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Surprisingly Low Property Values Create Questions in DeKalb

2011-06-09T08:43:00.002-04:00

From the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (April Hunt)

Shock and disbelief greeted Colin Heydt when he opened DeKalb County’s tax assessment notice on his Candler Park home. Across the county in Stone Mountain, Jan Dunaway had the same reaction.

Unlike residents in Gwinnett or Fulton, who have flooded their counties with appeals for lower assessments, many DeKalb property owners insist their home values are far too low.

In order to maintain services, such as police and libraries, residents say they’d prefer to see higher home assessments -- which means higher taxes regardless of rate -- instead of what they think are unrealistically low assessments. The drop in home values has the county thinking of raising taxes up to 4.5 mills, which would increase taxes about $93 a year on the average home, which this year is assessed at $155,700.

“If you are going to take one of the better off neighborhoods and give people 60 percent off their taxes for no apparent reason, something is dramatically wrong,” Heydt, a philosophy professor whose four-bedroom home, with a separate carriage house, plunged 57 percent from an assessment of $440,700 to $189,960.

“I’d be happy to pay more in taxes than what I’m currently scheduled to, because it’s only fair,” Heydt added. “Without an adjustment, you’re talking about the potential for millions of dollars in lost revenue.”

DeKalb’s chief appraiser Calvin Hicks couldn’t believe his ears when calls complaining about values too low started coming in. He defended the county’s assessments but admits the numbers could be off in some areas, including the Candler Park neighborhood.

“It’s as accurate as we can make it, given the confines we’re working with,” Hicks said. “Really, it’s been an unusual year.”

He attributes the plunging values mostly to a new state law that requires distressed sales be included when calculating the market value. Because DeKalb has the third highest number of foreclosures in the state — with 7,645 foreclosures announced between January and May — those sales are pushing down values countywide.

The resulting 13 percent drop in value, down to $20.8 billion, is the worst among metro Atlanta counties. The drop is felt more acutely by homeowners because DeKalb is 65 percent residential and lacks the industrial and commercial properties that have helped prop up values in neighboring Fulton and Gwinnett counties.

Gwinnett, for instance, saw a decline of about 9 percent to its digest while Cobb county’s values fell about 7 percent. Reports show Fulton County may be estimating a decrease of about 8 percent, though official figures were not available.

Compounding the problem was the loss of six experienced appraisers last year to better paying jobs in Fulton, Hicks said. Those workers, who have not been replaced, had the institutional knowledge to question whether a 60 or 70 percent drop really reflected the neighborhoods.

“We’re human,” Hicks said. “If we made an error, we will review that and correct it.”

So far, his office has agreed to re-examine five neighborhoods where property owners think the values are depressed, including parts of Candler Park, areas in and around Avondale Estates and North Druid Hills. If more calls come in, Hicks said his office will review those complaints, too.

Those reviews won’t be done before next week, though, when the county commission is expected to join other metro counties that have raised their tax rates to offset the losses the sour economy has had on property values.

A new state law required every property receive its assessed value this year. The law also makes it easier to appeal that assessment, with many counties offering an online link from their appraiser’s office that will generate a review from the local Board of Equalization.

So far, commissioners have tried to battle the shrinking property tax base with budget cuts. Any movement to boost values would seem to help keep any increase as low as possible.

“I’m concerned because the projections we have on revenue may not include any glitches, so we’ve got to go back and look at these assessments,” said Commissioner Kathie Gannon. “This doesn’t even look like it’s following a formula.”

Commissioner Lee May, who heads the commission’s budget committee, said he believes Hicks’ office is getting a grip on any problems.

“We had a huge increase in previous years and now it’s falling, and it’s complicated to provide an accurate assessment with all of that movement,” May said.

In the meantime, stories abound of neighborhoods where some property values plunged while others barely saw a change.

For instance, homes in Rammel Oaks, a newer subdivision outside of Avondale Estates, held their exact value from 2010, according to county tax records. Undeveloped lots dropped between 55 and 70 percent, including one now valued at $22,320 despite selling in foreclosure in November for $216,000.

In the Fells Ridge subdivision where Dunaway lives, most values shriveled 60 percent. A nurse, Dunaway was stunned to see that her three-bedroom, two-bath home is assessed at just $44,500.

But what had her scratching her head was learning that values of 16 of the 80 homes in the subdivision dipped just 27 percent.

“They’re going to make us poor and charge us more,” Dunaway said of the assessments. “We’re going to pay our taxes one way or another, but for goodness’ sake, don’t raise the millage rates unless that’s what you need to do.”

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Marietta to Keep Tax Rate, Services

2011-06-08T08:35:00.001-04:00

From the Marietta Daily Journal (Jon Gillooly)

MARIETTA - The Marietta City Council on Wednesday is set to approve its fiscal year 2012 budget, which calls for no tax increases or service cuts.

The budget, whose fiscal year begins July 1, lists no staff cuts or furloughs, but offers no raises.

Nor does it dip into the city's $12 million reserve fund.

"Our effort has been twofold: one, to cut the budget and not to lay people off, not to furlough, but not to sell the citizens short either," Mayor Steve Tumlin said.

The general fund budget balances revenues and expenditures at $47.53 million, which is $522,460, or 1.1 percent, lower than FY11's original budget of $48.05 million.

"When we saw that the economy was going into recession back in 2008-09, the city aggressively made immediate cuts in order to stay ahead of the reducing revenue that we've experienced over the last three years," City Manager Bill Bruton said.

Such measures included a hiring freeze, cutting the city's capital funds - which are used to purchase equipment and vehicles - and finding grant funding to help pay for equipment purchases, Bruton said.

Marietta does not rely as heavily on property taxes as some governments do.

"When property taxes go down, it has a negative effect on the city, but not as much as other governments," Bruton said, noting that property taxes only account for 20 percent of the city's general fund.

Built into its FY12 budget is $11.5 million from the city-owned utility, Marietta Power, which keeps the city's millage rate down by about 4.5 mills.

The city's millage rate will remain the same at 2.788 mills.

The city's fire department is budgeted at $11.11 million, compared to FY11's $11.19 million, a difference of $78,000. The fire department has 135 employees. The city's police department is budgeted at $13.49 million, the same as last year. The Marietta Police Department has 173.5 employees.

The general fund, which pays for such core services as police, fire, streets and recreation, is one part of the city's overall budget, which totals approximately $270 million. Other funds that make up that budget include federal and SPLOST funds, the city's utility and the city's pension fund.

The total number of city employees funded in the 2012 budget for all departments is 805.5, compared to 2011's 807.5.

"I'm very happy, and I think the success goes to our staff," Tumlin said of the budget. "As mayor I'd like to take credit, but it's the staff. They've done a great job."

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DeKalb Approves School Construction

2011-06-07T09:36:00.002-04:00

From the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (Jaime Sarrio)

The DeKalb school board Monday approved a $475 million construction plan to replace and renovate schools, and to purchase new technology and buses. Now, it's up to voters to approve a special five-year penny sales tax program to pay for it.

In November, residents in Atlanta, Decatur and Fulton counties are expected to vote on the sales tax program, which by law sunsets in March. Because of overlapping boundaries, the districts must hold the sales tax referendum at the same time.

DeKalb's long-term goal is to phase out smaller neighborhood schools in favor of 900-student elementary, 1,200-student middle and 1,600-student high schools. The plan approved Monday would bring the district closer to doing that, said Daniel Drake, director of planning and forecasting for the district.

"It's more of an efficiency on the administrative costs for these schools, throughout the county," he said.

Highlights of the plan include the construction of seven elementary schools for$144 million, an arts school at Avondale Middle and a $22.4 million renovation and addition at Redan High. The plans come after the board voted in March to close eight schools in a massive redistricting that takes effect this fall. School officials said some schools are closing so that larger schools can be built in their place.

Two private firms were hired by DeKalb to survey schools and consider the building conditions and technology needs. The scores of those surveys were meshed together and used to determine which schools would be first in line for improvements.

Some parents at the meeting asked the board to consider schools in their area for upgrades. Speaker Connie Boone asked the board why clean schools were closed during the rezoning and students were moved to schools in disrepair, such as Meadowview Elementary.

“Last month, I got an opportunity to go to Meadowview’s open house… You all decided to keep the oldest and the nastiest school building in the McNair cluster open,” she said. “That school needs to be gutted, renovated or condemned.”

Collectively, the sales tax programs are expected to bring in about $1.5 billion. Other districts are in various stages of developing construction plans before the fall vote.

Dunwoody-area representative Nancy Jester was the only board member who voted against the plan, saying she didn’t have enough time to review the projects and she had questions about the influence of unspecified "outside" groups..

“There are very focused interest groups who have advocated for their projects, and we are benefiting groups that easily organize during the summer,” she said. “I can’t in good conscious vote for this plan.”

Monday evening, board members also OKed a $1.23 billion consolidated budget that includes furlough days for school employees. District officials originally canceled the unpaid workdays, but then reversed the decision last week because of an unexpected $15 million budget shortfall stemming from property tax collections.

Board members discussed whether to raise taxes, but the idea didn't gain traction.

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DeKalb Unveils Plans for New Schools, Renovations

2011-06-06T10:21:00.002-04:00

From the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (Jaime Sarrio)

DeKalb school officials want to build eight new schools and make renovations and additions to several others with money collected from the next penny sales tax program, which if approved would run from 2013-2017. DeKalb must ask voters to extend the tax along with Atlanta, Decatur, and Fulton school districts because of overlapping boundaries under state law. A detailed project list and a survey is available at www.dekalb.k12.ga.us.

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Forsyth County Golf Course Residents Vow to Continue the Fight

2011-06-03T08:45:00.002-04:00

From the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (Jeffry Scott)

A resolute group of homeowners in the Lanier Golf Club community say no matter what the Forsyth County Commission decides, they’re not quitting their four-year fight to keep the 172-acre property from being rezoned for residential development.

“I moved here eight or nine years ago to live on the golf course and if the commission doesn't want to fight it in court, we will,” said homeowner Jim Quinn.

Quinn is one of a group of residents who have offered to pay $5,000 of the county’s legal fees if it appeals a judge’s ruling last month giving the commission a deadline to rezone the property.

“But they turned us down,” said Quinn.

After the May 12 ruling that Forsyth County had 45 days to “rezone the property to a constitutional zoning classification,” the commission said it will bring up rezoning proposals at two public hearings before casting its deciding vote June 16.

According to the proposed rezoning, the front tract of the property, all now zoned agricultural, will be a master planned district (MPD). The back tract of the property will be zoned R-3, for single family residential. District 5 Commissioner Jim Boff, who lives in the community but not on the course, said he has always been in favor of keeping the golf course.

“The people who bought homes here paid a premium and have paid higher taxes all these years to keep it that way,” said Boff.

The course has been tied up in litigation since 2007, when the course owners sued the county after the commission rejected their request to rezone it so they could sell the land to a developer. The sale was contingent on the rezoning.

Course owners Jack Manton and George Bagley Jr. have offered a conceptual plan for the development. But after four years of legal haggling and the crash of the real estate market, county attorney Ken Jarrard said at the moment there is no “bona fide purchaser” of the property if it is rezoned.

At a commission work session District 4 Commissioner Patrick Bell said the higher density development was better for the county.

"You couldn't ask for a better use of land -- low impact, low trip generation and high taxes," said Bell.

Quinn said residents of the community have already spent about $150,000 in legal fees fighting the rezoning. One reasons the county commission wants to settle the litigation is the cost, said Boff, who estimates Forsyth has spent about $120,000 fighting the rezoning so far.

District 3 Commissioner Todd Levent said the commission rejected the offer to pay part of the legal expenses because the community group did not want to pay all the expenses if the case goes to trial, which could cost $15,000 or more. That strategy will backfire, said Quinn.

“If the county does vote to have this ridiculous zoning, the neighborhood will sue and therefore they will not be saving anything in legal expenses,” he said.

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Johnson Ferry Road Plan Aims for Cohesive Corridor

2011-06-02T09:20:00.002-04:00

From the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (Janel Davis)

As the more urban areas of Cobb County grow, the quest for a better quality of life has leaders trying to guide development in a way that satisfies both residents and businesses.

Cobb commissioners set the stage for the future of the Johnson Ferry Road corridor last week when they approved the first stage of their latest urban design undertaking.

“This is not going to be an immediate transformation because there is no money,” said Jill Flamm, president of the East Cobb Civic Association. “What you will start to see is a more unified ... Johnson Ferry corridor. The plan is a starting block, but without the first step you have nothing.”

The 3.4 mile corridor lies between Roswell Road and the Chattahoochee River, and serves as Cobb’s main north-south thoroughfare in the more affluent, eastern part of the county, carrying between 20,000 and 49,000 vehicles each day.

The corridor is lined with a mix of 13 commercial shopping centers, a range of retail outlets and subdivisions. But the area lacks connectivity and consistency, with bad sidewalk conditions and varying lighting designs and architecture. The differences create a chaotic street environment, according to a review of the area included in the design plan.

“You've got a situation where there was a lot of unrestricted zoning in the area over the past few years,” said Commissioner Bob Ott, who represents the area. “With that you can’t come in and impose zoning on property that has no restrictions, so the only way is to establish a guide going forward.”

The design plan includes a collection of improvements, detailing pedestrian bridges, sidewalk lengths and widening of the road in some areas.

Business owner Jeff South is excited about the plan and its possibilities, but he's nervous about the impact on small businesses.

“I own two properties in the corridor, and if they start street widening part of the property for those could be taken away,” he said. South owns Intrigue Salon and the adjacent building that houses Suburban Tap restaurant along Johnson Ferry Road.

“I am hopeful for an area that will grow with the times,” he said.

The roadway widening included in the plan is also troublesome for area resident Larry Savage, who is concerned about residential neighborhoods possibly losing part of existing landscaped perimeters that separate the homes from the road.

“If this were actually developed per the plan, I don’t see any way they could do this without taking away some of those perimeters,” he said. "I’m not saying it’s wrong, I just don’t think it has been communicated very well.”

County staff began working on the plan with residents, business owners and developers in 2009. Four public meetings were held.

Like the Powers Ferry Road plan completed before it, county staff’s next step will be to draft design standards based on the Johnson Ferry plan. The plan also will be added to the county’s comprehensive plan.

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Atlanta Home Prices at 1999 Levels

2011-06-01T08:32:00.002-04:00

From the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (Rachel Tobin)

Home prices in metro Atlanta fell in March to the lowest level since late 1999, weighed down by the effect of foreclosures and a backlog of unsold properties, according to a widely watched index released Tuesday.

The region’s decline mirrors a stubbornly deteriorating national housing picture despite the slow economic recovery, the latest Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller Index said.

“This month’s report is marked by confirmation of a double-dip in home prices across much of the nation,” said David Blitzer, chairman of S&P’s index committee. “Home prices continue on their downward spiral with no relief in sight.”

Prices staged a mild rebound in most markets a year ago but have reversed course since federal tax credits expired. Sales volume also is down from a year ago.

Nationally, prices were 33 percent off their 2006 peaks in March, according to the 20-city index. Metro Atlanta’s decline from the peak is not as severe, at 28 percent, but the area’s price appreciation also was not as steep during the boom years.

But in the latest report Atlanta joined only four cities with price indexes below 2000 levels. The others were Detroit, Cleveland and Las Vegas.

For Dunwoody homeowner Billy Crenshaw, that confirms what he already knows: he’ll be taking a loss on his condo.

“We paid $275,000 for it in 2005. In 2001, when it was built, it sold for $299,000. We’re putting it on market for $225,000, but we expect to get about $200,000 for it,” he said.

All told, with $15,000 in improvements, he expects to a lose a third of his investment. But he must sell now because he and his wife are ready to move to a retirement community in Texas.

“It’s not our choice right now to do this at the bottom of the market, we just have to make a move. It tightens up everything,” he said of his spending.

In the S&P/Case-Shiller Index, compiled from a measure of repeat sales, a score of 100 represents prices at the start of 2000. The index fell from February to March in 18 of 20 cities tracked.

Metro Atlanta’s March index fell to 98.36, from 100.23 in February and 103.73 in March 2010. Atlanta’s index peaked at 136.47 in July 2007.

The trend acts as a brake on the economic recovery, said Rajeev Dhawan, director of the Economic Forecasting Center at the Georgia State’s Robinson College of Business.

“These numbers are not good for the confidence of a standard average middle class person, as a big part of their wealth is tied up in their homes,” he said. “To see the value of their home dropping affects their mood and ultimately their spending.”

He said it’s also bad news for small business owners, who often use homes as collateral for bank loans.

Debby Braun, an agent with Keller Williams Realty-First Atlanta in Sandy Springs, East Cobb, and Dunwoody, tries to get buyers and sellers off the fence with the thought they may take a loss on the house they sell, but will gain value on the house they buy.

“There are a lot of stalled sales from people who would either move up or move down,” she said. “They just can’t get over that real loss, in some cases, and in others it’s a perceived loss.”

Walter Molony, a spokesman for the National Association of Realtors, expects home prices to remain flat the rest of the year as waves of foreclosures continue.

“What we are finding in our data is a large downward skew because there so many foreclosures pulling down market. We didn’t have as many foreclosures in 2009,” he said.

Four out of 10 sales nationwide last year were distressed, he said, with prices discounted 20 percent or more.

“That mix of sales is not representative of the United States,” he said. “The typical U.S. housing stock is in much better shape than the homes being sold.”

Agents note that even in a down market real estate values can be strong in certain areas.

Real estate agent Peggy Hibbert, of Atlanta Fine Homes Sotheby’s International Realty, sells from Morningside to Decatur -- sought-after intown areas with good schools.

“I’m seeing houses sell. I’m seeing buyers feeling more comfortable that they are getting a good value. And I’m seeing people that are ready to make changes in their life, but had been waiting, move forward,” she said.

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Druid Hills Riled Over Planned Subdivision

2011-05-31T11:06:00.002-04:00

From the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (April Hunt)

Bruce MacGregor likes that he can spot pileated woodpeckers and foxes from the back window of his home along a stream just a few miles east of downtown Atlanta.

He and many residents of the leafy, affluent Druid Hills neighborhood, however, say a premier historic area is under attack because of a DeKalb County planning commission vote last month.

The board agreed to allow a well-known attorney to carve up three neighborhood properties into a seven-lot subdivision off Clifton Road, complete with a new side street.

“It would in effect make Druid Hills like a typical Gwinnett cul-de-sac area,” said MacGregor, president of the 4,000-household civic association. “That affects the historic character of our community.”

The association is suing to overturn the planning panel’s 4-3 vote, arguing it acted before the county’s Historic Preservation Commission approved the idea.

Residents have picked up an unusual legal ally: DeKalb County itself. The county also filed a suit in Superior Court against each member of its own planning commission.

“The board of commissioners gave the planning commission its authority, so it’s pretty unusual to challenge an act they gave them the power to do,” said Doug Dillard, an Atlanta attorney with 40 years’ experience in zoning battles. “I’m not sure there would be a fight at all if it wasn’t for the question of historical preservation.”

The battle dates back years and goes to the heart of what makes Druid Hills, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, one of metro Atlanta’s special places.

Druid Hills began taking shape in 1893, the last American suburb planned by noted landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted. His designs created the linear parks along Ponce de Leon Avenue and the curving streets of the neighborhood that straddles DeKalb and Atlanta.

The layout is more distinctive than the homes, which range from large manors along Oakdale and Springdale roads to smaller cottages and bungalows closer to Emory University.

Past efforts to redevelop in the area — whether it be building condos or adding height to the one-story Emory Village commercial strip — have drawn the ire of residents.

Robert Buckler bought the three lots, where just one large home stood, about eight years ago. He tore down the older home and proposed cutting up the lots into smaller properties for new homes.

The county’s Historic Preservation Commission has repeatedly agreed with residents, denying the subdivision it said would erode the historic character of Druid Hills.

Buckler, a partner at Troutman Sanders law firm, went to court three times to battle the rulings. Last year, he took a different tack and applied directly to the county planning commission.

Neither Buckler nor his attorney, Pete Degnan, could be reached for comment.

But Buckler was armed with a letter from the state Department of Natural Resources, responding to his questions about his rights. Commissioner Mark Williams, whose office includes a Historic Preservation Division, wrote that Buckler’s property “does not seem to me to rise” to the level of a historic district.

In other words, Buckler never needed HPC approval. DeKalb Planning Commission member Wendy Butler, a land-use lawyer, reviewed the letter and came to the same conclusion. She made the motion to allow Buckler to proceed.

“I don’t want to set aside a community’s emotion, but you never can set aside the law,” said Butler, who has since left the planning panel. “While it may be an unpleasant decision, I believe it was the right one.”

DeKalb County spokespeople declined to comment on why they filed a suit, saying they do not discuss pending litigation. But Butler and Druid Hills residents agree that the subdivision could create more change in the staid neighborhood.

Dillard, the zoning attorney who is not involved in the case, said new construction can add value to the well-designed community without challenging the historic flavor.

“One way to preserve the vitality of a neighborhood is to have a mix of properties,” Dillard said.

MacGregor isn’t buying it. A city planner who has lived in the community for 30 years, he says Buckler’s subdivision, and others that could follow, would mean less greenspace.

Losing the hardwood canopy that drapes over the curvy streets would change what makes Druid Hills unique to Rob Benfield, an attorney who sought out the green community a decade ago.

“If you can shoehorn a cul-de-sac and split up lots on Clifton, you can do it to the linear park on Ponce,” Benfield said. “It’s a mortal threat.”

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Property Revenue Down Even More in DeKalb; Could Lead to 4-mil Hike

2011-05-25T09:49:00.002-04:00

From the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (April Hunt)

DeKalb County may have to raise property taxes higher than expected after new calculations revealed Tuesday show property values have plunged even more than anticipated.

The 13-percent drop in property values translates into an estimated $40 million shortfall in the 2011 budget –- and what some county commissioners say could lead to a 4-mil tax hike this summer. The drop in the county's assessed value, down to $20.8 billion, had been projected last week to be about 10.5 percent.

But commissioners, who have the final say on the budget, say they won’t approve any tax increase unless the CEO Burrell Ellis offers up more cuts.

“All I keep hearing from the CEO is that we need a tax increase,” said commissioner Lee May, who heads the budget committee. “What I don’t hear from him is that we have to look at outsourcing, we have to look at restructuring our staff. But we do have to have that kind of comprehensive review.”

The county’s chief financial officer Joel Gottlieb did not offer any proposed millage increase. Commissioners calculated the 4-mil rate based on his announcement that property values have plunged 13.4 percent countywide from last year.

The unincorporated areas were hit even harder, dropping 18 percent.

Ellis, who was not at the budget committee meeting, later said that he would continue to propose reductions beyond the $100-million plus he has cut from the budget since 2008.

But he also noted that commissioners rejected his earlier proposals such as closing five rec centers, shutting down libraries and phasing out the county’s cooperative extension.

“There is a real gap that has to be closed,” Ellis said. “The board has to step up and say they will be willing to cut some non-essential services. So far, we haven’t seen that.”

The budget tension between the CEO and county commission dates back to late last year, when DeKalb ended the year with declining revenue and no cash reserves.

Ellis proposed raising taxes by 2.32 mills to cover the loss, but commissioners voted to make more than $33.6 million in cuts.

A tax increase has become more likely as property value information has come in, showing that even the previous cuts and proposed hike wouldn’t be enough to balance the budget.

Tuesday’s figures, too, are still not final. They do not include personal property appraisals and also do not account for an expected increase appeals from property owners, which could continue to chip away at the tax base.

“I don’t care how comprehensive (any recommended cut) is, you’re not going to get out of it without raising taxes,” said Chief Operating Officer Richard Stogner.

A 4-mil increase would boost DeKalb’s rate from 16.86 to 20.28. The county has not raised taxes since 2006, before the recession started, while neighboring Fulton and Gwinnett have hiked their rates in the last few years.

Gottlieb plans to unveil a proposed millage rate at the budget committee’s June 7 meeting. Ellis will make additional recommended changes for the June 14 commission meeting.

The commission must set a preliminary tax rate at the June 14 meeting and is expected to adopt a final rate on July 12.

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New Complex Near KSU Coming Soon

2011-05-24T09:06:00.003-04:00

From the Marietta Daily Journal (Marcus E. Howard)

Construction of a new, 850-bed apartment complex near Kennesaw State University to primarily accommodate students is expected to begin in 2013.

The Kennesaw City Council voted 5-0 last Monday to approve a request by Marc Bensman, a partner in Cima Management LLC., a private real estate development company, to build the Sanctuary at Kennesaw complex on a 19.1 acre site along Cherokee Street near McCollum Parkway.

The site, located about a mile west of campus, is currently a privately-owned mobile home community that will be demolished, according to the city. A plan was submitted to the council to help relocate residents. It was among a number of variances and rezoning conditions members approved.

Included among them is that management will be responsible for providing students with a shuttle service to get to campus, in order to ease traffic in the busy area. The site was rezoned from mobile home park and city light industrial to multi-residential and neighborhood retail commercial.

Submitted plans call for 35,000-square-feet of mixed-retail space to be built in front of the complex on Cherokee Street. The Shoppes at the Sanctuary will include restaurants, a coffee shop, convenience store and mail/packing store. The developer hopes it will jumpstart redevelopment in the area.

Preliminary plans for the complex include a swimming pool, tennis courts and sand volleyball area.

But unlike most apartment communities, residents in the new complex of 245 units will have to rent bedrooms and not entire units, said Darryl Simmons, Kennesaw's Planning and Zoning administrator.

"They will literally being paying to rent per bed," he said.

"For example, in a typical apartment you would have four beds and a common eating area and sitting space. Instead of one family occupying a unit, there will be four bedrooms by four different people. They will share the kitchen and common area. And they'll each have a bathroom."

The project is expected to take up to five years from now to complete.

Contrary to some published reports, KSU is not involved in the Sanctuary project.

It is among several apartment complexes located within close proximity to KSU, but are not owned by the university.

In the fall of 2012, a new, 456-bed housing complex, marketed toward KSU students, is expected to open on Shiloh Road between George Busbee Parkway and Frey Road.

Michael Sanseviro, KSU dean for student success, said off-campus housing options are important for students but do not determine the university's housing program.

"We certainly consider the larger housing market when making decisions about future growth for campus housing, and these new off-campus projects will be part of that equation in determining the rate and volume of future housing growth on campus," he said.

Given KSU's tremendous growth and the demand for on-campus housing, the university anticipates continuing to build housing to eventually grow its capacity to about 5,000 beds, said Sanseviro. Currently, there are 3,046 beds on campus, where enrollment surpasses 23,000 students.

A new, 451-bed housing project that is set to open in the fall of 2012 will bring that total to 3,497.

In 2002, a 700-bed, on-campus apartment community opened on the southside of campus between Campus Loop Road and Kennesaw State University Drive. The 451-bed project is an expansion of the community. It will be comprised of private bedrooms and bathrooms for upperclassmen.

"Each year our campus housing fills earlier and earlier, and our waiting lists continue to grow," said Sanseviro. "This, coupled with the demand studies and market research we've conducted, supports the need for more campus housing."

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Roswell Residents Could See Lowest Property Tax Rate in Seven Years

2011-05-23T09:11:00.002-04:00

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (Patrick Fox)

Roswell residents could see the lowest property tax rate in seven years if a proposed 2012 city budget passes muster this month.

The spending plan, prepared by Mayor Jere Wood and city staff, calls for lowering the property tax rate by .11 mills, a savings of $12.06 on a $280,000 home.

Coupled with reduced property value assessments, the average Roswell homeowner would pay $42 less in city taxes this year if the budget is approved, the city estimates.

City Council members and residents will weigh in on the proposal at 7 p.m. Monday at the first of two public hearings at City Hall.

As proposed, the budget calls for $99 million in overall spending. The city's operating budget, the money used to run the city and pay employees, accounts for $56 million in expenditures.

The city is projecting a $760,000 revenue increase for 2012 despite the fall in property values and the tax redcution. Combined with 953,000 in midyear savings from early retirement, the city finds itself with $1.7 million more available to spend in 2012 than in 2011. Of this, $977,000 is budgeted to cover rising costs, including gasoline, electricity, public safety and elections.

Wood is proposing two new initiatives, $30,000 to televise City Council meetings and $25,000 for legal fees to opt out of federal review of city elections.

Residents will see a 4.4 percent fee increase for recreation programs to cover part of the costs, under Wood's proposal.

The budget also leaves $571,000 in unspent funds. Wood is asking the council and public to consider rasing employee compensation, adding a deputy police chief and repaving streets with that money.

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Fulton Sending New Tax Notices to All but Three Cities

2011-05-20T08:49:00.002-04:00

From the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (Johnny Edwards)

Taxpayers could have to shell out as much as $140,000 so that Fulton County can mail new property assessment notices, correcting mistakes in hundreds of thousands of tax bill estimates sent earlier this month.

New notices will go not just to the Atlanta property owners who got grossly inflated estimates, but to those in all Fulton cities except Sandy Springs, Johns Creek and Chattahoochee Hills. They also will not go to owners in unincorporated South Fulton.

Fulton’s Board of Assessors decided on the re-mailing Thursday after Chief Appraiser Burt Manning told members that, along with giving Atlantans tax estimates thousands of dollars too high and listing last year’s homestead exemption countywide, initial notices also left out municipal tax estimates in ten cities.

The assessors office generated the estimates using calculation tables from Tax Commissioner Arthur Ferdinand’s office. While Ferdinand collects county taxes countywide, he only collects city taxes for Atlanta, Sandy Springs, Johns Creek and Chattahoochee Hills.

Of those, only Atlanta received the bloated tax estimates, the result of a commercial solid waste charge that wormed into the figures on the “total estimate” line.

About 235,000 new notices will be sent -- or about 70 percent of those initially mailed -- hopefully beginning next weekend, Manning said. For those who receive them, the 45-day deadline to appeal will re-start.

Manning, who pegged the cost at up to $140,000, said he is unsure where the money will come from and that he’ll ask County Manager Zachary Williams for help in identifying a source. Still undetermined, he said, is whether the county will be totally on the hook, or whether software provider Tyler Technologies Inc., will be pursued for any of the cost.

For the first time Thursday Manning pinned blame for the over-estimates on Tyler, which sold Fulton the program that generated the notices, iasWorld, in a 2009 contract for $355,000. The commercial solid waste charge should have been applied only to some Atlanta properties, but it wound up in the majority of Atlanta estimates’ bottom lines. Manning told the board Thursday that even if his staff had accounted for the charge and keyed in the correct information, the program still would have factored in the sanitation charge.

“They’re partly at fault, we’re partly at fault,” he said.

A spokesman for Tyler has referred questions about the flawed estimates to Manning. The spokesman did not immediately return messages Wednesday.

Fulton commission Chairman John Eaves wrote an e-mail to Manning on Wednesday telling him he wants to know who’s at fault -- the assessors office or the company. If it’s the latter, Eaves said he expects it to pay to send out correct information.

“We need to restore confidence in Fulton County residents that their tax assessment notices are accurate,” Eaves said.

Barbara Payne, executive director of the Fulton County Taxpayers Foundation, questioned the wisdom of another mailing. She prefers the assessors office save money with public announcements saying the tax estimates are wrong and that correct bills will arrive later in the year.

“I can only hope that what they’re doing will be absolutely correct,” Payne said, “and given what we’ve been putting up with for years from that assessors office, I’ll believe it when I see it.”

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1,277 Cobb Homes at Risk of Foreclosure

2011-05-19T08:29:00.001-04:00

From the (Katy Ruth Camp)

MARIETTA — The number of properties bound for the auction block next June is the second highest of any month this year at 1,277, although the total number of homes in foreclosure this year is still slightly less than last year’s numbers.

In June 2010, Cobb had 1,164 homes set for auction.

The largest number of foreclosure ads this year came in April, when 1,376 homes were set for auction. Most of the numbers have hung around 1,200 this year, and year-to-date, there have been 6,182 foreclosure ads. By this point in 2010, there had been 6,247 Cobb residences advertised for foreclosure.

There were a total of 15,854 notices submitted to the Journal in all of 2010.

Legal notices must appear on four consecutive Fridays before a property can be sold at auction on the Cobb Superior Courthouse steps in Marietta. Foreclosure sales begin at 10 a.m. on the first Tuesday of the month, and the next is set for June 7.

According to Cobb County Tax Assessor Phil Hogsed, in 2010, a total of 5,572 residential properties in Cobb — or 2.4 percent of all homes in the county — were actually lost to foreclosures. In 2009, 4,341 Cobb homes (1.9%) were taken by foreclosure, Hogsed reported.

Read more: The Marietta Daily Journal - 1 277 Cobb homes at risk of foreclosure.

Metro Foreclosure Notices Rise 22% in May Due to Longer Time Period

2011-05-17T10:09:00.003-04:00

From the Atlanta Journal Constitution (Henry Unger)

Foreclosure notices for metro Atlanta rose 22 percent in May from April, but the new figures released Tuesday require further explanation to get a better understanding of what’s going on.

First, the 9,530 notices in the 13-county metro area is a relatively small number during this housing crisis when there are five weeks in a month for lenders to prepare foreclosure ads for publication, said Barry Bramlett, president of Kennesaw-based Equity Depot, which compiled the data. May this year was such a month.

Over the past two years, the numbers generally have been running from a low of about 10,000 notices to a high of about 13,800 when there’s an extra week in a month for foreclosure notices to be prepared, Equity Depot data show.

Secondly, Bramlett said, the 22 percent monthly increase is coming off an April base of 7,784 notices — the lowest number in 27 months.

But what is not yet known, Bramlett said, is whether the situation is improving, or whether delays caused by the well-publicized document problems in the mortgage industry is affecting the figures. In other words, are there a lot more notices in the pipeline than the numbers reveal?
For the fourteenth month in a row, Gwinnett County had the most foreclosure notices — 1,971 — among the core metro counties. Fulton was second with 1,804 notices, followed by DeKalb (1,472), Cobb (1,152) and Clayton (791).

Foreclosure notices published this month are for auctions on the county courthouse steps set for next month. Sometimes, lenders and homeowners negotiate a reprieve that postpones an actual repossession. But, in many cases, that does not lead to a permanent solution.

“Interestingly, a record 65 percent of this month’s notices are historical repeats,” Bramlett said, meaning lenders are once again foreclosing on the same property. The average has been about 55 percent over the last two years, Bramlett said.

“The key factors that create foreclosures remain — high unemployment, a soft real estate market and underwater borrowers,” Bramlett said.

Foreclosure notices are still very high. But year-to-date, there has been a small decline. A total of 49,055 notices have been published for the first five months of the year, compared with 50,148 for the same period of 2010.

For all of last year, a record 127,140 notices were published. That was up from 117,107 in 2009 and 79,484 in 2008.

In 2006, before the subprime mortgage crisis hit, there were just under 45,000 foreclosure notices in the metro area, according to Equity Depot data.

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Renters Now Rule in Metro Atlanta

2011-05-16T10:42:00.002-04:00

From the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (Katie Leslie & John Perry)

Atlanta: "For Rent."

That's the picture painted by new housing data released this week by the U.S. Census Bureau.

From 2000 to 2010 the supply of new housing units outpaced demand by 50 percent in the four largest metro Atlanta counties (Fulton, Gwinnett, DeKalb and Cobb). The result: In those four counties alone, more than 143,000 houses, condos, apartments and other units were vacant in 2010 -- and 67,000, or nearly half, were for rent.

That’s good news for renters and bad news for landlords and often for neighborhoods.

Just ask Edward Nyankori, an Atlanta man who thought he was ahead of the investment game when he purchased a few rental properties eight years ago. That belief was quickly shattered when the economy tanked.

"People are not willing to pay the price I need just to break even, because there are so many other things on the market," he said.

The recession also converted many owners to renters, often against their will. Owners still outnumber renters across the 28-county metro region, but the balance has shifted in the direction of rentals, according to the census data.

And that trend may have legs, as more people reassess the benefits and risks of ownership, said Larry Connor, president of Ohio-based The Connor Group, which operates 17 apartment communities in the metro Atlanta region.

Some people, he said, are “realizing that the American dream of having a home maybe isn’t the right dream to have.”

For much of the decade, Atlanta enjoyed a housing boom, adding houses, apartments and condos at a dizzy pace. But the recession reshaped Atlanta's housing market in innumerable ways.

As unemployment soared, suddenly there were more housing units than people who were willing or able to buy them. Joblessness also led to foreclosures, which caused people to double up with friends with family.

The disappearance of jobs in the construction industry spawned an exodus of the immigrant population, leaving a glut of low-income apartments on the market.

Homeowners who wanted to sell, but found no buyers, became reluctant landlords. That dealt long-term landlords a blow to their bottom line, as competition drove rental rates down.

Nyankori and his wife first purchased a single family home in the Southwest neighborhood of Pittsburgh for about $105,000, he said. After fixing it up, they rented it out for $950 a month. They also invested in a four-apartment complex.

When the economy plummeted, their tenant in the single family home lost her job and stopped paying rent, ultimately leading to eviction. A combination of higher property taxes on investment properties and falling rental rates made it untenable to keep the home. They tried to work with their bank but ended up in foreclosure, Nyankori said.

It's now on the market for $35,000, he said.

"It was very difficult because we put in a lot of hard work and invested our own money, and at the end of the day, we are in the middle of a foreclosure," he said. "Eight years ago we thought we were set for life. We’re still relatively young, but we are wondering how did it get this bad?"

His problems didn't end there. Because investors have purchased several foreclosed properties in his area for rock-bottom prices, they've then rented out those homes for equally low rates, Nyankori said. That's undercut his ability to keep tenants in his apartments. One tenant has decided to move from her one-bedroom, one-bath unit, which costs $500 a month, to a two-bedroom home down the street for the same price, he said.

Renting out properties for less than their monthly mortgage is a bitter pill for many new landlords to swallow, said Gabby Gray, managing broker with RMG Properties in Decatur.

"A lot of times they want the market rent to be what their loan is, and that’s not usually the case," said Gray, who has seen her rental property management portfolio grow from 18 in 2008 to about 80 today.

Connor said that in the apartment market, rental rates tumbled as much as 20 percent between 2008 and the first half of 2010. That forced his company to streamline its resources and double-down on customer satisfaction in efforts to keep residents.

"It was not unusual in 2009 to see apartment communities offering the equivalent of two or three months free rent," he said.

Jason Levine, a real estate broker and owner of Pride Realty, has observed an interesting phenomenon among potential tenants who have lots of options at hand: beggars have become kind of choosy.

"I don’t think a day goes by that I don’t have people calling us with horrific credit, that were evicted, cars have been repossessed or have walked out on their mortgage, and they still feel they are entitled to the best of the best with a reduced deposit," he said.

Despite the grim census figures taken one year ago, however, housing experts say that Atlanta's rental market is looking up and will continue to improve in coming years.

"We’re seeing tremendous home rentals in Atlanta and even further out in the outer ring," said Frank Norton Jr., head of The Norton Agency and a real estate market analyst. "That’s helping stabilize the overall housing market."

Adds Chris Hall, a real estate consultant and vice president of Haddow & Company in Atlanta: "The apartment market is going to be the first sector of Atlanta’s real estate market to come back."

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Despite Flawed Tax Estimates, Fulton Appeals Deadline Stands

2011-05-12T08:15:00.000-04:00

From the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (Johnny Edwards)

Atlanta homeowners rattled by skyrocketing tax estimates have been assured the figures were wrong, but despite the errors on assessment notices, the appeals clock is still ticking.

The deadline to challenge the Board of Assessors on appraised property values remains June 21 -- 45 days from May 7, the date on the notices, Fulton County Chief Appraiser Burt Manning said Wednesday.

Manning said the only thing wrong with the Atlanta notices is the dollar figure listed under "total estimate." Thousands of dollars were tacked on to estimated bills because of a computing mistake that added a commercial solid waste charge to most residences in the city.

Appraised home values, the figures that can be contested, were printed correctly, he said.

"There's nothing wrong with the assessments or the appraised values," Manning said.

The deadline, however, remains a source of trepidation. Taxpayers fear that if they trust that actual bills will go down, only to find out otherwise after they're mailed later this year, they'll have to pay up or face property liens.

The prospect worries Michael Johns, an Emory University ear, nose and throat surgeon who's having trouble sorting out the mess. The assessed value on his Buckhead home fell from $1.7 million to about $1.5 million, but his notice said his taxes would increase by about $1,000.

Johns said that unless Atlanta taxpayers can be assured they'll receive accurate bills, they shouldn't be held to June 21.

"The question is, are they going to get the right numbers out to people?" he said.

In a live Twitter chat Wednesday, Manning told residents that taxes and homestead exemptions should be accurate on actual bills. Appeals should be based on assessed values, not estimated taxes, Manning said. The notices included last year's homestead exemption, which increased this year from $25,000 to $30,000.

Kate Siegel, who took part in the TweetCast, said she'll be appealing the value of her Castleberry Hill loft, but not because of her inflated tax estimate. The loft sits empty, and while she's been unable to sell it for the $85,000 she paid for it in 1997, the assessors office has kept the value at $140,000.

"I'm bleeding left and right here," she said. "It's not so much the inefficiency that I'm annoyed with, it's the incompetence, and the fact that I've been dealing with this for the past 10 years."

Manning still couldn't say Wednesday who's to blame for the calculation error. Though still not indicating whether the mistake was made by the county or contractor Tyler Technologies Inc., which provided the software, Manning took responsibility.

"We do know enough to know that our staff could not have corrected this without help," Manning said, "but we also know that if we'd done a little bit more sampling, we probably would have picked that up."

Fulton County Information Technology Director Ryan Fernandes said he doubts Tyler is to blame. The company sold the county the software -- iasWorld -- in a 2009 contract for $355,000, according to the Purchasing Department.

Blaming Tyler for the error, Fernandes said, would be like blaming Microsoft for data entry mistakes in an Excel spreadsheet.

"If a formula error happened, that's more the responsibility of the user department," he said, referring to the assessors office.

Determining who committed the error will determine who will bear the cost of correcting it, if there is a cost.

Manning said sending out letters with corrected estimates would cost taxpayers about $50,000 to $60,000, not counting labor and overtime costs. In that case, the June 21 deadline would still apply.

If his office was to send out new assessment notices, which is unlikely, it would trigger a new 45-day deadline.

Sending tax assessment notices to every property owner in the county, along with estimated tax bills, was thrust on assessors offices by Senate Bill 346, which went into effect Jan. 1.

Senate Majority Leader Chip Rogers, R-Woodstock, the bill's sponsor, said he does not believe he asked too much from assessors offices, nor does he sympathize with Fulton.

"They've had a year to prepare," he said. "It's a math problem, and they've had an entire year to figure out the math problem."

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Smyrna City Council Hires Atlanta Firm to Market Property

2011-05-11T10:35:00.002-04:00

From the Marietta Daily Journal (Marcus Howard)

SMYRNA — The Smyrna City Council selected an Atlanta-based commercial real estate services company to market city-owned property where the defunct Hickory Lake Apartments complex stands Monday.

Council members awarded, 6-0, NAI Brannen Goddard commercial real estate brokerage services related to the property and told Mayor Max Bacon to sign and execute the contract. Councilman Wade Lnenicka abstained because he missed a presentation meeting, he said.

Final plans for the property, which the city purchased in December, have not been set, city spokeswoman Jennifer Bennett said.

“The broker will explore the market and both explore and promote the best uses for the property,” said Bennett. “With that said, it must be noted that the broker will present the highest and best use of the property, but the city is the client and will determine final outcome.”

Bennett said the contract with NAI Brannen Goddard, which is still in negotiation, says the company will be paid a 5 percent commission; if another broker is involved in the sale, the commission will be split, she said.

In October, the City Council voted to buy and demolish the 94-building Hickory Lakes Apartments complex that sits on 48 acres at Windy Hill and Old Concord roads at a cost of about $13 million. The city hopes to jumpstart redevelopment in the crime-ridden area.

The city expects to award a bid for asbestos abatement and demolition within a few weeks. When the asbestos abatement is completed, the demolition will begin, city officials said.

The city offered Hickory Lakes residents cash incentives to move out of the building early this year. In December, a Cobb State Court jury awarded $8,000 to previous tenants who filed a lawsuit claiming their unit had mold issues.

In other business, the City Council approved a zoning amendment request, 6-1, to raise the height of future homes by roughly 8 feet above the city code’s limit in the Lois Pointe subdivision on South Cobb Drive at Cumberland Parkway. Councilman Jimmy Smith voted against the request.

Homeowners in the 11-plot development objected to the request because they believe it would obstruct their view of the Atlanta skyline. However, the subdivision’s new developer, Michael Landry of Marietta-based Michael P. Landry LLC, argued that taller houses sell better. The community was originally zoned in 2005

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Population Growth Stirs Worries About Stress on Region's Water

2011-05-10T13:58:00.002-04:00

From the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (Leon Stafford)

When Colin Cavill began planning the 325-unit Enso Atlanta apartments near Grant Park three years ago, water was at the top of his mind.

Simply put: The metro's area's supply is limited, and he didn't want to make matters worse.

So Cavill -- who says his company, Capital 33, wanted to "help reduce our footprint" -- developed the complex as a green project. Toilets and faucets are low-flow, shower heads are water-efficient, and a cistern collects water for the landscaping.

Cavill's efforts may need to be become the norm as the state struggles with its limited water supply, experts say.

Metro Atlanta grew by 1 million people over the past decade, according to the U.S. census, and water -- or lack thereof -- could decide its continued strength as a region, the experts said.

"Growth goes where the water is and not vice versa," said Gil Rogers, senior attorney with the Southern Environmental Law Center.

Larry Neal, a senior principal for Mactec Engineering and Consulting, which has worked with the state on drinking water assessments, said a solution is critical for job growth. If water supply is stretched thin, it could be more expensive for business to tap. That could dissuade prospects from considering locating in metro Atlanta.

"If there is uncertainty," he said, "it can cause a business to steer away. ... You don't want water to become the limiting factor in any given area."

The state recognizes the risks. It has authorized the construction of reservoirs, created a Water Supply Task Force and adopted some conservation measures. Many cities and counties in the Metropolitan North Georgia Water Planning District, which includes metro Atlanta, are offering rebates to homeowners who replace older toilets with low-flow models.

One of the biggest challenges remains the state's dispute with Alabama and Florida over access to Lake Lanier. U.S. District Judge Paul Magnuson ruled in 2009 that it was illegal for the Army Corps of Engineers to draw water from the lake to meet the needs of 3 million metro residents. Magnuson set a July 2012 deadline for the states to resolve the dispute. Otherwise, metro Atlanta would be limited to the same amount of water it received in the mid-1970s, when the population was less than one-third its current size. Georgia is appealing the ruling.

"Some of our issues are the litigation and uncertainty about the future," said Pat Stevens, chief of environmental planning at the Atlanta Regional Commission.

Stevens said that despite the population growth, water use in metro Atlanta is down. She said the population in the North Georgia water district grew 28 percent between 2000 and 2009. Usage, however, was down to 512 million gallons of water a day in 2009, compared with a high in 2006 of 602 million gallons.

A number of factors led to the reduction, including conservation, severe water restrictions during several years of drought and the economic downturn, which may have forced residents to curtail tapping water they could not afford.

Also, 2009 was a rainy year, lessening the need to water yards and gardens.

"It really rained a lot that year. Actually the last year that was more close to our norm was in 2006," Stevens said. The metro area's rainfall was 69.4 inches in 2009 and 48.5 inches in 2006.

Alan Wexler, president of Databank Atlanta, said if water were to become less abundant, it could lead to restrictions that would put commercial and residential real estate projects on hold. That happened in the years of drought in 2007 and 2008.

Solving the issue is critical because the economy has stymied real estate growth the past few years. When the recovery comes, no one wants to be sidelined because of water, he said.

"You have so many factors that are fluid right now," he said.

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2011-05-09T09:11:00.002-04:00

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (Johnny Edwards)

Some of metro Atlanta’s biggest counties mailed hundreds of thousands of property tax assessments this week, and they’re bracing for a wave of appeals despite lowered values and bills for many homeowners.

Under a new state law that took effect Jan. 1, notices this year must go to all property owners even if values stay the same. The law, passed in 2010, aimed to simplify the appeals process for homeowners following complaints that values remained fixed far above market values in the wake of the real estate bust.

Fulton County sent out 332,835 assessment notices on Thursday and Friday, Chief Appraiser Burt Manning said. More than half -- 173,960 -- showed values dropping, and close to half -- 155,994 -- had values staying the same.

Cobb County mailed about 230,000 notices on Friday, 90,000 of them showing reductions, officials said. DeKalb County will send 235,000 notices around the third week of May, Chief Appraiser Calvin Hicks said, and he hasn’t yet tabulated how many will show decreases.

Gwinnett, which mailed out 256,000 residential notices on April 15, may provide a preview of what to expect. About 100,000 of the notices reported decreases, but Chief Appraiser Steve Pruitt said he’s already had 5,000 appeals filed, more than double the number at this time last year.

He expects an avalanche in the two weeks before the end of the 45-day appeal deadline.

“Everything’s different this year,” Pruitt said. “Fulton County, in my opinion, should be prepared for about twice what they’re regularly expecting.”

In Fulton, the state’s largest county and a cradle of taxpayer unrest, the decreases might not be enough for many homeowners. With everyone getting a letter, many taxpayers who might have let appealing slip their minds in years past will be spurred into action, county officials predict.

A notice also gives everyone the right to appeal. In years past, if values stayed the same and no notice was sent, a homeowner lost that option if they didn’t file a return -- an official statement contesting the county’s assigned value -- before April 1.

Still more appeals may be filed for strategic reasons. Through an older law, anyone who appeals and takes their case to the Board of Equalization, or anyone who settles in writing with the Board of Assessors, can get their value locked in until 2014, so long as they don’t make major improvements or contest their value again.

That’s what Sandy Springs homeowner Ashley Jones plans to do. Last year, he was caught off guard after he bought his two-story stucco home with an indoor pool for $325,000 in a 2009 short sale, only to find out the county kept the value at $408,400. Busy with a new job after being out of work for six months, he missed the deadline to file a return.

This year he’s ready, having filed a return in January declaring that the house is worth what he paid for it. If granted, the value would lower his $5,150 in county and city tax bills by more than $1,000.

“One of the things I was worried about is, they may give it to me this year, but then come back and raise it next year,” Jones said. “I’ll be appealing no matter what the values are.”

Georgia Property Taxpayers Committee president R.J. Morris recommends the tactic to any property owner looking to freeze their value. The new law requiring annual assessment notices also requires that any house bought in 2010 be assessed at no more than the sale price in 2011. But a county could always raise the value in 2012, Morris said.

“This is the year for homeowners to protect themselves,” Morris said.

The new law, Senate Bill 346, was sponsored by Senate Majority Leader Chip Rogers, R-Woodstock. It followed an Atlanta Journal-Constitution investigation showing that thousands of metro-area properties were overvalued for tax purposes. The newspaper concluded that county appraisers either ignored, or failed to keep pace with, the real estate market collapse. Follow-up investigations published last year found some counties have made improvements, but still lag behind ever-plummeting values.

Manning said he can't predict how many appeals Fulton residents will file this year.

“If we get 10,000 a week, we’ll handle it,” Manning said. “If it’s 1,000 a week, we’ll be smiling.”

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Cobb Sending Out Property Assessment Notices

2011-05-06T08:40:00.003-04:00

From the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (Janel Davis)

Annual assessment notices will be mailed out Friday to 230,000 Cobb property owners notifying them of their 2011 property values.

The notices, required for all properties regardless if the value has changed, will include a tax estimate for all applicable taxing authorities, but won’t include city homestead exemptions or Marietta’s school tax exemption. About 90,000 of the notices will show a drop in value due to the housing market conditions and state law requirements.

The county’s tax digest, will be finalized by July 1, and millage rates are set later that month. Tax bills are mailed out in August.

Cobb’s tax digest is expected to decline about 7 percent from last year to $27 billion, according to the county’s chief appraiser.

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Clayton Tax Assessors Brace for 'Challenging' Year

2011-05-02T09:16:00.002-04:00

From the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (Tammy Joyner)

Clayton County's chief appraiser said Friday he's bracing for a "challenging" year fraught with confusion and more appeals once homeowners and businesses get their just-mailed property valuation notices.

More than 90,000 property assessment bills were mailed Friday. Under a new state law, property owners will get an estimated tax bill along with their 2011 assessment notice. This year's assessment notice includes the fair market value for ad valorem taxation, last year's value, and an estimated tax bill using last year's millage rate.

This year's millage rate won't be set for another few months.

"They're going to get a snapshot of a tax bill early on," said Rodney McDaniel, chief appraiser for the Clayton County Board of Assessors. "We recognize there's going to be a great deal of confusion because of the estimated tax amount that will be on the notice. In the past, we weren't required to include the tax bill on our notices."

In some instances, it will be the first assessment for many homeowners in a while since the county assessor had been required to send notices only to those who've seen a change in their valuation.

On top of helping people sort through their 2011 assessment and estimated property tax, McDaniel said his office is gearing up for what's likely to be a "challenging year" from homeowners, property owners and businesses wanting to contest their notices.

Like many other counties, Clayton has been dealing with declining property values. McDaniel's office already has reduced values on more than 64,000 residential parcels in 2011.

"We're looking at an 8 percent reduction [in residential property values in Clayton County] on top of the 22 percent reduction in 2010," McDaniel said. Even with those adjustments, he said he expects the number of appeals this year to surpass the 6,000 appeals his office handled each year during the past two years. Actual tax bills will be mailed out by the tax commissioner's office later this year.

Anyone with questions regarding their valuation should contact the Assessor's Office between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. weekdays at the Historic Courthouse in Jonesboro or call 770-477-3285. This year's deadline to appeal is June 13.

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Jobless Rate Slide Fuels Wary Optimism

2011-04-28T08:10:00.001-04:00

From the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (Dan Chapman)

Metro Atlanta’s unemployment rate dropped to 9.8 percent in March, offering further evidence that the economy is climbing, in fits and starts, from its recessionary trough.

The March rate fell from 10.2 percent in February, the Georgia Department of Labor reported Tuesday. The slide bolstered a wary optimism shared by many Atlanta job seekers who hadn’t seen such a substantial change in 12 months.

Their glass-half-full sentiments were underscored by mostly favorable earnings reports this week from some of Atlanta’s corporate stalwarts. Coca-Cola, UPS and farm equipment maker AGCO announced robust financial results Tuesday -- though none made any hiring announcements.

Metro Atlanta, with 260,270 unemployed across the 28-county region, needs all the job help it can get. Among the nation's 12 biggest metro areas, only Atlanta posted a net decrease in jobs between February 2010 and February 2011, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Add the battered housing market – the S&P/Case-Shiller Index reported Tuesday another significant drop in home prices – to rising gas and food prices and any happy-days talk sounds premature.

“Everybody still needs to be somewhat cautious as far as what the future holds. We’ve still got a lot of outside issues – rising gas prices, unrest in the Middle East – to deal with,” said Mark Butler, the state’s labor commissioner. “The jobs report is a good sign, but I want to stress we’re a long way from popping champagne.”

A taste of hard cider, though, might be in order. Atlanta added 8,600 new jobs in March, mostly in the leisure, hospitality, health care and temp-work industries.

Hotels and restaurants, anticipating the spring and summer holiday seasons, added jobs. Hiring at temporary employment agencies, usually a precursor of full-time hiring, rose. Jobs for computer system designers and wireless telecomm techies shot up 11.4 and 7.1 percent, respectively, since March 2010, according to the labor department.

The March jobless rate is the lowest since May 2010.

But jobless rates bounce with the season, the overall economy and the whims of employers. Last March, for example, Atlanta’s unemployment rate stood at 10.1 percent. Since then, the rate has yo-yoed between 9.7 and 10.4 percent.

While the latest drop is encouraging, there are fewer payroll jobs available across Atlanta this March (2,651,000) than there were a year ago (2,670,000). Fewer jobs deflates the unemployment rate.

Tommy Barge, laid off by Delta in May 2010, takes a measured approach to the latest figures. The IT specialist from Palmetto has seen promising computer and logistical job leads wither away, yet he remains calm, determined, upbeat.

“People get all excited about the unemployment rate (drop), and it seems like a lot, but what’s the national average?” Barge, 53, said Tuesday. “We’ve still got a ways to go.”

Georgia’s unemployment rate has been higher than the national average, now 8.8 percent, for 42 consecutive months. The state, and metro Atlanta especially, was hit harder than the country by the Great Recession that started in December 2007 and technically ended in June 2009.

Atlanta’s housing industry remains moribund. Home prices across the city dropped 5.8 percent from February 2010 to February 2011, according to the Case-Shiller Index released Tuesday.

“Atlanta, Cleveland and Las Vegas join Detroit as cities with home prices below their 2000 levels,” said David Blitzer with S&P Indices.

And Atlanta’s employment picture, when compared to the nation’s dozen largest metropolitan areas, has grown darker over the last year too. The region lost 4,900 non-farm jobs, or .2 percent of all jobs. No other city lost jobs, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Washington gained 39,400 jobs. Detroit added 22,600 jobs.

“Atlanta’s economy was over-exposed to residential and commercial construction and there was also a loss of spillover work for attorneys, real estate agents and others,” said Roger Tutterow, an economist at Mercer University. “And Georgia has seen a lot of bank failures that has no doubt impacted employment in the financial services sector, certainly here in Atlanta.”

If this post-recession economy plays to form, then Atlantans should find more jobs as the year progresses. Corporations, flush with cash, typically expand production and hire as markets here and abroad rebound.

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Atlanta's Median Home Price Falls Again

2011-04-21T08:38:00.002-04:00

From the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (Rachel Tobin)

The median sales price of a home in metro Atlanta dipped by $14,600 to just under $100,000 in March, according to new data from the National Association of Realtors.

We’re back to almost 1997 levels,” said Steve Palm of housing data firm SmartNumbers. “It’s pretty bad and it’s not going to get better either.”

The volume of home sales in the area also dipped -- by 6.5 percent compared to the same month a year ago -- according to the data released Wednesday.

Palm said getting the housing market in better shape hinges on the economy, which he believes has not turned the corner.

In a speech to the Atlanta Press Club on Wednesday, Gov. Nathan Deal said this of the housing market, “It is truly one of the most troubling parts of our economy.”

It is a situation, he noted, that affects local governments more than the state, which gets a small percentage of the taxes paid by homeowners.

“What we have to do is create greater job opportunities,” Deal said.

Nationwide, the picture was slightly better than metro Atlanta. The median single-family home price in the U.S. fell $9,000 to $160,500, while sales volume declined 6.9 percent.

The South saw an interesting trend: Sales of existing single-family homes in the mid range -- between $100,000 to $500,000 -- declined significantly, while sales of homes from $500,000 to $1 million or more increased significantly.

The markets showed the best improvement in March were San Antonio, where the median home price increased 3.6 percent, and Washington, where it increased 1 percent.

The worst markets in March were St. Louis, with a 20.2-percent drop in the median home price, followed by Cincinnati’s 18.4-percent drop and Minneapolis-St. Paul’s 15.2-percent decline.

Editor's note: Rachel Tobin is president-elect of the Atlanta Press Club board.

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Cobb Developments Bring Signs of Economic Upswing

2011-04-20T08:00:00.002-04:00

From the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (Janel Davis)

Cobb County commissioners approved a mix of commercial and residential development projects on Tuesday, providing more signs of economic recovery.

A new subdivision in east Cobb, a 170-unit suite hotel along Cumberland Boulevard and even a large gas station and convenience store along Windy Hill Road were all given the go-ahead. Incremental developments like these signal a slow economic revitalization, industry experts said. The new development also is a boost to the county’s economy, which like most areas has been hurt by the economic downturn.

“When we went into this tailspin a few years ago, it was the conclusion of the banking, stock market and real estate collapses, which is a situation you don’t often see,” said Garvis Sams, a development attorney representing projects in Cobb County. “Things are coming back, and what is left is survivors of this failed economy; the speculators are gone.”

Brooks Chadwick Capital, LLC, which Sams represents, gained approval to develop a 45-home neighborhood at Sandy Plains and Mountain roads in east Cobb. The houses will have a minimum 3,100 square feet, and range in price from $300,000 to $400,000.

The company is one of the few actively building, but there are pockets of development in the area, said Todd Thrasher, a managing partner in the company.

Brooks Chadwick is currently developing four subdivisions, which is equal to about 150 homes in the county, the most in the east Cobb area, coming where land and available homes are scarce, Thrasher said.

“It’s been a while since we’ve dealt with new building, which is exciting,” Commissioner Helen Goreham said.

Cobb’s 2010 tax digest, the overall property value that officials use to plan budgets, was down 7 percent from 2009, leading to a mid-year $31 million budget deficit. The digest is expected to drop another 6 percent this year.

“Real estate by and large is very, very local,” said Alan Ziobrowski, Georgia State University real estate professor. While Cobb might see improvements in specific types of development, other types that include retail and office space continue to struggle, he said.

“More people are working and the economy is improving, but very slowly.”

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Home Mortgage Rates are Still Low!

2011-04-18T09:43:00.001-04:00

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80,000 Cobb Homeowners May See Tax Bills Go Down

2011-04-14T07:54:00.002-04:00

From the Marietta Daily Journal (Kim Isaza)

MARIETTA - More than one-third of homeowners in Cobb County could see their property assessments lowered this year, Chief Appraiser Phil Hogsed said Wednesday.

He estimates that about 80,000 of the 230,000 residential properties in Cobb will see lowered assessments - and thus, a lower tax bill - when assessment notices are sent out early next month.

Hogsed's office is preparing to mail assessment notices to every property owner, residential and commercial, in Cobb, as mandated by a state law that took effect this year. Commercial notices are being sent this week.

That's one of many changes the tax assessor's office is dealing with this year as it gets closer to finalizing the 2011 tax digest, which is now expected to decline about 7 percent from last year, to $27 billion.

Last year, state legislators mandated that counties begin sending annual notices of property assessments to every property owner in 2011. For Hogsed's office, that means a total of 247,000 notices will be sent, the vast majority of which are residential. His office does not have a breakdown by city, he said.

The tax estimate will include the owner's county exemptions, but not city exemptions. That means homeowners in the city of Marietta who have the school tax exemption might do a double take at their tax estimate. Because the city has its own school system, that exemption is through the city.

"School tax is a huge exemption, and we don't include city exemptions," Hogsed said. But don't panic, he said. The exemption will still be calculated on the actual tax bill, which will be sent in mid-August.

Still, he's preparing for an avalanche of calls from unhappy property owners. Much of the information owners may wonder about is now available through the assessor's website at www.cobbassessor.org.

And beginning Monday, May 9, his office plans to have a phone bank in place to handle the increasing call volume. The phone bank will likely be staffed 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, he said.

"People can call our regular number," he said, which is 770-528-3100. "We'd really like people to go to our website. All of the information about what we're doing, and the explanations, are there."

The assessment notices will list the property's prior year value, but won't show what the prior-year tax bill was, he said. The forms are standardized by the state, he said.

"That's going to be their first question: 'What did I pay last year?'" Hogsed said. "They can look that up on the website."

If you don't agree with the assessed value of your property, you have 45 days from the date of the notice to appeal. Instructions for how to do that are - you guessed it - on the website.

As for the 2011 tax digest, Hogsed projects it will be down about 7 percent from last year, to a total of $27 billion. The final 2010 digest totaled $29 billion, and that was a drop of 6 percent from 2009, when the digest totaled $30.8 billion. The year 2009, in fact, was the first year ever that Cobb saw a decline in its digest. In 2008, the digest totaled $31.3 billion.

The tax digest is the value of all property in Cobb County, and city and county leaders use it to determine how much tax revenue to expect, and thus to set their budgets.

Hogsed presented the digest estimate to representatives of the cities, schools and Community Improvement Districts (CID) on Wednesday afternoon. Among those in attendance were Marietta Schools Superintendent Dr. Emily Lembeck; County Commissioner Woody Thompson; Virgil Moon, director of Cobb's support services agency; Tax Commissioner Gail Downing; Elva Dornbusch, chief deputy clerk of Superior Court; Reggie Taylor, director of the Marietta Redevelopment Commission; and Lanie Shipp, director of the Town Center CID.

As for what the digest may look like in 2012, Hogsed wouldn't venture a guess.

"I refer folks to the economists. I've got my hands full just estimating what this year's digest is going to look like. ... I'd like to think - and some economists are saying - that we've hit bottom on the real estate market and that we should be at least leveled off and maybe increasing some for 2012. ... Hopefully, there will be fewer foreclosures. But there are so many variables, I wouldn't risk a guess."

Posted by Peachtree Mortgage Services, Inc. Buying or refinancing a home in Cobb or anywhere else in metro Atlanta? Call us today at 770.481.0052, or visit our website at www.peachtreemortgageservices.net.

Young Professionals Lead Surge of Intown Living

2011-04-13T10:00:00.000-04:00

From the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (Craig Schneider) An energy has taken hold in the city of Atlanta, driven by young, college-educated professionals who want -- and can afford -- a lifestyle rich in variety, diversity and excitement, all close to home. They are moving in by the thousands, transforming abandoned warehouses into lofts, vacant lots into dog parks and communities long in decline into neighborhoods of choice. In fact, Atlanta is on the leading edge of a national trend: Since 2000, neighborhoods within three miles of downtown Atlanta have seen a 61 percent surge in residents aged 25 to 34 who have at least a four-year degree, according to U.S. Census figures. That's almost 10,000 new patrons for everything from apartment and condo developments to restaurants and bars to computer and cell phone vendors. The same thing has happened in dozens of other cities, but the movement is twice as robust in Atlanta as it is nationwide. Krista Ruggles and her husband moved to Castleberry Hill two years ago so he could live closer to his job at CNN. Fifteen years ago the area was full of empty warehouses and crime. Inroads by artists helped raise up the community, as they opened galleries and studios. Developers followed, renovating the warehouses into lofts. Now Ruggles, 37, is president of the Castleberry Hill Neighborhood Association. She's proud of the changes, especially the dog park on Peters Street that draws neighbors after work and on the weekend. "It's a true neighborhood," Ruggles said. "The dog park has its own Facebook page." Chances are, you've encountered the phenomenon -- in the adult kickball teams playing in Piedmont Park, or conversations about whether Glenwood Park or Cabbagetown is the cooler place to live. Or perhaps you’ve walked into a pub on a night when it was packed with enthusiasts of a darts league or a trivia contest. "The city is just getting younger," said A.J. Robinson, president of Central Atlanta Progress, a nonprofit business advocacy organization. "This is not the old Atlanta. It's much more diverse and mixed, culturally and racially." For Ruggles and her peers it's clearly all about the urban vibe; the rest of the 28-county Atlanta metro region saw just a 7 percent increase in young, educated residents during the last decade, according to a recent report by the urban leadership group CEOs for Cities. The rebirth of close-in communities is good for the city and the entire metro region, experts say. These young adults bring a new vibrancy to a city that is a major economic engine for the state, said Joe Cortright, senior research adviser for CEOs for Cities. "If you have them, you attract employers and grow your economy," Cortright said. "If you are attracting them, it's usually a sign that your community is getting stronger." Atlanta needs some good census news. The 2010 count showed that the city did not have the overall population growth that had been projected, with most of the region's growth occurring in the suburbs. And that's on top of Atlanta's recent battles with foreclosures, bankruptcies and shuttered businesses. But there’s another, less positive term for what is happening in the in-town communities: gentrification. Even as new construction and renovations boost the city’s property tax rolls, they often constrict the availability of low- to moderate-income housing and displace longtime residents. “Whether that is a good or bad thing depends on where you stand,” said Harvey Newman, an urban policy professor at the Andrew Young School at Georgia State University. "I guess the Starbucks people are happy." The changes can be seen in communities such as Cabbagetown, a former factory enclave, said Newman, who served on the city's urban design commission for much of the 1990s. It evolved from an impoverished, overlooked neighborhood to a nexus for renovated lofts, coffee houses and restaurants. East Atlanta has seen a similar renaissance. The neighborhoods around the East Lake Golf Club, depressed in the early '90s, have become a bustling commercial district. Just west of Midtown, apartment complexes have emerged that are filled with young people. In one, at 935 Marietta St., young professionals pay about $850 a month for a studio apartment in a place that has a swimming pool and resident brunches once a month -- all within walking distance of pubs, eateries and shops. Chrissy Wild, 28, who lives near Piedmont Park, spent Friday evening at an art walk in Castleberry Hill. "There's always something to do on a Friday night, other than just go to a bar or restaurant," Wild said. Still, she does not expect to make Atlanta her long-term home. That's the big question down the road: Will these young people settle in the city or move off to raise kids in the suburbs, as generations before them have done? If they stay and their numbers continue to grow, they could change the city's direction even more profoundly, demanding more mass transit and bicycle paths, and electing younger candidates to city offices. Wait a minute. How old is Mayor Kasim Reed again? Oh yes, just 41. Posted by Peachtree Mortgage Services, Inc. Moving to intown Atlanta? Call us at 770.481.0052 about our home mortgage rates.

80,000 Cobb Homeowners May See Tax Bills Go Down

2011-04-12T08:05:00.002-04:00

From the Marietta Daily Journal (Kim Isaza) MARIETTA - More than one-third of homeowners in Cobb County could see their property assessments lowered this year, Chief Appraiser Phil Hogsed said Wednesday. He estimates that about 80,000 of the 230,000 residential properties in Cobb will see lowered assessments - and thus, a lower tax bill - when assessment notices are sent out early next month. Hogsed's office is preparing to mail assessment notices to every property owner, residential and commercial, in Cobb, as mandated by a state law that took effect this year. Commercial notices are being sent this week. That's one of many changes the tax assessor's office is dealing with this year as it gets closer to finalizing the 2011 tax digest, which is now expected to decline about 7 percent from last year, to $27 billion. Last year, state legislators mandated that counties begin sending annual notices of property assessments to every property owner in 2011. For Hogsed's office, that means a total of 247,000 notices will be sent, the vast majority of which are residential. His office does not have a breakdown by city, he said. The tax estimate will include the owner's county exemptions, but not city exemptions. That means homeowners in the city of Marietta who have the school tax exemption might do a double take at their tax estimate. Because the city has its own school system, that exemption is through the city. "School tax is a huge exemption, and we don't include city exemptions," Hogsed said. But don't panic, he said. The exemption will still be calculated on the actual tax bill, which will be sent in mid-August. Still, he's preparing for an avalanche of calls from unhappy property owners. Much of the information owners may wonder about is now available through the assessor's website at www.cobbassessor.org. And beginning Monday, May 9, his office plans to have a phone bank in place to handle the increasing call volume. The phone bank will likely be staffed 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, he said. "People can call our regular number," he said, which is 770-528-3100. "We'd really like people to go to our website. All of the information about what we're doing, and the explanations, are there." The assessment notices will list the property's prior year value, but won't show what the prior-year tax bill was, he said. The forms are standardized by the state, he said. "That's going to be their first question: 'What did I pay last year?'" Hogsed said. "They can look that up on the website." If you don't agree with the assessed value of your property, you have 45 days from the date of the notice to appeal. Instructions for how to do that are - you guessed it - on the website. As for the 2011 tax digest, Hogsed projects it will be down about 7 percent from last year, to a total of $27 billion. The final 2010 digest totaled $29 billion, and that was a drop of 6 percent from 2009, when the digest totaled $30.8 billion. The year 2009, in fact, was the first year ever that Cobb saw a decline in its digest. In 2008, the digest totaled $31.3 billion. The tax digest is the value of all property in Cobb County, and city and county leaders use it to determine how much tax revenue to expect, and thus to set their budgets. Hogsed presented the digest estimate to representatives of the cities, schools and Community Improvement Districts (CID) on Wednesday afternoon. Among those in attendance were Marietta Schools Superintendent Dr. Emily Lembeck; County Commissioner Woody Thompson; Virgil Moon, director of Cobb's support services agency; Tax Commissioner Gail Downing; Elva Dornbusch, chief deputy clerk of Superior Court; Reggie Taylor, director of the Marietta Redevelopment Commission; and Lanie Shipp, director of the Town Center CID. As for what the digest may look like in 2012, Hogsed wouldn't venture a guess. "I refer folks to the economists. I've got my hands full just estimating what this year's digest is going to look like. ... I'd like to think - and some economists are saying - that we've hit bottom on the real estate market and that we should be at least leveled off and maybe increasing some for 2012. ... Hopefully, there will be fewer foreclosures. But there are so many variables, I wouldn't risk a guess." Posted by Peachtree Mortgage Services, Inc. Refinancing? Purchasing a new home? Visit our website at www.peachtreemortgageservices.net or call us at 770.481.0052.

Census Could Cost Fulton, DeKalb and Cobb Seats in State House

2011-04-05T08:30:00.002-04:00

From the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (Aaron Gould Sheinin) As the pace of growth cooled over the past decade in Atlanta’s urban core, its political power has begun to ooze out to the suburbs. Still, the impact could be more profound in Atlanta's city center, which could see its representation -- and its clout -- move outside the city limits as districts expand outward to meet population needs. That’s not all clear, though, because federal law would offer some protection to minority-majority districts in the state House and Senate. "Financially, it would cost those communities that don't have as much representation when it comes to funding for local projects, projects important to those communities in the state budget. It will happen," said Kennesaw State University professor Kerwin Swint, who is also a member of the board of Common Cause Georgia, a government watchdog group and a member of a state task force that in 2006 studied the possibility of creating an independent redistricting commission. DeKalb and Fulton counties potentially have the most to lose. Data released earlier this month by the U.S. Census Bureau show that while both counties grew, the pace of their population increases fell well short of some of their suburban neighbors. From 2000 to 2010, DeKalb’s population increased by 3.9 percent, and Fulton’s rose by nearly 13 percent. Both counties trailed the state’s overall increase of 18 percent, and the counties that ring them both generally saw much higher growth: Gwinnett County jumped 37 percent, Cherokee County 51 percent, and Forsyth and Paulding counties both gained more than 75 percent. The General Assembly will use the census data to redraw the state's 180 House districts and 56 Senate districts based on the population shifts. With the state's population increasing to more than 9.6 million, each House district will need to include roughly 54,000 people and each Senate district about 173,000. If a district hasn't grown, or grown fast enough, "it has to get population from somewhere else," said Rep. Roger Lane, R-Darien, the chairman of the House committee charged with redrawing districts. If an existing district has lost population, the choices are somewhat limited. Residents can be siphoned from surrounding areas to boost a district's numbers, but that only works if those other districts are over the 54,000 goal for a House district. Lane said all of the state's urban centers have seen growth fail to keep pace with the state as a whole and face the same problem as Atlanta. Further complicating matters is the Voting Rights Act. Federal law generally prohibits reducing the number of districts that are majority black or another minority. That means when the maps are drawn, it could be white-majority districts that have to offer up residents for other districts. Lawmakers will return to Atlanta at some point this summer to approve the new maps, and those votes could eventually seal the fate of a number of current legislators. While it's has been generally expected that Middle and South Georgia would lose seats as the population shifted north, it was assumed that metro Atlanta would add seats. That is mostly true for the suburban counties outside DeKalb and Fulton. One estimate has southwest Georgia west of I-75 losing between two and three House seats and east of the interstate losing about two. In metro Atlanta, Gwinnett is poised to gain two; Cherokee, Forsyth and Henry could each gain a seat. It's not entirely clear how the population shifts will shake out for the state's political parties. While 23 of the 28 House districts that lost population are held by Democrats, rural Republicans can expect to see some of their districts consumed by the redistricting process. While it’s highly likely that DeKalb and Fulton could lose legislative seats, Cobb County’s overall growth of 13.2 percent leaves some of its districts at risk. District 45 in Cobb, held now by Republican Matt Dollar, saw its population decline by 3.3 percent. Rep. Bobby Franklin, R-Marietta, saw his District 43, along the Cherokee County border, grow by just 0.04 percent -- a total of 16 people. Both are well short of the 54,000 goal. Just across the county line, in Cherokee, Republican Rep. Sean Jerguson’s District 22 had one of the largest jumps in population, increasing by nearly 72 percent. It has about 24,000 residents more than the 54,000 cut-off. When the final maps are drawn, Franklin could find his district stretching into Cherokee, making him vulnerable to a GOP primary challenge from the north. Leaders of both parties have instructed their members to refrain from discussing the process, which is one of the most political endeavors undertaken at the Capitol. Careers can be made or crushed by redistricting, and often the matter ends up being decided in federal court. Several legislators politely declined to speak about the process for fear of facing an eventual subpoena to testify about their comments. Veteran Democrats from Fulton and DeKalb, however, are optimistic their delegations will remain intact when the new maps are complete and ready for use in the 2012 elections. Rep. Roger Bruce, D-Atlanta, a former chairman of the Fulton delegation, acknowledged that several of the county's districts "fell under the baseline" in the census. But there are others that are overpopulated from which residents can be siphoned. "So we may not lose any," Bruce said. "It may not result in a loss. It could result in some shifts." Rep. Howard Mosby, D-Atlanta, the current head of the DeKalb County delegation, said much the same. "Maybe shifting has to occur," Mosby said. "We've got 19 seats in the House now. I can't see how that number would change." Shifting seats The 2010 census saw major changes in a number of state House districts. Here are the 10 districts that grew the most rapidly over the past decade and those that saw the greatest declines. Biggest gains District 105, Gwinnett, Rep. Donna Sheldon (R): 103.45% District 107, Gwinnett-Walton, Rep. Len Walker (R): 99.72% District 159, Chatham-Effingham, Rep. Ann Purcell (R): 92.02% District 98, Gwinnett, Rep. Josh Clark (R): 86.79% District 110, Henry-Butts-Newton, Rep. Andy Welch (R): 76.67% District 24, Forsyth, Rep. Mike Dudgeon (R): 76.03% District 23, Forsyth-Cherokee, Rep. Mark Hamilton (R): 75.63% District 17, Paulding-Haralson, Rep. Howard Maxwell (R): 74.63% District 109, Henry, Rep. Steve Davis (R): 73.65% District 22, Cherokee, Rep. Sean Jerguson (R): 71.97% Biggest drops District 61, Fulton, Rep. Ralph Long (D): -19.11% District 62, Clayton-Fulton, Rep. Joe Heckstall (D): -17.02% District 60, DeKalb-Fulton-Clayton, Rep. Gloria Tinubu (D): -13.6% District 133, Muscogee, Rep. Carolyn Hugley (D): -12.8% District 121, Richmond, Rep. Henry Howard (D): -11.9% District 55, Fulton, Rep. Rashad Taylor (D): -10.52% District 84, DeKalb, Rep. Stacey Abrams (D): -10.51% District 85, DeKalb, Rep. Stephanie Benfield (D): -10.17% District 89, DeKalb, Rep. Earnest Williams (D): -10.06% District 58, DeKalb-Fulton, Rep. Simone Bell (D): -9.89% Posted by Peachtree Mortgage Services, Inc. Check out our local home mortgage rates at www.peachtreemortgageservices.net.

Real Estate Brokers Adapt to a Struggling Housing Market

2011-04-04T11:02:00.002-04:00

From the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (Michelle E. Shaw) Real estate brokers didn’t get where they are on pessimism or inflexibility. That may help explain why the number of active brokers has fallen much less sharply than the number of active agents amid the real estate slump. The ranks of brokers — who employ the agents — are down 1.4 percent in the past two years, according to the Georgia Association of Realtors and the Atlanta Board of Realtors. That compares with a 15 percent drop in the number of agents statewide since the top of the housing market. One stay-alive strategy brokers have used is merging. Meg Thompson recently closed her Gwinnett County shop, Meg & Company, and merged with Coldwell Banker RMR. She said merging with a larger company “allows me to get back to what I do best, and that is sell homes.” Thompson said she found herself doing more and more paperwork after she cut out her administrative staff, and the merger seemed like a good idea. “This has totally re-energized me,” she said. Lenessa Pettigrew saw a business opportunity in the downturn. She recently added a real estate holding company to her full-service real estate firm. Agents and brokers both can sell real estate, but in Georgia and some other states all transactions are done in the name of the broker, which means an agent must be affiliated with a broker. Brokers also hold different certifications and are required, among other things, to have three consecutive years of licensed sales experience. Pettigrew hopes her real estate holding company, Lot 35 Real Estate Drive, will be successful by offering lower-cost affiliations to agents. “There are so many agents who need somewhere to park their licenses,” she said. “I’m trying to offer a low-cost solution to those who want to keep an active license, but who don’t want to pay the high fees that many agents have to pay.” When agents make a sale, a flat fee or percentage is paid to the broker. Fees agents pay also include their use of the multiple listing services, locally known as MLS and FMLS, where they list homes for sellers and find homes for buyers. Real estate holding companies like Pettigrew’s aren’t new, but she says many are expensive, especially when an agent is not using their license. “When I needed to park my license I ended up paying more than $100 a month, and that was the cheapest one I could find,” she said. “In this economy I know there are agents out there who just want to park while they research a company or reassess their career.” She charges $199 a year, or $25 a month. There are also brokers like Donna Armstrong, who have decided to “do what it takes to make things work.” As the broker and owner of two offices, Re/Max Metro Atlanta and Re/Max Metro Atlanta CitySide, Armstrong said consolidation of her two offices, Intown and in the Decatur area, has crossed her mind in the past. “Sure, as a business person you’ve got to think about that kind of thing,” she said. But she decided against it and last year opened a satellite office near Piedmont Park when Blue Sky Real Estate Group merged with her company in December and its office space came with the deal. “It is wonderful because that office is in a great area and our customers can get great service,” she said. “And what I’ve seen in the past couple of months in real estate is encouraging. I’m looking forward to the future." Posted by Peachtree Mortgage Services, Inc. After you call a real estate agent, call 770.481.0052 to discuss your real estate financing with us!

2011-04-01T08:07:00.001-04:00

From the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (Lynn Peisner) An ashtray at the City of Smyrna Welcome Center and Museum is inscribed with a confident slogan: “You can’t make a bad investment in Cobb County.” The memento calls to mind the salad days of Smyrna’s suburban development, when Belmont Hills Shopping Center, “The largest of its kind in the entire South,” according to an ad in the Atlanta Constitution, opened for business on Nov. 18, 1954. The site of that former strip mall, which brought so much fanfare to the suburb, is, today, one of two large-scale tracts sitting poised for development, but muddy and vacant around the city’s key intersections. There is hope these two stalled projects, plus the recent purchase of the 48-acre Hickory Lake apartments, will bring better times again to the Jonquil City. “We’re seeing development numbers increase,” said Jennifer Bennett, community relations director for the city of Smyrna. “They’re not where they were before the crash, but they are markedly robust and encouraging.” January and February fees that the city collects, for example, have risen from approximately $63,000 in 2009 to $158,000 this year. Smyrna was early to the live-work-play scene, opening the shops, residences and restaurants of Market Village in 2002 to complement the urban-designed flow of the nearby library, city hall, community center and veteran memorial. At the end of the month, this area will be abuzz with the popular City of Smyrna Jonquil Festival that brings in approximately 200 arts, crafts and food vendors, as well as a crawfish boil at Atkins Park, music and other performances. The Jonquil is a small yellow daffodil-esque flower that figures large in Smyrna’s identity. The story goes that the spring bloom was introduced by the Samuel Taylor family who moved to the area in 1883. A son is said to have sent a burlap sack containing the bulbs from Spokane, Wash., back to his parents in Georgia, where they planted them, shared them with neighbors, and watched the flowers grow heartily and with little care. The bulbs bloom in the spring and are planted in the fall, so the two yearly jonquil festivals bookend the seasons. Keep Smyrna Beautiful sells a variety of jonquil called Carlton every fall in a project known as The Great Jonquil Gold Rush that Mayor Max Bacon helped establish. “We use the bulbs to repopulate the jonquils in Smyrna that have been lost to development and road widening,” said Ann Kirk, director of Keep Smyrna Beautiful. Posted by Peachtree Mortgage Services, Inc. Call us today at 770.481.0052 about home mortgage rates in Smyrna, Cobb County, and the rest of metro Atlanta.

Wynhaven Apartment Residents Getting Evicted

2011-03-31T11:18:00.002-04:00

From the Marietta Daily Journal (Kim Isaza and Brandon Wilson) MARIETTA - Owners of the Wynhaven Apartment complex, at 560 Powder Springs Road in Marietta, have told all residents they must vacate within 30 days, by April 25, because the complex is closing. Berkman Wynhaven Associates LP, headed by David Berkman, owns the property, City Manager Bill Bruton said. According to Cobb tax records, the owner has not paid 2010 taxes of more than $20,000. A payment of $28,192 for the 2009 taxes was made on March 11, 2010, according to the tax records. There are 296 apartment units at the sprawling complex, which sits just south of the Hilton Marietta Conference Center. Rents range from $470 to $820 per month, and the complex is managed by Harbor Management in Atlanta. Calls to Berkman and Harbor were not returned, and it is unclear exactly what will become of the property, which opened in the late 1960s or early 1970s. Residents said they were surprised when apartment staff informed them of the fast-approaching deadline to move out. Olga Sanches, who has been at Wynhaven for a year, said staff had told her only nine days ago that she would have to find a new home. Sanches and resident Mario Jesus Simon said nobody told them why. Another resident, however, said he was told someone is in the process of purchasing the complex. Mayor Steve Tumlin said he's heard rumors that the property will be sold. "I understand they do have a buyer, and it sounds like they're going to buy it, then decide what to do with it," Tumlin said. "The city would love to work with them and encourage them to build a first-class project of whatever kind, not necessarily apartments. If they could do some commercial oriented, or fee-simple properties, I think the city would offer whatever support it could to move forward with a brand-new life for that property. Everything considered, Wynhaven was not at the top of its game." Marietta City Schools leaders say their records show 20 families at Wynhaven have a total of 28 children in the school district, from elementary, middle and high school. Younger students who live there attend Hickory Hills Elementary. The closure is slated to come about a month before the last day of school, on May 27, and just after standardized-testing time for those students, said Preston Howard, the district's assistant superintendent for operations and policy. Sanches' son is in kindergarten at Hickory Hills. Sanches said she is relocating to a nearby trailer, which will allow her son to finish the school year. However, Howard said the school district is allowing all students who attend Hickory Hills to stay at the school for the year as long as Wynhaven families relocate anywhere in Marietta and provide their own transportation. "We'll be working with those families," Howard said. "... This caught us by surprise, as it probably did everybody else." In June 2007, the city condemned 32 units in four buildings at the complex citing uncapped sewer and gas lines, missing roof shingles, rotting bathroom sub-floors and ceilings falling into some units. Several of the units were unsecured and were being used by vagrants, the city found. When asked about the condition of their units, many residents standing outside their homes Wednesday simply said, "Not good." Posted by Peachtree Mortgage Services, Inc. Check out our loan home mortgage rates at www.peacthreemortgageservices.net.

2011-03-30T10:01:00.000-04:00

Home mortgage rates are still low for refinances and purchases! Visit our website at www.peachtreemortgageservices.net, or call us at 770.481.0052.

Fulton: Lien Sales Needed

2011-03-28T08:53:00.001-04:00

From the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (M. B. Pell) Fulton County Tax Commissioner Arthur Ferdinand has a problem that he believes will ripple through every school district, city and county department in Fulton. The Legislature is considering a bill to prevent him from selling tax liens for one year after a property owner is notified of a tax delinquency. The waiting period is now 30 days. Ferdinand said the legislation will force him to pursue what he describes as the less humane method of tax collection used by almost every other county in the state. He said it will decimate Fulton’s ability to collect delinquent taxes. The bill, sponsored by Senate Majority Leader Chip Rogers, R-Woodstock, cleared the Senate 48-0 earlier this month and is now before the House. “The people who suffer will not be me,” Ferdinand said. “It will be the school board and the children because I’ll no longer be able to collect taxes for a whole year, and the payment of taxes will be voluntary unless I do something far more drastic which is foreclose, and, for the love of me, I can’t understand why people think foreclosing on a property will be better for the taxpayer than selling the liens.” The legislation, and Ferdinand’s decision to talk about tax lien sales, follow a series of investigative stories by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution questioning the efficacy and fairness of Fulton’s system. At least one other county sells tax liens, but only Fulton makes extensive use of lien sales to private companies to collect delinquent taxes. Most jurisdictions use staff and contractors. Ferdinand made several points in support of lien sales. He said the practice gives taxpayers a reprieve because private tax lien purchasers must wait one year before foreclosing, while counties can foreclose within about six months of notification of delinquency. Ferdinand said counties that use staff to collect delinquent taxes may still outsource title searches and delinquency notifications, thus adding fees and interest that end up costing delinquent taxpayers even more than the interest added by private lien purchasers. And, Ferdinand said Fulton, the state’s most populous county, is too large and complex to compare to other counties. “I cannot administer the laws of a little county the same as I do this corporation,” he said. Fees and interest Critics of tax lien sales say the practice is abusive because private lien purchasers profit from drawing out the process while excessive fees and interest pump up the cost to the taxpayer of clearing the debt. But counties, too, can add costly fees to delinquent bills. Some, like Cobb, use companies that charge delinquent taxpayers $50 per letter to inform them of delinquencies when the county’s initial attempt to contact the taxpayer fails. And counties can foreclose earlier than private companies, which exposes taxpayers to a host of fees earlier than when liens are sold. There’s substantial variation in county practices, making comparisons tricky. Some counties do not sell tax liens and wait a year before beginning foreclosure proceedings, while others fall between that process and Fulton’s. But counties do not have to choose between selling liens and adding excessive fees. DeKalb County, which does not sell liens, does not charge third-party notification fees. DeKalb typically forecloses on properties as early as six months after bills become delinquent, adding fees and interest. But, of about 18,000 delinquent properties in 2009, only about half were scheduled for foreclosure, said Andrew Booth, DeKalb County deputy tax commissioner and director of delinquent collections. And, of those, only 622, representing about 3.5 percent of delinquencies, were eventually sold at a sheriff’s tax auction. DeKalb and Fulton both say they collect 99 percent of taxes. The real issue is the loss of public accountability, said Frank Alexander, a law professor at Emory University who specializes in Georgia real estate and foreclosure law. When government holds a tax bill, taxpayers know where to pay their bills and they know whom to contact with questions or problems, Alexander said. “It’s hard to see how it’s more humane when you’re transferring from the government to a private company the ability to take your property,” he said. Cobb County Tax Commissioner Gail Downing said she would not presume to tell Ferdinand not to sell liens, but she thinks it is not right for Cobb. Downing believes her office works harder to notify delinquent taxpayers than lien purchasers do. Her office wants to collect delinquent taxes quickly, but she said she believes that is not the aim of private liens holders, who make more money the longer it takes to collect. Private companies — such as the major purchaser of tax liens in the state, Vesta Holdings — must notify delinquent taxpayers of their debt within 60 days of buying a lien and once a year after that, according to state law. Downing said Cobb usually provides two or three notices of delinquency before scheduling property for a tax sale. “I’ve never known a taxpayer who has had a good experience with tax lien sales,” she said. “I think that’s philosophically where I disagree with Arthur. I do believe it’s my job to collect taxes, but it’s also to protect the taxpayers’ interests.” Ferdinand dismissed the idea he is less able to protect the interests of taxpayers than counties that hold onto tax liens. When his office discovers a problem with a lien sale, the sale is void, he said. If a private purchaser doesn’t cooperate, Ferdinand said, he stops selling to the purchaser, adding that he has never had to do that. “If Vesta purchased some liens here, or anybody, and I find a problem with it, I’ll have them return it for exactly what they paid, no questions asked,” Ferdinand said. “You don’t do that; the selling of liens is totally voluntary on my part. Next time, you get nothing.” A big challenge Ferdinand said his office cannot collect taxes like other counties across the state and metro region because Fulton is just bigger and more complex. Fulton collects taxes for the cities of Atlanta, Sandy Springs and Johns Creek, plus unincorporated Fulton. Ferdinand also collects for 21 community improvement districts and tax allocation districts — more, he said, than other counties. Ferdinand said another tax commissioner once talked of keeping delinquent tax information in a shoebox. Fulton, Ferdinand said, sends delinquency notices for about 50,000 real properties a year. But while Fulton almost certainly has more delinquencies than any county in the state, it also has a larger budget. DeKalb County’s tax office has a budget about half that of Fulton, to collect for about 60 percent as many land parcels, producing about half the number of delinquencies. But Ferdinand said the comparison is not valid. “There are 50,000 at a time I deal with. And if I used the other method a tax commissioner has at his disposal or her disposal to collect delinquent taxes, which is foreclosure versus lien sale, can you imagine the size of the operation to make a dent in 50,000 delinquents and yet at the same time keep the county and school board flush with revenue to provide services?” he asked. “It wouldn’t happen.” Clashing comparisons The tax commissioner says that for the last, sometimes controversial, 14 years, lien sales allowed Fulton to collect delinquent taxes almost immediately, while other counties have been pursuing a drawn-out process of notification, lien issuance and, if necessary, foreclosure. But Fulton spends 22 percent to 38 percent more per parcel than DeKalb, Cobb or Gwinnett. Ferdinand said that is too simplistic. He suggested ranking by revenue per number of employees. Using that comparison, Fulton appears far more efficient, even taking into account that the county sells liens, thus outsourcing some tax collection. Fulton collects $11.3 million per employee compared to $6 million to $9.6 million per employee for DeKalb, Cobb and Gwinnett. Booth, of DeKalb, said that’s not a clear comparison. “I’m not sure exactly what it tells you,” he said. Fulton collects much more revenue because the county deals with additional tax districts, but also because it has many high-value commercial buildings. Booth said expensive properties do not create more of a collection burden than less-expensive properties. He said comparing two tax offices or methods of collecting taxes is difficult because of the high number of variables, such as the number of cars in each county and what percentage of bills are paid voluntarily. Ferdinand maintains that even if the pending legislation passes and he has to change his operation completely, he will continue to run the most efficient and well-organized tax office in Georgia. Despite his dire predictions of financial repercussions from the proposed bill, Ferdinand, with a wry sense of humor, displays confidence he can keep the county flush with cash. “I’m not here to break the laws; I’m not a lawmaker, either,” he said. “So when they change the laws, I’ll probably do it in a more effective way than anybody else, and then they’ll change it again in two years’ time because they don’t like how I do it.” Posted by Peachtree Mortgage Services, Inc. Visit our website at www.peachtreemortgageservices.net.

Freddie Mac Reports Rates Inch Closer to Five Percent

2011-03-25T08:20:00.002-04:00

From National Mortgage Report Daily

Freddie Mac has released the results of its Primary Mortgage Market Survey (PMMS), which shows rates nearing the five percent mark to 4.81 percent from the previous week, influenced by inflationary and ongoing geopolitical concerns, such as the tsunami in Japan and politial unrest in Libya. The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) at 4.81 percent, with an average 0.7 point for the week ending March 24, 2011, was up from last week when it averaged 4.76 percent. Last year at this time, the 30-year FRM averaged 4.99 percent.

“Mortgage rates were up this week compared to last, but still remain at relatively low levels," said Frank Nothaft, vice president and chief economist, Freddie Mac. "The rate uptick was related to higher than anticipated inflation data for February and ongoing geopolitical concerns. The 12-month growth rate in the consumer price index rose 2.1 percent in February, compared to 1.6 percent in January; however, most of the increase was due to food and energy prices, which tend to be volatile. The core index rose 1.1 percent, slightly up from one percent in January."

The 15-year FRM averaged 4.04 percent with an average 0.7 point, up from last week when it averaged 3.97 percent. A year ago at this time, the 15-year FRM averaged 4.34 percent.

The five-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) averaged 3.62 percent this week, with an average 0.6 point, up from last week when it averaged 3.57 percent. A year ago, the five-year ARM averaged 4.14 percent. The one-year Treasury-indexed ARM averaged 3.21 percent this week with an average 0.6 point, up from last week when it averaged 3.17 percent. At this time last year, the one-year ARM averaged 4.2 percent.

“The housing market recovery experienced a setback during the start of this year. Existing home sales fell 9.6 percent from January to February and were down 2.8 percent from February 2010," said Nothaft. "Sales of new homes declined for the second consecutive month in February to record lows dating back to 1963. Even new construction on one-family homes fell 11.8 percent in February to the third slowest pace since 1959 .

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Marietta's Popluation Decreases

2011-03-21T08:27:00.001-04:00

From the Marietta Daily Journal (Jon Gillooly)

MARIETTA - Cobb saw steady growth from 2000 to 2010, but nowhere near the explosion throughout the '90s, according to recently released numbers from the U.S. Census Bureau.

During the last decade, unincorporated Cobb grew by about 12 percent, from 455,067 to 509,539 residents. When adding in population numbers from Cobb's six cities, the county grew by 13 percent, from 607,751 to 688,078.

Only Marietta, the county seat, saw a population decrease, declining from 58,748 in 2000 to 56,579 in 2010, a drop of about 4 percent.

Mayor Steve Tumlin said the numbers surprised him. At the very worst, Tumlin thought the city's population would remain static. He intends to ask Census officials to take another look at their count, but if they're right, it probably has to do with the Marietta Housing Authority's demolition of four housing projects during the last decade. Those were Johnny Walker Homes on Powder Springs Street, Clay Homes off Roswell Road near the Square, Lyman Homes off Cherokee north of the Loop, and Boston Homes on Howard Street, down the road from the Marietta School District's central office. Those residents were relocated throughout the county with Section 8 vouchers. In addition, Franklin Road, which is lined with low end apartment buildings, has seen a decrease in renters as the recession hit, Tumlin said. The good news is that when the economy turns, Marietta will be in a position to have more single-family owner occupied homes, Tumlin said.

"I think you might see a lot of growth in the next 10 years in single-family housing. That's where we're structured to grow in," he said.

Tumlin noted that Smyrna was catching up to Marietta in population. Smyrna's population increased by 25 percent over the last 10 years, jumping from 40,999 in 2000 to 51,271 in 2010.

"I just don't want to listen to (Smyrna Mayor) Max Bacon saying he's creeping up on us. We're going to have to circle the wagons," Tumlin joked.

Republican state Rep. Rich Golick has represented Smyrna since 1999.

"I think the biggest contributors for Smyrna's growth are its convenient location and proximity to the airport, and a local government leadership that has demonstrated a commitment to redevelopment of distressed areas," Golick said.

Acworth jumped from 13,422 in 2000 to 20,425 in 2010, an increase of about 52 percent.

"It's great to be the No. 1 fastest growing city in Cobb County," said Acworth Mayor Tommy Allegood, who has served as mayor since 2000.

Allegood attributed the growth to the city's commitment over the last few years to developing a place where families want to raise their children.

"If you look at the growth during the last five years, and you look at the great quality of life we've developed, and being awarded the All American City for 2010, it's all just intertwined and makes us just a great place to live," he said.

Kennesaw saw growth of about 37 percent, from 21,675 to 29,783, Powder Springs grew by about 12 percent from 12,481 to 13,940 and Austell grew by about 22 percent from 5,359 to 6,541.

Cobb and its six cities had a population of 447,745 in 1990, according to the Census Bureau. That means the county grew by a whopping 36 percent from '90 to 2000, which is three times more than the percentage growth over the last decade.

Cobb Board of Commissioners Chairman Tim Lee said since the county is about 95 percent built out, and has been that way for years, the numbers come as no surprise to him.

"It reflects what we know that Cobb is a maturing county in terms of being built out," Lee said. "I don't anticipate a lot of big growth numbers in Cobb County in the future. I suspect continued growth, but not in the huge growth like we had in the '80s and '90s," Lee said.

Cobb Chamber of Commerce CEO David Connell said perhaps the most significant trend is how much more diverse the county and its cities have become.

Cobb's 2010 demographic breakdown is 428,023 white, 171,774 black, 84,330 Hispanic, and 30,657 Asian, in addition to smaller groups.

"This fact means leadership must allow for and encourage input and ideas differently than in years past," Connell said. "This fact also will cause the political forces in Cobb to change, all of which should be a good thing; however, managing change can be difficult. I believe we have the political, governmental and business leadership in place to make it happen. The future is going to be interesting."

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Hispanic Population Doubles Across Metro Area

2011-03-18T11:56:00.001-04:00

From the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (Jeffry Scott)

The growth of the Hispanic population in metro Atlanta nearly doubled since the 2000 census, outpacing the huge Hispanic population surge statewide, despite the slump in the housing industry that employed many Hispanics.

In a core nine-county metro area, the Hispanic population grew from 247,477 in the 2000 census, to 477,891, a jump of over 93 percent.

The greatest boom in the 9-county area was seen in Henry County, where the population swelled a whopping 338 percent, from 2,693 up to 11,813. Gwinnett had the greatest increase in number of Hispanics, growing from 64,136, to 162,035, an increase of 97,899.

State-wide, Hispanics accounted for 853,689, or 8.8 percent of all Georgians.

Among the metro cities that showed the greatest increases in the Hispanic population were Roswell (plus 5,507), Sandy Springs (4,852), Lawrenceville (3,683), Canton (3,292), Atlanta (3,084), Alpharetta (2,576), Lithia Springs (2,144), Forest Park (2,022), Stockbridge (2017) and Lilburn (1,647).

The numbers surprised some leaders in the Hispanic community who believe, based in part on anecdotal information, that the local Hispanic population had declined as jobs went away with the housing bust.

They also said the lack of a hard count and only an estimate (approximately 820,000 statewide) from the U.S. Census Bureau during the peak of the housing boom could mean thousands of Hispanics, many of them illegal immigrants, could have come and gone from the state and metro area between 2000 and 2010.

Census-takers did not ask respondents whether they were in the country illegally.

“I find it hard to believe that that number is up as much as it is,” said Teodoro Maus, president of Georgia Latino Alliance for Human Rights. “From what we understood, from what people were telling us, they have been leaving, not coming.

"This surprises me and I still do not believe they have the numbers right. Many Hispanics will not tell the census workers how many live in a home, because they are afraid they will be kicked out.”

Hispanic and minority group organizers over the last two years have worked hard for a thorough count of minorities. Jerry Gonzalez, executive director of the Georgia Association of Latino Elected Officials, on Thursday praised the campaign as a success and announced the group’s next goal – gaining a seat in congress.

“GALEO looks forward to working with the Georgia Legislature during the upcoming redistricting process to ensure Latino interests will be able to influence future elections at the congressional, state legislative and local levels of government,” he said in a statement.

Another grass roots organizer for the full count, Helen Butler, executive director for the Coalition for the Peoples' Agenda, wasn’t quite so eager to praise.

“I still have to go over the numbers,” she said. “And I’m still concerned about legislation that is being considered right now targeting Hispanics in the state.”

An immigration bill, considered in the Georgia Legislature this session that would ban noncitizens from colleges, failed. But another bill that would require law enforcement to check immigration status of suspected illegal immigrants and require E-verify for employers is still in place in the final weeks of the session.

Jesus Brito, the Mexican-born owner of Brito supermarkets, said that he believed the population boom is mostly the result of the birth rate in the Hispanic community. From his observation, based on customer traffic, many Hispanics came and went in the last decade.

“I have seen a reduction in the Hispanic population in the last three years,” he said. “That reduction starts in Cobb and then in Gwinnett. That was one of the most affected [counties]. [I know this] for businesses that have been closed, for clients, by walking in the streets. You notice that the people are not there.”

Former state senator and Hispanic Sam Zamarripa said Thursday the near doubling of the state’s Hispanic population, despite all the politics around the issue of immigration, bodes well for Georgia economy.

“That’s a lot of buying power for groceries, cars and goods that drive commerce,” he said. “It’s a lot of home owners, apartment rents and people who pay property taxes and help our cities. We are just getting a glimpse at the remarkable contribution this community is making to our state.”

Mundo Hispanico reporter Johanes Rosello contributed to this article.

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Cobb SPLOST Extension Appears to Pass by 79 Votes

2011-03-16T08:18:00.002-04:00

From the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (Janel Davis)

By only 79 votes, a proposed SPLOST extension appears to have narrowly passed in Cobb County on Tuesday night, overcoming strong opposition from anti-tax groups intent on defeating the 1-percent levy and sending a message to area officials.

With all 153 precincts reporting, 50.09 percent of voters cast ballots in favor of extending Cobb’s current tax another four years through Dec. 31, 2015. Even with all the attention, voter turnout was still low at 10.9 percent. The extension is estimated to generate $492 million for parks, recreation and roads renovation and upgrade projects for Cobb and its six cities.

Tuesday’s results remain unofficial until certified by the elections board. Because of the close outcome, Lance Lamberton, president of the Cobb County Taxpayers Association, said his group was not conceding defeat.

Policy-makers across the state have kept a close eye on Cobb’s SPLOST referendum, judging the likelihood of voters accepting an upcoming regional transportation SPLOST and statewide tax reform.

“Georgia voters have generally been anti-tax, but the exception has been SPLOST votes and voters have almost uniformly supported those across the state,” said Charles Bullock, a University of Georgia political science professor. “While voters may not trust their state, county or school [officials], they feel like they can see where their pennies are going for these projects. They have some confidence in that.”

The victory for Cobb’s pro-SPLOST contingent was hard fought with challenges from a strong triumvirate of anti-tax groups, including the tea party, throughout the campaign leading to Tuesday night’s referendum, and a poor economy encouraging additional anti-tax sentiment. The race was separated by less than 100 votes for much of the night as groups from both sides gathered to watch the results.

"We had a good group of people supporting us that understood the importance of a SPLOST extension for Cobb County," said Rose Wing, leader of the Citizens for Cobb's Future pro-SPLOST group. "Without the SPLOST the county would have to incur debt to fund its infrastructure needs through bonds or property taxes."

A SPLOST, or special purpose local option sales tax, is the best way to fund those projects because the tax comes with required rules that mandate a level of transparency, prevents the county from raising property taxes and is paid partly by people living outside the county, Wing said.

"It looked like the money would go for good causes," said Kevin Shear, 55, an Austell resident who voted for Cobb's latest SPLOST extension and one in 2005, and would vote for the transportation SPLOST if on the ballot next year. "One percent shouldn't set us back that much. That's the only way you're going to get anything built. If you want things you've got to pay for them."

Taxpayers groups and tea party leaders maintained the tax was unnecessary during a poor economy, that the SPLOST project list included too many wants instead of needs and that the county needed to operate within its budget.

Despite Tuesday's vote, the close outcome still carried a message, said Tom Maloy, a Georgia Tea Party board member.

"This will send a message to all levels of government that people want fiscal responsibility and are tired of tax and spend," he said. "How can we demand that of the federal government and not our county government, too?"

For the Cobb County Taxpayers Association, the next phase of the tax debate will be work on changing laws and requiring SPLOST votes be held during regular elections, Lamberton said. Throughout the campaign, Lamberton criticized county leaders for placing the SPLOST referendum on a special election, which can be expensive and lead to low voter turnout.

Tuesday's referendum was estimated to cost $340,000, according to the county's election director.

Cobb County's current SPLOST narrowly passed in 2005 by 114 votes.

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Sales of Foreclosures Will Help Home Values

2011-03-15T08:43:00.001-04:00

From the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (Christopher Quinn)

Lenders foreclosed on nearly 99,000 properties in eight metro Atlanta counties through November of last year, a toxic tidal wave swamping home values in a region that went from ceaseless boom to endless gloom in a few years.

A crash in housing led the nation into the Great Recession, and a recovery in housing will help to lead it back out. But is the market recovering? The numbers and the experts say: Not yet. And perhaps not soon.

John Adams, the chief tax appraiser in Cherokee County, says he has heard predictions of a comeback. But he's not seeing it from the early appraisals his staff is turning in for 2011.

"Everybody thought that by now at least we would be on a pretty steady upward swing, but I am not sure that it's got there yet," Adams said. "We can't even tell if it is going to be flat or down 10 percent or anything. I just would not count on much being up."

Barry Bramlett, whose company Equity Depot tracks foreclosures, says the extraordinary number this year -- Equity Depot counted 98,662 -- may not be the crest of the wave.

"I don't see a drop in the number of foreclosures anytime soon," Bramlett said.

The housing market is under pressure from several directions: The subprime mortgage collapse that started the recession is still washing out of the system; the spike in unemployment has spawned a new wave of defaults and foreclosures; and foreclosures themselves are a cancer on their neighborhoods.

If the bank is forced to take your neighbor's house, it typically will try to sell the house rather than sit on an asset that is producing nothing and costing it money in maintenance and handling. The lender may take a loss on such sales, but the real losers are you and your other neighbors. The "bank sale" next door has undermined the value of your house even if you've never missed a payment and done all your upkeep.

So the key, real estate experts say, is for new buyers to soak up those distressed properties and slowly return the market to stability.

People like Lin Wormley may hold that key.

Wormley, 31, of Marietta, is shopping for a foreclosed-upon home in the Dunwoody and Alpharetta areas.

"I have always been told from back in my college days that you want to get something that always appreciates," Wormley said.

Foreclosures, short sales and and the unmeasurable pool of homeowners desperate to sell because they are teetering on the edge of foreclosure -- all those factors are pushing values down. Regular sellers have to compete against bargain basement prices to move property, and most new home builders have stopped building because they cannot match the prices.

Wormley figures that, if the market is at or near the bottom in price, his investment will have no place to go but up.

"We are just to the point now that it seems like there is definitely more on the market with foreclosures where you might be able to find more for your dollar," he said.

So he decided now could be the perfect time to buy.

Jan Baker, a vice president with Prudential Georgia Realty, sees signs of hope in the sales numbers coming in. About 2,400 of Prudential's 4,510 home sales through November were sales of distressed properties. The fact that makes up 60 percent of Prudential's sales shows that buyers are soaking up some of the excess.

Four and more years ago, when Atlanta's housing market was all growth all the time, a sale involving a foreclosure or a short sale was the exception for the average agent, Baker said.

"I could name those agents in my area that specialized in [distressed sales]," she said.

Now, each of Prudential's agents in its 21 metro Atlanta offices has been trained in the more complex task of buying foreclosures and educated on how to hand-hold buyers through the document-heavy, protracted process, Baker said.

Foreclosures and other distressed sales are being absorbed, but there is more coming onto the market monthly, in record numbers.

For example, Gwinnett County's foreclosures have exploded since the salad days of the county's extraordinary expansion. In 2003, the county had 4,735 foreclosures, according to Equity Depot. Through November of this year, Gwinnett listed 24,483.

Fulton had 8,111 foreclosures in 2003 and 22,623 so far this year.

Those who track sales from real estate offices and as part of number crunching businesses are seeing light on the horizon, perhaps a year or more out.

Gainesville's Norton Agency works mostly across metro Atlanta's northern arc of counties from Gwinnett to Cherokee, has dealt in real estate for 82 years and produces sales and trend analyses for North Georgia.

CEO Frank Norton Jr. said investors are beginning to return to the real estate market, and banks are staffing up for short sales where they have discovered they can make more money than if they let a house go into foreclosure.

Norton has watched the market work its way through the waves of foreclosures. The first wave was dominated by builders turning over unsold houses. The second wave came from people who lost their jobs.

Now, his agency is seeing another job-related wave, people who are turning over homes because they were overextended financially from depending on bonuses or overtime pay to help them make budgets.

Norton thinks sales will continue to bump along through 2011 and start a slow climb back in 2012. It could be 2017 or maybe as late as 2020 before the market reaches its "new normal," which will be healthy sales but will incorporate an evolving idea of the American home. He thinks there is a shift back to simpler, less expansive homes without dramatic spaces such as cathedral ceilings, for instance.

Adams, the Cherokee County's chief tax appraiser, says he thinks less about the future than the here and now, and the present for homeowners is still sobering.

"We might see one neighborhood's values holding steady, while five miles up the road another is going gangbusters," Adams said.

But that is tempered by lower values in another nearby neighborhood.

"Maybe something swings back [up], but then we'll see a batch that is selling 10 to 15 percent below value," he said.

And the specter of foreclosures is always present. Bramlett said the cascading foreclosures will continue.

"We don't expect to see a slowdown over the next year or two," he said.

Foreclosures

County 2003 By Nov. 2010 % increase

Gwinnett 4,735 24,483 417%

Fulton 8,111 22,623 179%

DeKalb 8,157 17,850 118%

Cobb 3,781 13,834 265%

Clayton 3,404 9,676 184%

Cherokee 1,131 4,843 328%

Forsyth 666 3,468 421%

Fayette 561 1,885 236%

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Just Another Brutal Month in Cobb for Foreclosures

2011-03-11T08:09:00.002-05:00

From the Marietta Daily Journal (Marcus E. Howard)

MARIETTA - April looks to be another brutal month for foreclosures in Cobb County, with 1,376 properties advertised. But while that figure is still high, it is down from the same month one year ago.

There were 1,551 properties advertised for the April 2010 foreclosure auction, the second largest number on record.

Year-to-date, 2011 has seen 3,894 properties advertised for foreclosure, slightly more than the 3,801 properties advertised by this time last year.

Legal notices must be published on four consecutive Fridays before a property can be sold at auction. Not all properties advertised necessarily end up at auction.

The auction begins at 10 a.m. on the first Tuesday of each month on the steps of the Cobb Superior Courthouse in Marietta. The next sale is April 5.

While he is pleased with news that foreclosures in the county decreased compared to last April, Cobb Commission Chairman Tim Lee said he would prefer if they'd continue to drop and stabilize.

"The fact that they've just dipped a little is reason to be encouraged," he said. "But we're going to be cautiously optimistic and move forward to try to address that issue as best we can."

Copyright 2011 The Marietta Daily Journal. All rights reserved.

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Foreclosures Plummet in Metro Area

2011-03-10T08:23:00.001-05:00

From the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (Michelle E. Shaw)

Foreclosure activity was down significantly in February across a 28-county metro area, according to one national data company, but a local expert cautions it may be a temporary decline.

The number of metro Atlanta homes repossessed by banks last month fell 25 percent from February 2010 and nearly 40 percent from January, according to RealtyTrac, a company that tracks foreclosure activity. But there is a reason, said Jim Grissett, an adjunct Emory professor who specializes in real estate.

He said the numbers, while good signs for the housing market and overall economy, may reflect slowdowns or moratoriums on foreclosures by major lenders in the fall of 2010 amid concern over procedural problems.

“I think those precautions have decelerated the flow of actual foreclosures,” Grissett said “And that has created an incentive to play ball in the short selling process.”

Total foreclosure activity, which includes filings of foreclosure notices as well as actual repossessions, in the 28-county area fell by 20 percent, when compared to the same period the year before, and nearly 22 percent when compared to the month before.

That is the most significant year-over-year decrease in a number of months.

Nationally, all foreclosure activity decreased 14 percent in February from the previous month and 27 percent from the previous year, according to a news release.

“Foreclosure activity dropped to a 36-month low in February as allegations of improper foreclosure processing continued to dog the mortgage servicing industry and disrupt court dockets,” said James J. Saccacio, chief executive officer of RealtyTrac, in the release. He said the industry is “in the midst of a major overhaul that has severely restricted its capacity to process foreclosures.”

Saccacio and Grissett said they expect to see foreclosure activity climb again, but it is hard to say when.

“And monthly volume may never return to its peak in March 2010 of more than 367,000 properties receiving foreclosure filings,” Saccacio said, of the national picture.

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Moving District Lines No Easy Task

2011-03-09T09:44:00.001-05:00

From the Atlanta Journal Constitution (Jaime Sarrio and Kristina Torres)

The lines are invisible but the effects are very real.

School attendance boundaries can determine the quality of a child’s education and influence home values. They have the power to create cohesive neighborhoods where families connect and interact, or divide communities into separate spheres.

It’s no wonder parents and community members get so emotional when the boundaries are moved -- and in metro Atlanta districts, they are moved a lot.

Jacqueine Nuckles’ children were not yet school aged when the family’s Cobb County home was redistricted from Dickerson to Dodgen Middle. But Nuckles said she was still upset by the decision, because the school district played a big factor in where the family chose to buy a home.

“We paid a premium for being in Dickerson and our house prices were impacted because of this move,” she said.

Districts like Cobb, Gwinnett and Cherokee typically redraw attendance lines to address growth, while districts like DeKalb and Atlanta are trying to make better use of taxpayer dollars by eliminating empty seats.

The DeKalb school board is scheduled to vote Monday night on an expansive redistricting plan that will affect 9,000 students, about 9 percent of the district’s total enrollment. The plan calls for eight schools to close and boundaries to shift at several others -- changes officials say are overdue and will free up $12.4 million each year.

“You don’t do this every 10 or 15 years, which is what we’re looking at [doing] now,” said Tom Bowen, chairman of the DeKalb County school board. “Good systems, active systems are looking at redistricting every three to five years so that you have a lot of small changes in lieu of the dramatic changes we're having now.”

A regional accrediting agency directed DeKalb last week to follow through with this round of redistricting. The system's boundary discussions have gone on for several years and have incited anger and distrust among some constituents who want the lines to be redrawn, just not the way the plan suggests.

"Sky Haven is in my front yard. I can watch my kids walk to school," DeKalb parent Shanta Christmas told the school board at a public hearing last week. "I know everyone, the principal, the vice principal, the school nurse. My kid got sick today, and I could walk to the school. Leave the school open. It's a community. It's a family."

While DeKalb is trying to eliminate empty seats, Cherokee typically redistricts to create new ones.

The district’s last rezoning was in fall 2010 in preparation for the 2011-12 opening of Indian Knoll Elementary School. The process began, as is standard, with a series of public input sessions scheduled at the effected schools, spokeswoman Carrie Budd said.

“Parents are invited to be an active part of the process,” she said.

Once input is collected, preliminary boundaries are drawn and a public hearing is held with the school board.

Gwinnett County, the state’s largest district, is also familiar with the challenges of rezoning. In 2009 the board approved plans to change the attendance zones for some 8,200 students to accommodate six new schools that opened in 2010.

Parents were notified of proposed attendance boundaries in advance and given comment forms to make suggestions. The district received more than 1,000 forms, and in response redrew the boundaries in some areas to reflect parent input. The district this month is launching another redistricting to address overcrowding at schools in the Peachtree Ridge area.

Melanie Hayduk, a freshman at Gwinnett's new Lanier High School, said she wasn't upset about being rezoned from North Gwinnett High, where her sister graduated. That's because she grew up being flexible -- in elementary school she moved from Sugar Hill to Sycamore. In middle school from the old Lanier building to a new one.

"It's a lot easier because no one knows what to expect," she said of being in a new school.

Redistricting is considered a local issue and there is not a lot of guidance from the state about how school systems should conduct the process. Most districts take a variety of things under consideration when drawing new boundaries. They try to use major roads as dividers, take into account how far students will have to travel to school, and attempt to keep neighborhoods intact.

In Atlanta, where the outcry has been much less vocal, the process has been ongoing over the past dozen years. The system has closed 25 schools since 1999 in response to shifting enrollment patterns and a decline in its overall student population. The reasons have been largely financial, although the system also supports several ongoing academic initiatives that influenced how the closures were made.

Overall, Atlanta enrolled 59,000 students in 1999 -- when Superintendent Beverly Hall was hired -- compared with 49,800 now.

Some parts of the city, however, have seen growth, and the school closures have been tempered by new construction and renovation of other campuses.

Most recently, Atlanta officials announced a proposed $56.2 million land deal to build a new Buckhead-area high school, with plans to turn the city’s existing North Atlanta High campus into a second middle school to relieve crowding at those grade levels.

Staff writer Megan Matteucci contributed to this article.

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Mixed Use Project Get Tax Discounts

2011-03-08T07:59:00.002-05:00

From the Marietta Daily Journal (Kim Isaza)

KENNESAW - In a first for the county, Cobb leaders have offered incentives to a developer planning to build apartments, retail and a parking garage just north of Town Center at Cobb mall.

Woody Snell, president of Lynwood Development Group, has proposed a mixed-use project now predicted to be worth $40 million at completion. The Hidden Forest subdivision now occupies the property, off Big Shanty Road, just across from Kennesaw State University's new soccer stadium.

To help get the project off the ground, the county is offering Snell a discount of more than $200,000 on building-permit fees by capping those fees at $50,000.

The county will also allow Snell to spread out payments of the estimated $660,000 sewer development fee, paying half up front and the balance over three years.

And the county will assist Snell is getting tax-free loans for his development, though that money will come from a private lender, without any risk to the county.

Snell requested the economic incentives in December, and originally asked that the permit fees be capped at $5,000, said Michael Hughes, the county's director of economic development. Without the discount, the permit fees would cost Snell $263,663, Hughes said.

County Chairman Tim Lee defended the incentives offer, saying that both he and the committee that reviews incentives requests believe it made sense. As of Monday, the county was preparing to send Snell the final agreement documents for his signature.

But is Cobb so desperate for apartments and retail centers that the projects require an incentive? In fact, dozens of new strip malls sit empty around the county with not a single tenant, and plenty of apartment complexes and retail centers in Cobb are going into foreclosure.

Also, which developers get government incentives, and which don't?

Hughes, who has been with the county since 1998, said the county has never before offered incentives to build apartments or retail space.

"We have done projects for office users and industrial tenants," Hughes said. "We always tie it to job creation."

Before Snell, the last incentive Cobb offered to a commercial real estate developer was to Barry Hotel Partners in June 2008, Hughes said. That firm had proposed a $51 million hotel project that would have created about 125 jobs, Hughes said. But the developer never accepted the county's offer of $4 million in tax abatements, he said.

Snell's Town Village project is estimated to create 150 short-term construction jobs, and 70 permanent retail jobs.

Under the county code, projects receiving incentives must create at least 25 jobs and have an estimated annual economic impact of $500,000.

On Friday, Lee rejected suggestions that what the county does for one developer, it must do for all.

"It's not about fair," Lee said. "It's about business."

So what makes Woody Snell's project deserving of an incentive?

Lee responded: "The Lynwood Development Group has a project called Town Village of Kennesaw. He approached the county about certain incentives to help get the project started. The committee looked at it, and we thought this package made sense for the total investment that's going to be done. ... I forwarded it, to try to get it moving."

Lee disputed that this deal came about through connections between him and Snell. Lee described Snell as "an acquaintance" and acknowledged that Lynwood Development has contributed to his campaigns in the past. The two were both members of the 2004 Leadership Cobb class, but they are not personal friends, Lee said.

Snell's project has been in the works for several years. The Journal reported last spring that some of the subdivision residents were upset that Snell could not come through with the cash to buy them out, despite repeated promises - and amid a permanent zoning change to commercial.

Snell's lawyer, Kevin Moore of Moore Ingram Johnson and Steele in Marietta, declined to say how many, if any, of the 47 properties Snell has purchased and paid for. He also would not divulge a timeline for construction of the Town Village project.

A few of the Hidden Forest homeowners sold their properties to the Kennesaw State University Foundation late last year.

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"Sovereign Citizen' Cases on the Rise

2011-03-07T07:54:00.003-05:00

From the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (Tammy Joyner)

Federal authorities are seeing an increase in the number of foreclosed and unoccupied homes in metro Atlanta being seized by members of an anti-government group.

"I'm not sure I can connect it with the economy, but we've seen a surge of these in the last year, in particular," Stephen Emmett, special agent in the Atlanta field office of the FBI, said Saturday. Emmet said federal and local authorities increasingly are running into confrontations with members of a sect known as "sovereign citizens."

"They're expanding throughout the Metro Atlanta area," Emmett said. "DeKalb has had their fair share of problems with them and now Clayton."

On Friday, Clayton County SWAT was called to a foreclosed home near Riverdale where a couple had been living illegally. SWAT members surrounded the house after getting reports the people inside had threatened violece against anyone who approached the house. Gideon Israel and his wife, Deborah, had been living illegally in the bank-owned, gray stucco house on Stimson way near Riverdale in the northwest part of Clayton County for a while and had submitted reams of fraudulent paperwork to county officials to try to block the eviction, according to Major Jeff Mitchell, who heads the enforcement division for the Clayton County Sheriff's Office.

The Israels were not charged and left without incident. Shortly after, cleanup crews for the bank put furniture and other belongings on the lawn and boarded up the house.

Mitchell said the Riverdale couple is believed to part of the sovereign citizen sect. County law enforcement had a similar incident a month ago of a man living in a home who claimed to be a member of the sect. Last year county police stopped a guy claiming to be a sovereign citizen and found more than $300 billion in fake bonds in his car.

"We're trying to identify other sovereign citizen cases in the county," Mitchell said, noting local law enforcement is working with the FBI to target group members.

Emmett said sect members believe they are above the law, as evidenced by the shooting death of two police officers in West Memphis, Ark., last year. Officers there were making a traffic stop.

Group members don't believe courts have juridisction over them. They don't believe in paying taxes or having driver's licenses or car tags.

They do, however, believe abandoned properties are ripe for the taking. They often use quit-claim deeds to take over properties and as soon as they move in post trespassing signs warning people to stay off the property.

The Riverdale incident is among at least two dozen area incidents of home takeovers by the sovereign citizens, including a $1 million home in south DeKalb County seized by the sect last year. Authorities say the sect has taken over 20 metro Atlanta properties, including a shopping center. The group believes banks can't own land or property and that any home owned by a bank -- including the thousands of foreclosed properties throughout Georgia -- are theirs for the taking. Emmett said he also knows of cases where sect members have taken over homes being refurbished.

The FBI has listed Sovereign Citizens as a domestic terrorist organization. The Southern Poverty Law Center, which also tracks the group, estimates the sect numbers more than 300,000 nationwide in such places as Georgia, Indiana, Nevada and Virginia.

Doraville Presents Final Plan for GM Plant, Town Center

2011-03-04T09:58:00.002-05:00

From the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (Joel Anderson)

In an exhaustively detailed master plan, the shuttered General Motors assembly plant will someday become a bustling development with big-box retail, cafes, office space, townhouses and maybe even a recreational center.

The project also will offer a vibrant town center, pedestrian bridges, light-rail stations and Bubbling Creek Park, the latter a seven-acre space with a spring and a pond.

To get started, the Doraville City Council will need to approve it all -- and soon.

Planning professionals and city officials laid out their long-term vision for Doraville on Wednesday night, making a formal presentation of the city's downtown master plan as part of the Livable Centers Initiative (LCI) program. The presentation was held at the Doraville Civic Center, drawing about 30 interested residents and local officials.

Following the presentation, the plan was roundly greeted with praise and optimism.

"This could be a new day for Doraville," said Merle Evans, who has lived in the Oakcliff section of town since 1963. "I hope that I'm alive to see it. I just hope that we can develop the leadership necessary to develop the plans."

If the Doraville City Council approves a measure to adopt the plan at its March 21 meeting, a proposed connector between Buford Highway and Peachtree Industrial Boulevard will make it onto a list of projects under consideration for a transportation tax referendum slated for 2012.

While a number of city officials have been enthusiastic about the plan, some council members haven't committed to the project.

"I think we’ll have an opportunity to take a look at some components and decide how we’ll proceed," said council member Brian Bates, who couldn't attend the presentation because of a prior engagement. "I haven’t had a chance to really study it. But from a concept basis, I think it is moving in absolutely the right direction."

The Atlanta Regional Commission has funded a study of Doraville through its LCI program in an effort to generate ideas for redeveloping the area and distributing funds for transportation projects. If the city council approves the plan, the commission will help the city implement the plan in earnest.

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Bill Would Incorporate Peachtree Corners

2011-03-02T08:26:00.002-05:00

From the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (Janel Davis)

The leader of Gwinnett County’s state House delegation is proposing making Peachtree Corners its own city in efforts to fend off annexation attempts and preserve the area’s aesthetics.

State Rep. Tom Rice introduced the legislation, HB 396, on Monday that calls for residents to vote on incorporation for a new city that would handle planning and zoning, code enforcement and trash collection. Services such as firefighting and law enforcement would be handled by the county.

“This would allow local control of an area that is highly dense through local enforcement,” said Rice, R-Norcross.

Under the legislation, the new city would be run by a mayor with a $9,000 annual salary and six council members to each be paid $6,000 annually.

If approved by state legislators, the area's residents could vote on incorporation in a November referendum. If approved, the city would have about 35,000 residents, Rice said, making it one of the largest in the county.

The proposal is supported by a recent study from the Carl Vinson Institute of Government at the University of Georgia, which found an incorporated Peachtree Corners could generate enough revenue to pay for some basic services and cover costs such as elections and administration.

The United Peachtree Corners Civic Association is also backing Rice’s legislation because it provides a “city-lite” level of government with few services, as opposed to previous proposals that included things such as public safety and required more property taxes to support them. In 2005 the association strongly opposed incorporation plans.

The Vinson study of the city-lite model estimated Peachtree Corners could exist on fees along with low property taxes of 1 mil per household, or $120 on a $300,000 home, said Mike Mason, the association’s president.

The low property taxes combined with trash fees that would likely be lower than what the county charges make for a good deal, Mason said.

Incorporating Peachtree Corners has long been discussed in Gwinnett, but it peaked in 2009 when the city of Norcross considered annexation of the Technology Park area of Peachtree Corners, Norcross Mayor Bucky Johnson said.

Johnson said his city has supported Peachtree Corners’ incorporation, but if approved, the boundaries for the new jurisdiction would limit Norcross’ future growth.

“This is not about Norcross because they are just trying to do what’s in their best interest,” Mason said. “This is about preserving the vision of Peachtree Corners.”

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Alpharetta Grants MetLife Bid for Mixed-Use Development

2011-03-01T08:14:00.002-05:00

From the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (Patrick Fox)

MetLife won approval on Monday night to build a 47-acre, mixed-use development at Haynes Bridge Road and Ga. 400 in Alpharetta.

The city council voted unanimously to approve the zoning variance after hearing public comment from a half-dozen residents, who were equally split over the project.

"I'm very much impressed," resident Richard Debban said. "I think most cities in the United States would be tickled pink to have this opportunity to entertain such a development and the organization behind it."

Opponents, however, pointed to failed or stalled mixed-use developments approved in the past, one less than two miles away at Old Milton Parkway. The 90-acre Prospect Park was approved in 2005, but work stalled in 2009 after the developer cleared the site of trees and began installing utilities. The property now sits abandoned, owned by Wells Fargo. Spokesman Jay Lawrence said the bank has offered the property for sale.

Resident Jimmy Gilvin was among the opponents of the Alpharetta project and said the city was rushing to add density, possibly in concert with MARTA's plan to extend its north rail line to the North Point area near MetLife's development.

"Despite what consultants, developers and land-use attorneys may tell you, the majority of the people that live here don't want Alpharetta urbanized to attract MARTA," Gilvin said.

Council members countered objections by arguing that this was no time to stifle growth.

"It's a scary move, but it's one that works for the city," said Councilman D.C. Aiken, who obtained a verbal agreement from MetLife representative Paul Folger that the company wouldn't change its plans to accommodate apartments.

MetLife has owned the Haynes Bridge property for more than 20 years and moved its regional headquarters to the site in 1998. It occupies one of three six-story office buildings on the campus.

Plans for the rest of the property call for 40,000 square feet of restaurant space, 70,000 square feet of retail, a 211-room hotel, 447,200 square feet of office use, 546 condominiums and parking decks.

Plans also require MetLife to make various road improvements in the area, such as adding turn lanes on Haynes Bridge Road and Lakeview Parkway. Those improvements will be made as the project develops. The developer also won an extra year, until 2016, to obtain a building permit to show intent to begin construction.

"When you look at this project and you look at the people who are behind [it], this is a good project for Alpharetta," Councilman Doug DeRito said.

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Gwinnett Would Shift Property Tax, Impose Furloughs

2011-02-28T08:52:00.000-05:00

From the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (David Wickert)

Gwinnett County would use property tax revenue originally earmarked for library and road improvements to help balance its operating budget under a proposal to be considered by the Board of Commissioners Tuesday.

The county also would require its 4,600 employees to take four unpaid holidays this year, eliminate at least seven vacant positions and cut other spending as it tries to eliminate an $18 million deficit in its general fund budget.

If the commission approves the budget measures Tuesday, that deficit would be reduced to $2.6 million. County officials have pledged to eliminate it altogether by the end of March.

The proposals to be considered next week are Gwinnett’s latest attempt to address declining property tax and other revenue brought on by the Great Recession.

Other counties also have struggled to balance their budgets. Cobb County last September reduced library hours, cut bus service and left 70 vacant positions unfunded.

This week the DeKalb County Commission voted to cut $33.6 million from their 2011 budget. That’s the equivalent of about 800 staff jobs, though commissioners insist there is fat to be trimmed before the staff is reduced.

Gwinnett’s latest batch of budget-balancing proposals include shifting a portion of its property levy from debt reduction to operations.

In 1986 county voters approved general obligation bonds for library and road construction. In 2009 and 2010 the county levied a .23 mill property tax to pay those bonds.

The county recently used part of the proceeds from a December 2009 property tax increase to pay off the bonds.

With the bonds paid off, the county staff has recommended using the .23 mills levy for the general fund, which pays for police and fire protection and other basic services. That would give the general fund an extra $4.8 million in revenue this year.

County officials say the move does not constitute a tax increase; the total county tax rate would remain 13.25 mills.

But if the .23 mill levy were allowed to expire as scheduled next year, the property tax bill on a $200,000 house would fall by about $16.

“I am 100 percent opposed to this,” said Sabrina Smith of Gwinnett Citizens for Responsible Government. “It is business as usual at the Board of Commissioners.”

Tuesday’s vote would signal the commission’s intent to use the .23 mills for general fund expenses. But another vote would be required this summer or fall.

Also on Tuesday, the commission will consider proposals to:

*Require county employees to take unpaid furlough days for Independence Day, Labor Day, the Friday after Thanksgiving and Christmas Eve. The proposal would save Gwinnett about $2.8 million, including $2.1 million in the general fund.

County Administrator Glenn Stephens told county employees in a memo Thursday that “using the holidays as furloughs provides a cost cutting measure that will have the least impact on the services we provide to our citizens while preserving the jobs needed to provide those services.”

*Eliminate at least seven vacant positions, cut part-time salaries in the police department, eliminate the advertising budget for employee recruitment and make other cuts to various departments. The cuts would save the county about $1.4 million, including $847,000 in the general fund.

*Reduce general fund contributions to risk management, workers compensation and fleet equipment funds. The move would save about $5 million, including $4 million in the general fund.

“The items up for consideration by the board next Tuesday will make a significant dent in our budget shortfall this year, and yet the changes themselves will have minimal impact on the level of service we provide to our citizens,” commission Vice Chairwoman Shirley Lasseter said in a statement announcing the moves.

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Population Increase of 27% Predicted for Cobb County by 2040

2011-02-25T08:18:00.002-05:00

From the Marietta Daily Journal (Marcus Howard)

MARIETTA - The Atlanta Regional Commission predicts Cobb's population will increase 27 percent in the next 30 years, reaching 855,500 people.

The ARC foresees the 20-county metro Atlanta region growing by 3 million people - to a total of 8 million - and adding 1.5 million jobs by 2040.

The ARC published its predictions this week. The forecasts will form the basis of its new, 30-year regional plan called PLAN 2040, which is expected to be adopted by the ARC board of directors this summer.

In Cobb, the population is predicted to increase from 672,100 last year to 855,500 in 2040. On the job front, Cobb is estimated to add 153,700 more jobs in the next 30 years, reaching 458,400 jobs by 2040. That is a 50.4 percent increase over the current 304,700 jobs, according to the ARC.

County Commissioner Bob Ott, who represents southeast Cobb, said the detailed 2010 U.S. Census data will give a more accurate reading of which direction the county is going when it is released in the next month or two. However, Ott noted that many studies show Cobb's population will continue to increase. And he say's that the county is prepared.

"Clearly, we have to plan for that," he said.

Further growth in the county will likely result in higher-density developments. Last year, then-Cobb Chairman Sam Olens said the county is 85 to 95 percent built out.

Cobb is a part of the so-called "Big Four" metro Atlanta counties that also include Fulton, Gwinnett and DeKalb. Today, their populations account for 60 percent of the region's population. However, by 2040, their total share will drop to about 52 percent, according to the ARC.

While Fulton and Gwinnett are each predicted to exceed the one million-population mark, the ARC predicts that smaller counties such as Coweta, Forsyth, Henry, Newton and Paulding, will see their populations double in 30 years. Henry is expected to see the largest percentage of growth, with 124 percent.

The city of Atlanta is forecast to add more than 250,000 people.

"Even in these tough economic times, the Atlanta region remains a place where people want to live and work," ARC Director Chick Krautler said in a statement. "Our forecasts indicate continued strong population and employment growth for the next 30 years, and that's good news for every city and county in the metro area."

As with population, the Big Four counties today dominate the region's employment. They account for 72 percent of the region's jobs.

However, the ARC forecasts that number will drop to 66 percent by 2040. In the next 30 years, Cobb's share of jobs in the highest-paying sectors is expected to drop from 25.2 percent (76,700 jobs) today to 24 percent (110,000) by 2040. Fulton will continue to have the highest share of those jobs, followed by Gwinnett, Cobb, and DeKalb, which is the same order as today, according to the ARC.

Cherokee County is predicted to experience the highest percentage of job growth with 166 percent, followed by Henry (141 percent), Barrow (133 percent), and Forsyth (124 percent) counties.

Detailed city and county data from the 2010 Census is expected in late March or early April.

Georgia is predicted to gain one U.S. House of Representative seat following the release of the census data.

If that prediction comes true, then this census will mark the third consecutive time that Georgia has gained at least one congressional seat. The state's rapid growth resulted in Georgia gaining one seat following the 1990 census and two seats after the 2000 census.

An added seat would give the state 14 members in the U.S. House. It's unknown where that seat would be, but that hasn't stopped speculation. Already there have been articles in various publications about northwest Georgia wanting its own district, one not connected to geographically-distant Gainesville, as is the case with the current 9th District represented by newly elected Congressman Tom Graves of Gordon County.

State legislators are expected to take up legislative and congressional redistricting in a special legislative session after the conclusion of the January-April 2011 regular session of the General Assembly. If precedent is followed, the redistricting special session will be conducted either next August or September, allowing sufficient time afterward for the state's redistricting plans to be reviewed in Washington, D.C.

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Region to Add 3 Million in 30 Years, ARC says

2011-02-24T08:56:00.002-05:00

From the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (Dan Chapman)

Metro Atlanta is expected to add 3 million people and 1.5 million jobs by 2040, according to a projection released Wednesday by the Atlanta Regional Commission.

If that happens, growth across the 20-county metropolitan region -- from Hall County in the north to Spalding County in the south -- would match the population and employment explosion of the last three decades, an era that placed Atlanta among the nation's biggest metro areas.

Future growth could have been even greater, though. The recession sliced nearly a half million jobs from the ARC’s previous employment projection -- though it didn't change the population estimate.

That raises a question: Will more people be competing for fewer jobs, leading to high unemployment?

Not necessarily, said Mike Alexander, the ARC’s chief researcher.

“We will have fundamental demographic changes where there will be a lot more people who aren’t working,” said Alexander, who unveiled the Regional Snapshot report Wednesday at an ARC board meeting in downtown Atlanta. “Basically, the labor force as a share of population is expected to shrink.”

Alexander’s report will be used by local governments to plan road and transit networks. Among its more eye-popping projections: Of the 3 million newcomers – who include both newborn Atlantans and people coming from elsewhere - 800,000 will live in just two counties: Gwinnett (413,000 additional people) and Fulton (373,000.) Both counties will have more than 1 million people by 2040.

Henry (239,000) and Forsyth (202,000) counties are next in line for huge population gains. The city of Atlanta alone will add 250,000 people, according to the ARC.

In all, metro Atlanta's population will grow to 8.3 million by 2040, up nearly 57 percent from today, if the projection pans out.

Larry Collins foresaw a burgeoning business climate when he recently moved his fencing company from California to Forsyth County.

“There will definitely be a lot of growth and a lot of opportunity,” said Collins, who witnessed metro Atlanta’s northern push while living in Dunwoody a decade ago. “Cumming is growing a lot and adding schools and that helps my business.”

Future jobs will likely follow the region’s newcomers. And vice-versa.

Forsyth, Cherokee, Hall and Henry counties will more than double their job bases, the ARC projects. Yet the region’s traditional job centers – Fulton (360,000 new jobs), Gwinnett (220,000), Cobb (154,000) and DeKalb (135,000) counties – will continue to serve as the bulwark of metro Atlanta employment. Fulton alone, with Atlanta at its core, will have more than 1 million workers, or 28 percent of jobs across the region.

Troubled Clayton County, with its well-publicized school and housing woes, is the job and population outlier among the region’s 20 counties. It will see the smallest growth -- 40,700 new people -- and no other county will add so few jobs.

“That’s just the projection,” said Eldrin Bell, who chairs Clayton County’s commission. “We have the space and the land mass, including the airport, to out-distance the current projections. The airport has the potential to change all the projections for the south side.”

Clayton, with its 12.6 percent unemployment rate, was one of the hardest hit counties by the recession. The Atlanta region lost 186,000 jobs, or 7.5 percent of all jobs, during the downturn which technically started in December 2007 and ended June 2009, according to the Georgia Department of Labor.

The ARC survey, a compilation of hundreds of federal and private data sets, tries to account for economic downturns and other eventualities. Atlanta faces two, major population- and job-skewing events by 2012: a drastic reduction in water withdrawals from Lake Lanier; and the possibility voters won't approve a transportation referendum.

When the ARC’s Alexander last gazed into his crystal ball, in 2006, he predicted metro Atlanta would add 3.6 million jobs by 2030. Now, he estimates 3.2 million jobs by then. Atlanta will gain an additional half-million jobs between 2030 and 2040, he estimates.

The previous forecast, Alexander explained, was based largely on expectations that the explosive growth years of the 1990s would continue.

“We’ve had a net job loss the last 10 years,” Alexander said. “It was an unbelievable period of job loss when you factor in the lost construction and manufacturing jobs. The recession was a doozy.”

Slower projected job growth may not be all bad, though. Construction job growth, a hallmark of previous employment prognostications, disappeared from the 2040 study. One-fifth of the new jobs -- professional/technical, finance, wholesale trade, company management – pay considerably better than lower-wage construction and service jobs.

Health care jobs, overall, top the list. And they also go a long way in explaining Atlanta’s demographic and employment future. By 2030, one of every five metro Atlantans will be aged 60 or older, a staggering demographic shift that will require more nurses, doctors, technicians and bill coders.

The surge in retirees will also shrink the labor pool and keep unemployment below metro Atlanta’s current 10.2 percent rate, according to the projections.

Below are the top 10 counties for job growth between 2010 and 2040.

2010 2040 Total Jobs Percent increase

Fulton 672,000 1,003,000 360,000 53.7

Gwinnett 288,900 508,800 219,900 76.1

Cobb 304,700 458,400 153,700 50.4

DeKalb 289,700 425,100 135,400 46.7

Cherokee 43,600 116,100 72,500 166.3

Forsyth 57,700 129,000 71,300 123.6

Henry 45,200 109,000 63,800 141.2

Hall 66,300 124,900 58,600 88.4

Clayton 113,900 158,000 44,100 38.7

Douglas 37,600 75,400 37,800 100.5

Total (20 County) 2,200,000 3,700,000 1,500,000 68

Source: Atlanta Regional Commisison.

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DeKalb Seeks Fed's Help on GM Plant

2011-02-23T08:43:00.001-05:00

From the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (Megan Matteucci)

DeKalb County CEO Burrell Ellis is hoping the federal government can contribute funding to help redevelop the vacant GM plant in Doraville.

This week, Ellis visited Washington, D.C. to lobby federal officials for funding. During his visit, he met with John Fernandez, Assistant Secretary over the Economic Development Administration in the U.S. Department of Commerce, to discuss possible funding of redevelopment of the GM plant.

On Wednesday, Ellis met with U.S. Rep. Tom Price (R-Ga.) to talk about his ideas for the GM site.

Last year, the county commission voted against a $54 million proposal to use federal stimulus bonds to turn the 165-acre site into an Atlantic Station-like development.

Ellis also met with U.S. Rep. John Mica (R-Fl.), the chairman of the House Transportation Committee, along with U.S. Rep. Hank Johnson (D-Ga.) to lobby for unspent stimulus dollars.

A county spokesman said Ellis' trip will only cost taxpayers $50.

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$300 Million Chattahoochee Project Up for Cobb Vote

2011-02-22T08:28:00.001-05:00

From the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (Janel Davis)

A development team is proposing a $300 million mixed-use project along the Chattahoochee River in Cobb County that has some area business owners worried about the impact on their companies.

If approved, Green Street Properties, Marthasville Development and Jamestown Properties would build a development with a mixture of residential and commercial components on about 81 acres in the south Cobb area on both sides of River View Road near I-285. The group is seeking a zoning change for the area from heavy industrial to Planned Village Community.

This popular type of development, where residents can live, work and shop, was approved unanimously, with stipulations, by the county’s planning board earlier this month. The County Commission is set to make a final decision on Tuesday.

The Atlanta Regional Commission and the Georgia Regional Transportation Authority approved the project in December, and a mixed-use project like this is included in a master plan of the area completed last year.

The plan calls for 155 single-family homes, 332 townhomes, 165 condominiums, 200 senior housing units and 850 apartment units, along with retail and office space. The developers’ attorney Garvis Sams calls the project an enhancement for the area that also will have an environmental impact as the group works to secure funding to clean up the riverbank.

“There are other mixed-use developments [in Cobb], but they haven’t been able to leverage the river the way this project does,” said Sams, a partner with Sams, Larkin and Huff in Marietta. Despite the proposed advantages, the development’s location concerns some business owners in the area.

Members of the Chattahoochee Business Association organized and hired an attorney to present their concerns -- among them, traffic flow in an area they say can’t handle the additional cars and that the project lies in the current 100-year flood plain.

A revision to the current flood plain has been submitted to the federal government that would impact this section of the Chattahoochee River, according to the planning documents.

Developers also are planning to fill and raise the road level in the lowest areas to solve any flooding issues. “There are portions of the 81 acres in the flood plain, but now we don’t show any buildings in the flood plain,” Sams said.

Still, the development so close to heavy industrial businesses would present problems, said Clint Stamps, a member of the business association and owner of Stamps Sand Co. “Everyone has the right to do what they want to do with their property, but in these times, Green Street took a gamble and I don’t think this is the place for a live, play type of major development.”

To make the plan work, developers plan to install buffers between the industrial businesses and make road improvements to help traffic flow. They agreed to a formula to balance the project between apartments and other uses, and will require residents to sign affidavits stating that they are aware of their industrial neighbors, noise and smells.

“Originally at public meetings, there was a concern that we were going to try to run [the existing industrial business owners] out of business, but I think we can co-exist in that area,” said Commissioner Woody Thompson, whose district includes the proposed project.

Construction for mixed-use projects is not feasible right now, said Scott Amoson, research director for Colliers International, but the Cobb project has the advantage that developers are able to fund the project themselves.

“There is nothing else that will be in competition because everyone else will have to get financing,” Amoson said. “It’s far enough away from the industrial where the development won’t affect it too much and close enough to other projects in south Cobb, so it definitely could be supported and coexist.”

If approved, developers estimate a seven- to 10-year build-out of the project.

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Cherokee County to Restore Full Impact Fees

2011-02-18T08:28:00.001-05:00

From the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (Jeffry Scott)

Cherokee County plans to start charging full price again for its deeply discounted building impact fees -- but will phase in the increase over the next year and a half.

The County Commission approved the move this week.

At the height of the development boom, impact fees -- charged builders when the county issues building permits -- generated about $5 million in revenue, Post 1 Commissioner Harry Johnston said. The money was used to offset the cost of infrastructure such as roads, sewers and schools necessitated by growth.

When the bottom fell out of the real estate market the fees shrank dramatically.

In 2009, with the county collecting about $750,000 from the fees, the Commission slashed the average impact fee by 90 percent -- from about $1,600 to $160 -- to encourage development.

That worked, said county officials. At least 10 businesses, including a Dollar General, a Food Lion and an Advanced Auto Parts, were induced by the discount to build in Cherokee. But looking at a budget shortfall of $7 million in 2012, commissioners decided last month it was time to start charging builders full price again.

“We wanted to do it in a way that is not traumatic to builders, but puts carpenters, electricians, and plumbers back to work in this county,” said Johnston. “So we wanted to give the builders plenty of advance notice, without encouraging somebody, at the same time, from going out right now and buying a whole bunch of these 90 percent discount building permits and not building for two or three years.”

The phase-in works this way: The impact fees, assessed when a builder buys a building permit, will stay at the 90 percent discount until August. In that month the discount drops to 50 percent. In other words, the impact fee/building permit that can be bought now for $160, will cost five times as much -- $800 -- with the August price hike kicks in.

In August 2012 the county plans to start again charging full price for the impact fees.

To keep a builder from hoarding cheap permits/impact fees and building later, a builder who doesn’t complete the foundation of the building by the time of the August 2011 price increase will then have to pay the difference between the 90 percent discount and the 50 percent discount.

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Late Mortgae Payments Continue Falling in 4th Quarter

2011-02-17T08:21:00.000-05:00

by The Associated Press

NEW YORK - More homeowners across the country made their mortgage payments on time in the fourth quarter, but with housing prices falling again, prospects for significant improvement in 2011 have faded.

Credit reporting agency TransUnion found that 6.41 percent of homeowners were behind on their mortgages by 60 days or more during the last three months of 2010. It marked the fourth-straight period the rate fell, and was down from 6.89 percent in 2009's fourth quarter, when delinquencies peaked.

But while TransUnion analysts until recently expected the figure to continue to drop this year, they are now predicting a flat rate through 2011, mainly because of recent housing price declines.

The Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller 20-city home price index found home prices dropped in November across most of America's largest cities, and average prices in eight major markets hit their lowest point since the housing bust.

There's a strong correlation between delinquency rates and falling housing prices, said Tim Martin, who follows the U.S. housing market for TransUnion's financial services unit. He said while the delinquency rate declined through each quarter of 2010, the drop was smaller each period, as the housing market sputtered.

What's more, in the fourth quarter, even though the overall mortgage delinquency rate for the country fell, there were increases from the third quarter in 33 states.

"The data would say that these things are clearly related," Martin said.

Notably, the largest reduction in delinquency for 2010 was found California, where the rate fell to 9.14 percent from 11 percent. Case-Shiller found that Los Angeles, San Diego and San Francisco showed some of the largest housing price gains over the same period.

To be sure, housing prices are not the only thing that impacts delinquency rates. Unemployment and household income, regional economic activity, interest rates and other factors also play a role. But Martin said housing prices and supply are key elements in the equation.

"There's pressure on prices, and if prices drop, it tends to lead to delinquencies," he said.

TransUnion culls its data from 27 million anonymous consumer records, which represent a random sample of about 10 percent of its national consumer credit database.

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Are Current Mortgage Rates Too High?

2011-02-16T08:19:00.002-05:00

From the MoneyRates Blog
By Richard Barrington Money-Rates Columnist

Q: I just missed on buying a house last fall when mortgage rates were really low. Now that they are back up above five percent again, how long do you think I should wait to see if they have another swing lower?

A: How quickly perceptions change! Current mortgage rates are at 5.05 percent. At just about any other time during the past 40 years, a 5.05 percent mortgage rate would have been considered an incredible bargain. Now though, with 30-year mortgage rates having spent much of the past two years below 5 percent, people are writing articles lamenting the end of an era because current mortgage rates are once again north of that mark.

If you can afford a house now and buying one fits with your plans, then here are three reasons you shouldn’t wait for mortgage rates to dip back down:

There is no guarantee that mortgage rates will fall below 5 percent again. Until 2009, they had never done that before (at least not in the modern era), so don’t hold your breath waiting for it to happen again.

Housing itself is relatively cheap. Remember, there are two components that determine your mortgage payments–the interest rate and the price you pay for the house. With home prices down in many parts of the country, you may not want to wait too long.

The main thing to consider now is whether you can afford a mortgage at present. Whether you could have done better a few months ago is immaterial–water under the bridge.

The bottom line is that for most people, buying a house should be about obtaining affordable long-term shelter, not about trying to time an investment just right. If current mortgage rates cannot make housing affordable to you, it is a sign you need to wait and save more money, rather than a sign you should wait for lower mortgage rates.

Got a financial question about saving, investing, or banking? MoneyRates.com invites you to submit your questions to our “Ask the Expert” feature. Just go to the MoneyRates.com home page and look for the “Ask the Expert” box on the lower left.

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2011-02-15T08:45:00.002-05:00

From the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (Kristina Torres)

Atlanta school board members voted on Monday night to spend $56.2 million and buy a 56-acre site in northwest Atlanta for the city's new Buckhead-area high school.

The vote, which enables the school system to negotiate exclusively for the property, came a year after Atlanta officials announced plans to build a new high school to replace North Atlanta High School on Northside Drive in Buckhead. The new site is close: at the IBM complex on Northside Parkway. The board will take another vote to finalize the site's purchase, but officials expect no problems with the negotiation.

"We're thrilled that the board has finally committed to a site for a new school," said Cynthia Briscoe Brown, co-president of the North Atlanta Parents for Public Schools advocacy group.

Brown is among a number of parents who chastised Superintendent Beverly Hall after the system missed a self-imposed December deadline to identify a site for the new high school. "They've demonstrated their commitment to us and we fully support them as we move forward together," Brown said. "We look forward to the groundbreaking and to moving in as soon as possible."

Once the new campus is built -- a likely two-year-process -- North Atlanta will be turned into a second middle school, relieving an overcrowded Sutton Middle School on Powers Ferry Road near Chastain Park. Last year, Hall backed a plan promoted by parents to let kids stay together during their middle school years by using Sutton as a "sixth-grade academy" and sending seventh- and eighth-graders to a new middle school created out of North Atlanta High's relatively small campus.

Hall and other system officials steadfastly declined to identify the sites they were considering for the new high school. In October, however, a community advocate made public a letter to the owner of the Paces Apartments complex in Buckhead Village, suggesting the school system might seize his property through eminent domain, creating controversy. Nearby residents said the smaller property, while more centrally located, couldn't accommodate a comprehensive high school campus and complained the school would compound already heavy local traffic.

The system dropped that site two months later, and public speculation centered on the IBM site.

The Atlanta Business Chronicle reported in March that IBM might consolidate its Atlanta operations, possibly putting the Northside property in play. Jamestown, the company that owned the property, said it was always considering new real estate opportunities but was focused on another project, the redevelopment of Atlanta's City Hall East.

The IBM site is in the city's northwestern corner, away from the heart of Buckhead. It is not as centrally located as the Paces site, but its size will mitigate concerns about noise from athletic events, traffic and parking.

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$300 Million Chattahoochee Project Up for Cobb Vote

2011-02-14T08:15:00.001-05:00

From the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (Janel Davis)

A development team is proposing a $300 million mixed-use project along the Chattahoochee River in Cobb County that has some area business owners worried about the impact on their companies.

If approved, Green Street Properties, Marthasville Development and Jamestown Properties would build a development with a mixture of residential and commercial components on about 81 acres in the south Cobb area on both sides of River View Road near I-285. The group is seeking a zoning change for the area from heavy industrial to Planned Village Community.

This popular type of development, where residents can live, work and shop, was approved unanimously, with stipulations, by the county’s planning board earlier this month. The County Commission is set to make a final decision on Tuesday.

The Atlanta Regional Commission and the Georgia Regional Transportation Authority approved the project in December, and a mixed-use project like this is included in a master plan of the area completed last year.

The plan calls for 155 single-family homes, 332 townhomes, 165 condominiums, 200 senior housing units and 850 apartment units, along with retail and office space. The developers’ attorney Garvis Sams calls the project an enhancement for the area that also will have an environmental impact as the group works to secure funding to clean up the riverbank.

“There are other mixed-use developments [in Cobb], but they haven’t been able to leverage the river the way this project does,” said Sams, a partner with Sams, Larkin and Huff in Marietta. Despite the proposed advantages, the development’s location concerns some business owners in the area.

Members of the Chattahoochee Business Association organized and hired an attorney to present their concerns -- among them, traffic flow in an area they say can’t handle the additional cars and that the project lies in the current 100-year flood plain.

A revision to the current flood plain has been submitted to the federal government that would impact this section of the Chattahoochee River, according to the planning documents.

Developers also are planning to fill and raise the road level in the lowest areas to solve any flooding issues. “There are portions of the 81 acres in the flood plain, but now we don’t show any buildings in the flood plain,” Sams said.

Still, the development so close to heavy industrial businesses would present problems, said Clint Stamps, a member of the business association and owner of Stamps Sand Co. “Everyone has the right to do what they want to do with their property, but in these times, Green Street took a gamble and I don’t think this is the place for a live, play type of major development.”

To make the plan work, developers plan to install buffers between the industrial businesses and make road improvements to help traffic flow. They agreed to a formula to balance the project between apartments and other uses, and will require residents to sign affidavits stating that they are aware of their industrial neighbors, noise and smells.

“Originally at public meetings, there was a concern that we were going to try to run [the existing industrial business owners] out of business, but I think we can co-exist in that area,” said Commissioner Woody Thompson, whose district includes the proposed project.

Construction for mixed-use projects is not feasible right now, said Scott Amoson, research director for Colliers International, but the Cobb project has the advantage that developers are able to fund the project themselves.

“There is nothing else that will be in competition because everyone else will have to get financing,” Amoson said. “It’s far enough away from the industrial where the development won’t affect it too much and close enough to other projects in south Cobb, so it definitely could be supported and coexist.”

If approved, developers estimate a seven- to 10-year build-out of the project.

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Most Foreclsures in Fulton County Now Priced Under $75K

2011-02-10T08:36:00.002-05:00

(Source: RealtyStore.com)

Online PR News – 09-February-2011 –Santa Barbara, CA --- The latest data on foreclosure listings in Fulton County, Georgia has been compiled by RealtyStore. Results revealed over half of the real estate foreclosures listed for sale in the Fulton County are priced below $75,000. Listings of bank foreclosures lead the market, representing 69% of all foreclosures currently listed for sale in the county. Although list prices of bank foreclosures can exceed $1 million in the area, the median price of these listings is currently just $78,950, or 61% below the market median home price for Fulton County, according to RealtyStore.

Looking further at REO foreclosure ownership, government owned property is priced lower. The median price of foreclosed houses listed by Fannie Mae / Freddie Mac is $69,900. HUD homes are priced substantially lower, at a $43,000 median price, including opening bid amounts. Considering all list prices for banks and the government sponsored enterprises (GSE's), foreclosure listings in Fulton County show a median price of just $72,900, or 64% below the market median price of $199,900.

"Using median prices as a guide, both bank and government owners of foreclosures appear to be motivated sellers in Fulton County," said Peter Ranck, Vice President of RealtyStore. "Recent RealtyStore reviews of other foreclosure markets have not seen as dramatic a price differentiation as we see in Fulton County. For instance, in Harris County, Texas the median price differential between foreclosure listings and the overall market was 42% and in Hillsborough County, Florida we saw 52%. Foreclosure pricing levels in Fulton County beats these markets handily."

Foreclosures currently represent 9% of all homes listed for sale in Fulton County. This relatively lower level of market saturation may help maintain a higher overall market price, because foreclosures are not weighing on the Fulton market as much as they are in other counties across the country.

Regardless of market saturation levels, foreclosure price points in Fulton County offer a very wide range of home purchase options. Single family homes for sale by Fannie Mae / Freddie Mac start at $9,999 and top out at $479,900. HUD homes offer opening bids at $8,200 and list prices up to $260,000. Bank foreclosure listings are priced from $4,900 for a 3 bedroom / 2 bathroom ranch house with a basement in Atlanta, up to $1,999,900 for a completed but never lived-in, foreclosed custom home in Alpharetta with 7 bedrooms, 9 baths, elevator and internal apartment suite in 6,760 square feet.

Definitions:

REO is an acronym for Real Estate Owned. Real estate foreclosed with title held by a bank or other lender, or a government enterprise (GSE) including the VA, HUD or Fannie Mae / Freddie Mac.

Foreclosure listing is an REO with an active for-sale price listed.

Median price is the list price where one-half of listed homes are priced higher and one-half are priced lower.

Foreclosure data analysis notes:
RealtyStore Reviews and Foreclosure Trends studies provide the total number of REO foreclosure properties with a recording date on or before the date of this release. REO properties have completed the foreclosure process and have been repossessed by a bank, lending institution or government sponsored loan guarantor such as Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, HUD or the VA. REO title holders, inventory counts and prices in any area can vary at any time. REO counts and prices are accessed through RealtyStore’s proprietary database which is derived through hundreds of public and private data providers. Local housing market data is derived from third party and public records offices.

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New School to be Part of Belmont Hills Redevelopment Plan

2011-02-09T12:09:00.002-05:00

From the Marietta Daily Journal (Kathryn Malone )

MARIETTA - The Cobb County School District announced its site plans Tuesday for the long-awaited new Smyrna elementary school. The school will be located on property between Ward Street and Atlanta Road in Smyrna, which would make it a central part of the redevelopment of the former Belmont Hills shopping center.

The district plans to purchase three parcels of land to make up an 18-acre site for the new school, which will back up to Campbell High School property. About 9 acres of the proposed school site is part of the 48-acre Belmont Hills redevelopment, owned by Halpern Enterprises.

The district has also committed to buying the Smyrna Commons apartment complex from the City of Smyrna's Downtown Area Development Corporation. That complex would be torn down in 2012 to construct an Atlanta Road-Ward Street connector as part of the county's 2011 SPLOST referendum, a plan that was already set in place when the city first bought the complex. Part of the 7.5 acres acquired from Smyrna Downtown Area Development Corporation, which would border the new road, would be converted to playing fields and open space to be used by both the new elementary school and Campbell High School.

The district plans to buy a final 1.5-acre parcel of land from a residential property owner.

Combined, the land will cost $7.8 million. The school board will vote to purchase the land at its Feb. 17 meeting.

The district said it plans to have the new Smyrna school open by fall 2013.

School board member Tim Stultz, who represents the area where the school would be built, said he has worked closely with Smyrna Mayor Max Bacon and the city council, and that they are excited about the district's plans for the site.

Stultz said he believes that the school will help spur redevelopment on the stalled Belmont Hills project.

"This is an excellent proposal that would seem to serve the entire community well," Stultz said in a release from the district. "...We hope, in fact, that a school of this quality will help spur redevelopment sooner than it may otherwise occur."

Although the board has yet to discuss construction of the school, the district's initial plan was to use the new school as a replacement for the 1955-era Brown Elementary, located on Brown Road, about 2 miles from the new school's proposed site. The school was also meant to provide relief for Argyle Elementary, about 2.8 miles from the new site; Belmont Hills Elementary, about 1.2 miles from the new site; and King Springs Elementary, which is more than 3 miles from the proposed site.

Voters approved construction of the new Smyrna elementary school as a part of the district's third special purpose local option sales tax in 2008. It is budgeted for $28 million and has not yet been named.

The entrance for the new school will likely be off Atlanta Road, district spokesman Jay Dillon said. But Stultz said the school would be far removed from the street, so that traffic on Atlanta Road should not be a factor.

Both Dillon and Stultz said the school's plans are not contingent upon the passage of the county's SPLOST vote in March, and that if the Atlanta Road-Ward Street connector was not built the district would make other plans for that area.

Stultz said he believes the land adjacent to the school, which is owned by Halpern, is still slated for mixed-use commercial and residential development.

As for the new elementary school's proximity to Campbell High School, Stutz said he would see to it that the two schools do not feel as though they are right on top of one another.

"If it's a concern what we want to do during that process of the construction of the school is to be able to construct (the new elementary school) in a way that will make it seem that Campbell isn't right next-door to it," the board member said.

Stultz will hold a public forum at Campbell High School on Feb. 16 at 6:30 p.m. to discuss the site plans for the new Smyrna elementary school.

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Vacant Buildings Cost Owners

2011-02-08T08:34:00.001-05:00

From the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (Shane Blatt & David Wickert)

Faced with foreclosures and other abandoned properties tarnishing metro Atlanta neighborhoods, a growing number of local governments are requiring owners to register vacant structures — and pay a fee.

Fulton and DeKalb counties and the cities of Loganville, Riverdale and Powder Springs already have enacted ordinances. Gwinnett County and Lawrenceville are considering similar legislation.

“I think every local government’s preference would be that those properties not be vacant,” said Amy Henderson, spokeswoman for the Georgia Municipal Association. “Vacant properties affect the quality of life in your community and property values of surrounding properties, so cities obviously want to prevent or mitigate some of that.”

But critics, including a number of real estate agents, say the laws are more about raising money than restoring vacant properties.

“It’s a sign of desperation,” Snellville Mayor Jerry Oberholtzer said. “It basically says we can’t fix the problem, so we’re going to live with it and try to make some money off it. That’s socialism right there.”

Local jurisdictions say the registries are intended to help solve a long-standing problem amid the collapsed housing market: locating the person or financial institution responsible for an abandoned structure and, in many cases, forcing those owners to fix shattered windows or mow foot-high grass.

Officials say such properties, both residential and commercial, are breeding grounds for crime, accidents and fires, and that they lower the value of nearby residences.

“We feel it’s a detriment to our city,” Mayor Ray Nunley of Loganville said.

In January, Loganville city leaders adopted an ordinance requiring owners of vacant structures to register their properties with the city and pay a $100 annual fee.

That fee would go toward recouping the cost of tracking down owners of abandoned buildings, code enforcement officer Tim Prater said. Last year, Prater said, he and another code enforcer logged more than 500 hours hunting down responsible parties, many of them banks.

“The way the banks are now, it’s nearly impossible to track them down because they have so many subsidiaries,” he said. “It takes hours and hours to get to the right person.”

He said a recent inventory showed the community of six square miles has 120 vacant residential properties and a yet-to-be-determined number of empty commercial structures.

DeKalb County’s ordinance, approved in July, requires creditors to register foreclosed properties with the county and pay a $175 fee. The registry applies only to properties foreclosed on or after Oct. 27.

Those who violate the registry face a $1,000-a-day fine. The fines, along with the $175 fee, were used to hire more code enforcement officers.

Since November, 849 properties have been registered, and the county has collected $148,575 in fees, spokesman Burke Brennan said.

In 2010, DeKalb had 18,781 foreclosures, and 1,534 foreclosures in January of this year, Brennan said.

Fulton County started requiring vacant property registration Feb. 1. Owners pay a $175 fee.

Tony Phillips, assistant director of Fulton’s Environment and Community Development Department, said properties that comply with county codes are exempt from registration.

“This is not designed to be a burden upon good property owners,” Phillips said. “It’s designed to help us address what everyone acknowledges is a problem.”

Gwinnett is the latest county to consider fees for vacant buildings. The county Planning Department recently proposed a $100 annual vacant house permit fee, with a $50 renewal. It also proposed a $200 annual fee for boarding up buildings, with a $100 renewal.

“We’ve got to be able to have a mechanism to address this problem,” Commissioner Mike Beaudreau said.

Nonetheless, the Gwinnett County Commission tabled the proposal last month after some residents objected.

Real estate agent Mark Lackey said the fees would penalize people who are relocating or trying to rent properties even if they maintain them.

“I don’t believe all of those individuals who are doing the right thing should be penalized,” he said.

Lackey’s sentiments are shared by the Atlanta Board of Realtors. Robert Broome, the group’s government affairs director, said local governments already have laws that allow them to address nuisance properties.

Broome said registries and fees don’t work and are more about generating revenue than addressing blighted properties. Local governments already know who owns vacant properties, he said.

“When the county wants to send you your property tax bill, they don’t have any trouble tracking you down,” he said.

Some governments have rejected vacant-property fees and registries.

Barrow County considered a registry but abandoned the idea after officials discovered the costs involved. Director for storm water management Shannon Navarre, who oversees code enforcement, estimated a $200,000 price tag for the software and additional hires for inspections and clerical duties.

“When you really sit down and do the math, if you caught this as the housing crisis was just beginning, [the registry] would be a great thing,” she said. “But you can’t go and back-charge the properties that have been empty. You have to get the new foreclosures that are coming up. So if you’re catching it at the tail end of the crisis, it’s not so good.”

Still, given the magnitude of the foreclosure crisis, some see a need for registries.

Lawrenceville real estate agent Rodney Camren said a registry would make property owners accountable for building upkeep, which in turn would make neighborhoods more attractive to prospective buyers.

“When I take a buyer out to neighborhoods, if they see other homes in that neighborhood not taken care of, they won’t go look at the house we’re supposed to look at,” Camren said. “It’s almost like a disease. If neighborhoods don’t protect themselves, that one bad home will spread to other streets

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Cobb Foreclosure Notices Dip Slightly For March

2011-02-04T08:39:00.002-05:00

From the Marietta Daily Journal (Marcus E. Howard)

MARIETTA - Foreclosures in Cobb continue piling up, as 1,262 foreclosure notices have been submitted to the Journal for the upcoming March auction.

Although monthly numbers are 4.4 percent less than they were this time last year - there were 1,320 notices submitted for the March 2010 sale - year-to-date numbers continue to show an increase in foreclosures.

The number of foreclosures submitted to the Journal so far in 2011 is up 11.9 percent, compared to the same time period last year.

To date this year, 2,518 foreclosures have been submitted to the Journal. During the same time period in 2010, there were 2,250 notices submitted.

The Journal refers to foreclosures in the month of the sale, rather than the month of publication. These are the second foreclosures this year, because the legal notices are published in January. In 2010, there were a total of 15,854 notices submitted to the Journal.

Legal notices must be published on four consecutive Fridays before a property can be sold at auction. Not all properties advertised necessarily end up at auction.

The auction begins at 10 a.m. on the first Tuesday of each month on the steps of the Cobb Superior Courthouse in Marietta. The next sale is March 1.

In 2010, Cobb-based building company Kerley Family Homes purchased between 50 and 60 residential lots in foreclosure, said Joe Kerley, who along with his father Gene Kerley started buying foreclosed lots in subdivisions from banks.

"In Cobb, it's getting less and less and less, because no one is putting new lots on the ground," said Joe Kerley, 31, of Marietta. "There's no more developments going on to put new subdivisions in, so we're just buying up the ones that are there."

He said a typical lot in Cobb cost about $40,000.

Among the nation's 20 largest metropolitan areas, metro Atlanta area had the third largest increase in foreclosure activity from 2009 to 2010, according to RealtyTrac's 2010 Year-End Metropolitan Foreclosure Market Report.

Foreclosure activity increased 21 percent from 2009 in metro Atlanta, according to the data. The Houston (26 percent) and Seattle (nearly 23 percent) areas had larger increases.

Metro Atlanta also reported 38,535 bank repossessions in 2010, rounding out the top five metro areas in the nation for the most bank-owned properties. The Phoenix area reported the most of any metro area with 55,372 bank repossessions, followed by Chicago (45,555), Detroit (43,541) and Miami (42,630).

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North Georgia Real Estate Market 'Evolving'

2011-02-03T08:16:00.002-05:00

From the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (Jeffry Scott)

The battered real estate market in the north Georgia foothills and mountains will never fully recover to mid-2000s boom levels, but it is evolving as more prudent buyers seek value properties.

That's the conclusion of Frank Norton, a Gainesville real estate and insurance executive who issues an annual report, called Native Intelligence, on the economy of the region north of metro Atlanta. He released the latest edition, based on data from 30 counties and a survey of about 1,500 subscribers to his newsletter, on Thursday.

Norton said indicators including declining inventories of property, low interest rates, and improving job stability, suggest a recovery, but he added that is misleading when it comes to real estate.

“Real estate as a source of shelter and a source of super wealth accumulation has been forever shaken,” he writes. “Consumers have pulled back, stockpiling piggy banks not closets and have refocused their interest toward value priced consumables, the bare basic necessities, not extravagant luxuries.”

One indicator of that, according to Norton's report, is a gradual rise in second home purchases over the last 18 months. Sales of homes under $500,000 on Lake Lanier have been strong, and so have sales of cabins for under $200,000 in Lumpkin, Rabun, Towns, White and Habersham counties.

A big difference now vs. three years ago is that 90 percent of the homes were bought with cash, according to real estate records.

Second home buyers are “reallocating their asset baskets, cashing in bonds, diverting funds from money markets, divert stock portfolios in order to save in their ‘perceived’ safe haven – second home real estate,” writes Norton.

At the same time, the luxury market remains hugely overstocked, Norton said, citing a 10-year inventory of Lake Lanier homes valued at more than $1 million.

The report says real estate numbers in Forsyth County are the most encouraging of any county in North Georgia. Forsyth issued about 1,200 new home permits in 2010, compared to the neighboring counties of Gwinnett, with about 1,100, and Cherokee, with about 500.

His report says a rising number of investors are buying small parcels of timberland in North Georgia at prices ranging from $1,800 to $5,000 an acre.

Norton said 25.6 percent of North Georgia businesses who responded to the newsletter subscriber survey said they expected to increase hiring in 2011, and 30.1 percent said they expect to expand this year. However, 58.6 percent said they expect to increase production, suggesting firms are doing more with fewer people.

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Foreclosure Crisis Hitting Some Metro Churches

2011-02-02T08:19:00.002-05:00

From the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (Sheila M. Poole & Craig Schneider)

It seems that even houses of worship aren’t immune from foreclosure.

The wave that swept through metro Atlanta’s residential market, forcing thousands from their homes, has also swamped dozens of area churches.

More than 90 metro Atlanta churches were posted for prospective foreclosure from 2006 to 2010, according to a review by the Kennesaw-based real estate research firm Equity Depot for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. At the end of the day, roughly 50 of those churches were actually lost through foreclosure proceedings.

Of 113 churches currently listed for sale in metro Atlanta, at least 33 are foreclosures or churches in serious financial trouble, estimated Rick Arzet, an associate broker with Prudential Georgia Realty, who specializes in churches. Although that’s just a small fraction of the churches that dot the Atlanta landscape, the situation is the worst he’s seen in 40 years.

“Churches are the tail on the dog,” Arzet said . “The people in churches are the same people who are your neighbors,” he said -- the same people who are losing jobs and cutting back on spending and that includes donations to the collection plate.

Poor judgment and even ambition sometimes play a role, as well.

“This is one case where there are a lot of similarities between the secular world and the religious world," said Chris Macke, a senior real estate strategist for CoStar Group, a Washington, D.C.-based real estate services firm that monitors the phenomenon.

In some cases, pastors built larger churches at the peak of the economic cycle thinking that good times would continue indefinitely, he said. When they didn’t, or when projected population growth didn’t materialize, many churches were left with large loans and dwindling revenue.

Small churches, many of them with predominantly African-American congregations, dominate the foreclosure lists. But medium-sized congregations and even one megachurch with debts of more than $18 million show up, too.

An excess of optimism spelled trouble for Bible Baptist Church in Newnan, which was forced to leave a 51-acre campus that included a Christian school and three swimming pools. The church, which was growing rapidly, took on $3.8 million in debt in 2006 to improve its sewer system, parking, playground and gym.

When the economy tanked, many church members lost their jobs and offerings started going down, said Pastor Doug Anderson, who has led the church for 21 years. Church membership dwindled from 400 to about 100. The church now holds services in a shopping center.

“We certainly made mistakes,” Anderson said. “We just got too much debt … We probably tried to do too much too fast.”

Most of the services it supplied to the community have stopped. There is still a Christian school, but no athletics and no summer camp. There are no buses to go into the poor areas and pick up kids.

That's typical: When a church is forced to retrench, its outreach to the surrounding community often suffers. No longer can community members turn to the church for food, clothing, counseling and other support.

"You're not just losing property," said the Rev. Michael Wright, of Concerned Black Clergy of Metropolitan Atlanta, who said his office has fielded calls from about 45 churches in financial straits. "Back in the day, a lot of communities were built around the church. We're losing an information center, a community center and a centerpiece of the community."

Some groups are working to address the problem. At noon Thursday, agroup of Atlanta pastors and representatives from local financial institutions are scheduled to meet at Grace Community Christian Church in Kennesaw to examine ways to handle church foreclosures.

For more than a decade, the Rainbow PUSH Coalition has helped pastors around the nation navigate the financial side of church. To weather the financial storms, said Axel Adams of Rainbow PUSH, churches are cutting back on expenses, combining services and reducing staff. He called the situation in Georgia “fairly bad.”

“I think a lot of churches were really not prepared. We have pastors who read the Bible and interpret Scripture, but a lot were really not paying attention to what was going on economically,” he said.

Some lenders are willing to work with churches, others are not, Adams said. “Some lenders will go beyond the call to ensure that churches stay in business,” he said. “They see the importance of these institutions being in the community.”

Church in the Now, a Conyers megachurch led by James Swilley, watched its congregation explode in the late 1990s.

“I was under the impression it was time to take it to the next level,” Swilley said. “I hate to say we overbuilt, but we did.”

In 2003, he got a loan for about $18 million from Evangelical Christian Credit Union. But the church has been losing members, and money, since. Some of the problem was the recession, but Swilley said some members disagreed with his “very liberal” view of theology. Membership also took a dip after Swilley announced last October that he is gay.

Membership is down to 1,000 now. The 9 a.m. service Sunday, which draws about 100 people, meets in the lobby of the church, not in the 2,500-seat hall.

“It looks like in a few months, we might not be able to stay here,” Swilley said.

Just as it is for a family, foreclosure is traumatic for a congregation.

Last April, the Rev. Don Brealond was stunned when he arrived at his Word of Life Church International in Bartow County to find the locks changed and his belongings outside.

"It was really difficult emotionally," said Brealond. "Everything just fell apart."

The foreclosure ended several years of growth for his church, which had met in a local hotel, a shopping center and an office building before borrowing $600,000 to buy an existing church building.

Brealond said he was advised to borrow from a local private lender for a few months at a higher interest rate, then refinance with a bank. But the bank loan never materialized and soon, the church was falling behind in its payments.

"I got some bad advice," he said. "And I didn't have enough experience to know I was getting bad advice. ... How many pastors do you know who can pay the bills, run the business of the church and get out there and preach and teach and be available to the people?"

For a while he shared the building with another church, then he tried to rent it out for special events. The church now exists on paper only, he said.

Severe financial problems can set church members against one another.

Many members of Flat Rock Community Church near Lithonia say the church should never have taken the loan of $900,000 to build a new 300-seat sanctuary in 2005. But others point out that three major subdivisions were planned for the neighborhood, and the church wanted to grow along with it.

When the Great Recession hit and those subdivisions weren't built, the congregation divided over how to stay afloat. Some favored a merger with another church, others wanted to simply hand the deed back to the bank.

“It divided the church real bad,” said William Waits, 72, of Decatur, a longtime member.

A pastor was replaced. The chairman of the board of trustees resigned. The church staved off foreclosure late last year by declaring a bankruptcy, but recent court documents indicate that the bankruptcy has been dismissed.

“It has become a mess,” said Jamie Jenkins, an official with the North Georgia Conference of United Methodist Churches. “It’s an unfortunate mess. Nobody wins.”

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Atlanta to Unveil Its Plans for the Future

2011-02-01T08:26:00.001-05:00

From the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (Ernie Suggs)

By 2030, Atlanta will have at least 100,000 more people — along with greater traffic problems, a need for additional green space and the desire for more economic development.

Where and how those people will shop, live, play, get around and work is now on Atlanta’s table.

The city’s planning office is set to unveil its 2011 Comprehensive Development Plan, a long-term strategy to shape the look and feel of the city over the next 20 years.

In it are detailed assessments, projections and predictions of how the city will change over the next two decades, including areas such as transportation, economic development, housing and urban design.

Several years ago, a similar plan identified the need to redevelop the old Atlantic Steel location. That site is now Atlantic Station.

It’s not known whether something like that is on the horizon, but Charletta Wilson Jacks, director of the office of planning, said the potential is there.

“This is a planning tool,” Jacks said. “It gives us the guiding principals. We need a road map to address growth and development in the city.”

In creating the development plan, Jacks said Atlanta is complying with state regulations that require local jurisdictions to periodically update their plans to remain eligible for state and federal grants. Atlanta specifically mandates the preparation of a CDP every three to five years.

Jacks said that instead of merely updating the last plan, they have created a whole “new document.”

Jessica Lavandier, an urban planner for the city and project manager for the CDP, said Atlanta’s population growth will play a key role in future planning.

After 20 years of population decline, Atlanta’s population grew from 416,474 in 2000 to 540,921 by 2009, a 29 percent increase.

By 2030, the population is expected to grow by another 104,660 new residents, Lavandier said.

She added that while Atlanta’s population has grown over the past 10 years, the number of jobs has decreased by more than 90,000 and the percentage of residents living in poverty remains among the highest in the nation.

One idea in the plan is creating zones in select areas of the city that would provide state job tax credits and incentives for job growth.

Another idea would be to attract bioscience opportunities around research institutions, medical facilities and Fort McPherson.

According to the plan, green space is another area that has to be addressed. Several studies have shown Atlanta has less green space than other cities of comparable size and density.

To address that, one suggestion would be to adopt a master plan for each city park to guide the pursuit of funding and create capital improvement plans.

Starting today, there will be a series of seven meetings to introduce the plan to various sections of the community and get feedback.

The city will hold two additional series of community meetings before the plan has to be finalized Oct. 31.

“From a planning perspective, this step is very important because the issues and opportunities identified by the residents will set the stage for establishing policy directives,” Jacks said. “How do we move forward? How do we evolve into the city that the citizens envision?”

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Avondale Estates Ends Agreement with Multi-Use Developer, Anxious to Try Again

2011-01-31T09:15:00.002-05:00

From the Atlanta Journal Constitution (Bill Banks)

Nearly six years ago, Florida-based Century Retail was planning a sprawling, ambitious 375,000-square-foot mixed-use development in downtown Avondale Estates.

Today the single testament to the city's project with Century Retail – which filed for bankruptcy last fall -- is what locals call "the erector set" -- a two-story steel skeleton of building that has stood unfinished and untouched for 2 ½ years.

Last week, after years of discussion, acquisitions and accusations, the development agreement came to a quiet end during a Board of Mayor and Commissioners Regular Meeting.

“We are going to move forward in pursuing discussions with development companies," Mayor Ed Rieker said. "We want to get the word out that Avondale is developer friendly.”

Located east of Decatur, 87-year-old Avondale Estates is known for its Tudor-Revival architecture, a favorite of city founder George Francis Willis who revered Shakespeare’s birthplace, Stratford-upon-Avon. But the proposed project, to cover 5.6 acres and be called Avondale Marketplace, was unlike anything the city had undertaken.

“It was planned for eight to 10 phases,” Commissioner David Milliron said. “The only one we ever discussed was Phase 1-A, which included a Publix, a public garage, and a mixed use of restaurants and condos.”

Mike O’Keefe, longtime owner of Avondale Pizza Café who, along with four other businesses, relocated to get out of the development’s way, said, “It was going to be beautiful, man -- streetscapes, shops, everything.”

The potential development covered roughly a three-block stretch on East College Avenue. Commissioner and real estate attorney Michael Payne estimates Century Retail bought out “10 to 15 separate landowners” along that tract paying $23 million, a price most say was far too high.

But despite the acquisitions and despite an agreement in early 2008 that would have given Century Retail special zoning and building variances outside of the city’s existing zoning laws, no dirt was ever turned.

One business owner who didn’t sell was Bonnie Kallenberg, who founded and runs Finders Keepers Consignment.

“We had just built our new building 10 years before Century came to us [in 2005],” she said. “I didn’t want to tear it down, but finally I said I would sell if they would build me a building. They agreed to that. They wanted to work with us, they wanted to show they weren’t ruthless.”

Kallenberg’s plan was for her business to occupy the new building’s lower level, while she and her husband lived in an upper-level condo. Construction began in early 2008 on the building two blocks west of the proposed development, and it is what is referred to now as "the erector set."

About that time, Clai Brown was hired as the fifth city manager in three years, and Ed Rieker was elected mayor, both indications of the city's pro-development direction. But later that year, the economy tanked.

“I passed by the [new] site one day, I think around September [of 2008],” Kallenberg said, “and I didn’t see any hardhats. A few days later, they were back picking up their stuff. I knew then we were in trouble.”

Many business owners said the project’s failure lies with both the city and the developer. Century Retail likely overpaid for property. It also filed for bankruptcy and finally defaulted on its agreement. Brown said that of the $50,000 owed the city by that agreement, Century Retail paid only $12,500.

Ted Sandler, a Sandy Springs-based attorney who represents Century Retail in Georgia, confirmed the company's troubles.

“[Century] filed for bankruptcy last fall,” Sandler said. “I think there’s a likelihood there will be some kind of reorganization plan to pay off all creditors. But in truth, I don’t know what will happen for sure, and I have no idea how long [bankruptcy proceedings] will take.”

Some blame the city’s business methods back when the relationship began.

“In hindsight, it was too big of a project for the city to take on back then,” Kallenberg said. “It was a whole different city council, and we had people who don’t even live here anymore who kept holding things up. For all the people who wanted this done, there was a lot of opposition. People were worried about the lights, the noise and traffic.”

Milliron said the city is better equipped to manage such a project.

“This city wants development, no question about it,” he said. “Plus, we now have the right [government] infrastructure in place, which we didn’t have [six years ago]. We now have the right city manager, we have a full-time city planner and an economic development officer.”

Even so, the city can't do much until Century Retail's bankruptcy case is resolved and the property is sold.

“Yes, we want to be proactive," Milliron said. "We want to facilitate conversations [with developers]. We really want to get going on some project. But we can’t do anything until we know who the next landowner is.”

Meantime, the three-block area of downtown Avondale Estates, with the exception of Kallenberg’s Finders Keepers, is a ghost town.

“There’s no real business synergy here,” Kallenberg said, “and it’s pretty scary at night when we close up. I just hope [the city] can get going on something new as soon as possible.”

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Atlanta Region's Leaders Ask for Unified Mass Transit

2011-01-27T09:00:00.002-05:00

From the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (Ariel Hart)

Local leaders from across the Atlanta region have asked the Legislature to form a regional mass transit agency to serve as an umbrella over the metro area’s various systems.

The legislators who hold the cards have said they don’t plan to do that this year. But the move at the Atlanta Regional Commission, pushed by Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed, marks an important symbolic step in a region that historically has been known for its patchwork of transportation systems and its dissent on the issue of MARTA.

Reed, in a statement, called it “an important step forward and a sign of regional unity in our desire to create a truly world-class transit system for metro Atlanta.”

The ARC will deliver the suggested legislation to a committee chaired by Rep. Donna Sheldon, R-Dacula, that a new law set up last year to decide what to do about regional mass transit.

Mass transit advocates had hoped the committee would take significant, fast action, setting up a regional system in 2011. If that were done, when voters are asked in 2012 to fund new projects in a transportation tax referendum the regional transit system already could be an established, well-known candidate for funds.

"It needs to get done as soon as possible" in order for referendum voters in Fulton and DeKalb counties to be convinced by 2012 that the region is serious about making a more seamless transit system, said Chick Krautler, director of the ARC.

However, Sheldon said last month that 2011 is not the year.

"This is a major investment in the community and so we need to take our time and be careful,” she said.

Marshall Guest, a spokesman for House Speaker David Ralston, said Wednesday House leaders still intended to wait. "This doesn’t change what we’ve said previously," he said. "We’re going to allow the governance commission to work."

On the Senate side, Tommie Williams, R-Lyons, said this week that there is no groundswell for major transit legislation this year.

In the proposed legislation, MARTA and other local systems like Cobb Community Transit could continue to exist under a new metropolitan transit authority. But when new money comes to transit, including revenues from the referendum if it is successful, the new authority would plan and spend those.

Individual counties would have representatives on the authority. But it would no longer take a county referendum, for example, to expand MARTA rail into Gwinnett County.

The proposed system is based on the model of Chicago's transit system, according to ARC.

That system is not perfect, said Steve Schlickman, who formerly headed Chicago's system and testified before Sheldon's committee last year. When the legacy systems continue to exist under the umbrella, some of the parochial rivalries may remain.

He said the ideal is one unified system, if that is politically possible.

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Housing Index Continues to Fall

2011-01-26T08:14:00.001-05:00

From the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (Michelle E. Shaw)

If new lows reported in metro Atlanta home pricing by the November S&P Case Shiller Index are an omen of a previously forecasted double-dip in the housing market, one local expert is doubtful.

The index, released Tuesday, saw metro prices fall 7.8 percent when compared to November 2009 and 2.9 percent when compared to October 2010, according to the non-seasonally adjusted numbers. Existing single-family home sales have been in steady decline since August, the data shows.

“I wouldn’t say this is part of a double-dip because we never really came out of our low period,” said Steve Palm, president of Marietta-based real estate data company SmartNumbers. “What we do have to hold on to is that houses under contract in November and December exceeded those in the same months during 2009, which hasn’t happened in two years. That’s good news.”

But the reality of the November index is this: Atlanta is one of eight metro areas that reached a new index low. Also on that list are Charlotte, Detroit, Las Vegas, Miami, Portland, Ore., Seattle and Tampa. Locally, prices continue to fall further back on the calendar and are currently resting between values of January and February 2000.

Nationally, the 20-city index fell 1 percent month-over-month and 1.5 percent year over year.

The housing market, which usually leads the economy out of a recession, is holding it back this time. New home sales are in the doldrums and mortgages are hard to come by. Government programs have stanched the bleeding but do not provide permanent relief.

“With these numbers, more analysts will be calling for a double-dip in home prices,” said David M. Blitzer, chairman of the Index Committee at Standard & Poor's.

A double-dip occurs when a short period of growth turns into a season of loss, following an initial time of loss.

Blitzer said 14 of the 20 metro statistical areas surveyed have "posted at least four consecutive months of decline with November’s report and 13 of the MSAs [metropolitan statistical areas] fell by 1 percent or more in November."

Analysts said the declines would continue, though they would be nowhere near as intense as in 2007 and 2008.

“The enormous supply overhang of existing homes [particularly factoring in all those in foreclosure or soon to be] promises to keep pressure on prices for some time,” Joshua Shapiro, the chief United States economist of MFR Inc., said.

The Case-Shiller Index is a three-month average of prices. One hopeful sign is that on both a seasonally adjusted and an unadjusted basis, the declines measured in November were less than in October.

The New York Times contributed to this article

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Business Owners Campaign to Give Downtown Marietta a Youthful Vibe

2011-01-25T08:40:00.002-05:00

From the Marietta Daily Journal (Jon Gillooly)

MARIETTA - Business owners intent on showcasing downtown Marietta as a place where jazz babies and bons vivants can enjoy theater, art, food and history, will unveil their campaign on Thursday.

Marietta Square gift shop owner Johnny Fulmer, who is helping to spearhead the effort, says downtown antique shops commonly become what they sell - things of the past.

"We're not old and dusty any longer, and it's time to move forward with new ideas," he said.

The idea for the project came from merchants like Fulmer after they were slammed last winter by not only a bad economy, but bad weather and road construction that kept shoppers away.

"Merchants were just, 'we need help, we need help, we need help,'" said Donna Krueger of dk Gallery. "I'm relatively new here. We've just been here since '08, but I think everybody comes and says, OK, where do you go for all our marketing and advertising support, and we don't have that," she said.

So with $2,000 in seed money from the Downtown Marietta Development Authority last spring, the shopkeepers united to form an eight-member non-profit board called The Branding Project to brainstorm ways to attract visitors to downtown Marietta.

Visitors to Disney World know of the Disney brand, just as soda pop drinkers know the Coca-Cola brand. The merchants said it's high time to start promoting a historic downtown Marietta brand.

"What we thought we would try to do is organize the city's advertising campaign, try to work with the Welcome Center on their advertising and maybe the museums and individual merchants, so we put out the same message, the same image, so we know exactly where we're going and how we're doing to get there," said Fulmer, who serves on the DMDA.

Krueger said they want to reach out to east and west Cobb residents before targeting metro Atlanta.

"It's almost like the campaign should be, 'I love Marietta. I just don't go there,'" Krueger said.

Bonnie Reavis of Zenith Design Group, the marketing firm the group is using, said the strategy is to make the old image of downtown Marietta a more contemporary one.

"We're trying to really promote that there's a lot of really cool, current, hip, cultural, immersive, tons of restaurants, impromptu blue grass gatherings outside of the Australian bakery, tours on pedicabs, trolleys, museums. So we're really trying to come out with a bold message of what's here and now, and that's actually the title for the campaign which we're unveiling Thursday," she said.

Board member Cassandra Buckalew, owner of the Historic Marietta Trolley Company, said the campaign is meant to complement, not supplant, the city's historic past.

"There still will be the aspect with the historical element of the city," Buckalew said. "We're not getting rid of that. That's why we put 'historic downtown' in the name of this, and that's what we do with the trolley is tell the story of this town. So that's not something I'm trying to shy away from, but we do need some new people to be in the area because there is so much here."

Reavis said the goal is to usher in people who will sustain the area long term.

"We're wanting to pull the Decatur crowd and pull some of those OTP folks up here, not only to come for a play or coffee shop or jazz celebration, but to say, 'boy, I could get this similar kind of experience, pedestrian friendly, and I could live in a loft environment, and I could spend 60 percent for what I'm spending now for my lifestyle,'" she said.

They look to roll out advertisements on billboards along I-75, place ads in tourist-related periodicals and start a website to market the downtown in the near future.

The group hopes to rely on three sources of funding. It is charging annual $100 membership fee to the 650 stakeholders, from churches to restaurants, that are located within a three-block radius of Glover Park. It plans to hold fundraisers during the year, such as a jazz celebration and displays of university student art work. The group also hopes to get funding from the city and DMDA.

Thursday's campaign rollout begins at 6 p.m. in The Brickyard behind the Historic Marietta Trolley Company on Church Street.

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Alpharetta to Consider Mixed-Use Development

2011-01-24T09:15:00.002-05:00

From the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (Patrick Fox)

Alpharetta will consider a variance request that would clear the way for a large mixed-use complex at Haynes Bridge Road and Ga. 400.

But the applicant, MetLife/Peridot, has generated opposition from some residents who are not over another mixed-use venture two miles away, which has sat idle for two years.

"Some of the stuff just doesn't make sense," said resident Mark McKean. "Look at Prospect Park."

Prospect Park, at Old Milton Parkway and Ga. 400, first went before the Alpharetta City Council in 2005. Then it was proposed as a 64.4-acre project with 472 condominiums, 400,250 square feet of office space, a 136-room hotel and 835,350 square feet of retail space. The plan later grew to 90 acres, and called for fewer residences but more office and retail space.

But work on the complex stalled in 2009 after the developer had cleared the site of trees and began installing utilities. The property now sits abandoned, owned by the bank.

"They call this the gateway to our city," McKean said.

MetLife has owned the Haynes Bridge property for more than 20 years and moved its regional headquarters to the site in 1998. It occupies one of three six-story office buildings on the campus.

Plans for the balance of the property, about 47 acres, call for 40,000 square feet of restaurant space, 70,000 square feet of retail, a 211-room hotel, 447,200 square feet of office use and 546 condominiums. Plans also include a parking deck.

Officials with the development did not respond to requests for an interview, but the initial plan submitted in 2007 received the blessing of the Atlanta Regional Commission.

Alpharetta Community Development Director Diana Wheeler said MetLife/Peridot is seeking the variance now because its plans call for "piping" a stream running through the property so a road can be built. Its federal and state permit to channel the stream through an underground pipe expires next year, she said.

The city planning commission gave conditional approval to the plan at its Jan. 6 meeting.

At that meeting, residents raised concerns over whether the project would be completed once initial work began. Victor Hawa suggested the city require a bond to help insure against clear-cutting of trees.

The City Council will consider the proposal at 7:30 p.m. Monday at City Hall, 2 South Main Street.

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North Georgia Real Estate 'Evolving', Not Recovering

2011-01-21T10:01:00.002-05:00

From the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (Jeffry Scott)

The battered real estate market in the north Georgia foothills and mountains will never fully recover to mid-2000s boom levels, but it is evolving as more prudent buyers seek value properties.

That's the conclusion of Frank Norton, a Gainesville real estate and insurance executive who issues an annual report, called Native Intelligence, on the economy of the region north of metro Atlanta. He released the latest edition, based on data from 30 counties and a survey of about 1,500 subscribers to his newsletter, on Thursday.

Norton said indicators including declining inventories of property, low interest rates, and improving job stability, suggest a recovery, but he added that is misleading when it comes to real estate.

“Real estate as a source of shelter and a source of super wealth accumulation has been forever shaken,” he writes. “Consumers have pulled back, stockpiling piggy banks not closets and have refocused their interest toward value priced consumables, the bare basic necessities, not extravagant luxuries.”

One indicator of that, according to Norton's report, is a gradual rise in second home purchases over the last 18 months. Sales of homes under $500,000 on Lake Lanier have been strong, and so have sales of cabins for under $200,000 in Lumpkin, Rabun, Towns, White and Habersham counties.

A big difference now vs. three years ago is that 90 percent of the homes were bought with cash, according to real estate records.

Second home buyers are “reallocating their asset baskets, cashing in bonds, diverting funds from money markets, divert stock portfolios in order to save in their ‘perceived’ safe haven – second home real estate,” writes Norton.

At the same time, the luxury market remains hugely overstocked, Norton said, citing a 10-year inventory of Lake Lanier homes valued at more than $1 million.

The report says real estate numbers in Forsyth County are the most encouraging of any county in North Georgia. Forsyth issued about 1,200 new home permits in 2010, compared to the neighboring counties of Gwinnett, with about 1,100, and Cherokee, with about 500.

His report says a rising number of investors are buying small parcels of timberland in North Georgia at prices ranging from $1,800 to $5,000 an acre.

Norton said 25.6 percent of North Georgia businesses who responded to the newsletter subscriber survey said they expected to increase hiring in 2011, and 30.1 percent said they expect to expand this year. However, 58.6 percent said they expect to increase production, suggesting firms are doing more with fewer people.

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Forsyth, Cumming Wrestle Over Water

2011-01-20T09:09:00.002-05:00

From the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (Jeffry Scott)

Forsyth County has 186 miles of shoreline on Lake Lanier, and the big lake, which provides most the tap water for metro Atlanta, almost taunts the county to stick a pipe in and take a drink.

Forsyth has tried and failed for years, however, to get a permit to withdraw water from Lake Lanier or from the Chattahoochee River downstream.

The city of Cumming, however, does have the rights to take water from the lake, and, for the last three decades, the burg of about 6,000 people has made millions selling water to the surrounding county of about 175,000.

Now longtime Cumming Mayor Henry Ford Gravitt – who either outfoxed, or out-foresighted the county when he cut the water deal with the US Army Corps of Engineers back in the late 1970s -- said unless the county agrees to reimburse the city about $9 million on a new water plant Cumming built in 2009, he’ll raise the price of water in the next contract.

That could mean higher rates for county consumers.

“The county gets about 65 percent of the water from our intake pipe, so they should be responsible for pay 65 percent of the debt,” Gravitt said of the new plant, which cost about $14 million to build.

Slow down, says Forsyth County Commissioner Jim Boff. The city doesn’t yet have a permit to withdraw water from Lanier with its big new plant, which can pump more than 100 million gallons a day – eight times as much as Forsyth consumes.

“They want us to pay millions for something that's not even legally operable?” said Boff. “That makes no sense to me. I think we should wait two years until the contract runs out, or at least until they get a permit.”

The county’s four other commissioners – Brian Tam, Patrick Bell, Pete Amos and Todd Levent – said they are eager to sit down as soon as they can with the mayor and start negotiating a new deal with Gravitt, maybe within the next few weeks.

Under the existing contract, which expires in May 2012, Forsyth expects to pay Cumming about $3.9 million this year for potable water, and about $300,000 for raw water that it processes at its own plant, said Forsyth County Director of Water & Sewer, Tim Perkins.

The county built its $18.5 million water plant, which opened in 2000, expecting by now it would have permits from either the Corp to take water out of the lake or the Georgia Environmental Protection Division, which issues withdrawal permits for the Chattahoochee River.

Water consultant Eric Nease – whose firm has an $180,000 contract with the county – in December presented the commission with projected numbers of water consumption over the next 50 years and the likely alternative sources, which including building reservoirs and tapping other rivers, such as the Etowah.

U.S. District Court Judge Paul Magnuson’sruling in July 2009 that water supply was an illegal use of Lake Lanier – and that he would turn off the tap to Lanier in July 2012 if Georgia, Alabama, and Florida didn’t come up with a water sharing plan – has made the county’s access to the lake lapping its borders look even more distant.

“There’s a possibility that his ruling could be overrule and that would change our path forward,” said Perkins. “The best source of water for Forsyth County is out of the lake, or the [Chattahoochee] river, and we want to hold out for that solution.”

In the meantime, mayor Gravitt said he’s going to use the leverage of that lake and his permit to make other extractions from the county, as well. He wants to combine the water talks with negotiations over the city’s share of county property taxes and car taxes.

“The county collects more than $200 million in property taxes and we don’t get a proportionate share of that,” said Gravitt. “That, and the water, these are things we need to work out.” He said he has yet to approach the county about a meeting, but he’s ready.

“My calendar is open,” said Gravitt.

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Atlanta Property Taxes: In Cobb, Floods Take Toll on Values

2011-01-19T08:51:00.002-05:00

From the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (Janel Davis)

Tomas Rivera lives on an island.

His home in the Five Oaks neighborhood of Powder Springs is surrounded by empty houses with boarded up windows and a string of “For Sale” signs. Rivera survived the epochal flood of 2009, but parts of his neighborhood did not.

Water rose 6 feet in Rivera’s two-story home. Even though he was able to make repairs and remain in his house, a large chunk of his property’s value vanished with the floodwaters. The value has declined about $41,000 in the year since the flood, and, according to Cobb County tax appraisals, Rivera’s house is now worth far less than what he paid for it 11 years ago.

“I think the county’s value for my house is too low,” he said. “But overall I can’t really disagree because the values all over this area are low. This area is a mess.”

The floodwaters may have receded more than a year ago, but they have continued to wreak havoc on property values and the county’s finances.

Cobb has cut residential property values countywide. An Atlanta Journal-Constitution analysis of 2010 housing data found that the typical Cobb appraisal was 6.9 percent below market value.

For the second consecutive year, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution compared county tax appraisals to actual home sales prices in the five largest metro counties.

The newspaper examined hundreds of thousands of 2010 tax records and tens of thousands of 2009 sales to make the comparison. It found that Cobb and Fulton tax values were slightly less than sales prices, and Gwinnett tax appraisals were slightly higher than sales prices. Clayton County appraisals exceeded values by about 7 percent, but the disparity in DeKalb was 25 percent.

When a homeowner’s tax appraisal is higher than the actual value of the house, the homeowner is paying too much in property taxes.

Cobb County chief appraiser Phil Hogsed said he didn’t know enough about the AJC’s analysis to comment in detail. But he said the findings for his county did not surprise him.

Hogsed said the changing real estate market and changes in state law influenced Cobb’s appraisals this year. A 2009 state law required tax appraisers to take into account distressed sales — including short sales and bank sales — to set housing values, although it gave local governments no direction on how to factor in foreclosures.

“We’re just trying to reflect the market as it was on Jan. 1, 2010,” Hogsed said.

The county’s residential tax digest — the value of real and personal property that governments use to estimate tax revenues and determine budgets — has dropped 10 percent, or $5 billion, this year. In areas where the flooding was worse, the digest dropped even further: 16 percent, or $74 million, for Powder Springs and 18 percent, or $44 million, for Austell.

A look at Cobb’s property tax values for this year shows the largest declines run along Olley and Sweetwater creeks in Austell and Powder Springs. Countywide, homeowners whose property values dropped this year saw an average reduction of 19.8 percent from last year, according to data compiled by the AJC this month.

Rivera’s ZIP code in Powder Springs, 30127, saw a 22.3 percent value drop. Homes in that area were appraised at 7 percent below market value. Residents in ZIP codes 30106 and 30168 in Austell, along with 30060 in a part of Marietta, experienced the largest drop, more than 29 percent. Appraisals in those areas were between 6 percent and 9 percent below market value.

“We made some significant adjustments due to the flooding,” Hogsed said.

Some of those property owners were unhappy that their values were drastically lowered.

“To some degree you’re hurt by the event and then it’s confirmed when you get that assessment notice,” he said. “It’s a loss of investment.”

June Pierce-Hampton’s home in unincorporated Austell, in the 30106 ZIP code, was bought out by the county this year as part of a federal grant program after the flood. Hampton said she received $34,000 from the county for her home on Wesley Drive, before it’s leveled to the ground and cleared for green space.

“It wasn’t a bunch of money, but the way property values are now, it’s doable to take that and buy something else,” she said. “It’s sad to see homes in my neighborhood where people have lived for 10, 15 years now going for $35,000.”

County tax records show her home was valued at $127,540 last year, but dropped 76 percent to $29,990 in 2010.

Despite the flood and foreclosures, Cobb’s property values have been adequately adjusted, said Donna Heavener, executive of the Cobb Association of Realtors.

“We have a lot of high-end properties that are still selling. We are selling the $2 million houses, which offset the lower-priced homes on the foreclosure market,” she said.

Data compiled from her association show that the number of closed sales were down less than 1 percent from last year, with an average sale price of $225,781 across the county. Houses in 2010 sold for 94.8 percent of the listed price, compared to 88 percent in 2009.

“There has been so much talk about how bad the housing market is, but when you look at the statistics it seems to have plateaued,” Heavener said. “We didn’t hear a lot of people saying they were going to be contesting their assessments, which to me indicates that the values are where they need to be.”

Last year, Cobb had 3,872 residential appeals, compared to 3,415 appeals this year, the lowest of the five core metro counties, according to Cobb data. However, residential property tax returns filed by homeowners this year asking for a lower appraisal on their homes increased by 3,557 over last year to 12,877 returns.

“I would think that the problem we have is with falling home values. Appraisals have not kept pace with that. I would not like to think that the county would go out of its way to reduce appraised values,” said Lance Lamberton, president of the Cobb County Taxpayers Association. “I want people to be appraised at market value, whether [home values] decline or increase.”

Lamberton, an Austell resident, successfully appealed his tax bill last year because comparable homes in the neighborhood were selling for significantly less than his home’s appraised value.

“I would encourage homeowners to do what I did, and not wait for the county to do it for you,” he said.

Overall, appraisals throughout the metro area, including Cobb County, are still too high, said David Humphreys, president of Equitax USA, which handles thousands of property tax appeals in the metro area each year.

“They are giving slight reductions up front before you appeal, hoping it will appease people, and people are saying that is not enough when actual values have dropped by double-digits in the last 24 months,” he said. “I think it’s because counties need to generate revenue and it’s politically unfavorable for politicians to vote for tax increases.”

To come up with the money, Humphreys said, politicians tell county tax assessors to keep property values up.

“Counties should be fair to taxpayers,” he said. “And counties need to tighten their belts and work with the lower revenues.”

In Powder Springs, Rivera’s former neighbor Tydus Tarver sees himself as one of the lucky ones. Although his house burned last year when floodwaters prevented county firefighters from reaching it, he paid off that home with insurance money and bought another one five minutes away.

As an AJC photographer was shooting Rivera, Tarver stopped by to check on his old property, now reduced to a slab of concrete.

“We lost everything there was to lose, but we’re OK,” Tarver said. “I had some friends in the neighborhood that are hurting. You can’t give those houses away now. It’s a terrible situation. It’s a dead neighborhood.”

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Cherokee Leaders Set Sights on Parks, Airport Expansion as 2011 Priorities

2011-01-18T08:22:00.002-05:00

From the Marietta Daily Journal (Ashley Fuller)

New parks, an expanded airport and economic development are on the minds of the Cherokee County Board of Commissioners as they set their goals for 2011.

County leaders say they're ready to start park construction projects, step up efforts to rejuvenate southwest Cherokee and complete the Cherokee County Airport expansion.

Commissioner Jim Hubbard said he's "anxious" to see work begin on some of the land the county purchased through the $90 million parks bond "while construction is slow, and we can get real good value for our money."

Commissioner Harry Johnston said he wants to see the board develop a priority list for the park projects and a financial plan on how to build and operate them.

"We need to start delivering on our promise," Johnston said about the parks bond.

County Manager Jerry Cooper said the county is close to completion of the design for the county's aquatic center on Sixes Road, the new park on Brown Industrial Drive in Canton, Patriots Park in southwest Cherokee and the new park on Highway 20 in Macedonia.

Commission Chairman Buzz Ahrens said he wants to see the county's new soccer complex on Blalock Road playable this year.

An important event this year for the county government will be the completion of the Cherokee County Airport off Interstate 575 between Canton and Ball Ground, Cooper said.

The $34 million airport expansion includes $15 million in Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (SPLOST) funds committed by the county government.

The project is extending the 3,414-foot runway and parallel taxiway to 5,000 feet to accommodate corporate jets and increasing the hangar space to up the number of planes that can be based there from 100 to 300.

Ahrens said the final work on the project could be done by April.

"That can't help but attract business," Commissioner Karen Bosch said of the improved airport.

Mrs. Bosch also wants to steer some business this year into the Bells Ferry Road/Highway 92 corridor in southwest Cherokee.

"We want to encourage business to move into that area," she said, adding she champions the corridor every chance she gets.

Commissioner Jason Nelms said a committee of residents who live in the corridor has been formed to assist the county in improving the area.

"We want to create a brand and encourage some things to get going there," he said.

Ahrens said more economic development needs to happen countywide as well to increase the number of jobs available.

"(The Cherokee Office of Economic Development) has got a ton of activity," he said. "Hopefully, we will see some of those things materialize."

Ahrens said the county winning an Opportunity Zone designation last year for Highway 92 from Interstate 75 to Woodstock Road will help economic development.

An opportunity zone is a developmental tool created by the state in 2004 that allows local governments to provide tax incentives for economic development and revitalization of pockets of poverty.

Other accomplishments from 2010 noted by the commissioners include the approval by voters to extend the SPLOST and achieving Work Ready certification.

Georgia Work Ready was started in 2006 by the governor and the state chamber of commerce to improve job training and the marketability of Georgia's workforce.

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Atlanta Property Taxes: New Law Benefits Owners

2011-01-17T08:35:00.001-05:00

From the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (David Wickert)

In the wake of a 2009 Atlanta Journal-Constitution investigation that showed many county property tax appraisals were too high, the General Assembly this year approved Senate Bill 346. Among its provisions:

● Beginning in 2011, counties must send every property owner an annual Notice of Current Assessment, indicating property value. Previously, counties sent notices only if they adjusted appraised values. It’s an important change, because you can appeal your value only if you receive a notice. If everyone gets a notice, everyone can appeal.

● The year after you buy your house, the appraised value can’t exceed the sale price. So, if you bought your house for $200,000 in 2010, the county’s appraised value can’t exceed $200,000 in 2011. The county can raise the value in future years.

● Counties must treat any open-market sale — including a short sale or bank sale — just like any other sale for the purpose of determining property value. Foreclosures are not factored into county appraisals because they are not true open-market sales. Instead, a foreclosure is a legal procedure in which a bank terminates a mortgage and takes possession of a property.

● Property owners will have 45 days to appeal the county’s appraisal, up from 30 days. The law also requires notices to include an estimate of your property tax bill for the current year.

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Atlanta Property Taxes: One Neighborhood's Ups and Downs

2011-01-14T10:32:00.002-05:00

From the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (David Wickert)

Gwinnett County says Michael Hill’s home near Lawrenceville is worth $233,100 for the 2010 tax year. A recent private appraisal shows it’s worth $178,000 — $55,100 less. How can that be? The answer: It’s not just Hill’s home. His entire neighborhood is overvalued by the county by about 32 percent.

A look at Hill’s neighborhood — which includes the Fountain Lakes and Brickshire Park subdivisions — shows the shortcomings of the mass appraisal system and the role distressed sales and state law play in appraisals. Gwinnett Chief Appraiser Steve Pruitt said the neighborhood also shows “how difficult it is to identify a decent value in this crazy market.”

The neighborhood: Hill lives in a stable neighborhood of 239 properties built in the early 2000s. The houses are of average quality and range from 1,800 to 2,500 square feet. They originally sold for $175,000 to $225,000. By the mid-2000s, they were worth $180,000 to $240,000, Pruitt said.

Mass appraisal: County appraisers examine sales from the previous year to reappraise entire neighborhoods. Appraisers say that, to give them a true sense of the market, at least 5 percent of properties should sell in a given year. That would be 12 sales in Hill’s neighborhood. Short of that, county officials may decide not to reappraise the neighborhood that year.

2008 appraisals on target: Only seven homes in Hill’s neighborhood sold in 2007. None was a bank sale. A comparison of sales to county appraisals showed the county’s values are on the money. The county didn’t reappraise the neighborhood.

2009 appraisals under value: Twelve houses sold in Hill’s neighborhood in 2008; one was a bank sale. A comparison of sales to tax appraisals showed county values may be about 10 percent low. Based on that analysis, Pruitt said the county would have raised values in the neighborhood last year. But a new state law prohibited the county from raising anyone’s appraisal last year. The county made no change.

2010 appraisals high: Five homes in Hill’s neighborhood sold in 2009; two of them were bank sales. A comparison of sales to appraisals suggested that county values were 18 percent over market. But with so few sales, it’s difficult to say for sure. The county didn’t reappraise Hill’s neighborhood, but placed it on a “watch list.”

2011 appraisals: A look at 2010 sales shows a dramatic change in Hill’s neighborhood. Through October there were 12 sales, eight of them bank sales. A comparison of sales to the county’s 2010 appraisals suggests the county is now 32 percent over market. “Yes, the neighborhood will be adjusted downward in 2011,” Pruitt said.

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Atlanta Property Taxes: Sales of Foreclosures Will Help Home Values

2011-01-13T10:29:00.002-05:00

From the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (Christopher Quinn)

Lenders foreclosed on nearly 99,000 properties in eight metro Atlanta counties through November of this year, a toxic tidal wave swamping home values in a region that went from ceaseless boom to endless gloom in a few years.

A crash in housing led the nation into the Great Recession, and a recovery in housing will help to lead it back out. But is the market recovering? The numbers and the experts say: Not yet. And perhaps not soon.

John Adams, the chief tax appraiser in Cherokee County, says he has heard predictions of a comeback. But he's not seeing it from the early appraisals his staff is turning in for 2011.

"Everybody thought that by now at least we would be on a pretty steady upward swing, but I am not sure that it's got there yet," Adams said. "We can't even tell if it is going to be flat or down 10 percent or anything. I just would not count on much being up."

Barry Bramlett, whose company Equity Depot tracks foreclosures, says the extraordinary number this year -- Equity Depot counted 98,662 -- may not be the crest of the wave.

"I don't see a drop in the number of foreclosures anytime soon," Bramlett said.

The housing market is under pressure from several directions: The subprime mortgage collapse that started the recession is still washing out of the system; the spike in unemployment has spawned a new wave of defaults and foreclosures; and foreclosures themselves are a cancer on their neighborhoods.

If the bank is forced to take your neighbor's house, it typically will try to sell the house rather than sit on an asset that is producing nothing and costing it money in maintenance and handling. The lender may take a loss on such sales, but the real losers are you and your other neighbors. The "bank sale" next door has undermined the value of your house even if you've never missed a payment and done all your upkeep.

So the key, real estate experts say, is for new buyers to soak up those distressed properties and slowly return the market to stability.

People like Lin Wormley may hold that key.

Wormley, 31, of Marietta, is shopping for a foreclosed-upon home in the Dunwoody and Alpharetta areas.

"I have always been told from back in my college days that you want to get something that always appreciates," Wormley said.

Foreclosures, short sales and and the unmeasurable pool of homeowners desperate to sell because they are teetering on the edge of foreclosure -- all those factors are pushing values down. Regular sellers have to compete against bargain basement prices to move property, and most new home builders have stopped building because they cannot match the prices.

Wormley figures that, if the market is at or near the bottom in price, his investment will have no place to go but up.

"We are just to the point now that it seems like there is definitely more on the market with foreclosures where you might be able to find more for your dollar," he said.

So he decided now could be the perfect time to buy.

Jan Baker, a vice president with Prudential Georgia Realty, sees signs of hope in the sales numbers coming in. About 2,400 of Prudential's 4,510 home sales through November were sales of distressed properties. The fact that makes up 60 percent of Prudential's sales shows that buyers are soaking up some of the excess.

Four and more years ago, when Atlanta's housing market was all growth all the time, a sale involving a foreclosure or a short sale was the exception for the average agent, Baker said.

"I could name those agents in my area that specialized in [distressed sales]," she said.

Now, each of Prudential's agents in its 21 metro Atlanta offices has been trained in the more complex task of buying foreclosures and educated on how to hand-hold buyers through the document-heavy, protracted process, Baker said.

Foreclosures and other distressed sales are being absorbed, but there is more coming onto the market monthly, in record numbers.

For example, Gwinnett County's foreclosures have exploded since the salad days of the county's extraordinary expansion. In 2003, the county had 4,735 foreclosures, according to Equity Depot. Through November of this year, Gwinnett listed 24,483.

Fulton had 8,111 foreclosures in 2003 and 22,623 so far this year.

Those who track sales from real estate offices and as part of number crunching businesses are seeing light on the horizon, perhaps a year or more out.

Gainesville's Norton Agency works mostly across metro Atlanta's northern arc of counties from Gwinnett to Cherokee, has dealt in real estate for 82 years and produces sales and trend analyses for North Georgia.

CEO Frank Norton Jr. said investors are beginning to return to the real estate market, and banks are staffing up for short sales where they have discovered they can make more money than if they let a house go into foreclosure.

Norton has watched the market work its way through the waves of foreclosures. The first wave was dominated by builders turning over unsold houses. The second wave came from people who lost their jobs.

Now, his agency is seeing another job-related wave, people who are turning over homes because they were overextended financially from depending on bonuses or overtime pay to help them make budgets.

Norton thinks sales will continue to bump along through 2011 and start a slow climb back in 2012. It could be 2017 or maybe as late as 2020 before the market reaches its "new normal," which will be healthy sales but will incorporate an evolving idea of the American home. He thinks there is a shift back to simpler, less expansive homes without dramatic spaces such as cathedral ceilings, for instance.

Adams, the Cherokee County's chief tax appraiser, says he thinks less about the future than the here and now, and the present for homeowners is still sobering.

"We might see one neighborhood's values holding steady, while five miles up the road another is going gangbusters," Adams said.

But that is tempered by lower values in another nearby neighborhood.

"Maybe something swings back [up], but then we'll see a batch that is selling 10 to 15 percent below value," he said.

And the specter of foreclosures is always present. Bramlett said the cascading foreclosures will continue.

"We don't expect to see a slowdown over the next year or two," he said.

Foreclosures

County 2003 By Nov. 2010 % increase

Gwinnett 4,735 24,483 417%

Fulton 8,111 22,623 179%

DeKalb 8,157 17,850 118%

Cobb 3,781 13,834 265%

Clayton 3,404 9,676 184%

Cherokee 1,131 4,843 328%

Forsyth 666 3,468 421%

Fayette 561 1,885 236%

Posted by Peachtree Mortgage Services, Inc. Call us today at 770.481.0052, or visit our website at www.peachtreemortgageservices.net. Home mortgage rates are still low!

2011-01-07T08:20:00.000-05:00

From the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (David Wickert and John Perry)

8-DAY SERIES

In 2009, an exclusive, in-depth investigation by the AJC found that amid the historic real estate collapse, many of us paid more in property taxes than we should have. Today marks the beginning of an eight-part series revealing continued flaws in the property tax systems in Clayton, Cobb, DeKalb, Fulton, and Gwinnett counties. We found you still may be paying too much in taxes.

Tax appraisers in five metro Atlanta counties cut home valuations by $17.8 billion this year as they tried to catch up with the tumbling real estate market and respond to pressure from taxpayers and lawmakers.

In many cases, it wasn’t enough.

For the second consecutive year, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has compared hundreds of thousands of tax records to tens of thousands of home sales to determine whether county appraisals are in line with what property is actually worth. The newspaper found that the greatest disparity occurred in DeKalb County, where the typical appraisal exceeded market value by more than 25 percent. The reason: DeKalb failed to fully account for the kind of distressed sales that have become a huge part of the slumping real estate market. The analysis also found that:

● Clayton County cut residential tax valuations by 22 percent in 2010. But the county’s typical residential appraisal remained more than 7 percent above market value.

● Gwinnett cut residential appraisals by nearly 10 percent this year. But its typical appraisal was 2.5 percent too high.

● Typical appraisals in Cobb and Fulton were under market value. But even in these counties many homes were appraised too high.

The AJC’s findings on DeKalb didn’t surprise Patricia Benedict. The foreclosed house she bought in Tucker in May for $85,000 was valued by the county this year at $193,500. If the county appraised Benedict’s house at anywhere near what she paid for it, she would save hundreds of dollars on her $3,456 tax bill.

“I think the county is consciously not doing what they’re supposed to do, because if they did they’d be in a worse budget crisis,” Benedict said. “The county is turning their heads.”

The continuing slide of property values has implications beyond your tax bill: Faced with another year of declining property values, several metro counties are talking about cutting services again in 2011. In DeKalb, the County Commission last week began deliberating a budget that calls for a property tax increase. Gwinnett’s budget envisions service cuts and still has an $18 million deficit that officials will have to try to cover during the year to come.

$233,100 vs. $178,000

Most county tax appraisers have heard complaints such as Benedict’s — that they are artificially inflating tax valuations to keep money flowing to the county. DeKalb Chief Appraiser Calvin Hicks denies that.

“I can assure you I go to no meetings where we appraisers sit around and say, ‘How can we protect our county?’” Hicks said.

DeKalb did a better job of appraising properties that weren’t bank sales or other distressed transactions. On those nondistressed sales, county appraisals were about 3 percent over fair-market value. For distressed sales — roughly a third of sales — the county’s appraisals were 102 percent over market value.

Hicks admitted that DeKalb’s overall appraisals look too high.

“Clearly, looking at the [AJC] numbers, we have more work to do for 2011,” Hicks said.

The AJC’s analysis in 2009 showed widespread disparities across metro Atlanta’s core counties. But most of them clearly made progress this year toward matching up tax valuations with market value.

Except for DeKalb, the counties appear to have met a state standard that requires their typical appraisals to be within 10 percent above or below fair market value.

But that’s little consolation for thousands of homeowners who are paying too much in property taxes because their tax bills are based on county appraisals that are too high.

Since 2006, Gwinnett County has valued Michael Hill’s three-bedroom home near Lawrenceville at $233,100. A private appraiser recently told Hill his home is worth just $178,000 — almost a quarter less than the county appraised it for.

Gwinnett Chief Appraiser Steve Pruitt acknowledged Hill’s property is overvalued and pledged to lower it in 2011. Hill could save $750 on his tax bill if the county appraises his property at what the private appraiser says it’s worth.

“That’s a big difference,” Hill said. He plans to challenge his county value next year.

Residents across the metro area have had similar experiences. And they’re taking action.

Residential appeals in the region’s five largest counties are up 80 percent from two years ago, and many homeowners are winning those appeals.

For example, Gwinnett has finalized 6,742 appeals this year. It reduced the valuations of all of those properties. The average reduction: $33,689.

Appraisers expect even more appeals next year as changes in state law make it easier for homeowners to challenge county appraisals.

Mass appraisal

In its analysis, the AJC compared appraisals and home sales within ZIP codes to get a better sense of what’s going on within counties.

And while county appraisers are trying to catch up with a declining market, they’ve been more successful in some areas than in others.

For example, though the typical Fulton County residential appraisal is 2.6 percent below market value, typical appraisals in some ZIP codes are still as much as 14.5 percent over market value, as determined by sale prices. In other ZIP codes, they’re as much as 28 percent under market value.

So how can some county appraisals be so far off?

County appraisers and other experts say Georgia’s system of “mass appraisals” can’t take the strain caused by the bursting of the real estate bubble.

Each year county appraisers must determine the value of all residential, commercial and other taxable property. The information helps elected officials set tax rates and helps determine your property tax bill. Generally, the more your property is worth, the more you pay.

But government appraisals don’t work like appraisals done by private firms.

A private “fee appraiser” may spend several hours inspecting your house to determine its condition; he or she will also examine what buyers recently paid for comparable properties nearby.

County appraisers don’t have the luxury of carefully evaluating individual properties. The sheer number of parcels they must value — Fulton County, for example, must set values on about 330,000 pieces of property annually — demands a different approach: “mass appraisal.”

Under the mass appraisal system, counties generally reappraise whole neighborhoods using a complex statistical method. The method takes into account sales of nearby properties with similar characteristics.

But they call it mass appraisal for a reason. One measure of the difference between private and government appraisals: A private fee appraisal costs $350 and up; counties may spend just a few dollars for every parcel they appraise.

Critics say the mass appraisal system breaks down during big swings in the market.

By law, county appraisals take sales from the previous year into account. But when the market is rising or falling quickly, a year-old sale can be way out of date. And in the current market, there are fewer sales to give appraisers a sense of what’s happening in individual neighborhoods.

In addition, county appraisals are supposed to be current as of Jan. 1 of each year. So your 2010 appraisal is what the county says your home was worth as of Jan. 1, 2010.

But you probably didn’t receive a county notice of your value until April, if you got one at all. And you probably didn’t get your tax bill until last summer. So, in July 2010 you may have seen for the first time the county’s opinion of what your home was worth on Jan. 1, 2010, which, in turn, was based on sales between January and December 2009.

In a fast-moving market, that lag can mean sticker shock for residents who see what homes in their neighborhood are selling for when they finally have their tax bill in hand.

The Atlanta-area real estate market has been moving fast for a decade as values first skyrocketed and then plummeted when the bubble burst. That means county appraisals may have been off for years.

But there’s a key difference: Pre-bubble appraisals were probably too low. Now many are too high.

“The nature of mass appraisal is, we are behind the curve,” said Fulton County Chief Appraiser Burt Manning. “Nobody is too upset with us when we’re behind the curve when values are going up.”

‘Distressed sales’

Complicating the task of county appraisers is the proliferation of foreclosures, short sales and other “distressed” sales.

Traditionally, appraisers ignored these sales. They believed they didn’t provide a true measure of the market, and they were a tiny fraction of the sales anyway.

That’s no longer the case. Distressed sales now account for most of what’s selling in many metro Atlanta neighborhoods.

Foreclosures, once more common in poor urban areas, have spread to the suburbs as high unemployment lingers and families walk away from mortgages they can no longer afford. In some cases banks are selling the houses for 50 cents on the dollar to recover some money.

The result: Home prices have plummeted. By one measure — the S&P Case-Shiller Index — Atlanta home prices in September fell to levels not seen in a decade.

Facing dramatic market changes, the Georgia General Assembly in 2009 prohibited county appraisers from raising the value on any property unless there was an addition or improvement. The prohibition remains in effect in 2011.

Lawmakers also required appraisers to take foreclosures and other distressed sales into account when appraising properties for tax purposes. To date, counties have used different methods to take distressed sales into account. But appraisers acknowledge it no longer makes sense to ignore them.

“When the bank sales become your usual market transfer, you’ve got to look at them,” said Pruitt, the Gwinnett chief appraiser.

Thousands of appeals

Scott McDaniel of Marietta sent in one of the 37,000 appeals that residential property owners filed in the five largest metro counties this year.

McDaniel challenged Cobb County’s appraisal of his 2,600-square-foot home, which the county said was worth $166,010. It hadn’t changed that value since 2005.

Like many people, McDaniel was trying to trim expenses. He’d already found ways to cut his car insurance and cable television bills. Challenging his county property appraisal made sense.

So he hired a company to appeal his appraisal. The result: A board of equalization cut his appraisal to $136,000. He’ll save about $350 on his tax bill. Hiring the company cost $100.

“It pays for itself, plus quite a bit in the first year,” McDaniel said. “It would be dumb not to do it.”

New law taking effect

Appealing your appraisal is about to get a lot easier.

In the wake of last year’s AJC investigation, the General Assembly approved Senate Bill 346. Among its provisions:

● Beginning in 2011, counties must send every taxpayer a notice of their property’s value each year. Previously, counties sent you a notice only if they changed your value. It’s an important change, because you can appeal your value only if you receive a notice. If everyone gets a notice, everyone can appeal.

● Counties must treat short sales, bank sales and other distressed sales (except foreclosures) just like any other sale for the purposes of determining the value of your property.

● The year after you buy your house, the county’s appraised value can’t exceed the sale price. So if you bought your house for $200,000 in 2010, the county’s 2011 assessed value can’t exceed $200,000. The county can raise the value in future years.

● Taxpayers will have 45 days to appeal their appraisal, up from 30 days.

State Senate Majority Leader Chip Rogers, who sponsored the bill, said he wanted to simplify the appraisal and appeals processes.

“I would expect nine out of 10 people in Georgia don’t understand how the system works,” Rogers said.

County officials say there will be consequences. Among them: higher costs at a time when county budgets already are stretched thin.

For example, Fulton County expects to spend $120,000 more on postage next year to mail notices to every taxpayer. County appraisers say there will be other administrative costs as well.
Rogers is unsympathetic, saying the law should be judged “not by how it will impact the people collecting the taxes but how it affects people paying taxes.”

Perhaps the biggest effect of the new law: Appraisers expect another jump in appeals next year. More appeals, combined with the continuing real estate slump and changes to appraisal law, may mean another big cut in residential appraisals in 2011.

That could mean property tax relief for homeowners. Or it could lead local governments to raise taxes to balance budgets. Or it could mean fewer public services or larger class sizes as property tax revenue wanes.

Whatever the outcome, declining values may be a mixed blessing for homeowners who have watched gains from their biggest asset evaporate.

“On the one hand, you’re really sorry to see your property values decline like that,” said McDaniel, the Marietta man who won his appeal. “On the other hand, you’re glad that for tax purposes it reflects true market value.

“It’s brutal,” he said of his decision to appeal, “but it has to be done.”

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Atlanta Property Taxes: Sales of Foreclosures Will Help Home Values Recover

2011-01-06T08:15:00.002-05:00

From the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (Christopher Quinn)

Lenders foreclosed on nearly 99,000 properties in eight metro Atlanta counties through November of this year, a toxic tidal wave swamping home values in a region that went from ceaseless boom to endless gloom in a few years.

A crash in housing led the nation into the Great Recession, and a recovery in housing will help to lead it back out. But is the market recovering? The numbers and the experts say: Not yet. And perhaps not soon.

John Adams, the chief tax appraiser in Cherokee County, says he has heard predictions of a comeback. But he's not seeing it from the early appraisals his staff is turning in for 2011.

"Everybody thought that by now at least we would be on a pretty steady upward swing, but I am not sure that it's got there yet," Adams said. "We can't even tell if it is going to be flat or down 10 percent or anything. I just would not count on much being up."

Barry Bramlett, whose company Equity Depot tracks foreclosures, says the extraordinary number this year -- Equity Depot counted 98,662 -- may not be the crest of the wave.

"I don't see a drop in the number of foreclosures anytime soon," Bramlett said.

The housing market is under pressure from several directions: The subprime mortgage collapse that started the recession is still washing out of the system; the spike in unemployment has spawned a new wave of defaults and foreclosures; and foreclosures themselves are a cancer on their neighborhoods.

If the bank is forced to take your neighbor's house, it typically will try to sell the house rather than sit on an asset that is producing nothing and costing it money in maintenance and handling. The lender may take a loss on such sales, but the real losers are you and your other neighbors. The "bank sale" next door has undermined the value of your house even if you've never missed a payment and done all your upkeep.

So the key, real estate experts say, is for new buyers to soak up those distressed properties and slowly return the market to stability.

People like Lin Wormley may hold that key.

Wormley, 31, of Marietta, is shopping for a foreclosed-upon home in the Dunwoody and Alpharetta areas.

"I have always been told from back in my college days that you want to get something that always appreciates," Wormley said.

Foreclosures, short sales and and the unmeasurable pool of homeowners desperate to sell because they are teetering on the edge of foreclosure -- all those factors are pushing values down. Regular sellers have to compete against bargain basement prices to move property, and most new home builders have stopped building because they cannot match the prices.

Wormley figures that, if the market is at or near the bottom in price, his investment will have no place to go but up.

"We are just to the point now that it seems like there is definitely more on the market with foreclosures where you might be able to find more for your dollar," he said.

So he decided now could be the perfect time to buy.

Jan Baker, a vice president with Prudential Georgia Realty, sees signs of hope in the sales numbers coming in. About 2,400 of Prudential's 4,510 home sales through November were sales of distressed properties. The fact that makes up 60 percent of Prudential's sales shows that buyers are soaking up some of the excess.

Four and more years ago, when Atlanta's housing market was all growth all the time, a sale involving a foreclosure or a short sale was the exception for the average agent, Baker said.

"I could name those agents in my area that specialized in [distressed sales]," she said.

Now, each of Prudential's agents in its 21 metro Atlanta offices has been trained in the more complex task of buying foreclosures and educated on how to hand-hold buyers through the document-heavy, protracted process, Baker said.

Foreclosures and other distressed sales are being absorbed, but there is more coming onto the market monthly, in record numbers.

For example, Gwinnett County's foreclosures have exploded since the salad days of the county's extraordinary expansion. In 2003, the county had 4,735 foreclosures, according to Equity Depot. Through November of this year, Gwinnett listed 24,483.

Fulton had 8,111 foreclosures in 2003 and 22,623 so far this year.

Those who track sales from real estate offices and as part of number crunching businesses are seeing light on the horizon, perhaps a year or more out.

Gainesville's Norton Agency works mostly across metro Atlanta's northern arc of counties from Gwinnett to Cherokee, has dealt in real estate for 82 years and produces sales and trend analyses for North Georgia.

CEO Frank Norton Jr. said investors are beginning to return to the real estate market, and banks are staffing up for short sales where they have discovered they can make more money than if they let a house go into foreclosure.

Norton has watched the market work its way through the waves of foreclosures. The first wave was dominated by builders turning over unsold houses. The second wave came from people who lost their jobs.

Now, his agency is seeing another job-related wave, people who are turning over homes because they were overextended financially from depending on bonuses or overtime pay to help them make budgets.

Norton thinks sales will continue to bump along through 2011 and start a slow climb back in 2012. It could be 2017 or maybe as late as 2020 before the market reaches its "new normal," which will be healthy sales but will incorporate an evolving idea of the American home. He thinks there is a shift back to simpler, less expansive homes without dramatic spaces such as cathedral ceilings, for instance.

Adams, the Cherokee County's chief tax appraiser, says he thinks less about the future than the here and now, and the present for homeowners is still sobering.

"We might see one neighborhood's values holding steady, while five miles up the road another is going gangbusters," Adams said.

But that is tempered by lower values in another nearby neighborhood.

"Maybe something swings back [up], but then we'll see a batch that is selling 10 to 15 percent below value," he said.

And the specter of foreclosures is always present. Bramlett said the cascading foreclosures will continue.

"We don't expect to see a slowdown over the next year or two," he said.

Foreclosures

County 2003 By Nov. 2010 % increase

Gwinnett 4,735 24,483 417%

Fulton 8,111 22,623 179%

DeKalb 8,157 17,850 118%

Cobb 3,781 13,834 265%

Clayton 3,404 9,676 184%

Cherokee 1,131 4,843 328%

Forsyth 666 3,468 421%

Fayette 561 1,885 236%

Posted by Peachtree Mortgage Services, Inc. Buying a new home in metro Atlanta? Visit our website at www.peachtreemortgageservices.net.

Jonesboro Gears Up for Property Tax Fight

2011-01-05T08:30:00.001-05:00

From the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (Tammy Joyner)

Jonesboro residents could wind up paying city property taxes, but first, town leaders have to get residents on board with the idea -- and that could be tough.

The City Council plans to ask Clayton County's legislative delegation to introduce a bill to let Jonesboro residents vote on whether to cut the town's $60,000 homestead exemption in half, effectively clearing the way for the city to collect property taxes.

Mayor Luther Maddox said Tuesday he's "confident" the delegation could move quickly so that the issue is put before residents in a March or November referendum. The City Council approved the move in a meeting Monday night.

State Sen. Valencia Seay, a Democrat who represents parts of Clayton and Fayette counties, said Tuesday that she hasn't seen the resolution yet, but "I don't see a problem with giving voters a chance to vote on whether they want to reduce their homestead exemption."

As it stands now, Jonesboro's millage rate is zero. Even when the city of 4,000 residents had property taxes, its homestead exemption was so high that not many residents paid them.

Based on the hope that voters would approve the lower homestead exemption and the City Council would reinstate a city property tax, the city included about $166,000 in revenue from such a tax in the new budget, city officials said. The 2011 budget approved Monday night is $2.755 million.

However, City Finance Officer Sandra Meyers said the city still needs to see the county digest, which shows property values of homes. It's expected in late summer.

Jonesboro, one of 98 cities in Georgia without a property tax, hasn't had one since 2006. And resident Elaine Grubbs says if it comes up for a vote, she plans to vote no.

"To me, it's just devastating," Grubbs, 60, who has lived in Jonesboro half a century, said Tuesday. "The vast majority of Jonesboro -- what's left of it -- is sitting vacant or is bank-owned."

She said the value of her home has fallen to about $80,000, from about $115,000 three years ago. Homes in her neighborhood are selling at about $26,000.

In addition to dramatic drops in home values, Grubbs said she and many other Jonesboro residents live on fixed incomes and are wrestling with higher utility bills. As a retired federal worker, she gets about $1,960 a month in disability, after taxes.

"The majority of residents haven't been able to pay their county taxes, and now they want to put a city tax on us?"

Meanwhile, workers in this county seat escaped furloughs and layoffs after Jonesboro officials last month abandoned those plans for balancing the budget. Grubbs and other townspeople said the city didn't dig deep enough when it came to finding ways to balance the budget.

"Most county, state and city workers are taking furloughs but not the city of Jonesboro," she said. "I don't know of another place you can work where the city pays all of your life insurance, health benefits and retirement."

The city, which has about 40 employees, pays more than $365,000 a year in retirement contributions and health insurance for its workers.

Maddox said the city is able to fully pay its workers' insurance and retirement expenses because "a lot of cities don't watch their purse strings like we do." But Maddox concedes that a property tax is needed in this economic uncertainty to run Jonesboro properly.

City Councilman Roger Grider said a property tax would be burdensome to many Jonesboro residents who are "trying to survive on Social Security and very small retirements."

Grubbs left Monday night's council meeting "very upset."

"It was just a done deal," she said. "They didn't let people talk."

Maddox says Jonesboro homeowners will warm to the idea of lowering the homestead exemption once they realize they're not facing a giant tax bill.

"It would be less than $50 a year," he said.

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Atlanta Property Taxes: Fulton Appraises Well, but Still Fine-Tuning

2011-01-03T09:24:00.002-05:00

From the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (Johnny Edwards)

Given the historic beating the housing market has taken, Doug Chans figured there was no way his house in Johns Creek could still be worth what it was in 2007. His county-appraised value of $308,700, and his tax bill of more than $3,700, had to be too high.

Proving it took 30 hours of research, two rejections by the Fulton County assessors' office, a trip downtown for a Board of Equalization hearing, about $45 for copies and parking fees and a visit from county appraisers to measure his square footage.

“If I knew all the work that was involved in this, I wouldn’t have bothered," Chans said earlier this month. "It's just the principle of the matter, at this point.”

He turned out to be right, and based on a sweeping analysis of five counties' appraised values and actual market sales by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, he's among tens of thousands of taxpayers who are overpaying. The AJC found that, where they reappraised residential property in 2010, three core metro counties -- DeKalb, Clayton and Gwinnett -- tended to set tax values that were higher than property was actually worth.

But Fulton tax appraisers, on the whole, did a relatively good job of hitting a rapidly moving target: The typical residential appraisal in Georgia's biggest county was about 2.6 percent less than the home's actual value, the newspaper found. The county is steadily catching up with the Great Recession's real estate bust, thanks to legislation forbidding increases and requiring that county appraisers take foreclosures into account in their calculations.

Even so, the tax rolls are still littered with homeowners who are paying too much, as with Doug Chans.

Stan Anderson, president of Anderson Real Estate Services and a consultant for the Fulton County Taxpayers Foundation, summed up the problem: The overall sales-to-assessment ratio may look good, but individual values might not.

"If you're one of those assessed at 115 percent, you're going to be raising hell," said Anderson, a former Fulton appraiser. "But if you're one of those at 85 percent, you're going to be quiet. But look at the range. In the middle, they're fine."

There are indications of that in the AJC's ZIP code breakdown. For example, in 30326, an area of Buckhead that includes Lenox Square, the typical reappraisal came in 14.5 percent higher than what homes are selling for. In 30314, on the west side of Atlanta near Atlanta University Center, they're typically 28.4 percent low.

Fulton Chief Appraiser Burt Manning acknowledged that many areas of the county probably need to be revalued next year, but he pointed out that most overvalues and undervalues found by the AJC were by only a few percentage points, well within the state Department of Revenue's standard of no more than 10 percent over or under.

"In mass appraisal, there's always room for improvement," he said.

Questioning authority

Given the market slump and lower values on some of his neighbors’ homes in Johns Creek's Devonhall subdivision, Chans thought his appraisal needed to drop to at least $280,000, which would save him about $385 on his bill.

"Times are tough," Chans said. "That's [money] to spend on your kids, or buying Christmas presents, or to do whatever you want."

He started with a property tax return -- a document filed by property owners challenging the county's valuation -- placing his value at $270,000. But Chans' value stayed the same.

Next he filed an appeal, asking for a reduction to $283,000. The Board of Assessors turned him down.

He went on to the next tier in the appeals process, the Board of Equalization. Fulton has 10 three-member boards made up of residents selected out of the jury pool, screened by the grand jury and trained by the state Revenue department.

Earlier this month, Chans sat in a small room with a window overlooking the government center atrium, the board members on the other side of a fold-out table, Senior Property Appraiser Cheryl Smalls seated next to him.

He felt badly outgunned, he said. Smalls ran through a sales analysis of comparable properties in his neighborhood, some lower, some higher than $308,700. She recommended no change in value.

Chans, armed with a folder of his own, cited houses in his immediate vicinity with values of less than $300,000, but much fancier than his.

"These are the people I have coffee with, dinner with," he told the board. "I've been in their homes, and I know what the sizes are."

He finally got the board's attention when he told them there's no way his house has 3,616 square feet when the one next door, with the same floor plan, has 3,166, as Fulton tax records show. He knows that house well. He used to own it, and his ex-wife lives there now, making it easy for her and her husband and him and his wife to co-parent their three daughters. County appraisers may be failing to account for his den's vaulted ceiling, he said.

The board ordered a field check of his house, and Smalls and her supervisor took measurements 10 days later.

Value vindication

On Wednesday, Chief Deputy Appraiser Doug Kirkpatrick told the AJC that the measurements totaled 2,616, about what Chans suspected. At his next Board of Equalization hearing, the assessors' office staff will recommend lowering his 2010 assessment to $261,000, which should save Chans about $640.

"It feels good at last to be vindicated," Chans said, "to get a fair and equitable result, to use their terminology."

For the most part, the AJC's analysis found, the county was equitable in Chans' part of the county last year, the smoldering taxpayer revolt there notwithstanding. His 30097 ZIP code had a median appraisal decrease of 8.3 percent last year and, compared to actual sales, the typical home was appraised 2 percent too low.

The AJC's analysis found Fulton overappraised in 13 of its 44 ZIP codes -- only two of them in north Fulton. One was Sandy Springs' 30328, which was 0.1 percent high, and the other was 30342, split between Sandy Springs and north Atlanta and 2.9 percent over.

At the southern end of the county, assessments came in 5.2 percent too high in 30213 and 7.6 percent too high in 30268.

The greatest disparities were in Atlanta. Along with being 14.5 percent over in the Lenox Square area, the county was 13.3 percent too high in 30303, in downtown Atlanta in the area of Georgia State University.

Manning said those could be attributable to condominiums, whose values have fallen drastically. The appraiser's office doesn't gather data by ZIP code but rather by about 2,000 neighborhoods, and if his own analysis finds similar overstatements next year, appraisals will be lowered, he said.

"As far as I can tell, what your study is showing is that we did a doggone near perfect job in Fulton County," Manning said.

He'll get no thanks from Ron Geraneo, who spent two years fighting the county over the value of his house on Roxboro Cove in Buckhead's Pine Hills subdivision.Geraneo lives in 30324, where the typical assessment was 5.9 percent over market, and he's preparing to do battle again.

In 2003 he bought the house for $490,000; in 2005 the county valued it at $535,000. He argued then that appraisers were unfairly using houses zoned for a better elementary school in their sales comparisons, and when both the Board of Assessors and the Board of Equalization dismissed him, he took his case to Superior Court.

After a meeting in Judge Jerry Baxter's chambers, he and the assessors' attorney agreed to $465,000, where his value has remained ever since. Then, earlier this year, Geraneo was rejected for refinancing because the bank appraised the house at $435,000. He"ll be appealing again.

"They expect you to not want to pay out of pocket and just go away, but I'm not one of those guys," he said. "I want them to stop doing this. I want big government to stop being stupid."

Stuck in Buckhead

Another 30324 resident, Robin Michael, would go away if she could. While many in Fulton's most affluent neighborhoods lament that their values aren't falling with the market, those at the mercy of the market feel another sort of pain.

When her husband took an information technology job in Jacksonville, Michael said she worried that their second-floor unit in Plantation at Lenox would sell too fast, not giving her enough time to find a new job of her own. She stayed behind while her husband went on to an apartment in Florida.

That was a year and a half ago. Since then, the condo has gotten about a half-dozen nibbles and zero offers.

“We even put it on Craigslist,” Michael said. “Isn’t that sad?”

Michael can’t understand it. The condo is close to I-85, I-75, Ga. 400 and MARTA lines. They invested $30,000 in remodeling, then slashed their asking price by about that much, down to $149,900.

Meanwhile, she and her husband pour their paychecks into rent payments, mortgage payments and taxes. As their asking price has come down, so has the county's assessed value. The condo was appraised at $170,400 in 2008, $157,100 in 2009 and $148,400 this year.

They may need to slash lower. A unit sold next door for $145,000 last month.

Michael doesn't want to move to Florida until she lines up a job, an effort which isn't going much better. She's reaching a breaking point.

“Because I miss him,” she said. “It’s terrible to say that, because I’m an adult and I should be able to handle this, but it’s just time.”

AJC database specialist John Perry contributed to this article.

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Atlanta Property Taxes: Sales of Foreclosures Will Help Home Values Recover

2010-12-28T08:16:00.002-05:00

From the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (Christopher Quinn)

Lenders foreclosed on nearly 99,000 properties in eight metro Atlanta counties through November of this year, a toxic tidal wave swamping home values in a region that went from ceaseless boom to endless gloom in a few years.

A crash in housing led the nation into the Great Recession, and a recovery in housing will help to lead it back out. But is the market recovering? The numbers and the experts say: Not yet. And perhaps not soon.

John Adams, the chief tax appraiser in Cherokee County, says he has heard predictions of a comeback. But he's not seeing it from the early appraisals his staff is turning in for 2011.

"Everybody thought that by now at least we would be on a pretty steady upward swing, but I am not sure that it's got there yet," Adams said. "We can't even tell if it is going to be flat or down 10 percent or anything. I just would not count on much being up."

Barry Bramlett, whose company Equity Depot tracks foreclosures, says the extraordinary number this year -- Equity Depot counted 98,662 -- may not be the crest of the wave.

"I don't see a drop in the number of foreclosures anytime soon," Bramlett said.

The housing market is under pressure from several directions: The subprime mortgage collapse that started the recession is still washing out of the system; the spike in unemployment has spawned a new wave of defaults and foreclosures; and foreclosures themselves are a cancer on their neighborhoods.

If the bank is forced to take your neighbor's house, it typically will try to sell the house rather than sit on an asset that is producing nothing and costing it money in maintenance and handling. The lender may take a loss on such sales, but the real losers are you and your other neighbors. The "bank sale" next door has undermined the value of your house even if you've never missed a payment and done all your upkeep.

So the key, real estate experts say, is for new buyers to soak up those distressed properties and slowly return the market to stability.

People like Lin Wormley may hold that key.

Wormley, 31, of Marietta, is shopping for a foreclosed-upon home in the Dunwoody and Alpharetta areas.

"I have always been told from back in my college days that you want to get something that always appreciates," Wormley said.

Foreclosures, short sales and and the unmeasurable pool of homeowners desperate to sell because they are teetering on the edge of foreclosure -- all those factors are pushing values down. Regular sellers have to compete against bargain basement prices to move property, and most new home builders have stopped building because they cannot match the prices.

Wormley figures that, if the market is at or near the bottom in price, his investment will have no place to go but up.

"We are just to the point now that it seems like there is definitely more on the market with foreclosures where you might be able to find more for your dollar," he said.

So he decided now could be the perfect time to buy.

Jan Baker, a vice president with Prudential Georgia Realty, sees signs of hope in the sales numbers coming in. About 2,400 of Prudential's 4,510 home sales through November were sales of distressed properties. The fact that makes up 60 percent of Prudential's sales shows that buyers are soaking up some of the excess.

Four and more years ago, when Atlanta's housing market was all growth all the time, a sale involving a foreclosure or a short sale was the exception for the average agent, Baker said.

"I could name those agents in my area that specialized in [distressed sales]," she said.

Now, each of Prudential's agents in its 21 metro Atlanta offices has been trained in the more complex task of buying foreclosures and educated on how to hand-hold buyers through the document-heavy, protracted process, Baker said.

Foreclosures and other distressed sales are being absorbed, but there is more coming onto the market monthly, in record numbers.

For example, Gwinnett County's foreclosures have exploded since the salad days of the county's extraordinary expansion. In 2003, the county had 4,735 foreclosures, according to Equity Depot. Through November of this year, Gwinnett listed 24,483.

Fulton had 8,111 foreclosures in 2003 and 22,623 so far this year.

Those who track sales from real estate offices and as part of number crunching businesses are seeing light on the horizon, perhaps a year or more out.

Gainesville's Norton Agency works mostly across metro Atlanta's northern arc of counties from Gwinnett to Cherokee, has dealt in real estate for 82 years and produces sales and trend analyses for North Georgia.

CEO Frank Norton Jr. said investors are beginning to return to the real estate market, and banks are staffing up for short sales where they have discovered they can make more money than if they let a house go into foreclosure.

Norton has watched the market work its way through the waves of foreclosures. The first wave was dominated by builders turning over unsold houses. The second wave came from people who lost their jobs.

Now, his agency is seeing another job-related wave, people who are turning over homes because they were overextended financially from depending on bonuses or overtime pay to help them make budgets.

Norton thinks sales will continue to bump along through 2011 and start a slow climb back in 2012. It could be 2017 or maybe as late as 2020 before the market reaches its "new normal," which will be healthy sales but will incorporate an evolving idea of the American home. He thinks there is a shift back to simpler, less expansive homes without dramatic spaces such as cathedral ceilings, for instance.

Adams, the Cherokee County's chief tax appraiser, says he thinks less about the future than the here and now, and the present for homeowners is still sobering.

"We might see one neighborhood's values holding steady, while five miles up the road another is going gangbusters," Adams said.

But that is tempered by lower values in another nearby neighborhood.

"Maybe something swings back [up], but then we'll see a batch that is selling 10 to 15 percent below value," he said.

And the specter of foreclosures is always present. Bramlett said the cascading foreclosures will continue.

"We don't expect to see a slowdown over the next year or two," he said.

Foreclosures

County 2003 By Nov. 2010 % increase

Gwinnett 4,735 24,483 417%

Fulton 8,111 22,623 179%

DeKalb 8,157 17,850 118%

Cobb 3,781 13,834 265%

Clayton 3,404 9,676 184%

Cherokee 1,131 4,843 328%

Forsyth 666 3,468 421%

Fayette 561 1,885 236%

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In the Law of Averages, Mableton Best Reps Atlanta

2010-12-27T08:43:00.001-05:00

From the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (Katie Leslie)

As any metro Atlantan knows, defining the essence of the region is near impossible; after all, Mableton is vastly different from Tucker, and Ormewood Park is worlds away from the Snellville-Grayson area.

The U.S. Census Bureau, however, begs to differ. According to its recently released American Community Survey, those four places have something in common: Each one closely resembles the 28-county Metropolitan Statistical Area, with Mableton narrowly edging out the others for the coveted title of most average.

Taken as a whole, here are some of metro Atlanta's statistical truths: 34 is the median age, 58.4 percent of the population is white and 31 percent is black, 9.3 percent of residents are of Hispanic or Latino origin, 49.2 percent of families are married couples and the median household income is $58,390.

No community mirrors that perfectly. For instance, Mableton, an unincorporated part of Cobb County best known as the birthplace of former Gov. Roy Barnes, is more racially and ethnically diverse: 50 percent of the people are white, while 38 percent are black.

Otherwise, though, Mableton fits the bill: The median age is 35.7 years, 50 percent of households are married couples and the median household income is $55,252. In other words, exceptionally average.

“That’s kind of weird and cool at the same time," said Dana Johnson, Cobb County Government's planning division manager. "Because Mableton is hard to define."

The same holds true for breaking down the character of a 28-county region.

Johnson said Mableton, which stretches from the City of Atlanta towards Austell and covers a large portion of South Cobb, is still finding its identity.

Indeed, the area is a mix of old Cobb County farming families, a working class that flooded in during the 1960s, and a recent influx of upper-middle-class families seeking a tranquil community with a short commute to downtown Atlanta.

Barnes, whose family's business, Barnes Hardware, is a Mableton landmark, said he wasn't surprised that his hometown resembles Atlanta at-large. His family has seen the area change from mostly white and rural to its current ethnic and professional mix, and he believes the community is as varied as metro Atlanta.

"It may be average for the region, but this region is a vibrant region, so it’s not a bad thing to be," Barnes said.

In recent years, Mableton saw a surge of new growth from the Vinings halo effect, with planned communities in Mableton's 30126 zip code claiming "Vinings" on their signage.

"When they developed all those subdivisions in Mableton and called them Vinings, I said that after they close that house, [the buyers would] wake up and say ‘Wait , I live in Mableton?'" Barnes joked.

Georgia State University demographer Harvey Newman, a professor of public management and policy, raised a scholarly eyebrow at the notion of boiling the metro area down to a place or two.

"From the standpoint of social science, it’s very difficult to find a town that is really representative of the whole, because you are dealing with 5.5 million people," he said. "Any time you start looking for a representative of a large, complex group of people, it does some violence to the representativeness."

Newman, who has studied Atlanta's changing populations for 40 years, said he hasn't visited Mableton in recent years, but he's well aware of the Vinings effect.

"For a long time I’d tease friends from Smyrna that they should change it to Upper Vinings. Then they did the next best thing -- they hired a really cool architect-planner and did a town center makeover, and, voila, Smyrna has reinvented itself," he said. "I don’t have the sense that Mableton has done that."

Not yet. But according to Johnson and Barnes, Mableton has been identified as a "Lifelong Community" by the Atlanta Regional Commission, meaning that it is a good place to live whether you're young or old. For its part, the county recently updated its five-year "Livable Center Initiative" for Mableton, which aims to make the community a "highly desirable" address in its own right.

For Ikenia Williams, Mableton is already a place she's proud to call home. The Chicago-born woman moved to Mableton in the early 2000s seeking a safe, affordable community with close proximity to her job in Atlanta. And when she married her New York-born husband, the couple decided to stay in Mableton to raise their family.

Mableton, she said, is "close enough to the city, and far enough away."

A big plus is that it's ethnically diverse, she said.

"In certain areas of Atlanta, you get a very one-dimensional view. We didn't grow up like that," she said. "Here, you see people who look like you and people who don't. That's what we want for our son."

Williams said she and her husband weren't surprised to learn that Mableton is sort of a census poster child for greater Atlanta.

"In Mableton we get a little bit of Atlanta and the rest of Georgia," she said. "It's the best of both worlds."

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Atlanta Property Taxes: How Counties Responded as Values Shifted

2010-12-23T08:08:00.001-05:00

From the Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Clayton reduced residential property values by about $2 billion in 2010. The 22 percent reduction was the biggest drop in values among the five counties evaluated.

Despite the steep reductions, the county’s typical assessment was more than 7 percent above market value, as determined by sales.

Comparison of county appraisals to sale prices showed Clayton over-valued the typical property in one ZIP code, 30281 in Stockbridge, by nearly 14 percent but undervalued the typical property in ZIP code 30215 in Fayette County by 2.4 percent.

Cobb County

Cobb County reduced residential values by $5.1 billion, or more than 10 percent, in 2010.

The typical Cobb appraisal was nearly 7 percent below market value, as determined by sale prices.

The county overvalued the typical property in ZIP code 30157 near Paulding County by nearly 5 percent. The typical county appraisal in ZIP code 30067 in Marietta was nearly 10 percent under market value.

DeKalb County

DeKalb County reduced residential property values by $689 million in 2010. The 1.7 percent reduction was the smallest among the five counties studied.

DeKalb’s typical appraisal was more than 25 percent above market value, as determined by sale prices, primarily because the county did not fully account for distressed sales.

In one ZIP code, 30032 in Decatur, the typical county appraisal was 138 percent above market value. In 30307, east of downtown, the typical appraisal was 18 percent below market value.

Fulton County

Fulton County lowered residential values by $5.1 billion, or 6.7 percent, this year.

The county’s typical appraisal was about 2.6 percent below market value, as determined by sales prices.

Fulton overvalued the typical property in ZIP code 30326 in Buckhead by 14.5 percent. The county undervalued the typical property in ZIP code 30314 in Bankhead by more than 28 percent.

Gwinnett County

Gwinnett County cut residential property values by $4.8 billion, or 9.8 percent, in 2010.

The county’s typical appraisal was 2.5 percent above market value, as determined by sale prices.

In ZIP code 30093 in Norcross, the typical Gwinnett appraisal was nearly 21 percent above market value. The typical appraisal in ZIP code 30360 near Doraville was nearly 9 percent below market value.

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Cobb, Gwinnett Receive Federal Funding for Light Rail Proposals

2010-12-22T11:07:00.002-05:00

From the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (Janel Davis)

Cobb and Gwinnett counties received grants Tuesday from the Federal Transit Administration for the analysis of proposed light-rail lines in both counties.

The FTA awarded $25.7 million in competitive grants in 16 states through the Alternative Analysis program for local officials working to expand or begin transit systems in their communities.

Cobb’s Department of Transportation received $1.4 million, the largest allocation in Georgia, to study a proposed rail line along the U.S. 41/I-75 corridor between Acworth and the Arts Center Station in Atlanta.

“This is something that has been ongoing in Cobb for 10 years,” said Faye DiMassimo, Cobb’s transportation director. “These funding awards show the FTA is gaining confidence in the Atlanta region to move forward toward a multimodal, integrated regional transportation system.”

Gwinnett County, the Gwinnett Village Community Improvement District and the Gwinnett Place CID jointly received a $600,000 grant to further study a proposed line that would run parallel to I-85 from the MARTA station in Doraville to the Gwinnett Arena in Lawrenceville. The county groups have been studying the proposal for three years.

The Alternatives Analysis program is the first step in the FTA’s New Starts process, which is the primary source of federally funded transit projects. The analysis includes reviews of financing, alignment and technology options.

The FTA reviewed 67 applications from 30 states seeking a total of $73 million in funds.

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Typical Cobb House Appraisal 6.9% Below Market Value

2010-12-21T09:55:00.001-05:00

From the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (Janel Davis)

Tomas Rivera lives on an island.

His home in the Five Oaks neighborhood of Powder Springs is surrounded by empty houses with boarded up windows and a string of “For Sale” signs. Rivera survived the epochal flood of 2009, but parts of his neighborhood did not.

Water rose 6 feet in Rivera’s two-story home. Even though he was able to make repairs and remain in his house, a large chunk of his property’s value vanished with the floodwaters. The value has declined about $41,000 in the year since the flood, and, according to Cobb County tax appraisals, Rivera’s house is now worth far less than what he paid for it 11 years ago.

“I think the county’s value for my house is too low,” he said. “But overall I can’t really disagree because the values all over this area are low. This area is a mess.”

The floodwaters may have receded more than a year ago, but they have continued to wreak havoc on property values and the county’s finances.

Cobb has cut residential property values countywide. An Atlanta Journal-Constitution analysis of 2010 housing data found that the typical Cobb appraisal was 6.9 percent below market value.

For the second consecutive year, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution compared county tax appraisals to actual home sales prices in the five largest metro counties.

The newspaper examined hundreds of thousands of 2010 tax records and tens of thousands of 2009 sales to make the comparison. It found that Cobb and Fulton tax values were slightly less than sales prices, and Gwinnett tax appraisals were slightly higher than sales prices. Clayton County appraisals exceeded values by about 7 percent, but the disparity in DeKalb was 25 percent.

When a homeowner’s tax appraisal is higher than the actual value of the house, the homeowner is paying too much in property taxes.

Cobb County chief appraiser Phil Hogsed said he didn’t know enough about the AJC’s analysis to comment in detail. But he said the findings for his county did not surprise him.

Hogsed said the changing real estate market and changes in state law influenced Cobb’s appraisals this year. A 2009 state law required tax appraisers to take into account distressed sales — including short sales and bank sales — to set housing values, although it gave local governments no direction on how to factor in foreclosures.

“We’re just trying to reflect the market as it was on Jan. 1, 2010,” Hogsed said.

The county’s residential tax digest — the value of real and personal property that governments use to estimate tax revenues and determine budgets — has dropped 10 percent, or $5 billion, this year. In areas where the flooding was worse, the digest dropped even further: 16 percent, or $74 million, for Powder Springs and 18 percent, or $44 million, for Austell.

A look at Cobb’s property tax values for this year shows the largest declines run along Olley and Sweetwater creeks in Austell and Powder Springs. Countywide, homeowners whose property values dropped this year saw an average reduction of 19.8 percent from last year, according to data compiled by the AJC this month.

Rivera’s ZIP code in Powder Springs, 30127, saw a 22.3 percent value drop. Homes in that area were appraised at 7 percent below market value. Residents in ZIP codes 30106 and 30168 in Austell, along with 30060 in a part of Marietta, experienced the largest drop, more than 29 percent. Appraisals in those areas were between 6 percent and 9 percent below market value.

“We made some significant adjustments due to the flooding,” Hogsed said.

Some of those property owners were unhappy that their values were drastically lowered.

“To some degree you’re hurt by the event and then it’s confirmed when you get that assessment notice,” he said. “It’s a loss of investment.”

June Pierce-Hampton’s home in unincorporated Austell, in the 30106 ZIP code, was bought out by the county this year as part of a federal grant program after the flood. Hampton said she received $34,000 from the county for her home on Wesley Drive, before it’s leveled to the ground and cleared for green space.

“It wasn’t a bunch of money, but the way property values are now, it’s doable to take that and buy something else,” she said. “It’s sad to see homes in my neighborhood where people have lived for 10, 15 years now going for $35,000.”

County tax records show her home was valued at $127,540 last year, but dropped 76 percent to $29,990 in 2010.

Despite the flood and foreclosures, Cobb’s property values have been adequately adjusted, said Donna Heavener, executive of the Cobb Association of Realtors.

“We have a lot of high-end properties that are still selling. We are selling the $2 million houses, which offset the lower-priced homes on the foreclosure market,” she said.

Data compiled from her association show that the number of closed sales were down less than 1 percent from last year, with an average sale price of $225,781 across the county. Houses in 2010 sold for 94.8 percent of the listed price, compared to 88 percent in 2009.

“There has been so much talk about how bad the housing market is, but when you look at the statistics it seems to have plateaued,” Heavener said. “We didn’t hear a lot of people saying they were going to be contesting their assessments, which to me indicates that the values are where they need to be.”

Last year, Cobb had 3,872 residential appeals, compared to 3,415 appeals this year, the lowest of the five core metro counties, according to Cobb data. However, residential property tax returns filed by homeowners this year asking for a lower appraisal on their homes increased by 3,557 over last year to 12,877 returns.

“I would think that the problem we have is with falling home values. Appraisals have not kept pace with that. I would not like to think that the county would go out of its way to reduce appraised values,” said Lance Lamberton, president of the Cobb County Taxpayers Association. “I want people to be appraised at market value, whether [home values] decline or increase.”

Lamberton, an Austell resident, successfully appealed his tax bill last year because comparable homes in the neighborhood were selling for significantly less than his home’s appraised value.

“I would encourage homeowners to do what I did, and not wait for the county to do it for you,” he said.

Overall, appraisals throughout the metro area, including Cobb County, are still too high, said David Humphreys, president of Equitax USA, which handles thousands of property tax appeals in the metro area each year.

“They are giving slight reductions up front before you appeal, hoping it will appease people, and people are saying that is not enough when actual values have dropped by double-digits in the last 24 months,” he said. “I think it’s because counties need to generate revenue and it’s politically unfavorable for politicians to vote for tax increases.”

To come up with the money, Humphreys said, politicians tell county tax assessors to keep property values up.

“Counties should be fair to taxpayers,” he said. “And counties need to tighten their belts and work with the lower revenues.”

In Powder Springs, Rivera’s former neighbor Tydus Tarver sees himself as one of the lucky ones. Although his house burned last year when floodwaters prevented county firefighters from reaching it, he paid off that home with insurance money and bought another one five minutes away.

As an AJC photographer was shooting Rivera, Tarver stopped by to check on his old property, now reduced to a slab of concrete.

“We lost everything there was to lose, but we’re OK,” Tarver said. “I had some friends in the neighborhood that are hurting. You can’t give those houses away now. It’s a terrible situation. It’s a dead neighborhood.”

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Atlanta Property Taxes: Values Fall Faster than Tax Bills

2010-12-20T08:11:00.002-05:00

From the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (David Wickert and John Perry)

In 2009, an exclusive, in-depth investigation by the AJC found that amid the historic real estate collapse, many of us paid more in property taxes than we should have. Today marks the beginning of an eight-part series revealing continued flaws in the property tax systems in Clayton, Cobb, DeKalb, Fulton, and Gwinnett counties. We found you still may be paying too much in taxes.

Tax appraisers in five metro Atlanta counties cut home valuations by $17.8 billion this year as they tried to catch up with the tumbling real estate market and respond to pressure from taxpayers and lawmakers.

In many cases, it wasn’t enough.

For the second consecutive year, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has compared hundreds of thousands of tax records to tens of thousands of home sales to determine whether county appraisals are in line with what property is actually worth. The newspaper found that the greatest disparity occurred in DeKalb County, where the typical appraisal exceeded market value by more than 25 percent. The reason: DeKalb failed to fully account for the kind of distressed sales that have become a huge part of the slumping real estate market. The analysis also found that:

● Clayton County cut residential tax valuations by 22 percent in 2010. But the county’s typical residential appraisal remained more than 7 percent above market value.

● Gwinnett cut residential appraisals by nearly 10 percent this year. But its typical appraisal was 2.5 percent too high.

● Typical appraisals in Cobb and Fulton were under market value. But even in these counties many homes were appraised too high.

The AJC’s findings on DeKalb didn’t surprise Patricia Benedict. The foreclosed house she bought in Tucker in May for $85,000 was valued by the county this year at $193,500. If the county appraised Benedict’s house at anywhere near what she paid for it, she would save hundreds of dollars on her $3,456 tax bill.

“I think the county is consciously not doing what they’re supposed to do, because if they did they’d be in a worse budget crisis,” Benedict said. “The county is turning their heads.”

The continuing slide of property values has implications beyond your tax bill: Faced with another year of declining property values, several metro counties are talking about cutting services again in 2011. In DeKalb, the County Commission last week began deliberating a budget that calls for a property tax increase. Gwinnett’s budget envisions service cuts and still has an $18 million deficit that officials will have to try to cover during the year to come.

$233,100 vs. $178,000

Most county tax appraisers have heard complaints such as Benedict’s — that they are artificially inflating tax valuations to keep money flowing to the county. DeKalb Chief Appraiser Calvin Hicks denies that.

“I can assure you I go to no meetings where we appraisers sit around and say, ‘How can we protect our county?’” Hicks said.

DeKalb did a better job of appraising properties that weren’t bank sales or other distressed transactions. On those nondistressed sales, county appraisals were about 3 percent over fair-market value. For distressed sales — roughly a third of sales — the county’s appraisals were 102 percent over market value.

Hicks admitted that DeKalb’s overall appraisals look too high.

“Clearly, looking at the [AJC] numbers, we have more work to do for 2011,” Hicks said.

The AJC’s analysis in 2009 showed widespread disparities across metro Atlanta’s core counties. But most of them clearly made progress this year toward matching up tax valuations with market value.

Except for DeKalb, the counties appear to have met a state standard that requires their typical appraisals to be within 10 percent above or below fair market value.

But that’s little consolation for thousands of homeowners who are paying too much in property taxes because their tax bills are based on county appraisals that are too high.

Since 2006, Gwinnett County has valued Michael Hill’s three-bedroom home near Lawrenceville at $233,100. A private appraiser recently told Hill his home is worth just $178,000 — almost a quarter less than the county appraised it for.

Gwinnett Chief Appraiser Steve Pruitt acknowledged Hill’s property is overvalued and pledged to lower it in 2011. Hill could save $750 on his tax bill if the county appraises his property at what the private appraiser says it’s worth.

“That’s a big difference,” Hill said. He plans to challenge his county value next year.

Residents across the metro area have had similar experiences. And they’re taking action.

Residential appeals in the region’s five largest counties are up 80 percent from two years ago, and many homeowners are winning those appeals.

For example, Gwinnett has finalized 6,742 appeals this year. It reduced the valuations of all of those properties. The average reduction: $33,689.

Appraisers expect even more appeals next year as changes in state law make it easier for homeowners to challenge county appraisals.

Mass appraisal

In its analysis, the AJC compared appraisals and home sales within ZIP codes to get a better sense of what’s going on within counties.

And while county appraisers are trying to catch up with a declining market, they’ve been more successful in some areas than in others.

For example, though the typical Fulton County residential appraisal is 2.6 percent below market value, typical appraisals in some ZIP codes are still as much as 14.5 percent over market value, as determined by sale prices. In other ZIP codes, they’re as much as 28 percent under market value.

So how can some county appraisals be so far off?

County appraisers and other experts say Georgia’s system of “mass appraisals” can’t take the strain caused by the bursting of the real estate bubble.

Each year county appraisers must determine the value of all residential, commercial and other taxable property. The information helps elected officials set tax rates and helps determine your property tax bill. Generally, the more your property is worth, the more you pay.

But government appraisals don’t work like appraisals done by private firms.

A private “fee appraiser” may spend several hours inspecting your house to determine its condition; he or she will also examine what buyers recently paid for comparable properties nearby.

County appraisers don’t have the luxury of carefully evaluating individual properties. The sheer number of parcels they must value — Fulton County, for example, must set values on about 330,000 pieces of property annually — demands a different approach: “mass appraisal.”

Under the mass appraisal system, counties generally reappraise whole neighborhoods using a complex statistical method. The method takes into account sales of nearby properties with similar characteristics.

But they call it mass appraisal for a reason. One measure of the difference between private and government appraisals: A private fee appraisal costs $350 and up; counties may spend just a few dollars for every parcel they appraise.

Critics say the mass appraisal system breaks down during big swings in the market.

By law, county appraisals take sales from the previous year into account. But when the market is rising or falling quickly, a year-old sale can be way out of date. And in the current market, there are fewer sales to give appraisers a sense of what’s happening in individual neighborhoods.

In addition, county appraisals are supposed to be current as of Jan. 1 of each year. So your 2010 appraisal is what the county says your home was worth as of Jan. 1, 2010.

But you probably didn’t receive a county notice of your value until April, if you got one at all. And you probably didn’t get your tax bill until last summer. So, in July 2010 you may have seen for the first time the county’s opinion of what your home was worth on Jan. 1, 2010, which, in turn, was based on sales between January and December 2009.

In a fast-moving market, that lag can mean sticker shock for residents who see what homes in their neighborhood are selling for when they finally have their tax bill in hand.

The Atlanta-area real estate market has been moving fast for a decade as values first skyrocketed and then plummeted when the bubble burst. That means county appraisals may have been off for years.

But there’s a key difference: Pre-bubble appraisals were probably too low. Now many are too high.

“The nature of mass appraisal is, we are behind the curve,” said Fulton County Chief Appraiser Burt Manning. “Nobody is too upset with us when we’re behind the curve when values are going up.”

‘Distressed sales’

Complicating the task of county appraisers is the proliferation of foreclosures, short sales and other “distressed” sales.

Traditionally, appraisers ignored these sales. They believed they didn’t provide a true measure of the market, and they were a tiny fraction of the sales anyway.

That’s no longer the case. Distressed sales now account for most of what’s selling in many metro Atlanta neighborhoods.

Foreclosures, once more common in poor urban areas, have spread to the suburbs as high unemployment lingers and families walk away from mortgages they can no longer afford. In some cases banks are selling the houses for 50 cents on the dollar to recover some money.

The result: Home prices have plummeted. By one measure — the S&P Case-Shiller Index — Atlanta home prices in September fell to levels not seen in a decade.

Facing dramatic market changes, the Georgia General Assembly in 2009 prohibited county appraisers from raising the value on any property unless there was an addition or improvement. The prohibition remains in effect in 2011.

Lawmakers also required appraisers to take foreclosures and other distressed sales into account when appraising properties for tax purposes. To date, counties have used different methods to take distressed sales into account. But appraisers acknowledge it no longer makes sense to ignore them.

“When the bank sales become your usual market transfer, you’ve got to look at them,” said Pruitt, the Gwinnett chief appraiser.

Thousands of appeals

Scott McDaniel of Marietta sent in one of the 37,000 appeals that residential property owners filed in the five largest metro counties this year.

McDaniel challenged Cobb County’s appraisal of his 2,600-square-foot home, which the county said was worth $166,010. It hadn’t changed that value since 2005.

Like many people, McDaniel was trying to trim expenses. He’d already found ways to cut his car insurance and cable television bills. Challenging his county property appraisal made sense.

So he hired a company to appeal his appraisal. The result: A board of equalization cut his appraisal to $136,000. He’ll save about $350 on his tax bill. Hiring the company cost $100.

“It pays for itself, plus quite a bit in the first year,” McDaniel said. “It would be dumb not to do it.”

New law taking effect

Appealing your appraisal is about to get a lot easier.

In the wake of last year’s AJC investigation, the General Assembly approved Senate Bill 346. Among its provisions:

● Beginning in 2011, counties must send every taxpayer a notice of their property’s value each year. Previously, counties sent you a notice only if they changed your value. It’s an important change, because you can appeal your value only if you receive a notice. If everyone gets a notice, everyone can appeal.

● Counties must treat short sales, bank sales and other distressed sales (except foreclosures) just like any other sale for the purposes of determining the value of your property.

● The year after you buy your house, the county’s appraised value can’t exceed the sale price. So if you bought your house for $200,000 in 2010, the county’s 2011 assessed value can’t exceed $200,000. The county can raise the value in future years.

● Taxpayers will have 45 days to appeal their appraisal, up from 30 days.

State Senate Majority Leader Chip Rogers, who sponsored the bill, said he wanted to simplify the appraisal and appeals processes.

“I would expect nine out of 10 people in Georgia don’t understand how the system works,” Rogers said.

County officials say there will be consequences. Among them: higher costs at a time when county budgets already are stretched thin.

For example, Fulton County expects to spend $120,000 more on postage next year to mail notices to every taxpayer. County appraisers say there will be other administrative costs as well.
Rogers is unsympathetic, saying the law should be judged “not by how it will impact the people collecting the taxes but how it affects people paying taxes.”

Perhaps the biggest effect of the new law: Appraisers expect another jump in appeals next year. More appeals, combined with the continuing real estate slump and changes to appraisal law, may mean another big cut in residential appraisals in 2011.

That could mean property tax relief for homeowners. Or it could lead local governments to raise taxes to balance budgets. Or it could mean fewer public services or larger class sizes as property tax revenue wanes.

Whatever the outcome, declining values may be a mixed blessing for homeowners who have watched gains from their biggest asset evaporate.

“On the one hand, you’re really sorry to see your property values decline like that,” said McDaniel, the Marietta man who won his appeal. “On the other hand, you’re glad that for tax purposes it reflects true market value.

“It’s brutal,” he said of his decision to appeal, “but it has to be done.”

Posted by Peachtree Mortgage Services, Inc. Refinance your metro Atlanta home! Call us today at 770.481.0052 or visit our website at www.peachtreemortgageservices.net for the latest home mortgage rates.

Sandy Springs May Help Buy Flood-Prone Homes

2010-12-17T08:04:00.002-05:00

From the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (April Hunt)

Sandy Springs is gathering information on structures in the city that are in flood-prone areas, the first step in seeing whether it will buy those homes.

The information and analysis could result in the city using state and federal funds to buy the properties to avoid future flooding problems like those seen after a heavy rainstorm in September 2009.

Homes will be considered if they were flooded in those storms, are in a federal flood plain and suffered damages worth half of value of the home in the past decade.

For more information, contact the city’s stormwater services department at 770-206-2524.

Posted by Peachtree Mortgage Services, Inc. It's time to refinance your home! Visit our website at www.peachtreemortgageservices.net, or call us today at 770.481.0052.

2010-12-16T09:34:00.000-05:00

From the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (Megan Matteucci)

DeKalb County officials met with GM representatives this week to discuss plans for the Doraville site, but there are no formal proposals on the table, officials told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Friday.

County CEO Burrell Ellis, several county commissioners, legislators and Doraville officials met with GM as part of an “ongoing discussion” of what to do with the 165-acre property, county spokesman Burke Brennan said.

In August, the commission voted against a $54 million project to use public money to turn the vacant plant into an Atlantic Station-like development.

Brennan said several developers have expressed interest in the site, but there are no current proposals.

Posted by Peachtree Mortgage Services, Inc. Buying a new home? Refinancing? Call us today at 770.481.0052, or visit our website at www.peachtreemortgageservices.net.