In October of 2025, I began my 40th year in the Real Estate Industry. I’ve been a sales agent, a broker-associate, a manager growing an office to over 50 agents, and the Broker of my own company. I’ve also coached and trained privately over 200 Real Estate Agents across the country and Canada. I am committing this month to begin sharing what I’ve learned for the rest of my career via a blog post regularly. It won’t be daily, like my blog-guru Seth Godin. I’ll shoot for weekly or better, but know I’m going to travel more over the next 10 years. So, committing to at least monthly, and more often as often as I can.
I am also completing a book in the coming months and will post something about that since the topic is time management, and time is critical in the real estate world. I also reserve the right to post about anything else if I feel like it 🙂
My first blog post below is for homeowners who live in states, counties, and cities that offer a “home exemption” on property taxes.
If you are a homeowner, or know one, read this short post carefully and take action, because a lack of action could cost you or someone you know and love tens of thousands in taxes they should be eligible not have to pay.
Many states, counties, and/or cities offer a small amount off property taxes on an owner’s “homestead,” often called a Home or Homestead Exemption, as long as the homeowners file for it. The owner must fill out forms stating they live in the home as an owner-occupant and provide some proof of that, often a utility bill for the home with the address on it and in their name, and specifically, they must state they are not using the property as a rental property. It’s pretty simple, and most people are eligible, but some don’t bother to do it, or just don’t know about it. There are also often Exemptions for widows/widowers, veterans, the disabled, blind, etc.
The Exemption usually doesn’t save a ton on property taxes, maybe a few hundred dollars a year, but it’s not overly difficult to do in any area I’ve lived in.
However, you DO need to know about it, and you DO need to take the action required. Most of the time, once you do it, the Exemption “sticks” until the area questions that you are an owner, as when perhaps your property tax bill address changes, so it remains year after yea,r and most of us don’t think about it again.
I recently met a woman in Cherokee County, Georgia, who never filed for her home Exemption, though she’s lived in her home for about 20 years. She says she didn’t know about the homestead Exemption but was looking forward to her Senior Exemption, which is a much larger savings. However, when she went in to file her Exemption when she turned 62, the County said she was not eligible for her Senior exemption. Why? BECAUSE she never filed a home Exemption. Uh… Wait… What?
It turns out the new tax law that now requires a homeowner to live in Cherokee County for 5 years before getting the Senior Exemption has a phrase in it that says the owner must have FILED HOMESTEAD EXEMPTION for 5 years before they are eligible, rather than be an owner-occupant for 5 years.
I believe this was an error and not meant to cut out homeowners that never saved the FIRST years they were eligible for a discount, but that lawmakers simply didn’t consider that some homeowners never filed a home Exemption and that “everyone” knew to do that. As a Realtor, I can tell you they do not, and I routinely discover some people who either didn’t know about it or just never got around to it. The new law should have stated something like they must have been an owner-occupant for 5 years, rather than having to have filed a homestead Exemption for 5 years. So… this owner not only overpaid taxes by a few hundred dollars a year for 20 years, but she is also being told she won’t benefit from her Senior Exemption for another 5 years.
Ultimately costing her about $200+/- for 20 years = $4,000, plus another roughly $5,000 a year for another 5 years = $25,000… or a total of close to $30,000 paid or to be paid in taxes she should have been eligible not to pay. I’m helping her find an attorney to help her. And yes, both Harry Johnson, the head of the County Commission, and Steve Swindell, the county appraiser, are aware of the situation and sympathize, but it may take years to correct in the tax law, if they elect to work to fix it at all. No one knows how many homeowners are overpaying.
LESSON: No matter your age, check that you HAVE filed your Homestead Exemption. If not, do it now. If you are about 55 or older, TRIPLE check that you have that Home Exemption in Cherokee County… because if not, you need that home exemption for 5 years get your Senior Exemption. Two links are provided below. One for the state of GA, including an interesting PDF of all the counties in GA and their Exemptions, and the 2nd one is for Cherokee County.
http://dor.georgia.gov/property-tax-homestead-exemptions
https://www.cherokeecountyga.gov/tax-assessors-office/homestead-exemptions/
Im here to answer any questions.
Call me – 678-477-4897
Donna Stott, Realtor, Broker
Stott Homes
