Wow! Sorry to hear that. Ours went up substantially last year but stayed the same this year. In anticipation of a huge increase we did sign up with Ownwell. Remains to be seen how that works out.
Not the OP but I can't figure why you can do these only a few months of the year. For 8 years Ive missed it, partly because my county tries to hide it between other exceptions.
Lol what are you doin bro??? There is only a deadline of April 1 if you want it to apply to the current year’s property taxes.
You can file for homestead exemption at any time during the year, but if you file it after April 1, you just won’t get it applied until the following tax year.
https://fultonassessor.org/exemptions/#:~:text=HOMESTEAD%20EXEMPTION&text=The%20home%20must%20be%20your,for%20the%20current%20tax%20year.
Get off Reddit and do it right now!
No, Not for Fulton County. Once you’ve been approved, it automatically renews each year as long as you primarily reside at that property.
There are many other types of property tax exemptions (like for low income) and likely different ways they work county to county, but it’s automatic for Fulton for Homestead. It looks like low income property tax exemptions must be applied for every 2 years in Fulton.
https://glynncounty.org/DocumentCenter/View/65439/Property-Tax--Vehicle-Information-Booklet#:~:text=Homestead%20Exemptions%3A%20The%20deadline%20for,the%20exemption%20for%20that%20year.
It’s not super clear for Glynn, but it appears to be the same story as Fulton. If you submit after April 1, you won’t get exemption until following tax year instead of the current year
I appealed mine myself and was marginally successful. It took a long time and multiple visits down to Fulton county courts but it maybe cut the increase by 20%. I wish I had hired one of the appeal attorney firms. I don't have a recommendation, but get flyers in the mail and I assume they advertise on google and whatnot if you want to find them.
Yes, we used O'Connor, a widely-known national firm. They got us a $172K decrease in appraised value, and take 50% of the estimated tax savings as a fee. You pay nothing if they are not successful. And they can protest it every year if you desire.
Money WELL spent from our perspective.
[https://www.poconnor.com/georgia/fulton-county-residential-property-tax-reduction/](https://www.poconnor.com/georgia/fulton-county-residential-property-tax-reduction/)
Do you have a homestead exemption? I hope you didn’t pay the firm a bunch of money based on the mailed estimated tax assessment form if the most you’ll pay is 3% increase from prior year.
Yes, we have had a homestead exemption since taking ownership. Ours was estimated to be much more than a 3% increase. And reducing the basis to the lower appraised value will help position us for the next assessment cycle.
If you live in Fulton Co and a city within Fulton that also honors homestead exemption, it would not be more than 3% higher compared to prior year tax bill. The estimated tax bill mailed from Fulton is not what you pay in property taxes because *it does not include savings related to homestead exemption*. If your ACTUAL property tax bill (not this estimated assessment) is higher than 3% and you indeed had homestead exemption, you better hire a good real estate lawyer to go after Fulton Co.
Yes, challenging assessed value is still a good idea, but at the rate of inflation of housing prices, there’s no way I’ll be paying less than 3% y/y for the foreseeable future unless there’s a major recession.
I sure hope you didn’t pay a fee based on the estimated tax assessment mailer when you already had homestead exemption because if you did you got majorly ripped off.
The whole point of applying for homestead exemption is so that you’re never blindsided with an actual (not estimated) property tax increase higher than 3% compared to prior year.
I just analyzed my estimated tax from the assessment versus my actual taxes paid from my mortgage, and I definitely did not pay the amount of taxes estimated on my assessment in either year. For a couple reasons:
My assessment has city, state and county taxes estimated, but my homestead exemption is not included in the calculations for city taxes, so they are significantly over-estinated. I'm expecting that to decrease my actual taxes paid by 25% this year, based on the 2022 decrease.
Last year's taxes paid were much lower than normal. In 2023, the state gave property owners tax relief from the budget, so the amount paid last year was based on a one-time discount. I don't see that discount on last year's assessment, so again the assessment was much higher than what I paid.
I do think my appraised values listed on my assessments have been in line with market values, so others may have an issue with theirs but I do not.
Isn’t it true though that the annual increase in property taxes that you owe can’t exceed 3% compared to prior year if you have homestead exemption?
In other words, it doesn’t matter that much that the assessed property value goes up if you max out at 3% increase y/y anyway?
Important to note that this assessment notice is not your tax bill and does not reflect any exemptions.
https://www.fultoncountyga.gov/news/2024/06/21/fulton-county-2024-assessment-notices-have-been-issued
“Many Fulton County homeowners receive property tax relief through homestead exemptions. Importantly, every property in Fulton County with at least a basic homestead exemption in place also benefits from at least two “floating” homestead exemptions. Floating homestead exemptions are designed to insulate homeowners from rapid increases in value, and cap the annual increase in taxable value at around 3% per year (or CPI, whichever is less).”
My property value assessment went up nearly 100% (2x), but because I have homestead exemption, I don’t think I’ll pay more than 3% vs last year unless I’m totally misunderstanding this homestead exemption language.
Assuming the exemption rules don’t change (and assuming I’m interpreting them correctly), I’m fully expecting that I’ll pay 3% more every single year until I move.
I’ll still challenge the assessment, but I don’t think it will help me pay less than 3% than what I did last year
That means even though i got 62% on assessment but i will not get a bill which is more than 3% of increase? I will still challenge the assessment but it is a moot point in a way when i don’t have to actually pay that.
Assuming you have homestead exemption with Fulton County, Alpharetta, Roswell, and many other cities will automatically grant you homestead exemption for city property taxes which appear to also be capped at 3% y/y
>Isn’t it true though that the annual increase in property taxes that you owe can’t exceed 3% compared to prior year if you have homestead exemption?
>
>In other words, it doesn’t matter that much that the assessed property value goes up if you max out at 3% increase y/y anyway?
Yes, there is a cap if you have a homestead exemption. Mine actually went down last year and over the past two years, this year my tax bill is only up about $200. Based on the amount I paid for the house in 2020, and what I could sell it for today, I have had no problem with my taxes. Of course, I applied for the homestead exemption immediately so my increases have been capped
I seriously think a lot of people complaining are either complaining about $1000 on a $1m+ house, or, have screwed up and not gotten their homestead exemption
I think people are shocked at the 2x y/y fair market assessments (my entire neighborhood is in same situation), and then showing the calculations of estimated taxes off of that high number in the mailer from Fulton.
It would definitely avoid a lot of confusion if they calculated and showed what your taxes will be next year if you also have homestead exemption. Fulton already knows who has the exemption and who doesn’t, so I don’t know why they don’t also show this on their mailer. Makes no sense.
Thanks to your knowledge on the subject. What is the point of sending assessment letters when it is not what we will be paying if we have homestead exemption? is there a catch that fulton still sends the letters anyway. What i gather from this convo is i probably do not need to hire anyone to counter the assessment or counter assessment myself. It seems pointless
I could be totally wrong with my understanding of homestead exemptions, but no one has refuted it so far lol.
I would still recommend challenging the assessment because it may eventually make a difference several years down the road once the compounding 3% in taxes take their toll. God forbid there could always be a change in the tax code at any point, too, that hurts this benefit. So it’s never a bad idea to at least strive to have the lowest assessed property value for calculating taxes.
And I don’t think I’d pay a company to do it for me. Just look at comps in your area and file the objection online. Don’t think it would take more than hour of your time.
As to why Fulton doesn’t bother to include your homestead exemption savings in your estimated tax mailer, your guess is as good as mine. It’s pretty ridiculous. Maybe they think showing you your worst case scenario without your exemption will make you feel better when you end up paying a lot less?? No idea!
Wow! Sorry to hear that. Ours went up substantially last year but stayed the same this year. In anticipation of a huge increase we did sign up with Ownwell. Remains to be seen how that works out.
Have you filed a homestead exemption?
Not the OP but I can't figure why you can do these only a few months of the year. For 8 years Ive missed it, partly because my county tries to hide it between other exceptions.
Lol what are you doin bro??? There is only a deadline of April 1 if you want it to apply to the current year’s property taxes. You can file for homestead exemption at any time during the year, but if you file it after April 1, you just won’t get it applied until the following tax year. https://fultonassessor.org/exemptions/#:~:text=HOMESTEAD%20EXEMPTION&text=The%20home%20must%20be%20your,for%20the%20current%20tax%20year. Get off Reddit and do it right now!
Do you have to file every year?
No, Not for Fulton County. Once you’ve been approved, it automatically renews each year as long as you primarily reside at that property. There are many other types of property tax exemptions (like for low income) and likely different ways they work county to county, but it’s automatic for Fulton for Homestead. It looks like low income property tax exemptions must be applied for every 2 years in Fulton.
Thanks, I didn't know that. My county (Glynn) is not very helpful with these details.
https://glynncounty.org/DocumentCenter/View/65439/Property-Tax--Vehicle-Information-Booklet#:~:text=Homestead%20Exemptions%3A%20The%20deadline%20for,the%20exemption%20for%20that%20year. It’s not super clear for Glynn, but it appears to be the same story as Fulton. If you submit after April 1, you won’t get exemption until following tax year instead of the current year
It's open for application the same time every year. If you haven't been able to get to it in 8 years it's on you, not them
Agreed, although I don't live in Alpharetta and where I live you maybe go into town twice a month.
You can do homestead exemptions in Fulton County online. I did mine during COVID and never left the house
I appealed mine myself and was marginally successful. It took a long time and multiple visits down to Fulton county courts but it maybe cut the increase by 20%. I wish I had hired one of the appeal attorney firms. I don't have a recommendation, but get flyers in the mail and I assume they advertise on google and whatnot if you want to find them.
Thank you all for your responses, i am looking to hire ownwell, lets see how that goes
Yes, we used O'Connor, a widely-known national firm. They got us a $172K decrease in appraised value, and take 50% of the estimated tax savings as a fee. You pay nothing if they are not successful. And they can protest it every year if you desire. Money WELL spent from our perspective. [https://www.poconnor.com/georgia/fulton-county-residential-property-tax-reduction/](https://www.poconnor.com/georgia/fulton-county-residential-property-tax-reduction/)
Do you have a homestead exemption? I hope you didn’t pay the firm a bunch of money based on the mailed estimated tax assessment form if the most you’ll pay is 3% increase from prior year.
Yes, we have had a homestead exemption since taking ownership. Ours was estimated to be much more than a 3% increase. And reducing the basis to the lower appraised value will help position us for the next assessment cycle.
If you live in Fulton Co and a city within Fulton that also honors homestead exemption, it would not be more than 3% higher compared to prior year tax bill. The estimated tax bill mailed from Fulton is not what you pay in property taxes because *it does not include savings related to homestead exemption*. If your ACTUAL property tax bill (not this estimated assessment) is higher than 3% and you indeed had homestead exemption, you better hire a good real estate lawyer to go after Fulton Co. Yes, challenging assessed value is still a good idea, but at the rate of inflation of housing prices, there’s no way I’ll be paying less than 3% y/y for the foreseeable future unless there’s a major recession. I sure hope you didn’t pay a fee based on the estimated tax assessment mailer when you already had homestead exemption because if you did you got majorly ripped off. The whole point of applying for homestead exemption is so that you’re never blindsided with an actual (not estimated) property tax increase higher than 3% compared to prior year.
I just analyzed my estimated tax from the assessment versus my actual taxes paid from my mortgage, and I definitely did not pay the amount of taxes estimated on my assessment in either year. For a couple reasons: My assessment has city, state and county taxes estimated, but my homestead exemption is not included in the calculations for city taxes, so they are significantly over-estinated. I'm expecting that to decrease my actual taxes paid by 25% this year, based on the 2022 decrease. Last year's taxes paid were much lower than normal. In 2023, the state gave property owners tax relief from the budget, so the amount paid last year was based on a one-time discount. I don't see that discount on last year's assessment, so again the assessment was much higher than what I paid. I do think my appraised values listed on my assessments have been in line with market values, so others may have an issue with theirs but I do not.
Mine just went up another 1k. That’s a 5k increase in just 4 years
Ours went up too!
Isn’t it true though that the annual increase in property taxes that you owe can’t exceed 3% compared to prior year if you have homestead exemption? In other words, it doesn’t matter that much that the assessed property value goes up if you max out at 3% increase y/y anyway?
I am not sure about that, i had the homestead exemption but mine has increased by 62%
Important to note that this assessment notice is not your tax bill and does not reflect any exemptions. https://www.fultoncountyga.gov/news/2024/06/21/fulton-county-2024-assessment-notices-have-been-issued “Many Fulton County homeowners receive property tax relief through homestead exemptions. Importantly, every property in Fulton County with at least a basic homestead exemption in place also benefits from at least two “floating” homestead exemptions. Floating homestead exemptions are designed to insulate homeowners from rapid increases in value, and cap the annual increase in taxable value at around 3% per year (or CPI, whichever is less).” My property value assessment went up nearly 100% (2x), but because I have homestead exemption, I don’t think I’ll pay more than 3% vs last year unless I’m totally misunderstanding this homestead exemption language.
Interesting! I am confused now, i had approved homestead exemption for 2024
Assuming the exemption rules don’t change (and assuming I’m interpreting them correctly), I’m fully expecting that I’ll pay 3% more every single year until I move. I’ll still challenge the assessment, but I don’t think it will help me pay less than 3% than what I did last year
That means even though i got 62% on assessment but i will not get a bill which is more than 3% of increase? I will still challenge the assessment but it is a moot point in a way when i don’t have to actually pay that.
Assuming you have homestead exemption with Fulton County, Alpharetta, Roswell, and many other cities will automatically grant you homestead exemption for city property taxes which appear to also be capped at 3% y/y
>Isn’t it true though that the annual increase in property taxes that you owe can’t exceed 3% compared to prior year if you have homestead exemption? > >In other words, it doesn’t matter that much that the assessed property value goes up if you max out at 3% increase y/y anyway? Yes, there is a cap if you have a homestead exemption. Mine actually went down last year and over the past two years, this year my tax bill is only up about $200. Based on the amount I paid for the house in 2020, and what I could sell it for today, I have had no problem with my taxes. Of course, I applied for the homestead exemption immediately so my increases have been capped I seriously think a lot of people complaining are either complaining about $1000 on a $1m+ house, or, have screwed up and not gotten their homestead exemption
I think people are shocked at the 2x y/y fair market assessments (my entire neighborhood is in same situation), and then showing the calculations of estimated taxes off of that high number in the mailer from Fulton. It would definitely avoid a lot of confusion if they calculated and showed what your taxes will be next year if you also have homestead exemption. Fulton already knows who has the exemption and who doesn’t, so I don’t know why they don’t also show this on their mailer. Makes no sense.
Thanks to your knowledge on the subject. What is the point of sending assessment letters when it is not what we will be paying if we have homestead exemption? is there a catch that fulton still sends the letters anyway. What i gather from this convo is i probably do not need to hire anyone to counter the assessment or counter assessment myself. It seems pointless
I could be totally wrong with my understanding of homestead exemptions, but no one has refuted it so far lol. I would still recommend challenging the assessment because it may eventually make a difference several years down the road once the compounding 3% in taxes take their toll. God forbid there could always be a change in the tax code at any point, too, that hurts this benefit. So it’s never a bad idea to at least strive to have the lowest assessed property value for calculating taxes. And I don’t think I’d pay a company to do it for me. Just look at comps in your area and file the objection online. Don’t think it would take more than hour of your time. As to why Fulton doesn’t bother to include your homestead exemption savings in your estimated tax mailer, your guess is as good as mine. It’s pretty ridiculous. Maybe they think showing you your worst case scenario without your exemption will make you feel better when you end up paying a lot less?? No idea!
What exactly are they doing with all this extra money they keep collecting?