It is a right that every homeowner has and there is very little risk (unless you added square footage to your home without pulling a permit). The assessments are determined by a computer program that analyzes numbers and doesn’t account well for specific differences between quality of houses and neighborhood boundaries. There is always a chance that you can get a reduction of any kind. When you appeal an actual appraiser reviews actual sales comps to determine your appeal. This is going to be a much more accurate appraisal value.

NO. They are not allowed to increase your value in this calendar year. Even if they realize you are undervalued. It can only be reduced or stay the same. IF they were ever to actually increase in the same calendar year, it would have to be supported by significant sqft increase an appraiser observed by visiting your property. It is unlikely that they will visit, even though they are entitled to.

The appraisal department is allowed to personally visit properties during the appeal process but it is not common. It is still a risk, I can’t tell you it won’t happen. If they do and they see more square footage, they can’t change the value for this calendar year, but they will update the tax record and in the following year they will appraise based on the larger property.

Yes. If you appeal and then go to the Board of Equalization you will get your value frozen at the current value for 2022, 2023, 2024. That means it won’t increase with the market until your freeze expires in 2025. Win or loose at the Board of Equalization, you get the freeze. This is a completely legal and acceptable practice. You can just walk right into your Board of Equalization hearing and request your freeze, no questions asked! Many of your neighbors take advantage of this law every three years, and there is no reason why you shouldn’t either.

This is only an estimate of the taxes, but yes, when the bill comes out in early Fall you will need to pay it while the appeal is in process. Often, the first response to the appeal will be used as the value for the tax bill, so if you get a reduction in the first response, it’s possible your tax bill will be more accurate.

When you submit your appeal you have to choose if you want to be billed at the current assessed value (100%) or at 85% of it. Basically 85% means you will pay 85% of the total tax bill OR the amount of your last tax bill whichever is LOWER in the fall. Once the appeal is resolved, you will either be billed the difference in what you owe or receive a refund if you overpaid. If you can afford to, I recommend you pay the 100% and get a refund if you win your appeal. If you cannot afford to pay it all in the Fall, I would suggest the 85% method and it will at least delay the remainder of the bill. If you do not choose one, you will automatically be billed at the 85% rate.

If you bought in 2021, your assessment should not be valued higher than your sales price. Fulton and DeKalb counties follow a practice of not appraising your property more than the value of your sale in the prior year. You can still appeal and get your sales price frozen, I did this in 2021 myself.

The 2022 values are based on ONLY 2021 sales from Jan 1st 2021 to Dec 31st 2021. Square footage is the primary determining factor, not bedrooms or bathrooms. You will want to find sold houses with similar square footage as yours and try to choose ones that look similar on the inside if there are photos available. If your house is renovated, find other renovated comps. If your house is unrenovated, look for unrenovated comps. The comps also should be in the same neighborhood code. You can check your own neighborhood code in the online tax record and you can confirm the neighborhood code of the sales you wish to use by looking in the tax record. Year built is also important. You may not want to use a new construction and 1920’s house. You can look for sales online, in the tax record, contact your favorite agent, or contact me and I will offer you tips on finding comps.

t is most productive if you contact your preferred real estate agent or ask me to help you find comps. You are welcome to look at online sites like Zillow, Realtor…etc and there is a way to look at comps on the county’s website. You basically want to find 3-5 comps that are most similar but sold for the lowest price per square foot. Try to keep the sales comparables within the “neighborhood code” found in your tax record.

To find the neighborhood code: go to http://fultonassessor.org/ and Click on “Property Search”

Enter your property info and it will bring up your property record. Under the Parcel section you will see that a section "Neighborhood" with a 4-6 digit number, that is your neighborhood code. Unfortunately you may have to check the tax record for each of the comps you choose to see if it is in the same neighborhood code or not. If you have to go outside of this code area to find comps, the appraiser will value those less in his review of your appeal. But if it’s all you can find, you should still send them.

You can put any value in the appeal form for what you think the value is. But you do have to enter a value. I take the average price/sqft of each of the comps I used and multiple that by my sqft. To calculate price/sqft divide the sqft of the property by the value given or the sold price. 561,000 / 2800 = $200/sqft. Sample language is below:

My house at 123 Main St is currently assessed for $561,000 which is $200/sqft at 2,800 sqft.

These homes are comparable to mine in condition and the average sold price/sqft was only $171/sqft.

920 Confederate sold for $433,000 at 1953 sqft = $226/sqft

1081 Benteen sold for $425,000 at 2303 sqft = $184/sqft

872 Confederate sold for $370,000 at 2362 sqft = $156/sqft

1163 Morley sold for $380,000 at 2800 sqft = $133/sqft

864 Confederate sold for $494,000 at 3000 sqft = $160/sqft

The average price/sqft is $171/sqft. My house at 123 Main St at 2800 sqft should be assessed at $481,000

You are welcome to include documentation to make your case for appeal in the first submission. You can send in PDF form: comparable properties, pictures, list of work needs to be done to the property, info showing that other houses near you are valued less…etc. I have found though, that additional documentation is most effective at the Board of Equalization hearing. That doesn’t mean it won’t be productive in the first appeal submission. I have found a greater response to additional documentation at the Board of Equalization who are residents. The county appraiser is the only one working on the first appeal submission and they traditionally are trying to support the value of the county first and foremost.

After you submit your appeal, you can track its progress in the appeal portal. After the deadline passes, the county will start sending one of two letters: a letter stating they are not making any changes (No-change letter) or a letter offering a reduction in your value (30-day letter). If you receive the No-change letter, it states that you will automatically be scheduled for a board of equalization hearing, you do not need to request the hearing. If you get a 30-day letter including an offered reduction you may accept or request to continue to the board of equalization. It’s called a 30-day letter because you have 30 days to reply to the notice indicating if you want to go to the board of equalization or not. If you wish to accept, you should still request a board of equalization hearing so you can assure your value is frozen. If you are not satisfied with the offered reduction, you’ll need to communicate your request for a board of equalization hearing in writing (a mailed letter) within the 30 day window starting with the issue date on the notice.

The county will start sending out responses to appeals after the August 1st deadline. It could arrive anytime from August to probably about October or even later. Once homeowners start requesting Board of Equalization hearings those usually start being scheduled in the Fall and can run through Spring 2023.

If you have a freeze from a prior year and you are still in your 3 year period, an appeal will likely break the freeze. If you need to make an adjustment to your tax record, call the appraisal department and confirm whether or not making those changes will break your freeze. If a property sells, it will break the freeze. If you pull permits to perform any renovations it will break the freeze.

It is likely that they have not finished processing all of the applications but it should be applied to the bill. However, call the office at 404-613-6100 opt 4 and confirm that they indeed received your application and it will be processed in time for the bill.

You should call your mortgage company and see how and when they will adjust your mortgage escrow account. What traditionally happens is, the mortgage company continues to draw too little in funds, the bill comes in fall 2022, the mortgage company pays the whole bill even though your escrow account will be short. Then in Spring 2023 your mortgage company will catch up with you and offer you the chance to pay the overage in one lump sum, or spread it out over the next year’s payments. It will also readjust your escrow to collect enough money in the coming year. So essentially your escrow will increase and unless you pay the overage in one lump sum, you will have an increase due to that being spread out over the coming year’s payments.

Once you have responded to the 30-day letter with a request for a BOE hearing, email or call the appraisal department and ask them for the comparable properties used to determine the response to your appeal. Do not let them send you to the section to find general comparables. You want to get their comparables they used to support their value. Once they send you these, you want to research them and find any and all reasons to refute the county’s comparables, if possible. Then you want to present your own comparables, preferably different from the ones the county is using to support your case. This is likely best done with the help of your preferred real estate agent, or you can contact me at appeal@maggie4fulton.com for help. This is the best time to bring any and all photos of your house if they will help (mostly unrenovated pictures are best) and any lists of repairs that need to be made. If you can show that your house is unrenovated and the houses the appraiser used are renovated that is a very good case.

The Board of Equalization hearing is a group of 3 residents local to the area of the appeal, one county appraiser and yourself. You should bring 5 copies of any and all documentation you are bringing to the hearing, 1 copy for each Board member, a copy for the appraiser and a copy for yourself. It will be a short 15 min or less hearing. You may choose to go first or let the appraiser go first. The Board can ask questions of both you and the appraiser. They will make a decision on the spot. If they do decide to give you a reduced value, they will recalculate a new price/sqft on the spot. This is why it is helpful to have offered the board a price/sqft analysis for them to work from.

Please note that I am not a tax professional or employed by the county so if any of these answers are incorrect, I am stating now that these answers are from my experience working with over 1000 homeowners over the last 7 years and my personal experience appealing. I do not deem these answers to be guaranteed