REPORT: Value of Loeffler’s Mansion Mysteriously Dropped, Resulting In A “Dramatic Cut” To Her Tax Bill

“Nobody Can Explain” the “Whopping 60 Percent Decline”

A new Daily Beast investigation uncovered a mysterious and unexplained depreciation in the value of ultra-wealthy political mega-donor Senator Kelly Loeffler’s extravagant Atlanta mansion, known as “Descante.” For seven years, Loeffler’s mansion was valued at $10.5 million before suddenly plunging $6 million in value––“a whopping 60 percent decline.” The result of that substantial drop “was a dramatic cut to the couple’s property tax bill.” The devaluation of Loeffler’s estate came immediately after Loeffler “invested significantly in improvements to the property” and as “Atlanta was undergoing a real-estate boom” with home prices surging across the metro area. As Loeffler’s property value plummeted, seven of her closest neighbors’ property values increased, raising flags for property-tax experts who called it “very unusual.”

This latest investigation comes as Loeffler faces growing scrutiny into her numerous stock trading scandals, shady business practices, and self-serving lies.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

The Daily Beast: Value of Loeffler’s Mansion Dropped $6M Overnight—and Nobody Can Explain Why

By Sam Brodey and William Bredderman

Key Points:

• When Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R-GA) and her husband, Jeffrey Sprecher, bought a 15,000-square-foot Atlanta mansion known as “Descante” for $10.5 million in 2009, it was the most expensive private home purchase in the city’s history.

• The value of the estate, as appraised by Fulton County government officials for the purpose of calculating annual property tax dues, remained the same, $10.5 million, for the next seven years. Then, in 2016, the appraised value suddenly plunged to $4.15 million—a whopping 60 percent decline.

• The result was a dramatic cut to the couple’s property tax bill.

• Originally, they were paying $200,000 annually to the city and county governments. In 2016, after their home’s value dropped, they paid $90,000.

• Since then, the appraised value of the home has risen to roughly $5 million, but they are still paying about $80,000 less a year than they did when they first bought.

• The devaluation of the Loeffler-Sprecher estate, and lower tax bill, came after the couple invested significantly in improvements to the property.

• And it’s especially striking given that Atlanta was undergoing a real-estate boom at that time. Home prices in the metro area surged by 81 percent from 2012 to 2020, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

• Seven of Loeffler and Sprecher’s eight closest neighbors saw their own property values increase as Descante’s fell, according to records maintained by Fulton County.

• “You know something’s wrong there, if there was just a singular discount,” R.J. Morris, a former member of the Fulton County Board of Assessors and a longtime tax activist, told The Daily Beast after examining tax documents with the names redacted.

• But the unusual circumstances around the drop in the property’s official worth, and the lack of an explanation for it from county authorities, raise questions about how the process of valuing one of Atlanta’s most expensive homes unfolded.

• Several Georgia-based property-tax and real-estate experts, speaking on background, told The Daily Beast that the decline in Descante’s value was very unusual. One reason is the sheer magnitude of it, often seen only when a property sustains serious damage. “Did they demolish the house?” quipped one Atlanta property tax guru, after the appraisal pattern at Descante was described to them by The Daily Beast.

• Some longtime observers of Fulton County’s government speculated that the value drop may have been the result of some deliberate readjustment of the home’s value… the move cost the county a significant amount of money.

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