Fulton County Property Tax Appeal Rant
I’m currently appealing my Fulton County Georgia property taxes. It’s been going on since March of 2010. I thought I would periodically write about my experience in trying to get an equitable assessment for my home located in the Buckhead section of Atlanta, Georgia. First, the assessment is not supposed to be about theoritic value, it’s required to be about the actual value of your property. Which means if you listed your home tomorrow, your house should sell very closely to its assessed value. Feel free to take a few minutes to stop laughing before you continue...
Read MoreHousing Stimulus Plan
Earlier this year I blogged about an economic stimulus package called the American Recovery Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009. One aspect of this stimulus package is that it has allowed qualified, first time home buyers and/or qualified home buyers (who have not owned a home in 3+ years) to receive up to an $8,000 tax credit. New home buyers must purchase a home between February 1, 2009 and November 30, 2009. REALTORS, brokers, homeowners alike feel that this legislation has helped move housing inventory and has helped stabilize pricing. In turn, many believe it has reinvigorated slow real...
Read MoreTemporary Tax Breaks
In early 2009 Congress passed a Temporary Economic Recovery & Reinvestment Act of 2009. This nearly $800 billion stimulus package offers wonderful temporary tax incentives. Many of the incentives that are presently set to expire at the year of the year include the following credits/deductions/incentives: The First-Time Homebuyers Tax Credit: First time home buyers (taxpayers) are eligible for (up to) $8,000 in tax credits when they purchase a new home between January 1, 2009 and November 30, 2009. The home buyers can file an amendment to their 2008 tax return (as an effort to receive...
Read MoreGeorgia homebuyer tax credit
I wrote about the Georgia home buyer tax credit a couple of weeks ago, but believe it needs mentioning again. While the Federal credit appears to have very little to do with economic stimulus and more to do with socioeconomic engineering, the Georgia tax credit is not limited by income or to first time home buyers. Since most of my business is in Buckhead, Sandy Springs and Dunwoody, the federal tax credit is basically worthless to my clients and meaningless from a stimulus standpoint. Here is a link to some FAQs; it appears as if the only catch is the property needs to be financially...
Read MoreUpdate on the "Stimulus" Bill
I know there will be some that view home buyer tax credit as a positive, but I view it as a major disappointment. Part of the recent “stimulus” bill President Obama just signed included a reduced tax credit for first-time home buyers. The amount of the tax credit is the lesser of 10% of the cost of the home or $8000 (Georgia Senator Isakson’s limit was $22,000). This will do zilch to stimulate Buckhead’s, and the surrounding areas like Sandy Springs’ and Dunwoody’s, housing market. There are some conditions:. - You must be a first-time home buyer - The...
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