FIELD DESCRIPTIONS

Identification Information
Parcel Number: A code number which serves as an abbreviation of or replacement for a parcel's legal description. The purpose of a parcel number is to facilitate the storage and use of land and building data in an information system. Parcel numbers may be based on geocodes, government surveys or tax maps.

Location Address: The physical address of the subject property. This address is usually created when a new building permit is issued. Most vacant lots or tracts of land have either no address or just a street or road name as their location address. Although the Tax Assessor's Office does not rely on the location address for the locating or legal description of parcels, we try to update this information on a constant basis. Please feel free to contact this office in the case of any location address that needs updating or correcting. We appreciate the help!

Millage Rate: The millage, or tax rate, in each county is set annually by the Board of County Commissioners, or other governing authority of the taxing jurisdiction, and by the Board of Education. A tax rate of one mill represents a tax liability of one dollar per $1,000 of assessed value. The average county and municipal millage rate is 30 mills; the state millage rate in each county is 0.25 mills. Municipalities also assess property taxes based upon county-assessed values and rates established by the municipal governing authority. Property in Georgia is assessed at 40% of the fair market value unless otherwise specified by law. The county Board of Commissioners and the county Board of Education should be contacted for more information on setting the millage rates. The county Tax Commissioner should be contacted for more information on billing and collection of property taxes. The county Board of Tax Assessors should be contacted for more information on property values.

Legal Description: A brief description of the subject property usually coming from the property deed. It may be shown as "Lot 12, Block B, Sunrise Subdivision". This may also include the Land Lot and District number for the subject property.

GMD District: The General Militia District for the subject property. Not generally used any longer, this is an old location identifier for some Georgia counties.
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Value Information
Land Value: This is the value that the Property Appraiser has attributed to the land portion of your total value.

Building Value: This is the value that the Property Appraiser has attributed to the improvements on your property. This would include the primary structure or structures that are taxable.

Accessory Value: This is the value attributed to any accessory improvements to your property. It may include free-standing garages, storage sheds, barns, swimming pools, tennis courts or any other improvements that contribute to the total market value of your property.
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Sale Information
Deed Book & Page: This is the number for the official record book found in the local Clerk of Court's Office where deed transactions are recorded. The Deed Book & Page will enable you to quickly find the documents recorded about that particular sales transaction in the county's vast archive of records.

Qualification: The Board of Tax Assessors Office uses actual sales transactions when analyzing property values in the comparable sales method of valuation. Qualified sales are those in which an "arms length transaction" has occurred. That is a sale between a knowledgeable buyer and a knowledgeable seller with no undue influence that may have affected the sales price. The sale qualification applied by this office makes no judgment about the parcel's sales transaction except to say that we will or will not use it in our analysis because the sales price "may" have been affected by some other influences besides the fair market price. For example, a parcel sold by parents to their child "may" have been sold for a price lower than the parents could have gotten on the open market. A seller who agrees to finance the sale to the buyer personally is more likely to sell at a higher price than the market would allow because of the extra service and the buyer more likely to pay it for the same reason. In both cases we would choose not to use these sales for analytical purposes because they may not accurately represent the market.

Improved (at time of sale?): This field tells you if the parcel was vacant or improved at the time of the sale.

Date of Sale: Filing date of the sales transaction in the Clerk of Court's Office.

Sales Price: This is the indicated sales price of the transaction. This value may come from the property deed or the "Real Estate Transfer Tax Declaration". The transaction price should be for the real estate transfer only, not to include any personal property.

Type of Instrument: In general, a Warranty Deed will be filed for transfers of property, although Quit Claim deeds, Security deeds or others may be filed. The type recorded is noted in this section.
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Permit Information
Permit Information: Any information gathered from the local Building Inspector's office is provided here. This information may include the permit date, the permit number, type of work permitted and an estimate of the cost of the project.
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Building Data
Number of Bedrooms & Bathrooms: Usually gathered from an onsite inspection of the property, this is the number of bedrooms and bathrooms found in the subject property.

Improvement Type: This describes the type of building or improvement. Although there could be many buildings on a single parcel, there will only be one improvement type per building. Examples of improvement types could include Single Family Residence, Commercial, Industrial, Manufactured Home, Multi-Family, etc.

Year Built: Actual year of construction (if known). If not know, an estimate of the actual age will be included.

Effective Year Built: This will be the same as the year built, unless major rehabilitation, remodeling or structural upgrades have been made to the subject property. For example, a remodeled, older home, built in the 1940's, may have an effective year build of 1990, depending on the amount of work done during a remodeling or update project.
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