To Appeal or Not Appeal

Every year you get a statement from the county government telling you how much they feel your property is worth and, based on that, how much your property taxes are going to be. If you are like most property owners, you see your tax value creeping up each year, sometimes taking a huge leap.

After a while, you begin to feel the county has your property valued too high and think you might need to appeal the county’s valuation. This is when you discover what disadvantage property owners are really under.

Let’s assume that you feel your house is worth about $150,000 but the county says they feel it is worth $180,000. In most counties (but not all) in Georgia, your property taxes are based on 40% of the value, or in this case $72,000.

Assuming your county taxes you at 35 mils (the actual rate varies depending on the county, whether or not you are in the corporate limits of a city, and sometimes where you are within a county), your annual property taxes would be $2,520, unless you qualify for homestead exemption. If you live in your house you probably qualify for homestead exemption which would provide you with substantial savings.

If you were to be successful in getting the county’s valuation of your property reduced to $150,000 your tax burden would reduce to $2,100, a savings of $420. A relatively significant sum.

You decide to appeal your property taxes and file your appeal. In most cases there is not cost in filing an appeal to the equalization board. Between filing the appeal and the date of appeal you spend several hours researching your home’s value. You check real estate listings in your neighborhood, you call a friend who is a real estate professional and she prints you a list of recent sales in your neighborhood, you prepare the information in an attractive package and feel you are certain to win your case.

On the day of the appeal you walk into the room and notice several people sitting at a table. Usually, they are older citizens, typically retirees, who are appointed by the county commissioners. You introduce yourself and they ask you to take a seat.

The county appraiser arrives, we will call her Sarah. She and the board members seem like long-time friends. They ask about her husband, her children, and her latest ailment. She asks about their families and health. They briefly discuss a recent appeal or two and she sits down at a chair at the table.

You each present your respective cases. You explain what information you have, telling a little about each house that sold. You feel you did a great job in your presentation. Sarah presents her case, she has more data than you and some of the information she has does not match the information you have. It tuns out she has spoken with the buyer, seller or agent involved with each sale that she used. Regardless, the information is not significantly different, just your conclusions are. You feel you have a great chance.

The board members ask you a few questions, beginning with your experience in real estate and or real estate appraisal. They continue by asking you questions about your property and maybe a few questions about the information you presented. Sarah is asked fewer questions than you and the questions seem to be more directed to help convince you Sarah is right. You leave the board uncertain what will happen.

A few days later you receive a notice that they appeals board ruled in favor of the county. You are certain you are right and have the opportunity to appeal the case to state court, but feel it is not worth the expense of getting an attorney involved, so you drop it and feeling cheated, pay the higher taxes.

What went wrong? Everything.

Property tax payers are at a distinct disadvantage when appealing their property taxes. Let’s discuss just a few:

Equalization Boards are Appointed by the County Commissioners:

The equalization boards are supposed to be impartial, yet they serve at the pleasure of the county commissioners. Should the commissions receive enough complaints from the tax office that a particular board or board member goes against the county appraisers too often, the commissioners will make a change. After all, it is for the public good.

A better solution would be to have seats on the equalization board be elected positions with the board members serving at the pleasure of the voters. If this were the case, they would be more responsive to the community.

County Appraisers and Equalization Board Members Build Relationships:

The county appraisers appear before the board members day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year. They can not help but to develop some form of relationship. In the best case, to the equalization board members the county appraisers are a friendly face, while you are a complete stranger. It is human nature to trust someone you are familiar with more than you trust a complete stranger. Don’t we teach our children not to even talk to strangers? We are coached from our earliest years not to trust those we do not know. This does not change with age.

In the end you have to work twice as hard and be twice as convincing to overcome the relationship which has developed between the county appraisers and members of the equalization board.

The Expense of Appealing to the Board of Equalization:

In the above example, you did the work yourself so you had no real out-of-pocket expenses. But you did have time involved. How much is your time worth? How much do you get paid per hour on your job? If you calculated the expense of your time what would your savings had been if you had won?

You also had to take a day off work to appear. Did you lose pay, or did you spend a vacation day or sick day? In any event it cost you money.

What if you had hired a professional appraiser? The appraisal would probably have cost you $250 or more, plus the appraisers time in appearing before the board. This expense alone would have been greater than your anticipated savings. To get a professional appraiser with a successful history at being an expert witness could cost you several times your anticipated savings.

The county does not have to worry about this expense. They way they look at it is they are paying their appraisers already and it really doesn’t matter if they are spending their time appraising properties or appearing before the board of equalization. What the county does not consider is that by reducing the number of appeals they could likely reduce the number of appraisers on staff.

Even with a professional appraiser you may not have faired any better. We have participated in discussions with equalization board members across the nation in which many have stated they have never voted to lower the county’s valuation based on an outside appraisal.

The Expense of State Court:

For a house, it is almost foolish for the average person to appeal the tax valuation to state court. If you have money to burn and want to fight out of principal, your efforts would be appreciated by almost all property tax payers. But for the average homeowner to risk thousands of dollars in attorney feels, expert witnesses and other expenses it just does not make good financial sense.

For an owner of an expensive property it can make sense. We have known property owners to spend tens of thousands of dollars and even more in an attempt to win property tax cases. In these cases they often win because to spend those dollars they have to be pretty certain of their case up front.

The Fear of Retribution:

This ought not come into play, but it does – especially for those with a high success rate against a particular county. Get a county appraiser mad at you or hurt their feelings and, even if you win, as soon as possible they will up their appraised value again. If you win in court and they can not raise the value on that particular property for a few years, if you own other property in the county they will raise those values instead. It costs them nothing to harass you, the tax payers pay for it and even pay them for their time. They might even get a promotion if they win! But it can cost you thousands.

What Can You Do?

Focus on Condition:

With your tax appeal you can often be much more successful if, instead of arguing the sales data, argue the condition of your property versus that of the comparables used by the county. You know your own property better than anyone, certainly better than the county appraiser knows it or knows the comparable sales they utilized to estimate your value with.

Take plenty of pictures of any problem that exists with your house. All houses have some issues, be it a crack in the foundation, a cracked driveway or walkway, worn floorcovering, peeling paint, steep driveway, a missing or curling shingle or two, a stained or worn countertop, sink or tub, or any of a host of issues which can be photographed.

Even your neighbor’s property can help you win your appeal. Take photographs of any problems which exist with the exterior of their property. After all, the appearance of their property affects the value of yours.

Photographs make great evidence, you can not take too many. Believe it or not, members of the equalization board are generally good people and would like to help others. But, they need something to go on. Photographs give them that something.

Look for Mistakes:

County appraisers are not perfect. Before appearing before the equalization board visit your county’s tax office and get all the information they have in your file or in their computer records about your house and each of the comparables they used in estimating it’s value. Carefully review these documents and look for mistakes.

The more mistakes you find the better you can discredit the opinion of the county appraiser in front of the equalization board. Do not reveal your findings to the county appraiser before the appeals board meeting, and at the meeting be very careful not to insult the county appraiser. You want to blindside the appraiser but do it in a way that they, or the equalization board, do not take offense. If the equalization board feels you are attacking the county appraiser they may come to his or her defense.

If you can discredit the county’s appraisal without your information being discredited the appeals board may have sufficient reason to side with you.

Remember the Key Date:

The value of every property in Georgia is estimated as of January 1^st of the tax year. If your appeal does not come up until September of that year, do not appear before the equalization board with sales occurring that August. They will not consider them. You are better of with sales occurring the previous tax year, and you may be able to get by with sales closing in January or February of the tax year since they were probably under contract as of January 1^st.

By the same token, don’t go in with sales a year or two old unless you have no choice. You need sales which occurred as close to the date of valuation as possible.

Arms-Length Transactions Only:

Be certain that all of the sales you use are arms-length. If Billy Bob sold his house to his aunt Wilma that sale is no good. Neither is the sale of a foreclosure or the sale in which any party is under duress.

I will not go into the definition of Market Value here, but, if possible restrict yourself to transactions handled by real estate agents and marketed through your local MLS. If possible, speak to the real estate agent and get all of the information you can.

Express Your Concerns:

Write your elected officials, both county and state, to let them know your opinion of the current system and any problems that you may encounter. For more on this topic you may want to read our free report How to Influence Local Politics.

Vote:

Your vote counts. Pay close attention to the opinions of those seeking office. On a local basis it is often easy to make contact with those running for office and discuss the issues with them.

Fight Out of Principle:

If you can afford it, fight. A few wins by those determined to be taxed fairly helps us all.

Get on Your County Appraiser’s Good Side:

If you have one house this might not be worth the effort, but if you own multiple properties or a large property, it may be worth the effort. Make a point to discover the county appraiser’s interests. If they are involved with a charitable organization, support the local chapter of that organization. Be certain that the county appraiser is aware of your efforts.

What Not To Do.

Insult the Equalization Board, its Members, of the County Appraiser:

Be careful not to insult anyone. If you have disagreements handle them in such a manner as to be cordially convincing and insulting. Those insulted will work against you now and in the future.

Lose Your Temper:

This is probably one of the hardest for some to do. It is easy to get angry when you feel wronged. When you are angry you not always handle the situation in the best possible manner. Keep cool, treat it as a game not a life and death situation.

Personal Favors for the County Appraiser:

Gifts, loans, discounts and other gratuities for the county appraiser or his/ her family members are out of the question. Never even give the appearance of something like this.

If you are approached by the county appraiser for a favor, decline it gracefully, explaining to the county appraiser why you can not help them. Try to refer them to someone who can help them without putting you in jeopardy.

It’s Your Call.

It is up to you whether or not you appeal your property taxes. If the county’s value estimate is unfair, we hope you do. It will help us all.

The key to winning is to have strong evidence on your side. Without it, you will need to either point out problems with your property of which the county appraiser was unaware or discredit their appraisal.

One topic we intentionally did not cover was equalization: in other words, fairness. The county can not value your property for any more than they value other similar properties. A battle based on equalization is often even more of an uphill battle and would make a great topic for an article of its own.

Whatever you decide to do, good luck!

It really depends on who you ask?  If your asking a seller who has had a home on the market for over a year, yes, the market is dead.  If you ask a real estate agent, who isn’t selling anything, yes it is dead.  If you ask an agent who is selling several homes a month, the real estate market is alive and well!

Why the difference?  You have to be able to understand and adjust with the market.  Property values are low right now everywhere. So, you must adjust your asking price to reflect fair market value.

You need to work with a professional that is willing to take extra marketing steps to sell your property. No, a sign in your yard will not sell your home in this type of market.  Your agent needs to be aggressive and get the job done.

Isn’t it our job to represent the seller to the best of our ability?  Of course it, and this includes being honest enough to explain how the market has changed and not over price the property just to get a listing.

A while back I told a Seller what they didnt want to hear, the truth.  A year later, their house is still on the market, and now below the price that I felt certain I could get for them at that time.  Why?  A friend of theirs said they would list the house for $15,000 more than what it would bring.  I am sure you can figure out that I didn’t get that listing!

With the current real estate conditions, you need to be somewhat flexible.  It takes an agent who knows and understand your area in order to benefit your sale.  An agent from North Atlanta is not going to be real knowledgable on what is going on south of Atlanta.

When it comes to the sell of your property, you need to work with someone who can get the job done.  Don’t be a property owner who is constantly lowering your asking price.  Get it right the first and there will be a “SOLD” sign in your front yard.

If your looking to sell your property, and want the job done right.  Give me a call.  2007 is promising to be an incredible year in Clayton County.  You can reach me at 770-961-5520, or 404-993-5753, just ask for Brande!

Since moving to Clayton County almost 6 years ago from Kansas, the one thing that intrigues me is the history of the county.  My husband, Chris, is a real history buff, and when we are out joy riding, he never fails to come up with a story that makes me proud to call Clayton County home. 

Clayton county is a suburban county bordering the south side of the City of Atlanta, Georgia.

Named in honor of Augustine Smith Clayton, judge and U.S. Representative, Clayton County was formed on November 30^th, 1858 from parts of Fayette and Henry Counties.

Clayton County was the site of several battles and heavy fighting during the civil war. Notable battles include the Battle of Jonesboro as well as Rough and Ready (later the City of Mountain View). Clayton County was within the path of General Sherman’s “March to the Sea”.

Early development in Clayton County was the result of rail lines running through the county. The areas around the rail stations eventually became the cities of Forest Park, Morrow, Riverdale, Jonesboro and Mountain View.

Today, although the significance of the rail system has lessened and some rail lines have been removed, Transportation is an even greater factor in the economic success of the county. A portion of the Hartsfield – Jackson International Airport lies withing the county and the county is crossed by Interstates 75, 675 and 285. Interstates 20 and 85 both lies within minutes of the county line.

Clayton County’s superior access to the Interstate system as well as the Atlanta Airport makes it particularly suited for transportation related companies.

Clayton County is also served by the C-Tran bus system which connects with the Metro Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority’s (MARTA) bus and rail system.

Clayton County is also home to Clayton State College, Southlake Mall, Southern Regional Medical Center, and the Georgia State Farmers Market. It also hosts both federal and state archive facilities.

Clayton County also offers and extensive parks and recreation department supplemented by similar departments in most of its cities.

Being only 10 miles from Downtown Atlanta, Clayton County is the location of choice for thousands of businesses and residents.

 On March 27, 2007, I had the pleasure of visiting Ft. Gillem.  Being ex-miliatry, it brought back a lot of memories for me.  I was on base to watch as my daughter was sworn in into the Army.  She will be shipping out on April 18th. All the talk about closing Ft. Gillem brings sadness to me, as it seems to be such a big part of the community.  Maybe something in the future will change.  If not, I wonder what will happen there.

Fort Gillem is located within corporate limits of the City of Forest Park, Georgia.

In 1941 the Atlanta General Deport moved its Candler Warehouse to what is now known as Fort Gillem. Over the years, Fort Gillem has operated under several names including the Atlanta Army Depot and the Atlanta General Depot. Many old-time local residents refer to Fort Gillem as the Conley Depot.

Fort Gillem is now named in memory of Lieutenant General Alvan C. Gillem, Jr. who served 40 years in the U.S. Army. In 1910, he began his career as a private at Fort McPherson and retired as commanding general of the Third U.S. Army, 40 years later.

The main entrance to Fort Gillem is on U.S. Highway 42, just off of Interstate 675. It’s rear entrance in on Jonesboro Road (State Highway 54) in Forest Park.

Fort Gillem is operated as a satellite installation of Headquarters, U.S. Army Garrison at Fort McPherson, in East Point, Georgia.

For almost half a century Fort Gillem has had a significant positive economic impact on the City of Forest Park and Clayton County as a whole. In the 1990’s, the Fort Gillem was faced with closure. The City of Forest Park, surrounding cities, Clayton Count and the State of Georgia all fought to keep the base open… and succeeded. However, in the most recent round of base closures, the battle was lost and Fort Gillem, along with Fort McPherson in East Point are slated for closure.

Clayton County and the City of Forest Park have established a committee to present proposals for the redevelopment of Fort Gillem in order to continue or even enhance its positive impact on the local economy.

My girls and I visited Georgia for the very first time back in 2000.  For many trips after that, I could have sworn that Conley was a city!  To learn diffferently, was surprising.  I am finding out the longer I am here, that is the case in several areas.  You might think some place is a city, but it really isn’t!

Where’s Conley? Conley, Georgia is in northeast Clayton County, bordering both Dekalb County to the north and Henry County to the east. It is a Zip Code, not an actual city.

At some point in the past there was a Conley, or at least a family of Conley’s living in the area. There are two Conley Roads, one extending from Jonesboro Road in Fulton County and the other extending from Jonesboro Road in Clayton County, both merging after they cross Thurman Road and ending where they intersect Highway 42. The Fulton County section of Conley Road changes names to Old Conley Road, before it intersections the Clayton County section.

We know there was once a Conley Baptist Church, the building is still there but does not date back far enough to be an indication of where the actual community lied. We have check old maps of the area dating back to the 1800’s and found Conley to be indicated as being in the northern portion of the City of Forest Park, on Jonesboro Road, and have also found it indicated as being on Highway 42. Often, Fort Gillem is referred to as the Conley Depot, but it is too far south to have been the community of Conley.

We have ridden the area in search of Conley and could find no buildings which date back far enough to indicated where any community might have been. So, as far as we know, the original community of Conley is lost to history. We believe that Conley Road might have lead through lands owned by a family of Conley’s and there never was a real community.

All of that aside, the vast majority of the development of the Conley community occurred in the 1960’s and early 1970’s. The majority of the homes in the area are four-sided brick veneer homes. Development has continued, at a slower pace, to current times. Several new residential developments are underway in the community now.

The community has excellent access to the interstate system (I-285 and I-675) and is located very close to employment centers. Non-residential uses in Conley is greatly influenced by the trucking industry. A TSA truck stop is located at the northern edge of the community and trucking uses are predominate along Highway 42. The area also has easy access to the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.

People seeking affordable housing in a close-in location should consider Conley. The nowhere community is close to everything.

I love the bridge in Rex! Yes, I know that they are working on moving it.  However, I also understand that it will be used as a walking bridge, with I think will help to preserve some of the history of Rex.  Rex, is one of those places that a nice Sunday afternoon drive through can be heart warming to those that grew up in a small town.  It definitely reminds me of home.

There is no longer a Rex, Georgia.

The community of Rex is located just east of Highway 42. It is the home of Rex Mill, a historic grain mill sitting along the banks of Big Cotton Indian Creek. Although the mill has not functioned for decades, many long term residents of the area still remember it being in operation.

Crossing the creek at the mill is an old steel bridge which allows only one-way traffic (controlled by stop lights at each end). Clayton County is in the process of rerouting the roadway and leaving the old bridge open to pedestrian traffic only.

There is little readily available history about Rex, Ga. It is known at in the 1930’s and 1940’s, farmers used to bring their grain by horse pulled carriages from as far away as Lakewood Heights (now part of southeast Atlanta) to be processed at Rex Mill.

James Walter Estes, on of the former Mayors of Rex, was born there in 1882. He was president of the Rex Chair Company and was in the industry, serving as the the president of the Bank of Rex for over 30 years. Estes also served in the Georgia State Senate for two terms.

Today, along with the old mill, several dilapidated wood frame downtown buildings remain. Although the downtown area of Rex has lost its commercial appeal. The residential community has grown by leaps and bounds. Rex is a popular place to live and housing is in good demand. Commercial services are pretty much limited to Highway 42, which runs in a north to south direction paralleling Interstate 675.

 What has happened in Lovejoy?  It seems like yesterday you drove through there, and not much was going on.  Today, I ask to go there and shop!!  Ok, I have 4 kids, I am a real Walmart shop-aholic! Believe it or not, Walmart has things there, that none of the others do.  Check it out next time your there.

Lovejoy is a small city with a population of less than 800 people, but which has a large and increasing surrounding population. Lovejoy’s population is very much restricted by its small corporate limits.Lovejoy originally developed beside the railroad tracks, where a train depot was located. It was one of the stops of the passenger trains from Atlanta to Griffin. It was also home to a very active cotton gin. Over time the passenger trains stopped and the cotton gin closed, leaving Lovejoy a sleepy little community.

Lovejoy became the location of the Clayton County Landfill, and later the Clayton County Jail. Although bringing traffic and, as a result, money to Lovejoy, these facilities hurt Lovejoy’s desirability as a place to live. For many years residential growth was almost non-existent.

As growth from Atlanta extended further and further down the Interstate 75 corridor, the Lovejoy area became more and more attractive to developers. In recent years considerable development has began to occur both within and just outside of the corporate limits of the city.

A large mobile home community was developed on East Lovejoy Road, townhomes have been constructed on Hastings Bridge Road, new subdivisions are popping up throughout the area, and the intersection of Hastings Bridge Road and Tara Boulevard has become a major commercial intersection with a number of fast food restaurants, a large neighborhood shopping center, a Wal-Mart and a Home Deport..

The downtown area of Lovejoy has remained relatively stagnant. When the jail opened, a couple of office buildings immediately followed to house bonding companies and other businesses. Arrowhead Alternators moved from Jonesboro to Lovejoy and quickly became the largest employer, occupying the majority of non-government commercial and industrial space in the city. Arrowhead Alternators closed soon after the death of its founder, but the loss in employment has more than been made up for by other growth in the immediate area.

Recently new growth has again begun to occur in downtown. The Hastings Bridge Office Building and self-storage facility has recently been constructed on a acreage tract on Hastings Bridge Road, and an office/retail building is currently under construction.

Generally, as the areas immediately surrounding Lovejoy continue to develop, demand will increase for both commercial and residential uses within the corporate limits, resulting in a bright future for the City of Lovejoy.

 Chris has the nightly habit of wanting to get out of the house and go somewhere.  Usually, he ends up at a Quik Trip getting a drink or something.  I never really understood why, I didn’t think my company was THAT bad.  For several years we would always end up on Upper Riverdale Road at the Quik Trip by the hospital. 

Riverdale is situated in mid- western Clayton County, Georgia. Its boundaries pretty well parallel Georgia Highway 85 in a north to south direction. At one time, a rail road track ran north to south through Riverdale generally along the current path of Georgia Highway 85. It is along this track that Riverdale had its beginnings.

Riverdale became known as a “boom town” in the 1980’s. Georgia Highway 85 experienced an explosion of growth, and other areas of Riverdale grew rapidly both commercially and residentially. Those close-by areas of Clayton County, outside the city limits of Riverdale, also experienced similar growth.

Much of the growth in and around Riverdale was due to the rapid growth occurring in Fayette County to the south. Georgia Highway 85, being the major connector between most of Fayette County and Atlanta, benefitted greatly from the growth of Fayette County.

Also in the 1980’s, Southern Regional Medical Center (Then known as Clayton General Hospital) had a significant impact of the economy of the Riverdale area. During the 1990’s, due to an increase in the number of local hospitals, medical space suffered experienced a recovery after a turn of the century.

Riverdale’s economy is greatly influenced by the Atlanta Hartsfield International Airport and its related support businesses. Many of the residents in the area work at the Airport or in jobs directly related to the airport. Thus, even the non-airport related businesses are heavily dependent on the income earned by airport workers.

Although no interstates run through the city, Riverdale has easy four-lane access to Interstates 75, 85 and 285, all of which are only minutes away.

 Until recently, I wondered where Jonesboro really started and ended.  I figured that if I was on Tara Blvd, I had to  be in Jonesboro.  The growth on Tara Blvd is amazing close to Mt. Zion Road.  There is now a new Up The Creek, Applebee’s, etc.  My husband has this habit of making fun of me for sitting my kitchen on fire awhile back.  It is true, flames were coming out of the oven.  Well, with the growth on Tara Blvd, I guess I have a good argument for eating out more often.

 The City of Jonesboro, Georgia is located within Clayton County, just a few minutes west of Interstate 75. Jonesboro serves at the County Seat of Clayton County and, as such, is home to the Clayton County Courthouse, police and Sheriff services and many other government agencies.

Jonesboro was originally called Leaksville. That name dates back to at least 1823, well before portions of Fayette and Henry Counties were merged to form Clayton County.

The city grew from a small community based around the Flint River Baptist Church which was erected in 1858.

Although it did not begin as such, Leaksville became a railroad town in the 1830’s. It’s name was changed to Jonesboro in honor of Colonel Samuel Goode Jones, one of the Civil Engineers who planned the portion of the railroad traveling through Leaksville.

In 1859, Jonesboro was incorporated as a city.

During the Civil War, the Battle of Jonesboro was one of the most significant battles fought in Georgia. Jonesboro suffered heavy losses in both lives and property.

Jonesboro went through some bad times after the Civil War but returned to prosperity in the 20^th Century.

Jonesboro received national and international attention in the 1930s due to the publication of Gone with the Wind, by Margaret Mitchell. The subsequent movie brought additional notoriety to the city.

Although much of the book is set in Clayton County, Tara is a fictional place. Several homes have been claimed to have been the inspiration for Tara but, no one really knows which home, if any, served as its inspiration.

Today, Jonesboro still receives visitors wishing to visit the fabled Tara, and Jonesboro does its best to accommodate them.

Jonesboro has easy access to the interstate system and to the rest of south metro Atlanta via a number of four-lane highways. The Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport is only minutes away and ample recreational and entertainment opportunities abound.

Welcome to your new online resource for keeping up with what is happening in Clayton County. Before you read any further, please “bookmark” this site for future visits.  We bring you this one stop resource to help keep you informed on what is happening around you. Its also a place to view upcoming events.  We want you to feel free to share thoughts and concerns.  This is 100% interactive.  It was designed for you, by people who care what happens in Clayton County. Watch over the next several weeks, as we bring this entire concept live.