Fresh Loaf

Today is the deadline for Fulton, Clayton and Cobb County property owners to appeal their property tax assessments.

Just curious: did any Fresh Loaf readers file appeals?

I’m about to file mine. In true journalistic fashion, I’ve waited until deadline day.

Fulton County wants to tax my home in Southwest Atlanta based on its 2006 value. Home values in much of Southwest Atlanta have, in fact, been in free-fall since early 2007.

The situation is so bad at the moment, if you look up 2BD/1BA listings near my home you’ll find a home on sale for $6,700. It’s almost certainly a rat-infested shit-hole (or, possibly, a shit-infested rat-hole), but it drags down the value of every other 2BD/1BA home in the area.

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Average percent decrease in the price of an existing single-family home in metro Atlanta from late 2007 to late 2008: 10.5

Years since Atlanta saw a double-digit decrease in home prices: 17

Of 20 metro areas, rank of Atlanta among those with the most severely decreasing home prices: 12

Percentage that home prices dipped in Phoenix, the hardest hit city: 32.7

Decrease in Dallas, the city to fare best: 3

Percentage increase in Atlanta home prices from June to July — the last month home prices rose: 0.4

Average percent decrease in home prices in Druid Hills from the fall of 2007 to fall of 2008: 20

Average percent increase in home prices in Cabbagetown from the fall of 2007 to fall of 2008: 14

Average percent increase in Benteen Park, over the same time period: 57

(Photo courtesy Wikimedia Commons)

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Decatur Metro notes yesterday’s AJC article about Nadege Adam and Jude Valles, a couple who’ve overextended themselves when it comes to home ownership. With credit now tight and the housing market in disarray, the couple now faces skyhigh payments.

Here’s what Decaturite noticed:

But the number that caught my eye in the article wasn’t their $419,000 Smyrna home that costs $100,000 less than it did a few years ago. Suburb declines are well documented at this point. Personally, I was struck by the condo at “Twelve” Atlantic Station, which was purchased for $387,000 in 2005-6 and is now worth $150,000 less.

This is the Atlantic Station that everyone (including the AJC) touted as the new wave of smart growth development. Massive, single developer cities that could do no wrong as long as they threw a bunch of residential and commercial in the same general vicinity. Atlantic Station was so awesome because it had its own zip code and organized mommy stroller walks. Yeah well, the economy may have played a part in exacerbating this problem, but a 39% decline in home values is nothing short of damning market critique of this project, which shows that all smart growth (just like everything else) isn’t created equal. You can’t cut corners, you can’t overestimate demand, and I personally believe you can’t build a town from scratch and expect it to compete with areas that have developed over time.

Well put. Be sure to check out the comments as well. (On Decatur Metro, I mean — the comments on the AJC’s article are, as usual, mostly just displays of ignorance and racism.)

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According to an AJC story that cites a mysterious “20-city index,” home prices in Atlanta are down:

From September 2007 through September of this year, Atlanta’s prices have fallen 9.5 percent.

But they’re also up:

Despite declines in 11 out of the past 14 months, Atlanta’s home prices are still up 22.7 percent since January 2000.

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The financial-services giant UBS released a report last month that says Atlanta is one of the five cities it expects to lead the national housing market’s recovery.

From Big Builder magazine, a trade publication for home builders:

In a new Q-Series report released this morning, UBS analysts David Goldberg and Alexander Goldfarb selected Atlanta, Austin, Charlotte, Dallas/Ft. Worth, and Houston as their top picks for markets that will lead in a housing recovery.

The outlook for those five markets was optimistic because they exhibited stronger positive trends in demographics, economic growth, affordability, and inventory than the other eight markets examined.

Translation: People with jobs keep moving here and they need places to live.

Thanks for the good news, Big Builder. You have officially displaced Hay & Forage Grower as my favorite industry trade publication.

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Name your own price! (I’m kidding.) For more on one of the greatest musicians in the world masquerading as a soft-spoken property maestro, read about Andisheh’s 2001 encounter with the rocker realtor.

(Photo by Thomas Wheatley)

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