This article at the AJC is actual news you can use (finally!) ... this is a golden nugget for homeowners caught in the equity squeeze. If you have the bank and the market telling you your house is no longer the prize they thought it was a year ago. And, on the other hand, the County Property Tax Assessor telling you it is still the Taj Mahal for tax purposes, you need to read this and act on it!

When you've finshed reading it, here is exactly what you need to do (in DeKalb, others may vary).

1. Call the Residential Division Help Desk at 404-371-2471 to request the form, "Real Estate Property Tax Return." Provide them with your address and they will mail you the form with a SASE.

2. File the form from #1 by March 1, 2008 indicating what you feel is the actual, fair market value of your home.

3. Sometime in April, you will receive the Notice of Assessment Change from the County that will indicate your property's appraisal by the County.

4. If the County appraised value exceeds what you feel is fair, you will need to file an appeal immediately using the process outlined at:

APPEAL PROCESS

Depending on your situation, this could amount to a significant savings in 2009.

On to the AJC ...

"The real estate and foreclosure crises have played havoc with property values in Atlanta.

Wide areas of south Atlanta and north Clayton, south Cobb and south DeKalb counties have seen so many bank-owned properties flood the market that values have plummeted across whole neighborhoods."