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Residents blame investor purchases for inflated assessments as foreclosures rise
Summary
At the Newton County hearing, residents said investment companies buying homes and converting them to rentals have driven up assessed values, and one speaker cited nearly 100 homes in foreclosure or tax sale. Commenters urged the county to consider how those market forces affect individual homeowners before raising the millage.
James Peterson and Janelle West separately told the board they see market forces they say are inflating assessments and risking homeowner displacement. "There's almost 100 homes in foreclosure or tax sales for this coming month," James Peterson said, drawing attention to an acute local strain he had read about in a county newspaper.
Janelle West told the board that investment companies buying homes in medium- and low-income subdivisions and renting them out have inflated property values used for assessments: "The property values have already been proven to have been inflated by investment companies that are purchasing homes... and then renting these homes out." She argued that tax increases based on those assessment figures punish individual homeowners who are not responsible for the investor purchases. Neither claim was rebutted or verified during the hearing; the comments were part of the public-comment record forwarded to the county for consideration.
