Property Tax Appeal Blog (86)

Fulton County Property Tax Appeals

Based on the inquiries I have received from taxpayers in the City of Atlanta and north Fulton County the tax assessment values are too high. Do not leave money on the table! Contact us about keeping more of your hard earned dollars! http://www.fair-assessments.com

Porsche – There Is No Substitute

Hapeville got a shot in the arm this week when it was announced that Porsche would be building its new American headquarters at the old Ford assembly plant site in Hapeville Georgia. The new headquarters will include a 150,000 square foot office building and a 1.6 mile test track. The test track will be there to allow potential Porsche owners to test drive their vehicles on site. Yes if you would like to enjoy the lifestyle of the rich and famous you can fly into Atlanta's Hartsfield International Airport, take a taxi to the Porsche headquarters, and test drive a Porsche 911.

Fulton County Property Tax Appeals

Fulton County property tax assessment notices are out and you have 45 days to appeal. Given that residential values have continued to trend lower over the past year you should consider the assessment notice sent to you. Is the 2011 value a reduction from the 2010 value? Was the 2010 value a reduction from the 2009 value? If your value hasn't changed much in the last few years you have a good reason to appeal.

Atlanta residential values are down -33% from the peak of the market. This is, of course, an average of the entire metro area. Some areas have been harder hit than others. But if your assessment hasn't been reduced (much) it is probably because the assessment staff didn't think they had enough market data to make a change. One of the reasons that they didn't feel they had enough market data was they considered foreclosures to be non-market transactions.

That has all changed however. The Georgia Legislature has compelled the counties to consider foreclosure sales, short sales, and other forms of distressed sales while they are making their value estimates. In effect, the legislature has made the distressed sales "market value" indicators for property tax purposes. If distressed sales are the majority of sales in your neighborhood it is time for the assessors to consider those sales.

If your value is not changed or is little changed during this recessionary cycle please contact us for help on your property tax appeal. We are reached at www.fair-assessments.com or 404-647-2780.

Metro Atlanta Property Tax Appeal Data

When it seems that things cannot get any worse in the residential real estate market, they do. Nationally, home prices continued to plummet during the first quarter, falling -4.6% from a year earlier. Condo prices fell -10.4%. So far this year prices are dropping faster than they did in 2010. Nationally the median home price has fallen -30% from its 2006 high.

Here in Atlanta during the first quarter house values fell -4.4% from a year earlier. The year over year change was -17.3% and Atlanta house values have fallen -33.7% from their peak. Of Atlanta houses with mortgage loans, 55.7% have negative equity. Lenders: the keys are in the mail.

The residential value crisis has done little to abate the mortgage fraud problem. Reports of mortgage fraud in 2010 reached the highest level ever, according to the Treasury Department. The fraudsters have changed their schemes to reflect the times and often target homeowners that are underwater on their mortgage loans.

The number of bank failures reached 13 in April, the highest number since July of 2010. Georgia leads the country in bank failures with 10 this year and 70 since the start of the cycle. Commercial real estate loans represented the highest percentage of nonperforming loans at the recently failed institutions with residential loans a close second.

Fulton County Assessment Notices

Fulton County sent their 2011 assessment notices to all (or most) real property owners late last week. Unfortunately, much like Gwinnett County, they had a problem with the mailing. Although Fulton managed to send their assessment notices to the correct owners, some of the notices had an incorrect tax estimate. According to the new tax law in Georgia, Senate Bill 346, every property owner must receive an assessment notice every year. This annual notice of assessment is required to include an estimate of the property tax.

Although they are saying the problem appears to be confined to some assessment notices in the city of Atlanta, the incorrect tax amounts on these notices has some property owners falling out of their chairs. Fortunately, the assessment notice is a notice of value estimate and not a tax bill. Tax bills will be issued later this year, presumably with the correct tax amounts.

Fulton County always has more property tax appeals than the other counties in the Atlanta metro area, partially because it is the largest. I recommend getting your appeal filed as early as possible to avoid the crush that will take place right before the deadline which is 45 days from the assessment notice date. We can proactively engage the appropriate Fulton County appraiser and attempt to get your appeal settled THIS YEAR. I have to emphasize this because Fulton County gets so many appeals that your appeal is often settled a year or more after filing.

Please take a look at my qualifications here:http://www.fair-assessments.com/about.html and if you would like professional assistance in your property tax appeal contact us. There is no better time than the present to save more money!

Georgia Industrial/Warehouse Tax Appeal Data

Could the industrial market in the European Union be an indication of the health of the industrial market here? It is a global economy after all. ProLogis European Properties, a big industrial REIT has its European industrial assets up for sale and it is only attracting low-ball bids according to the Wall Street Journal. The bids received are not pricing in any recovery in the European industrial market.

The industrial rental market continues to be challenging according to market participants. At the start of this year the Atlanta leased industrial vacancy rate was 20.6 percent. The vacancy rate was down 0.2 percent due to net absorption in the fourth quarter but for the year 2010 the vacancy rate was up one percent. Rental rates declined for the fifth consecutive quarter.

If you need assistance with your property tax assessment appeal please contact us.

Although this chart is based on city data, counties are experiencing the same situation. I'm sure the tax assessors have been coached to hold onto every dollar they can.

A Natural Disaster

This real estate crisis is far from over. On top of the double dip in house prices that we are currently seeing it has now come to light that the ownership of your mortgage may be in question. During the heyday of mortgage backed security creation the profiteers decided to skip required documentation because that process could not be automated and was slowing them down. Some astute foreclosure victims started looking into their paperwork and found that the lender that was foreclosing on them did not have the documentation naming them owner.

Not a pretty picture

The nation's top three home-builders have posted bigger losses in this year's first quarter than in last year's first quarter. Potential buyers of new homes are avoiding them for fear that they will continue to lose value and are purchasing low-priced foreclosures instead. This is the time of year when new-home sales are supposed to pick up but so far it has been worse than most expected.

The Double-Dip Has Arrived

In February the Case-Shiller home price index dropped four the eighth month in a row. Year over year prices were up in only one of the markets covered, Washington DC. Home prices in Atlanta are at their lowest point since the recession began. Atlanta house prices are down 5.8% from a year ago. Atlanta prices are down 26.3% from the national peak in July of 2006. Values in Atlanta are now 5.6% below the previous national recession low in April of 2009.

National real estate investor online reports that interest only loans are back in a big way. 24% of all loans that were securitized during the first quarter had some sort of interest only period. As they say, what goes around comes around.

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