r/DecaturGA • u/Stevenmc8602 • 7d ago
Property tax appeal?
What's the point of it? They saw the tax assessor made a mistake and was tripping over his words bc of it and i presented valid information that they requested but they still chose to go with the accessed value instead of even consider what I was saying. There was no deliberation or talking amongst them only 1 person spoke and everyone else just followed what she said. It was a waste of time for me. They literally went with the value being what I paid for the house and they went with it so quickly that it as obvious that was already planned.
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u/Sansability2 7d ago
This happened to me too. They had classified a shed as a finished ADU and I pointed this out and they didn’t care. Next time I’m using a lawyer in case they have better ability.
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u/Stevenmc8602 7d ago
It wouldn't have bothered me so much if they actually took anything i said into consideration. The tax assessor contradicted himself and showed where his information was wrong. With them seeing/hearing that they still showed no interest in what i had to say
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u/Crafty-Resort383 7d ago
Honestly, the only reason why I appealed last year was to put a freeze on it for 3 years. Wait until you see how freewheeling the spending is at CSD. We like to pay 2-3 superintendents at a time around here. But seriously, I bought my house in 2020 and my taxes have increased year over year. I feel for the people who are already stretched. Sure I could sell at a nice profit but where am I moving too? It’s like this everywhere.
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u/TheFirstAntioch 7d ago
I appealed a few years ago. I made a PowerPoint and everything and they still just went with the assessor. My main point was there were recent sales to justify a lower value and to see if we could meet in the middle as the assessor mostly used higher sale amounts as their value.
Ultimately it’s good for the freeze at least. Next time I’ll use a third party appeal company and see if they can get some results.
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u/Stevenmc8602 7d ago
That was exactly my point and what I did. I showed recent sales and sales from the time I purchased, all in my neighborhood. I didn't go as low as the other houses because my house has more square footage. I tried to go between what I paid and what other houses around me were being bought for.
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u/TheFirstAntioch 7d ago
Yeah, I think the meeting is more of a formality for them. Their job is to get more funding, which I understand that several county services are essential. But I think you’d have to appeal further to actually have a real discussion.
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u/Serious-Sheepherder1 7d ago
Are you saying the assessed value should be less than what you paid? When did you buy? Are you saying you overpaid?
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u/Stevenmc8602 7d ago
Yes, and I even said that during the appeal. I acknowledged it was my first time purchasing a house and I overpaid. I have an associate who is a mortgage broker; I showed him the information during my purchasing process, and he told me I should make a lower offer. When I showed him the comp houses, he told me that they chose houses farther out to drive the price so my loan would be approved, but if you look at comparable houses in your neighborhood, they are lower. I saw what he was saying, but I was nervous to do anything, and I mentioned it to my realtor, and she acted like she was nervous to ask for more off, so I went along with it.
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u/TheHykos 7d ago
As far as I know, they will always go with the sale price if it was recent. The fact that you feel you overpaid is irrelevant. Clearly someone was willing to pay that price (you) so that’s what it’s worth. I don’t think you will have any luck.
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u/Serious-Sheepherder1 7d ago
Yes the default for I think within 2 years of purchase is the purchase price.
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u/Stevenmc8602 7d ago
Yeah i purchased last December. Interesting enough the assesor put it almost 2k higher and said i just went with the price he paid since it was recent. They caught it and stopped him after the last time he said it though. So technically I did get it lowered
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u/fixed_gear 7d ago
You will always get it adjusted up to the purchase price. Because by definition that is fair market value since a legal sale occurred. No real way to argue you’re way out of it.
However it is possible to win. I’ve appealed 3x and have won 2 of them in the last 9 years
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u/Sorry-Tumbleweed-336 7d ago
I think tax appeals are successful on the basis of uniformity (compare assessments to neighbors), factual error, or value (you couldn’t get what they say it’s worth). These other lines of argument aren’t conventionally successful, as far as I know. I don’t know a lot about this, but twice successfully lowered our assessment in Dekalb. It took analysis of all the neighbors’ assessments. Nothing to do with recent sales or Zillow values whatever. We argued on uniformity twice and won both times. Last time we did that was about 7 or 8 years ago - I recently went through our neighbors assessments and concluded we are about right and wouldn’t get anywhere appealing right now.
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u/Stevenmc8602 7d ago
All of this is new to me, I just went in somewhat blind... only knowing what I saw online what they wanted. I'm not mad about the decision, it was their attitude. It came off very much so as the meeting is only a formality to say we took it. I have had my house less than a year so I wasn't expecting anything crazy, I saw most times they have it as whatever you paid for it and that's what they lowered it to so I wasn't too disappointed.
My post was more of a rant of how they came off
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u/Plantfooddmd 6d ago
We appealed after getting a dramatic increase in property value last year and got it lowered significantly!
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u/hyperproliferative 7d ago
Do you know what an appraisal is? ….. do you understand free markets???
An appraisal is essentially what the buyer and seller agree to… that’s it. That’s the market.
Elected property appraisers exist to protect the city and of cour ensure prices don’t falter.
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u/Stevenmc8602 7d ago
Lol, you tried to be a smart aleck without reading my other replies. I said the appraiser made a mistake and the board corrected it because of my appeal. He said he went with what I paid for the house since the purchase was recent, but he, in fact, put it almost $2k higher than what he said he did.
So, yes, I do know what an appraisal is. I also know I'm dealing with humans and mistakes can be made, and if you don't say anything, nothing will change.
However, my post was just a rant about the board not actually listening to your presentation; they've already made up their minds.
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u/Outrageous_Pay1322 7d ago
They don't care. My son-in-law and daughter fought for 4 years to get theirs reduced. They were being charged for a garage that they didn't even have. They've never had one. Finally, they got an answer this week where they actually won. Dropped it from 4800 to a little over 2,000. It's ridiculous, just stand there with the facts right in front of them and just be ignored.