Property Assessment
Several years ago Dekalb County voters passed a freeze on property value assessments. So since that took effect, my house and land have had the same assessed value each year. Since the crash of 2008, however, property values have gone down, even in my snooty neighborhood and the freeze was only supposed to stop increases in assessments, not decreases. But this has never been reflected in my assessment, which has remained frozen . . . until this year. I got a notice last week that the value of my house and land has dropped 31.6%. The last time the assessment changed was back in 2006. The oldest form I could find was 2001, and the new value is 17.6% lower than that.
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Comments (4)
Lower taxes? Congratulations? I quit thinking of a house as an investment. Long ago I decided to never buy as high as we could afford. That just serves real estate agents and banks. A house is a money pit subsidized by mortgage deductions. (Which should be eliminated.) Unless you're doing the Grant thing, which keeps working out for him every year. Their new house is fantastic (and a good investment.)
Posted by Jeb | June 2, 2011 5:28 PM
It's not really an investment in the sense that you need to have one, so you can't sell it without buying another one. But it is a good hedge against inflation and also beats paying rent. I agree that mortgage interest should not be deductible. I would also like to see the 2-year loophole eliminated that allows Grant to make money tax-free. Sorry, Grant, but it's another bubble inflator.
I read an article today where a Dekalb teacher's property assessment dropped 45% from last year. I suspect Dekalb has overcorrected and I wonder if I'll get a corrected, higher assessment soon.
Posted by Ted | June 2, 2011 5:58 PM
This is making the news lately. The AJC had an article about a guy whose assessment was down 57%. The county acknowledged they may have to change some of their numbers. The Avondale Estates board had an emergency meeting to discuss the issue because their main source of revenue is property taxes based on the county's assessments.
Posted by Ted | June 9, 2011 9:53 AM
The Dekalb commission voted to increase property taxes by 26% to make up for the big decrease in appraised values of houses in the county. The average appraisal decrease was less than that, so the new increase actually raises overall revenue. But the kicker is I got a new assessment this week and now my house appraises at the same value as it did last year instead of dropping 31.6%. So I will just have to pay 26% more in taxes. Zillow has an estimate less than what the county came up with, so I will protest this and try to ask for an appraised value of 26% less than the old value.
Posted by Ted | July 22, 2011 8:23 AM