2017 Assessment notices are currently out in Gwinnett, Hall and Monroe Counties

A few assessor’s offices, in Metro Atlanta, have already issued their 2017 real tax assessment notices. If anyone feels like his or her assessment is too high for tax purposes, please contact me for a free analysis of your property tax situation. Dekalb County will be mailing their notices out on June 2, 2017. Fulton County will be mailing their notices out by the end of June. Call Rob Vinson, 404-218-7874 or email me at info@taxappealatlanta.com, http://www.taxappealatlanta.com.

 

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If you don’t succeed at the b.o.e., pay the $25.00 to file it to court

One thing new in GA, for 2016, is the law that was passed allowing the taxpayer to file his or her appeal to court for just $25.00. In the past, it would be approximately $250.00 to file the matter on to court.  With having the filing fee so high, it cut down on the number of people filing their tax appeals on to court after losing at the board of equalization.  I have had three hearings in Dekalb County and one at Fulton County this tax year where the board of equalization didn’t reduce the value to what I thought was fair. Each time, I paid the $25.00 to file the matter to court.  By law, the county must meet with the tax payer within thirty days to try and settle the matter before actually going to court.  I have settled each of the four cases at the settlement conference meetings.  Also, the county refunds your $25.00 if you come to an agreement. If anyone needs help with real tax appeals, please contact me, Rob Vinson, at 404-218-7874 or email me at info@taxappealatlanta.com.  http://www.taxappealatlanta.com

 

Open Records Request, Dekalb County, Fulton County, GA

A law passed last year in GA that says the assessor’s offices must provide the taxpayer or his or her representative with the case or comparables that they intend to use at the board of equalization hearing. The DeKalb County Assessors have begun using the Tyler Appraisal system to justify their values. Fulton County as well as Cobb County use this system too. The only difference is that Fulton County shows what the sales prices per square foot are as well as what the appraised prices per foot are.  Cobb County doesn’t show the dollars per square foot. Basically, DeKalb tells the board of equalization members that they entered in the parameters and the computer says the value is X amount and we recommend a “no change” in the value. In my recent experience, I’ve gotten their cases ahead of time and normally they don’t have very good comprables selected at all. On one set, I found that the five sales the county had selected to use against me were 20% to 35% smaller than my property. Whenever there is less heated square footage divided in to the sale price, the price per foot tends to be much higher per foot and then if the comprables are too big, then the opposite happens….the sales prices per foot will be lower. You want to use sales that are approximately the same size as the subject property. Say 10% or less. Since I had the case ahead of time, I was able to find five sales that were more in line with the subject property and in doing so, I won the hearing. On another case, the county had five sales on their sheet and once I figured up the sales prices per foot, all five had actually sold for less per foot than what we were valued at, so I was able to turn that against the county in my favor. All of these counties are broke and they are not looking to give up any tax money, so it’s imperative that you know the rules and use them to your advantage. If anyone wants an analysis of their property tax situation, please contact me, Rob Vinson, at 404-218-7874 or http://www.taxappealatlanta.com and I’ll let you know if I can help you or not. I have 21 years experience doing real tax appeals and I enjoy what I do! I’ve helped my clients save millions of valuable tax dollars through the years that would have needlessly been paid had I not been looking out for them.

Fulton County Assessment notices, 2015

The 2015 Fulton County assessment notices went out this past Friday. If anyone would like a professional to review their property tax situation, please contact me, Rob Vinson, 404-218-7874. Or email me info@taxappealatnta.com.

2015 Dekalb County GA Assessment Notices, Real estate tax appeals

I just received my annual tax assessment for my home in Decatur. The fair market value increased 67.50%. Needless to say I’ve already filed the appeal. Most of my neighbors’ values didn’t increase. If anyone would like to have a professional review his or her tax situation, please contact me. Rob Vinson, info@taxappealatlanta.com or 404-218-7874. I have 21 years experience dealing with these matters.  www.taxappealatlanta.com 

Fulton County appeals for tax year 14′

I’ve had two appeals at the Fulton County board of equalization in the past week. I saved $6,700 for one client and $5,700 for another client. Those values will remain in place for three years, so the compound savings are around $38,000. If anyone needs help appealing their real tax assessment, please contact me for a free analysis. I have 21 years experience. Put that experience to work for you.! http://www.taxappealatlanta.com, Rob Vinson, 404-218-7874. 

Problems with boards of equalization at Dekalb County?

I’ve had 9 appeals at Dekalb County in the past 3 weeks. I’ve won 6 out of the 9 appeals that I’ve presented. I feel like that if I had appeared before 2 fewer of the boards of equalization that I appeared before, I would have been able to have won all 9. Some of the board members are great and do their jobs correctly, but more often than not, there are boards who don’t listen or pay attention to the data that is presented and only do what the county appraiser recommends… Which is always to uphold or no change the value. If anyone reading this has experienced the incompetency that I have, please let the head of the board of equalization know. His name is Byron Scott. He is very attentive and he runs the board well. Also, contact the clerk’s office at Dekalb County. Ms. Lisa Oakley is who I’ve contacted in the past. She’s listens very well and takes her job seriously. Her department is over the board of equalization. I also recently found out that the board members don’t have sovereign immunity and that they can be sued individually. I have heard that some board members were sued at Fulton County. The board of equalization is a serious thing and the people who serve on it should remain un biased and pay attention. In other words they shouldn’t just “mail it in” with a rubber stamp no change like the county assessors want them to. Should anyone need help with his or her appeal, please contact me, Rob Vinson at 404-218-7874 or email me at info@taxappealatlanta.com. http://www.taxappealatlanra.com. I have 21 years experience and I win 98% of the appeals that I agree to take on. Experience helps win appeals.

Fulton County Board of Equalization, “Virtual, Paperless, Appeal”

I had the pleasure of experiencing my first “virtual” appeal at Fulton County earlier this week. I showed up and went in the hearing room and the appraiser didn’t have a file or any paper. She pulled up a spreadsheet on a 15″ computer monitor and it had three comparables on it. I couldn’t see the addresses, I couldn’t see the neighborhood number, I couldn’t see anything and neither could the board members. She finished her presentation, which was basically pulling up that sheet and recommending a “no change” in the value. I got to present my appeal, on paper and then went back and asked the appraiser to pull up the spreadsheet and asked her to recite the values, square footages, sales prices, sale dates, etc. Two of the three comparables she selected, made my case for me, but again, the county wouldn’t budge and of course the three dolts sitting across the table agreed with the mighty assessor’s office. I’ve been doing appeals for 20 years now, and I’ve probably done over 2,000 appeal hearings in person, and If I, a professional, can’t get a reduction at the board, then the average homeowner won’t have a chance. The Fulton County assessor’s office has figured out that if they do these appeals “virutually”, they won’t have to make copies, won’t have to make a presentation and they can basically cut and paste all of their appeals on the computer and they can recommend a “no change” to the board and unless one takes the time to divide out the values and sales per square foot, then they win. From now on when I go in the board hearing room, I will make the appraiser blow up the screen so I can see it, and I will make him or her give me neighborhood numbers, addresses, sale dates, tax values, sale prices, square footages, year builts, etc. and I’ll have to make a hand written spreadsheet right there so I can see what I’m up against. The hearings only last 15 miunutes, but If we can’t see what we are fighting for, then this isn’t going to fly. I’d like to hear more about anyone elses experience regarding this matter. Also, if anyone needs assistance with their tax appeal, please contact me, Rob Vinson, The Vinson Group, Inc. 404-218-7874, or email me at info@taxappealatlanta.com or http://www.taxappealatlanta.com.

Fulton County Property Tax Assessment Notices, Fulton County Property taxes

Fulton County mailed out their annual property tax assessment notices this week. The deadline to appeal is July 21, 2014. If anyone feels that his property is overvalued / over assessed for tax purposes, please contact me at info@taxappealatlanta.com or call me, Rob Vinson, at 404-218-7874. I’ll conduct a free analysis and let one know whether it’s worth hiring me to do the appeal. I have 20 years experience appealing tax assessments and have saved my clients millions of valuable tax dollars throughout my career.

The 2014 Dekalb County assessment notices are out

The deadline to file real tax appeals, in Dekalb County, GA, is July 14. If you feel like your property is over assessed / valued for property tax purposes, contact me for a free analysis. I’ll let you know if it’s a fair value or not. Call me, Rob Vinson, at 404-218-7874 or email me, info@taxappealatlanta.com or check out my website at http://www.taxappealatlanta.com.