Gwinnett residential notices are going out April 15, happy tax day! Let's hope the printer/mailing service gets it right this time. If all goes well the deadline to appeal will be May 30. As most other metro area counties will have the notices on the street by May 30 please contact us regarding your appeal well before this deadline. Thank you! www.fair-assessments.com

I have received assessment notices from commercial clients in Gwinnett County and Cobb County. Both have an appeal deadline of May 23, 2011. Please contact us well before this date if you would like our professional assistance with your property tax appeal www.fair-assessments.com

We have successfully made it passed April 1 and all of the nonsense and misinformation being put out there by part-time and less than qualified property tax advisors. Can there be any doubt that the Georgia Taxpayer Return of Real Property has lost its usefulness when Gwinnett County sends out commercial assessment notices BEFORE April 1?

Gwinnett knows that the majority, if not all, of the returns filed are simply filed to generate an assessment notice that can be appealed. So why wait for returns? And for those of you who think that filing a return is the same thing as appealing your assessment, think again. Filing a return gives you no rights. Rights are only associated with an appeal of an assessment notice. Contact us if you have any questions.

Many real estate market participants have criticized lenders for failing to foreclose on problem loans. Allowing property owners to fall behind on payments, or reduce payments, because the lender was already overwhelmed with problem loans became knows as "extend and pretend." The practice of ignoring the problem seems to be coming to an end however.

A year ago lenders had 80% of problem loans in loan modification programs. In an about face lenders are now foreclosing on approximately 71% of these loans and modifying only 29%. According to Moody's, approximately 7,000 commercial mortgage backed securities loans were in some form of default at the end of 2010.

Delinquency Rate Hits Record for Mortgage-Backed Commercial Loans

Loans tied to commercial mortgage-backed securities hit a record delinquency rate in March, with 9.42% of all such loans having missed payments, loan research-service firm Trepp LLC said.

Mall Vacancies Climb to Highest in Decade as U.S. Retailers Close Stores

By Hui-yong Yu

Vacancies at U.S. regional malls rose to the highest level in at least a decade in the first quarter, a sign that landlords are struggling to keep tenants after the recession even as retail sales rise, Reis Inc. said.

The world's largest bond fund is opening a new mortgage real estate investment trust (REIT) to invest in, and issue debt secured by commercial real estate. With nearly $2 trillion in commercial real estate debt maturing in the next five years, and lenders increasingly unwilling to issue loans secured by commercial real estate, they see an opportunity to issue and purchase debt secured by good quality commercial RE assets. They also made note of the fact that most money is chasing trophy properties in New York City and Washington, D.C. and there is a need for liquidity in other markets.

Atlanta Home Prices Hit New Low in January

Atlanta Business Chronicle

Home prices in most major U.S. cities, including Atlanta, were “dismal” to start in 2011 and a double-dip recession could be beginning, according to the monthly Standard & Poor/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices.

After a one week delay from the originally scheduled date of mailing Gwinnett's assessment notices were sent to the wrong owners on Friday. They are now saying that all commercial notices will be resent next week.