Pittsburgh-Allegheny County Property Tax Assessment Appeal Advice

[Matt Michaels]

Hi BP community!

I bought a duplex 9 months ago in the Pittsburgh area and just recently got a notice that my property's assessment is under appeal from a school district (will not cite to keep school district anonymous). As I'm sure you are aware, I bought the place at a little bit of a premium and thus due to this the school district is filing an appeal on my property assessment to ultimately raise the taxes and receive more money. 

I found some previous articles through the forums about this topic:

https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/757/topics/693436-protest-property-tax-assessment

and 

https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/51/topics/557835-property-tax-assessment-made-after-appeal-period-expired

While they lend good advice for each of their specific situation, I was hoping to unique advice since this is my first time going through this process:

1. Should I hire a legal professional to represent me? Does the cost of an assessment appeals attorney outweigh the long term incremental tax impact if my property taxes were raised?

2. In advance of the hearing, is there a way to start gathering data/comps/etc. to build my case to keep the taxes as they currently are? For example, I read about sourcing comps from the MLS on residences similar to mine in my area, pulling the comps from the appraisal when I bought the property.

3. Lastly, any other advice or food for thought since this is my first time going through this process?

Apologize in advance for the long post, appreciate any help you can provide!