The so-called "windfall" protection for homeowners? Is it real or not? (Pittsburgh: sales, houses)

[h_curtis]

10% got away with not lowering millage. What will be the percentage this time around? 50%? 60%? Crap shoot! What if you lived in that area that didn't lower its millage Brian? Would you be posting as you do? Best that you look at this problem from all angles, not just the lucky ones. Some people are going to have their taxes double and even MORE! A drive by appraisal is one big joke. Even a seasoned pro like myself wouldn't be accurate doing a drive by. I would need to know room sizes, lot size, and of course condition. Did the current owners renovate the basement? Is the basement of that home a damp mess with water running on the floor when it rains? Mold? Old leaky roof? Ceilings falling down? Perfect condition inside. Original kitchen? New kitchen? New bathrooms. A new master bathroom no one knows about?

Please, this thing is a mess!

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by h_curtis

10% got away with not lowering millage. What will be the percentage this time around? 50%? 60%? Crap shoot!

That's not an accurate statement about what happened last time, and the laws are now tighter, and there is a court overseeing the entire process.

So I'll take the under at 50%.

[h_curtis]

Originally Posted by BrianTH

That's not an accurate statement about what happened last time, and the laws are now tighter, and there is a court overseeing the entire process.

So I'll take the under at 50%.

It is still a crap shoot. I looked at a home I lived in years ago in Highland Park and the neighbor's home. I know both homes like the back of my hand and the lower priced home is assessed at almost double the home that is nicer. That is real life stuff, not made up. I know real estate because I am a pro AND I know both those homes perfectly. That is real stuff here, not pretend. I saw what I saw and that tells me this whole thing is a crap shoot. No matter what you say, it means nothing. If you want me to provide the examples in private to you, I will, but you haven't been in the homes, so it won't have the same impact.

[BrianTH]

Obviously, whether any given individual assessment is accurate and whether the taxing jurisdictions will follow the anti-windfall laws are two totally different issues.

[h_curtis]

Originally Posted by BrianTH

Obviously, whether any given individual assessment is accurate and whether the taxing jurisdictions will follow the anti-windfall laws are two totally different issues.

But the end result needs to consider ALL issues. I looked up a situation I know much better than some drive by idiot from Ohio. I also know the law! I know real estate being a professional for over two decades. Showing my age here, but nonetheless, I know this industry. It is a mess. Be thankful you are in a suburb Brian. You might be singing a different tune if you were in the city, but I suspect your home is very inexpensive being in a Wilkinsburg location and you have very little to be concerned over.

[BrianTH]

I really cannot wait until the new millages come out and all this gets upended.

Anyway, as I have pointed out before, living in the Regent Square part of Wilkinsburg, we are almost certainly due for an actual tax increase.

[robrobrob]

Originally Posted by h_curtis

But the end result needs to consider ALL issues. I looked up a situation I know much better than some drive by idiot from Ohio. I also know the law! I know real estate being a professional for over two decades. Showing my age here, but nonetheless, I know this industry. It is a mess. Be thankful you are in a suburb Brian. You might be singing a different tune if you were in the city, but I suspect your home is very inexpensive being in a Wilkinsburg location and you have very little to be concerned over.

He lives in Regent Square and you have seen pictures of his home. He is going to get hammered by the reassessment.

[squarian]

Originally Posted by robrobrob

He lives in Regent Square and you have seen pictures of his home. He is going to get hammered by the reassessment.

I also live in Regent Square and I am also going to get hammered. I'm operating on the assumption that I will not be able to afford our house next year and will have to move - probably back to my home state, since if I'm going to shoulder the burden of moving house, I might as well move closer to my family. It's a nice house and I've enjoyed living in it, but what will really be difficult is my daughter's associations with it - since my wife died, my daughter has come to feel the house gives her a connection to her mother, who certainly left her mark on the house in the form of the interior decoration and a garden and brick patio she created. I'm afraid leaving here will be a kind of "second death in the family" for her. But one mustn't stand in the way of the free operation of market forces, whatever the human cost.

[h_curtis]

Originally Posted by robrobrob

He lives in Regent Square and you have seen pictures of his home. He is going to get hammered by the reassessment.

I thought he was in Wilkinsburg? No I have not seen a picture of his home.

[squarian]

Originally Posted by h_curtis

I thought he was in Wilkinsburg?

One corner of Regent Square (which is an unofficial neighborhood) is in Wilkinsburg (which is a very official municipality with its very own very expensive and very dysfunctional school district).

We both live there.

For now.