Property Taxes in a nutshell???? (good schools, budget, job)

[Copanut]

Bottom line: Buy a house, figure on taxes at 87% of what you paid for it, no matter what the agent tells you.

[jea6321]

Originally Posted by Hal Roach

I found Sharpsburg to be quite interesting. Only 2.5 miles to Trader Joe's. I like the riverside setting, too. Are there many meth problems in those areas? How about good old fashioned intergenerational welfare?

the Pittsburgh area has much more of an opioid problem than Meth. I believe this is the trend for much of the country though.

[Paul2421]

the "problem" in millvale, etna, sharpsburg etc. looks like it will be housing stock. nothing really ever comes on the market so you will most likely have to buy a flip and have a house 3x the worth of your neighbors whose house was most likely handed down or bought for 50k or get lucky and find a cheap house that you can renovate. also flood insurance is very expensive. millvale is already hip as far as amenities but there are few houses on the market due to landlords keeping their rentals. maybe this will change as price come up but you don't have the turnover associated with people having kids and moving out of the school district.

[bluecarebear]

Originally Posted by ny789987

Welcome to Taxylvania where your house, wages, booze, and gas are all taxed at a ridiculous rate. At least the parks are free, most of the schools are halfway decent, and you aren't living in the south.

I will admit that Pennsylvania has some of the best state and local park facilities in the US.

[Hal Roach]

It occurred to me about flooding. I usually run addresses through Floodsmart. Flood insurance is optional for a cash buyer, but a flood would suck.

[trackstar13]

This thread is hard to follow for me because I have blocked two of the main posters, but the biggest issue I see with property tax in Pittsburgh and PA is all of the underassesed property. If a house has not sold in recent years, odds are it is underassessed and in some areas this can be a significant amount of the property. This penalizes new buyers and further shapes people's opinions of an area as being high tax. For instance, on my street in Erie almost all of my neighbors are assessed between 30-40% lower than me simply because their houses have not sold in many decades. PA does not seem to do a good job of assessment based on actual value and it is silly to "wait" to reassess property properly until it is sold. PA could do a better job of assessing more equally regardless of sale date.

[Hal Roach]

Both Arizona and Virginia used to be like that, but the trend is to have the assessment much closer to market value.

[trackstar13]

Originally Posted by Hal Roach

Both Arizona and Virginia used to be like that, but the trend is to have the assessment much closer to market value.

I agree, this issue is not unique to PA, but other states have worked to fix the issue and during my many years of living in this state I have not seen a move to fix this problem. If homes are properly assessed the property tax burden is spread more evenly among the residents and there is even room to adjust the taxes downward, which I have not seen very often in PA. When I lived in Minnesota I had my property taxes lowered one year because values were declining for a short time. I am actually going to try and appeal my property taxes this year because real estate values in Erie have been plummeting, but I don't hold out much hope because having your property taxes reduced after a new sales price has been established seems nearly impossible in PA.

[Retiredcoach]

Originally Posted by trackstar13

This thread is hard to follow for me because I have blocked two of the main posters, but the biggest issue I see with property tax in Pittsburgh and PA is all of the underassesed property. If a house has not sold in recent years, odds are it is underassessed and in some areas this can be a significant amount of the property. This penalizes new buyers and further shapes people's opinions of an area as being high tax. For instance, on my street in Erie almost all of my neighbors are assessed between 30-40% lower than me simply because their houses have not sold in many decades. PA does not seem to do a good job of assessment based on actual value and it is silly to "wait" to reassess property properly until it is sold. PA could do a better job of assessing more equally regardless of sale date.

I agree with you wholeheartedly regarding property assessments in Pennsylvania generally, and in Allegheny County specifically, being seriously flawed. However, there are those who greatly benefit from this flawed system, and those who are victims of it. Those, who have lived in their homes for decades and in neighborhoods that are not very transient, are a strong and loyal voting bloc for local politicians and state representatives. These are usually the greatest benefactors of a flawed system. There is not a single politician, who is looking to be elected, or re-elected, who will position him/her self on a political podium supporting an annual property assessment.... that is akin to "shooting oneself in the foot".

Personally, I am currently a true benefactor of the current property assessment system. My residence is probably assessed 50-60% below its true market value. I will not complain to any politician about this, as I (and many others in my circumstance) will accept it, as long as, our property taxes are still unconscionably high in comparison to anyplace in the region/state/country. New purchasers of Allegheny County homes are hit with a "double whammy", however.... they will pay the ridiculously high Allegheny County property taxes, on top of, the highest taxes in their established neighborhoods. Yes, there will soon be another court case challenging this antiquated system, and looking ahead, another re-assessment being initiated.... there will have to be.

[trackstar13]

Originally Posted by Retiredcoach

Personally, I am currently a true benefactor of the current property assessment system. My residence is probably assessed 50-60% below its true market value. I will not complain to any politician about this, as I (and many others in my circumstance) will accept it, as long as, our property taxes are still unconscionably high in comparison to anyplace in the region/state/country. New purchasers of Allegheny County homes are hit with a "double whammy", however.... they will pay the ridiculously high Allegheny County property taxes, on top of, the highest taxes in their established neighborhoods. Yes, there will soon be another court case challenging this antiquated system, and looking ahead, another re-assessment being initiated.... there will have to be.

Thanks for the confirmation of what I have been posting and I think the disparity in Allegheny County might actually be worse than what we are dealing with in the City of Erie right now. It is not very welcoming to newcomers when they look at a house and budget for the property taxes and then the bill changes by more than 100% within a few years when the property is reassessed based on the sale price. A house on my street that I couldn't even find a previous record of sale on (probably because it sold so long ago) was assessed for around $80,000 and it just sold in July for around $180,000. I feel bad for the new owners because they will go from paying less than $3,000 per year in property taxes at the time of purchase to more than $6,000 per year within a few years when the house is reassessed based on the purchase price.