Monthly Archives: February 2020

Why Now Might be the Best Time to Sell Your Home

Trying to decide when is the best time to sell your home can be tricky, but also is determining the final profit on your home.

Here is some information to help you make that decision.

  • Home prices are trending upward. According to Georgia Realtors, home prices from 2018 to 2019 increased by 3%. Prices are looking to trend even higher for 2020. That is good news for the seller, but if you are also buying, it’s another consideration.
  • Housing markets are low. When the housing inventory is low, buyers tend to contemplate all options in the market area and make quick offers. This is good news for sellers because it often leads to bidding wars in attempts from buyers to get the best house in the area.
  • Homes are spending less time on the market. As with inventory being low, buyers are acting fast. The average time on the market in 2019 was 56 days. That was a 5% decrease over the previous year’s statistics.

So, are you still trying to decide when is the best time to sell?  Still wondering what your final profit might be? We can help with that. We are now iRep certified.  What does that mean? We can test the market for you without doing a formal traditional listing. We can help you receive cash offers on your home and a retail market valuation in 48 hours. Then you can decide whether or not to accept the offers or go the traditional route of selling your home.

The time is right. All the pieces are falling into place. With increased housing costs, lower inventory, and fewer days on the market, now is the best time to sell a home.  Let the Dinsmore Team help you through the process.

Homestead Exemption

What is it?  How and when do I file? 

We have the answers for you.

If you purchased real estate property in 2019 and occupied it as your primary residence on January 1, 2020, you are potentially eligible to file for a homestead exemption. 

What is Homestead Exemption? 
Homestead exemption is a discount on your real estate property tax bill for an owner-occupied principal place of residence.

Am I Eligible? 
If the property is your principal place of residence as of January 1, 2020, and you purchased last year (or any year prior), you are likely eligible to file for a homestead exemption with your county’s tax assessor’s office.

How much will it save me?
Savings vary depending upon where the property is located, but if you are eligible, you don’t want to miss the deadline for filing!  A Savings on your tax bill is a good thing!

The deadline for filing is April 1st of this year for all counties in Georgia.

The best place to get information regarding filing instructions is from your county tax assessor’s office. If you are in a city, you may have to also file with the city (i.e. Cumming, Milton, Roswell, Alpharetta, etc).

Below are some of the websites for tax assessor’s offices for this area –

Fulton County –

Click to access 2018-Guide-To-Homestead-Exemptions.pdf

Cherokee County –

https://www.cobbtax.org/property/exemptioninformationhttps://www.cherokeega.com/tax-assessors-office/homestead-exemptions/

Forsyth County –

https://www.forsythco.com/Departments-Offices/Board-of-Assessors/Homestead-Exemption

If your tax assessor’s website is not shown in the list above, a google search for your county’s tax assessor should quickly locate the necessary information for filing directions.

Congratulations again on your purchase and please let The Dinsmore Real Estate know if you have any questions about homestead exemption filings.