Home Sweet Homestead.
No. 940 FYI: the City of Pittsburgh, the City School District and the County all have increased their Homestead exemptions. If your assessment is low (like in the 20′s) your real estate taxes are going to be very, very low. You may not be paying any school taxes at all. The City increased the Homestead [...]
Assessment Appeals: Informal Review Results, Special Appeals and Late Appeals
No. 901 The results of the Informal Reviews were mailed during the week of August 6. If you made an informal appeal, you should have received a notice in the mail. Don’t look at the assessment blotter, however. At least among the limited number I reviewed, changes had not been made. However, don’t bother to [...]
Assessment Appeals: Look for Low Sales Prices that the Assessors Culled.
No. 898 Traditionally, assessors have culled sales prices that they think are too low to represent fair market value. In normal times, they may have been right. But not now. In the past four years, extreme low prices have been the market in many places — especially in lower priced areas. But the trend extends [...]
Unexpected Consequences Department: Negative Home Equity is Boosting Prices.
Properties under water stay off the market. This deprives non-selling owners of comparable sales at true market value — lower than the mortgage in many cases. Short sales and sales by banks are often culled by assessors as not being representative of the market. Sometimes they are wrong — those low values ARE the market.
Reassessment Appeal Tip
No. 876 If the comparable sales listed by Assessment are fairly far away, search for lower comps close at hand. Start by looking at every property on the street where the subject property is located. Then try cross streets. This is tip is especially helpful when the comps are in a better neighborhood than the [...]
And now, the Common Level Ratio for Allegheny County is . . .
No. 870 The Dog Days of Summer came early; Temperatures will be in the upper 90′s all week; and The annual Common Level Ratio computations from the State Tax Equalization Board have been announced. Allegheny County stands still at 1.17. That means that there has been only a 17% increase in the median sales price [...]
The Assessment Picture Becomes More Complete.
No. 813 Yesterday, the South Hills 2013 assessment values were posted on the County’s website. The Eastern suburbs were posted earlier. With the majority of the County up, the big picture is starting to become clearer. Check out your assessment at this link. Take the new value and divide it by the old value. If [...]
Reassessment 2012: Watch out for the Flipper.
Flippers haven’t been much in evidence lately, but keep an eye out for their handiwork, because they can play havoc with assessment values.
Reassessment 2012: Getting all of the information requires logging into two web pages.
The Allegheny County says that assessment numbers to be used in 2013 and comparable sales are now available on the County’s website, but only for City and Mt Oliver properties. Other areas will be posted in coming weeks.
Reassessment 2012: New Values, perhaps but no you-know what.
No. 794 According to the Trib, the new values for 2013 (remember, assessment changes are on hold at 2011 levels for 2012 taxes) are posted on the County’s assessment website for the City of Pittsburgh and Mt. Oliver. We’ll have to take the Trib’s word for it. The page just says 2011 – the [...]
keep looking »