Property Taxes in Upper St Clair are an ass kicker (Pittsburgh: to rent, chapel)

[jimmyev]

Originally Posted by Stockton.

Other homes listed for 400K still had at least 8-9K in annual property taxes.

Yeah, houses here are cheaper than some other areas of the country but the property taxes here are insane. This area rivals NJ for property tax.

In Texas that value would run you about $10K in property tax (plus $10K for homeowner's insurance). So it's not just PA and NJ.

[Hopes]

Originally Posted by Stockton.

Where in Pittsburgh can you get 3000 square feet for less than 400K and get a top notch school district?

Are you asking me to list all of the top notch school districts?

Upper St. Clair is good, but I wouldn't rank it as THE top school district in the area. How did you decide upon Upper St. Clair? Just becuase you know someone who lives there?

Have you looked into Peter's Township like I recommended? Housing prices might be comparable to Upper St. Clair, but the property taxes are lower.

Have you even bothered to adjust your real estate criteria search to range between 200k to 325k ---- just to see what's available?

Instead of picking a township as your main focus, I recommend doing a county-wide search for real estate, then look into the standing of the school district for houses you like.

Afterall, the Pittsburgh area has MANY top notch school districts.

I can't offer specifics because I have no information as to where you and your husband will be working and what type of a commute time the two of you would like, etc.

There are just way too many good school districts in Pittsburgh to select a house soley on schools when you could meet other desires since there are plenty of quality schools.

[lifepgh2op]

Look into Peters Township, Washington County. You'd be right next to Upper St. Clair but paying Washington County taxes / newer homes. Peters Township Schools are also top notch. Not #1 like USC, but not far behind.

Washington County areas that are close: Peters Township, McMurray, Venetia, North Strabane Township, Canonsburg

[Hopes]

Originally Posted by lifepgh2op

Peters Township Schools are also top notch. Not #1 like USC, but not far behind.

Peter's Township actually ranks higher than Upper St. Clair.

Ranking of High Schools in Pennsylvania

[lifepgh2op]

Originally Posted by Hopes

Peter's Township actually ranks higher than Upper St. Clair.

Ranking of High Schools in Pennsylvania

That link was just an alphabetical list of high schools in PA...unless I misread it.

Here is an article from the Pittsburgh Business Times:
The Rankings: Western Pennsylvania - Pittsburgh Business Times:

USC is #1, Peters is #5, according to their criteria

[greg42]

Here's the ranking I've been throwing out to everyone. The Rankings: Western Pennsylvania - Pittsburgh Business Times: As I try to point out when I post this, it is one ranking, so I wouldn't take it as the end all be all necessarily. But it can be helpful for focusing. Beyond this I don't have much to offer on one school district vs another except second-hand anecdotes and sometimes a thought that a smaller high school/district could be more appealing than a really gigantic one. (Remember, each PA school district will generally have one high school, except for the large cities.)

Remember that property taxing comes from three entities: municipality, county and school district. Although the school district is the largest in every case, the county can be a big chunk. Upper St Clair is in Allegheny County, where the county tax is higher than in surrounding counties. So the example of instead choosing Peters which is in Washington County could be an option. In looking at that list, houses with less property tax and potentially less purchase price for same size could include Peters or perhaps South Fayette Township, which is not outside Allegheny but may have cheaper housing (I don't really know though). Those two are reasonably near USC. Beyond that, places that seem like they might have significant reduction in housing cost and/or taxes are not very near USC. So if you are choosing that area for location and not just school district, these would not be high on your list. But if the location within the Pittsburgh area does not matter so much, then going down that list and picking out the districts that are not in Allegheny County is a start. For the ones that are in Allegheny County, you might try Avonworth, could be something that costs less there. Probably others too, but that's the one that strikes me at first glance that's fairly high on the list and may have some more reasonable houses. Maybe not though, could be old thinking.

Sometimes it can be hard to match up areas with districts. So, going down the list for a few likely suspects: Franklin Regional=Murrysville area, Quaker Valley=Sewickley area (but this isn't going to be cheaper, just in case you were curious about where that one was), Seneca Valley=Cranberry area, and, that's probably enough.

It is important to compare apples to apples before making yourself too crazy with property taxes. In general the housing costs are less here, but this would assume things fairly well alike, from distance to city center to schools to age to type of house or setting to quality of build and on and on. Given that the size is going to be an important factor for you, looking in one of the most expensive areas isn't going to be a place where you save a lot in housing. As you have seen, you might get a "nicer" house at the same price, but the property taxes are higher, and you need to figure that into your overall plan. The better way to look at things may be "How much does a true equivalent house cost here?" because it sounds like so far what you're pricing out for taxes is not really an equivalent.

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by Stockton.

So I guess the 10K I can expect to pay every year for property taxes is worth it?

Only you can decide that. But I would note all taxes ultimately come out of someone's income, and again if you look at our overall tax burden as a percentage of income it is around average. So if you keep your house price within the typical local multiple of gross household income (around 2-3 times is typical around here), you should end up paying a typical percentage of income in taxes.

Do all of you guys pay that much?

I don't want to get into exact details, but we bought a pretty nice home understanding it was going to come with a sizeable tax bill.

[jimmyev]

Another option are more rural school districts in Washington and Greene Counties, but I'm not familiar with that particular area. Rural districts rank lower in all those unofficial ratings because they have a more economically diverse student population with varying levels of parental involvement. If your family emphasizes education, a graduate of one of those dinky schools can compete with the best of them. And the property values (and taxes) are much lower if it's anything like the rural area north of Pittsburgh.

[szug-bot]

im not an expert on taxes and so forth, but besides property taxes, one has to consider where else they are paying taxes. in some counties, personal property (cars, boats) are taxed. its possible the OPs former Georgia community had something similar, so in effect he/she is making out with buying a house in this area.
PA and/or Allegheny COUnty do NOT tax cars, boats, etc., correct? i dont think so.

[Hopes]

Originally Posted by lifepgh2op

That link was just an alphabetical list of high schools in PA...unless I misread it.

You did misread it.

Peters Township ranks 26th of 629 high schools in the state
Upper St. Clair ranks 27th of 629 high schools in the state

Regardless of which statistics or reports we bring forth, I think we can all agree that Peters Township is a top quality school district where the OP can save on property taxes.