Steaming housing market yields high property tax bill for metro Atlanta homeowners

ATLANTA — Atlanta’s housing market is still hot, and that doesn’t just impact people looking to buy, but people who already own.

Many owners have just received their tax bills, and some might have sticker shock.

Robert Haynes, 61, lives in the Brookwood Park neighborhood, off Old Norcross Tucker Road. His bill arrived Monday for more than $3,550.

[DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks]

He reacted with “more of a shrug,” he says. “It was not as big of an increase as some other property that I own.”

He points out his property in Pickens County, where he says the property taxes more than doubled this year.

Channel 2′s consumer advisor Clark Howard says once the bill is due, a taxpayer doesn’t have much recourse.

“It’s over,” he says. “But when you get a notice of a reappraisal of your home, you have a period to appeal. And the county tells you in the notice how long you must appeal.”

TRENDING STORIES:

• Roswell man who held 13-year-old girl for 3 weeks, filmed sex acts with her sentenced to 17 years
• Man violently carjacked in broad daylight at Gwinnett County gas station
• 3 arrested after man shot 20 times with pellet gun in Cobb County park, police say

But he says if you think the appraisal is what you can get from selling your home, you’ll need to take a different approach.

“The more you can point to homes around you that are valued by the county at substantially less than yours, it’s not fair for you to be assessed higher. That’s why and how you appeal,” Howard said.

Also, he says, if you bought a house in the past year, and the county assesses it for much higher than what you paid, you can appeal.

[SIGN UP: WSB-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter]

Channel 2 checked the median house prices in the Atlanta area.

The real estate website “Redfin” says the median sales price in the city of Atlanta is $405,000, which is up 6% from this time last year.

Newnan, in Coweta County, has a median price of $377,000 – that’s up 11% in the past year. And Flowery Branch, in Hall County, has a median sales price of $400,000, a 16% increase from the same time last year.

IN OTHER NEWS:

Neighbor describes terrifying moments when she heard gunshots near her DeKalb County home

©2022 Cox Media Group