Pickens County property taxes (Atlanta, Jasper: for sale, real estate, insurance)
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Has anyone tried to appeal their property taxes in Pickens County? I gave the Pickens County tax assessor office examples of houses that had sold within the last year. The houses were comparable to mine (size, year built, they were located within 1 mile of my house, etc). Most of the houses had been for sale for 2-3 years before they sold. The Pickens County assessor's office told me the comp's that I gave did not sell for value market value and I couldn't use those.
I think the assessor's office needs retraining on fair market value. If a house is for sale, the owner is not going to turn down a higher offer. Wikipedia defines fair market value as "the price at which the property would change hands between a willing buyer and a willing seller, neither being under any compulsion to buy or to sell and both having reasonable knowledge of relevant facts." Pickens County can't make up their definition of fair market value.
Has anyone else had problems like this appealing your property value?
Local landowner in Athens area fought the county for a long time in court over an assessment. The money was huge. He finally won. Of course the county had their legal help paid for by the taxpayer and of course by the poor guy who pursued the case.
This was a really good article the AJC wrote awhile back about Metro Atlanta.
It does a good job of explaining the concept of mass appraisals. I saw this redescribed in other articles around the time too.
The problem often is even though some homes change... county appraisers often look at the last 10-20% of homes that sold for pricing. Often even when some homes were sold for a smaller price... it wasn't that much of the total housing stock.
The end effect... it does a great job of accurately appraising homes in a stable environment, but it is slow to see quick down shifts... or up shifts, because so many houses have to sell (not just a few... like a real estate appraiser would look at).
and that might be the problem your/they are seeing... their idea of how to measure fair market value is what the last 15% of the housing in that area sold for (even if only 2-3% changed ownership in the last year). Your definition of how to measure fair market value is whatever happened to of sold recently (no matter how few it may or may not be).
Anyways... the article is really interesting and it also tells about some of the changes the legislature did as well.
Has anyone tried to appeal their property taxes in Pickens County? I gave the Pickens County tax assessor office examples of houses that had sold within the last year. The houses were comparable to mine (size, year built, they were located within 1 mile of my house, etc). Most of the houses had been for sale for 2-3 years before they sold. The Pickens County assessor's office told me the comp's that I gave did not sell for value market value and I couldn't use those.
I think the assessor's office needs retraining on fair market value. If a house is for sale, the owner is not going to turn down a higher offer. Wikipedia defines fair market value as "the price at which the property would change hands between a willing buyer and a willing seller, neither being under any compulsion to buy or to sell and both having reasonable knowledge of relevant facts." Pickens County can't make up their definition of fair market value.
Has anyone else had problems like this appealing your property value?
Yes, I have had lots of experience with this subject. The Assessors constantly talk out of both ends of their mouths. I live on an easement which is not maintained by the county and they have made it very clear they will never ever maintain it. Many roads in Jasper, GA are easements so they are saving a ton of money by having it that way. However, they are appraising my property at the same amount they are appraising property on paved Cove Road. I would love to join a group and go to court against them. There must be plenty of land owners in Picken County that are being treated this unfairly. If I could figure a way to reach them, I'd be willing to advocate for them. I'm sick of this.
Last edited by MadRat; 07-13-2012 at 03:56 PM..
Reason: want to add to it.
You said: The Pickens County assessor's office told me the comp's that I gave did not sell for value market value and I couldn't use those.
Interesting....A house on my dirt road sold to a Doctor for cash and he paid way too much for the place. The buyer admitted it was an emotional purchase and he realized he paid way too much for it. However, due to this one sale, my property value nearly doubled according the Tax Assessor. One sale, that was all they had and I had dozens to prove it was not sold at market value. I was dismissed and ignored. We are paying the salaries.....it's disgusting.
I unsuccessfully tried to appeal the value of my house in Bent Tree also. I looked at all of the sales in the last year in Bent Tree and determined that the selling prices averaged about 72% of the Pickens County tax assessor's value. The tax assessor's office used one house that sold at the top of the market for a comparison to determine the fair Market value for my house. According to Georgia Law SB346, all relevant sales, including distress sales, have to be included when determining fair market value. The Pickens County Tax Assessor's office said this law doesn't apply to properties in Pickens County.
How can a county totally ignore a state law? I spent 26 years in the Georgia National Guard and I swore an oath to uphold and defend all of the laws of the United States and the State of Georgia. I do not understand how a county can get away with picking which laws they want to follow.
Location: Mableton, GA USA (NW Atlanta suburb, 4 miles OTP)
9,858 posts, read 10,744,453 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by lhansard
I unsuccessfully tried to appeal the value of my house in Bent Tree also. I looked at all of the sales in the last year in Bent Tree and determined that the selling prices averaged about 72% of the Pickens County tax assessor's value. The tax assessor's office used one house that sold at the top of the market for a comparison to determine the fair Market value for my house. According to Georgia Law SB346, all relevant sales, including distress sales, have to be included when determining fair market value. The Pickens County Tax Assessor's office said this law doesn't apply to properties in Pickens County.
How can a county totally ignore a state law? I spent 26 years in the Georgia National Guard and I swore an oath to uphold and defend all of the laws of the United States and the State of Georgia. I do not understand how a county can get away with picking which laws they want to follow.
Maybe you should consult with a lawyer? If the county is violating state law, you might be able to induce them to change their behavior or compensate you for it.
Would love to find a lawyer but need others involved.
I know they are breaking the law, but the only way to get them to do the right thing is to get a lawyer, OR VOTE THEM OUT OF OFFICE. As I said, I live on an easement which the county does not have to pay to maintain. They are valuving my land at the exact same price as the land in High Knoll Farms who have country maintained roads. Also, two homes on the dirt pig path to my home went into bankruptcy because the owners were unable to sell them due to the horrible condition of the road. None of this mattered to the Tax Assessor. They are not treating anyone fairly. I personally would like to file a civil action suit against the county. I have saved all my correspondence for the past 7 years. I have been trying to get before the Board of Equalization for 7 yrs. The first year they said they sent me a notice of the date to appear but I didn't show up. I never got the notice. I personally don't believe they sent it. I was told they are not responsible for the post office. Rob Dobbs went further to say to me, I would probably get a better response from them if I were nicer. Then they informed me that I had missed my appointment by one day and NO they would NOT my reschedule it even tho they were seeing people for another three days. I was screwed. I sent a letter to the Insurance Commissioner about the teatment and the unprofessional comment to be nice and go away. The next year, they sent my tax bill and I sent my response via Registered mail so they couldn't say they didn't receive it, but they still would not give me an appointment to speak in front of other persons about my claim. I have tried since 2006 to get before the Board and they were good enough to hear my case this year (two months ago). Having to wait this long to plea my case before the Board and proved that my property (land) could not be worth the same as land in a planned community with county maintained roads is illegal. I was ignored again. By the way, I lost my home two years to a desvastating fire because the fire trucks couldn't find the house, AND the big trucks couldn't get down the dirt road. I have since built it back, but the country continues to lower my land value even after having lost my home due to a bad road and no road sign to let 911 or emergency vehicles know where the pig path is. It's disgusting to me that we are all being raped by the county. This has to be a civil suit....there is you, there is me and I'm confident there are many many others. As I said, I have all my requests and letters to and from them saved for the day I can prove my case. This has been going on for years.
Last edited by MadRat; 07-28-2012 at 06:06 AM..
Reason: misspelled words
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