Tax and neighborhood question (Pittsburgh, Wilkinsburg: sales, real estate, house)

[T. Damon]

Long time lurker and occasional poster here as someone who loved Pittsburgh on my one short visit and am planning to go back with my husband to visit our good friends who just moved there from here, and to spend some more time to really take in the city next month. We are also considering Pittsburgh as a place to potentially relocate after retirement in a couple of years if we do decide to relocate.

So our friends bought and renovated a great place in Regent Square and I was doing a little RE poking around from Zillow and other sites. They got a great price on their place, $150k, 2400 sf 4br 3ba right in the heart of Regent Square, (total fixer, but that's what they do) now "valued" at $279k, assessed at $195k. So we've got an algorithm value and an assessment based on some data that I'm not sure of. But the sites indicate they are paying $10k in property taxes a year (yikes!), and also that S. Braddock is actually the city limits line(?), and that property taxes within the limits actually seems to be less than a few streets away. One, is this actually the city limits line and two, are taxes potentially/generally cheaper within the limits? (it seems like it should be opposite)

So as a (gay if it matters, it doesn't to us) couple potentially moving to the city wanting a great, safe neighborhood with easy access to downtown, transit/Uber, and walking distance to a decently vibrant neighborhood village. Are there other options besides the seemingly obvious: Regent Hill (inside or outside limits) Squirrel Hill, Shadyside, then there is: Point Breeze, Friendship and Swisshelm Park, of which which I know nothing about but seem to get the good press, and Oakland? Also, within these areas are there certain corners where even small lots nonetheless have great privacy because of layout or topography that we could keep our eye on? We have that now and know that with Pittsburgh's great topography and parks it seems that this is likely in that city as in ours.

Are there other "transitional" neighborhoods to keep an eye on in city? We lucked out getting in on the ground floor in this neighborhood in SD and it would be fun to experience that again. Not necessarily to get that property value appreciation, we will never roll the dice and stupidly lucky as we did once, but just because it's great to be a part of a neighborhood's revival. I am an architect so am genuinely interested in the built environment of a place and how it works or doesn't.

Or is there actually someplace outside of the city - not boring and sterile suburbs where folks drive into garages and disappear after shopping at the Big Box stores- rather, older established "towns" with some life, connectivity (tax benefits?) and still linked to the city that we should at least research? Obviously part of all this is that we care not one whit of school scores, other than it may provide stability to RE values, but have no need to be overly taxed for it.

Ok, I'm on a tear, drinking martinis looking out over our canyon and will let it rest.

Will really appreciate all information of whatever comes from this . Thanks!

[RogersParkTransplant]

The Northside comes to mind as an area that might interest you -- there's a range of neighborhoods over here that might fit the bill, depending on what you're really looking for in "transitional" neighborhoods. There's a strong LGBT presence in the Mexican War Streets and surrounding areas, like Deutschtown, though it's not an exclusively gay neighborhood by any means -- just an area where it's not unusual to see rainbow flags etc. If you want cool topography, Troy Hill or Spring Hill could work, or maybe over on Observatory Hill or Fineview. Since you're an architect it's worth noting that the Northside has some of our best 19th century architecture, including interesting renovations, some new construction that blends well with the old, and some shells that could be rehabbed and turned into whatever you wanted. Prices have been climbing, but speaking as a San Diego native myself I doubt you'd have any sticker shock given where you're coming from. Another area that leaps to mind reading your post is Mt Washington -- there are some really cute homes up there and it's a nice community.

The first ring suburbs do include some nice little towns too; Millvale is the closest one to us and therefore the one we know best, but there's more, and other posters will chime in about those. The housing stock in Millvale isn't the greatest, but it's possible to find some cute homes that are walkable to breweries, restaurants, and some limited retail.

[T. Damon]

^^^
Awesome info, and just the kind of insight we are looking for.

Thank you so much.

Always an adventure when you mostly only know a city by delving into its online presence and
just one visit, though we have contacts with many people who have a well established anchor and presence in the city- famous photographer and others who have been there for decades. We are so looking forward to exploring it.

Thanks again.

[jea6321]

most of what people call regent square is technically in either Woodland Hills or wilkinsburg school districts. both have very high property taxes. the city portion of regent square is fairly small with no exact street as its border. https://www.google.com/maps/place/Pi...!4d-79.9958864

the city has significantly lower property taxes, but you do pay a 3% wage tax instead of 1% for the others. the homes in the city portion of the neighborhood tend to sell for more since the tax base is sometimes 1/2 or even 1/3 as much for a similar home only a few streets ( same street sometimes) away.

[eschaton]

Originally Posted by jea6321

the city has significantly lower property taxes, but you do pay a 3% wage tax instead of 1% for the others. the homes in the city portion of the neighborhood tend to sell for more since the tax base is sometimes 1/2 or even 1/3 as much for a similar home only a few streets ( same street sometimes) away.

The above is true, but it's also the case that since a huge proportion of the city's assessed tax value is in Downtown (IIRC around 1/3rd of the total) that taxes for a residential property end up lower than they would be otherwise.

Edit: Those taxes seem like they were done using the suburban rate. A house in Pittsburgh with an assessed value in that range would be taxed at about $4,300.

[jea6321]

Originally Posted by eschaton

The above is true, but it's also the case that since a huge proportion of the city's assessed tax value is in Downtown (IIRC around 1/3rd of the total) that taxes for a residential property end up lower than they would be otherwise.

Edit: Those taxes seem like they were done using the suburban rate. A house in Pittsburgh with an assessed value in that range would be taxed at about $4,300.

Im not exactly sure what you are saying. But the total millage for the city of Pittsburgh is .2263 so a 100k assessment ( excluding the homestead exemption for this example) will yield a total property tax of $2,263.
If in the swisuvale portion of Regent sq the same 100k assessment would have total of $3808, if in Edgewood it would be $3726 and if in wilkinsburg it is a whopping $5136.

the school boards around Pittsburgh and surrounding have been very active in appealing all sales of property to purchase price as of late. Its a difficult gamble to take on buying a nice property in the wilkinsburg school district and end up with $1k per month or more in tax burden.

[eschaton]

Originally Posted by jea6321

Im not exactly sure what you are saying. But the total millage for the city of Pittsburgh is .2263 so a 100k assessment ( excluding the homestead exemption for this example) will yield a total property tax of $2,263.
If in the swisuvale portion of Regent sq the same 100k assessment would have total of $3808, if in Edgewood it would be $3726 and if in wilkinsburg it is a whopping $5136.

the school boards around Pittsburgh and surrounding have been very active in appealing all sales of property to purchase price as of late. Its a difficult gamble to take on buying a nice property in the wilkinsburg school district and end up with $1k per month or more in tax burden.

I looked at the assessed value the OP listed (195K) and calculated it using the city/SD/county mill rates.

[robrobrob]

Originally Posted by T. Damon

So our friends bought and renovated a great place in Regent Square and I was doing a little RE poking around from Zillow and other sites. They got a great price on their place, $150k, 2400 sf 4br 3ba right in the heart of Regent Square, (total fixer, but that's what they do) now "valued" at $279k, assessed at $195k. So we've got an algorithm value and an assessment based on some data that I'm not sure of. But the sites indicate they are paying $10k in property taxes a year (yikes!), and also that S. Braddock is actually the city limits line(?), and that property taxes within the limits actually seems to be less than a few streets away. One, is this actually the city limits line and two, are taxes potentially/generally cheaper within the limits? (it seems like it should be opposite)

T. Damon,

You may want to head straight to the Allegheny County to website to determine your friends tax liability.

This way you will know for sure what their house is assessed at. The assessed value is the only value that matters for property tax purposes. This will also tell your where the property is located.

Here is the link.

Real Estate Portal | Search | Allegheny County

Also, here is the link to the municipal profile for Wilkinsburg (assuming they live in Wilkinsburg) which should help explain their tax situation.

Allegheny County Community Profile

[WhoIsStanwix?]

Can anyone explain the "common ratio" to me? I have heard there is some factor (0.87 maybe?) to get a purchase price from today to be equivalent to the assessment year. Is that true? Does the common ratio vary by municipality or is it uniform across the county?

What about homestead exemption - does that only apply to the county portion of taxes, or all three (county, municipality, school)?

[jea6321]

Originally Posted by WhoIsStanwix?

Can anyone explain the "common ratio" to me? I have heard there is some factor (0.87 maybe?) to get a purchase price from today to be equivalent to the assessment year. Is that true? Does the common ratio vary by municipality or is it uniform across the county?

What about homestead exemption - does that only apply to the county portion of taxes, or all three (county, municipality, school)?

homestead exemption lowers the assessed value by 18k dollars. It gives you a break on all 3. in the city, it equates to a total tax savings of $407 per year. Allegheny ratio or multiplier is 1. Other counties use various ratios.