Your Property Taxes Could Go Up—Here’s How

Posted by Daniel Jones on Jan 14, 2019 9:05:00 AM

DeKalb_County_Tax_Assessor-10Paying taxes, although necessary, is not fun. In Cobb County, property taxes are no exception. Like regular taxes, property taxes can go up. Sometimes it’s out of your control, but there are some things that you can do to try to avoid a bump up in property taxes. If you’re able to identify these things, it may be worth sacrificing in the short term in order to avoid a higher tax bill in the longer term.

Home Improvement Projects

We all like to keep our homes as fresh, up to date, and pleasant to live in as possible. It’s in our nature to take good care of our things, particularly those that cost us a considerable investment. While this is good, it may come at a cost in the form of higher property taxes. We’re not talking about a nice paint job or basic landscaping. It’s more the renovations and projects that add something significant to the home that will end up costing you more in property taxes.

When your home is assessed, any changes to an existing space can trigger a reevaluation of the value that space adds to your home. Think of it like this: Your home has a certain appeal when you move into it. Because of that appeal, that draw you felt, you invested money into purchasing the property. If something is done that makes the property even more appealing, the value will also go up, simply because more people are going to want to buy it. That’s the logic. It’s basic supply and demand—where you are increasing the demand factor for your Cobb County home.

One example would be converting a half bathroom into one that has a shower as well. It may not even involve an expansion of the space. A stand-up shower may only take 32 square inches of floor space and fit nicely in a corner of the bathroom. However, now you have added significant value to that bathroom, and therefore you have tacked on more value to your home. An assessor will feel he has the right to assess your property at a higher value. This could make your property taxes go up. In order to try to mitigate the effect, however, you can attain professional property tax services.

Putting an Addition on Your Home

Following the same logic, putting an addition onto your Cobb County home will also cause a rise in your property taxes. To understand this, think back to when you were shopping for a home. Or perhaps you were deciding which size home to build. Regardless of your homeownership route, one of the primary considerations was the size of the home. This may have been almost as important as the neighborhood or school system—maybe even more important. People can commute an extra 20 minutes to work, drive another hour to see family, or even get used to a neighborhood they did not find appealing at first.

However, size is typically a non-negotiable. This is especially true when you have children. If you add an addition to your home, you just made it attractive to an entirely different demographic group. If your two bedroom is converted to a three bedroom, it is suddenly a good match for a family with not just one, but two or even three children. Into that mix you can throw families that have in-laws they take care of. That extra bedroom may seem minor to you, but it can be a deal-maker for a whole new set of potential buyers. That results in more value, and your property taxes are going to go up.

When you need more space to your Cobb County home, however, it is difficult to argue this should not be done. But what you can do is consult a property tax service and ask them to help you arrive at an estimate as to how much the addition—a bedroom or otherwise—will cause your property taxes to go up. They can also help lower your property taxes, which may offset any bump in taxes. When it comes to square footage, in some areas, and this could include Cobb County, there are also certain psychological tiers that affect how much a home is worth. When a home gets into a certain square footage range, the bump in value can spike slightly more than another, more incremental change. A property tax service will be able to help you navigate this tricky ground as well.

When You Move to a New Area

This is perhaps the change that could cause the biggest increase in property taxes. Whether you move to a different area of Cobb County, Dekalb County, Clayton, or Gwinnett, you are very likely to see a difference in the amount of property taxes you pay. Again, a property tax service can help you make the right decision. The reason why is because property taxes are not decided by the state, they are arrived at using the discretion of each municipality. This could be at the county level or at the city, or even town, level. A move half a mile into the neighboring town can cause a significant increase in your property taxes.

This is due to the fact that property taxes are designed to help fund the needs of a town. The public works projects, building of schools, police and fire stations, hiring new staff for various public positions, and the maintenance of parks and sidewalks all require money. This money is attained—in part--through property taxes. As you pay property taxes, you are ostensibly paying to have your neighborhood improved or maintained. Each town or city has different ideas as to what is needed. You may be considering a move out of Cobb County to an area with higher property taxes. A property tax service can help you make the right choice if you’d like to avoid paying more.

Property taxes are a necessary part of life. However, with the right decisions, you can take steps to reduce the amount you pay and certainly avoid paying more. Either way, as you consider the pros and cons, you may find property tax services helpful.

Topics: Cobb County Tax

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