<prompt> Human: Basically I bought a house in April 2014 for 123k. The county assessed it May 2015 for 175k. I know thats way too high - my home was built in 1955, is the same size as all the homes in my neighborhood, has not been significantly upgraded, etc. Other homes in my neighborhood assess for 80k-125k. I filed an appeal when I got the notice in the mail and basically never heard back. Calling the county about 2-3 months later, the woman on the phone told me sometimes appeals take several months and not to worry. Now however they seem to have no record of an appeal. Im scrambling to do more research, and realize now I should have filed a homestead exemption, even though Im not 100 sure what that means. I had a really terrible real estate agent.Should I get a tax attorney? Will the county work with me at all since Im now 6 months out of the assessment period? This assessment has taken my mortgage from 870month to 1400month. My take home pay is only 2400month, and Im paying 800month in student loans. About 380 of the new mortgage rate is the tax shortage. I simply cant pay this amount, and I doubt I can sell my house with this insane overblown assessment.Please help! I apologize if this is the wrong sub, rrealestate looks to be more for purchasing new homes and investing.EDIT: Holy tits everybody, thank you so much for all the great advice. I got several PMs that were very helpful, and I was able to contact a tax lawyer. LOOONG story short Ive been on the phone pretty much all day and had to leave work early, what the county did to me is super illegal. The law in my state is that they are supposed to keep the same tax rate based on your closing price for a full calendar year after a home is sold. This is why my appeal was thrown out - someone at the county thought it was a mistake, since I shouldnt have even been reassessed that early. The Appraisal Supervisor called me on his cell phone and basically bent over backwards promising to get it fixed. So I will be reassessed again in May and will be able to file a proper appeal then, but I should not be charged extra tax from being behind for 2015. The lawyer Ive been working with was recommended by a friend, and did not even want to charge me since my case was so cut and dry - I just didnt have the right persons contact info. The next county meeting is on January 21st and my property tax will be fixed then - my lawyer told me if its not, contact him and we will have a field day suing the county. I was also contacted by a couple of local papers who want to use my specific example to write about Dekalbs extremely messed up property tax process. Im not sure if I want to do that since it looks like everything will work out and the few higher ups in the county Ive talked to today have been very nice.Also, I have filled out my homestead exemption. Thank you to everyone who explained to me how that would help me. This is something I should have gotten from my realtor, but again, she was an absolute garbage person. I met her once, and then shed send her unlicensed 19 year old niece to let me in to properties. I was planning on firing her, but then I found my house and just decided to close and be done. She was let go from her real estate office not long after, I was not the only person having issues and she was having her niece do work that was not legal for an unlicensed non-realtor.It will take 6-8 weeks after January 21st for the tax change to take effect, and then what I overpaid will be refunded to my bank. I should get a check at the end of the year. I already have been working on an enormous spreadsheet breaking down every property in my neighborhood - I am going to wreck the countys shit with hella facts next year when I am reassessed. I have definitely learned a lot in the past two days. I love you, reddit. Thank you.EDIT EDIT: I really appreciate the PMs calling me a liar. Super cool guys. I actually provided a screenshot from the bank breaking down where the 1,400 is going in an earlier comment, you can see it here. I know Ive typed out a lot, but no I am not paying 600 in taxes every month. The difference includes a shortage since taxes are paid by your bank out of your escrow account. So Im basically being charged for being short this year and for estimated taxes next year. Imagine a rotisserie chicken...Assistant: Youre saying your payment went up by 380 a month because your assessment is 50k too high. That would work out to a property tax rate of 9, and thats not possible. Sometimes you end up paying a lot because your escrow company is collecting for the shortage plus what you owe for next year, but even then it doesnt quite add up. Call your mortgage servicer and get a detailed explanation of whats going on.See if there are companies in your area that handle assessment appeals. Many areas have companies that do this professionally for a percentage of what they save you. They will be able to tell you if its still possible to appeal and theyll probably know if the courts are an option if youre outside of the regular appeal period.Human: It actually went up over 500month, the shortage is being billed at 380 a month. Which I agree sounds totally crazy. I will call my bank this afternoon and ask for a detailed breakdown of where all these fees are going, maybe I can get the shortage payment period extended. I will look into an appeals attorney, thank you.  <response>: You should hire a tax attorney. Disregard anyone telling you otherwise. In my jurisdiction HI you only have to prove that their value is 20 higher than it should be. However there are specific rules of procedure for exhausting the inital complaint process and for obtaining an appeal hearing and filing pleadings. Only a lawyer would know how to navigate. Lots of tax professionals read: scammers offer contingency -because- they know theres no downside to them screwing your case up. 