Homestead Exemption Question - moving within same county (rental, new home)

[Twisted_Brim]

Hello,

I currently live in Dekalb County. I have a basic homestead exemption on my current house. My wife and I are buying a new home in the same county which will be our primary residence. We are going to rent out our current. I have probably read over dekalb county's tax commissioners website a dozen times but I don't see a clear answer to the question I have, which is can I cancel the H.E. on my old house and then apply and receive H.E. on my new home. The rules are that you can not have H.E. on rental properties and that one can only have H.E. on only one property for which is the primary residence. This matter is rather important. I need to know the answer this weekend!!

[herr bear]

Changing the exemption to the new property once you own it should not be a problem. Your realtor should be able to confirm this and give you info on how to go about it. I just did the exact same thing in Gwinnett, which required me going to the county office and filing the papers. It will probably be the same in Dekalb, again ask your realtor. I had to go in twice as the first time the new property ownership had not been changed over in the county's computer and was still in the old homeowner's name. It is too late to do it for this year, but you can change it for next year as long as you are in the house by Jan 1.