Appraisals Rise By $100K, Residents Rally From Bookhaven to Northlake

It seems nearly 3,000 homeowners have a Northlake-area attorney to thank now that DeKalb County is reconsidering their recent property appraisals – some of which came in as much as $100,000 more than than last year.

Phil Erickson, a attorney near Northlake, saw his taxable value rise by about $100,000, according to 11 Alive. He and his daughter printed up fliers and went door to door, rallying neighbors over the week, and now the county government plans to reassess their appraisal along with about 3,000 others in neighborhoods from Brookhaven to Northlake. 

From the story, which includes a video report and an interview with the county's Chief Appraiser Calvin Hicks:

"It may very well be that the team misconstrued some of the data that they were looking at," Hicks said. "Certainly the values don't appear to be supported by market activity, market sales."

The appraisals were incorrect.

"One of the things I have to remind individuals is, we've gone through some changes here in terms of reduction-in-force and loss of some experienced appraisers. If you look at the appraisers as a whole, it's generally a fairly young group of individuals who are still learning. So they're going to make some mistakes. But I assure you that the mistakes made will be corrected, and we'll do that as expeditiously as possible."

Have you seen your values rise above where you think they should be? If so, what do you plan to do about it? Tell us in the comments section below.