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

[robrobrob]

Originally Posted by caroline2

I think you're way off base in that the 5% limit does not apply to individual houses, just municipalities. So if you live in a neighborhood that has flourished while others in your municipality have not, they won't necessarily lower the millage rate at all and you could pay the full $3900.

In fact, technically I think a municipality could increase rates so long as they don't net more than 5%.

Someone please correct me if I am wrong.

This is what I believe to be true.

[Bong477]

Got new assessment in the mail yesterday on a house we bought 2 months ago in the city (Squirrel Hill). Assessed value roughly doubled from 2002 and was 25% more than we just paid for it.

Will update after our informal review... I'd hope we can at least get it down to what we just paid for it.

[Velvet Jones]

Originally Posted by Bong477

Got new assessment in the mail yesterday on a house we bought 2 months ago in the city (Squirrel Hill). Assessed value roughly doubled from 2002 and was 25% more than we just paid for it.

Will update after our informal review... I'd hope we can at least get it down to what we just paid for it.

This should be an easy appeal then. If you just purchased the house then it would be hard for them to claim the market value is a penny higher then what you paid for it. Then again, if you just purchased two months ago the new assessment was likely already assigned before you ever bought the place.

[Bong477]

Yes, I think that it should be an easy appeal. We'll see if it actually is.

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by robrobrob

One can only hope that assessments takes into consideration sales prices.

They do. It has been widely reported.

But their models also use other factors, and are unlikely to be error-free, so in some cases you might have to do an informal or formal appeal of an excessive assessment.

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by Scott2187

I'm trying to understand this whole thing (and avoiding doing actual work for the remainder of 2011). Does any of this make sense, or am I waaayyyy off base?

So a few things:

As a first cut, the city has to establishing a revenue-neutral millage. It is permitted to then vote on an up to 5 percent increase, but that isn't automatic.

The school district can directly take an increase up to its Index, which is derived from a complicated formula and varies by district, but in most cases it is around 2% plus or minus. It has to establish a new millage subject to that condition.

In both cases, the allowed increase is in total revenues, not for any given property. The key thing to keep in mind is that means what you want to know is how your property did against the total revenue pool--if it did better than the total revenue pool, your taxes will go up, but if it did worse, they could go down.

Unfortunately, we don't yet know how the total revenue pools did in any jurisdiction. So we're waiting to find out some key information, without which we can't really know how we did individually even with our reassessment in hand.

[Scott2187]

Originally Posted by BrianTH

So a few things:

As a first cut, the city has to establishing a revenue-neutral millage. It is permitted to then vote on an up to 5 percent increase, but that isn't automatic.

The school district can directly take an increase up to its Index, which is derived from a complicated formula and varies by district, but in most cases it is around 2% plus or minus. It has to establish a new millage subject to that condition.

In both cases, the allowed increase is in total revenues, not for any given property. The key thing to keep in mind is that means what you want to know is how your property did against the total revenue pool--if it did better than the total revenue pool, your taxes will go up, but if it did worse, they could go down.

Unfortunately, we don't yet know how the total revenue pools did in any jurisdiction. So we're waiting to find out some key information, without which we can't really know how we did individually even with our reassessment in hand.

That makes more sense now, thank you. Since I close on Jan 6, could I appeal the assessment based on the purchase price and appraisal that was completed last week?

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by Scott2187

That makes more sense now, thank you. Since I close on Jan 6, could I appeal the assessment based on the purchase price and appraisal that was completed last week?

I don't practice in this area and can't give legal advice. Speaking just as a layman, I suspect that would be considered very good evidence, although I should note that I believe the base-year is 2010 (not that it is likely things went down since then).

[h_curtis]

Originally Posted by Bong477

Got new assessment in the mail yesterday on a house we bought 2 months ago in the city (Squirrel Hill). Assessed value roughly doubled from 2002 and was 25% more than we just paid for it.

Will update after our informal review... I'd hope we can at least get it down to what we just paid for it.

You are in for a long uphill battle. What a shame. It goes to show you they don't consider a recent sale at all. Just some dope driving by and saying, that house looks pretty good, lets slap a number on it. What a scam. Most of us will have to move soon. An A-frame in Westmorland will soon be mine. For sale signs are going to be popping up everywhere. Home prices are dropping like a rock. All homes in Allegheny County are worthless. Tons of homes on the market will dictate these new prices. 40% drop overnight. What a mess!!

[Bong477]

I am sure recent sales are considered in the model but my sale was too recent to count. Still shows that the model isnt all that accurate, at the price we paid 25% difference is a lot of money per year. I am pretty sure this will ultimately end in just enough increase that people will be annoyed but not outright revolt.