.

The S&P Case Shiller house price index dropped 3.6% for the year ended in September which was a larger drop than experts had predicted (3.0%). Of the 20 cities in the index 18 had a year ended September decline and Atlanta had the largest drop in house values at a whopping -9.8%. Much of the blame is being laid on lenders that have increased foreclosures recently and are adding to the inventory of available properties when there is already a glut and little demand.

Builders are on pace this year to sell the fewest new houses since record keeping began in 1963. 2010 was the slowest year ever for new house sales but it looks like 2011 will come in dead last. As noted above, builders are competing with a glut of existing inventory that is sitting, weighing on the market.

CoreLogic reported that over 1/4 of all mortgaged houses in the USA are underwater, or are close to owing more on their mortgage than their house is worth. Homeowners with negative equity are more likely to have above market interest rate mortgage loans. This makes perfect sense since most underwater homeowners cannot pony up additional funds to create 20% equity needed to refinance now. Those that are not upside down are more likely to have enough equity to refinance.

That was a quick autumn. December is here and the air has turned crisp here in Atlanta. The assessor's effective date of appraisal is just 31 days away. Gather your market data before it slips away and prepare for your 2012 appeal. For assistance with all of your property tax appeal needs contact fairassessments.com

Fannie Mae says that consumer confidence is still cause for concern regarding the housing market. Fannie Mae economists are projecting that 2012 home sales will be only slightly higher than this year. Construction was up in September, but it was primarily due to apartment construction. Home builders say that it is still very difficult to compete with all of the distressed properties on the market.

It was recently announced that the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) is getting low on reserves and may need to go to the Treasury for more money. Adding to the worry it was reported that more than 30% of all mortgage modifications made by FHA in 2010 defaulted again within a year. Foreclosures on FHA insured loans declined in September but this was attributed to the slowdown in foreclosure processing due to the robo-signing scandal.

Lender Processing Services (LPS) recently announced that mortgage delinquencies declined in October to 7.93% of outstanding loans, which is down 2% from September and 14.6% from a year ago. LPS information shows that approximately 6.3 million properties are in foreclosure or are 30 days delinquent. The states with the highest percentage of delinquent loans are Florida, Mississippi, Nevada, New Jersey and Illinois.

Fitch has data showing that home values have fallen 7% over the past year. They say that now brings the total decline in housing values nationwide to 38% since the peak. Fitch believes that home prices have not reached the bottom and they expect prices to fall another 13%. They blame the continuing weakness in home values on high unemployment, stricter lending standards, and the glut of distressed houses on the market.

The assessor's effective date of appraisal of January 1 is approaching quickly. Do you know where tax rates are headed in 2012? Do you know what's happened to values in your market area? Here at Fair Assessments, our job is to know the real estate market and know how to save you money. If you own residential real estate in Fulton County, DeKalb County or Gwinnett County, Georgia we can help you with your property tax appeal.