Post Auction - Lowering Your Tax Bill

[Chris M.]

In Allegheny County, when a home sale occurs, it seems like the county automatically reassesses the home for the new purchase price.  

What happens when a home is sold at a fraction of the assessed value?  Does the county reassess at the actual purchase price?

Example:  Home is assessed at $100,000 today.  The home sells for $25,000 at a tax auction.

Question 1:  Does the assessed value automatically get changed to $25,000?

Question 2:  If it does not automatically get changed, is it likely that you can win an appeal for $25,000 since you paid the highest value offered at a public auction?

My goal is to buy a property at an Auction and BRRRR and a big part of the cashflow analysis depends on what the property will be assessed at.

[Luke Palamara]

The county does not automatically reassess. You have to file an appeal. (Btw - it is usually the school district that does the appeal for reassessment)

The lower the price of the property overall the better the chance the school district will not spend the effort to contest it.  There is no definitive number but am told $100k and lower the better the chances.

Note that a “win” is not necessarily binary... often you end up in a situation where you don’t get it reassessed at the purchase price but are met somewhere in between (like half way).