About
My name is Rob Vinson. I am a current licensed appraiser as well as realtor in the State of GA. I appeal real estate tax assessments and help my clients save money on their ad valorem or property tax bills. I have been appealing real tax assessments since 1994, and throughout the years, I have helped my clients save millions of valuable tax dollars that would have otherwise been incorrectly paid. If one would like to learn more about the process, please email me at info@taxappealatlanta.com or call me at 404-218-7874. Also, check out my website at www.taxappealatlanta.com. Thank you for reading my blog!
taxappealatlanta 
This year I decided to appeal my 2011 Cobb County (CC) Residential Property Taxes. In spite of the very significant down-turn in residential home values in my area (Highland Pointe subdivision, 30066), CC had been assessing me the same Current Fair Market Valuation of $347,400 since 2006. I felt that I had a pretty good case as I had an appraisal done in July of 2010 for a refinance, which identified a value of $315,561 using the Cost Approach.
So, in January, 2011 I started the process by filing “Taxpayer’s Return of Real Property” (Return), attaching the appraisal and indicating a desired valve of $315,561. This was sent to the Cobb County Board of Tax Assessors (BTA). This Return and the attached appraisal were completely ignored by the BTA wherein they set the same valuation of $347,400 in their Annual Notice of Assessment, which was sent out in May 2011.
With the Notice came my appeal rights, which I exercised. I appealed based Value and Uniformity and attached the same information that I had included with the Return. I chose to have a hearing before the Board of Equalization (BOE), in lieu of “Binding Arbitration.”
In August, I was notified that the BTA had again refused to lower their assessment of $347,000, completely ignoring the Residential Appraisal data in the same fashion as they had in reviewing my Return. They then set a date in September for the hearing before the BOE.
At this point I realized that it was time to go to a property tax professional. Had I known what I know now, I would have done this prior to the appeal. So, I did a little homework, searched around and found Rob Vinson. Right off the bat I was VERY IMPRESSED with Rob’s professionalism and knowledge of the GA property tax system. This man is no fly-by-internet BS operator who would file a few forms for you, charge an exorbitant amount, and then never be heard back from again. Rob is the “real thing” that you want on your side when you are in front of a county’s BOE. His fees are very reasonable. And in my case, there is no way that he could have gotten rich by doing all the things that he did, many of them being over and above what I had paid for.
Initially, Rob spent a lot of time putting together a full report of Equity Comparables for the BOE and then spent a full afternoon of his time traveling to and sitting with me during the Hearing. In spite of his hard work and advocacy, the BOE (CC BOE Board #2) refused to listen to any of his presentation, kept interrupting him, and basically acted like a bunch of very rude 6th graders, allowing the BTA’s 2 staff appraiser’s (yes, the BTA sent 2, not just 1, of their appraisers to this hearing) to justify their previous decision of a $347,400 valuation. This whole BOE hearing process was the biggest kangaroo court I have ever seen. The deck is very clearly stacked against the homeowner from the start with a BOE hearing, at least with the CC BOE # 2. In the end, the BOE lowered the value to $335,000, and then gave me the final option of appealing this decision to Cobb County Superior Court. I think the $12,400 drop was basically their “giveaway” figure just because we showed up.
At this point, about anyone else would have ended their representation and told me to go out and hire an attorney if I wanted to continue. But not Rob. This is where I learned that fighting your assessment valuation in the Atlanta metro area isn’t so much based on what’s right or the facts, but on knowledge of “the system” in each county and who you know in those counties. In short order Rob got hold of several CC BTA senior staff appraisers, and under the mere threat of appealing the BOE’s stupid decision to Cobb Superior Court, got them to lower the 2011 value to my original requested amount of $315,000. This without me having to actually file any Superior Court appeal documents!
So, here’s the deal. Counties are broke (just like us “lowly citizens”). And they are going to do ANYTHING they can to keep their assessments as high as possible, short of either being given overwhelming information to the contrary, threatened with judicial oversight, or both. As a minimum, they will engage in intimidation. And us lowly citizens are not always in the the best position to carry an effective defense unless we have as an advocate a person who knows how to play their games. Simply stated, Rob does. So, use his services if you find yourself in the face of a BTA appeal. The bottom line is that I’m now paying $392 less in taxes, and Rob has offered to continue the case into 2012 on a contingency basis using additional sale comparables. You can’t get much better than that.
Jack Gregory
3275 Highborne Cir NE
Marietta , GA 30066
Parcel # 16-0189-0-045-0