You'll want to use the parent-child exclusion if you can to keep the property at Mom's assessed value, which if she has owned it for 3 decades is likely very low in comparison to fair market value. 

If you steam the carpets, or fix a hole in the wall, how do you assess the charge.

I would challenge the tax assessment, which should adjust based on the price you pay, not the old assessment.

@Raymond Anderson Total annual property tax bill for $100,000 assessed property in the Borough of Wilkinsburg, $5136.Total annual property tax bill for $100,000 assessed property in the City of Pittsburgh, $2263.Ray, you're going to have to learn all about how to calculate millage property tax rates to invest in this area and not lose your shirt.

Property is a multi-family that I will then split into different units for the B side buyer, as done a dozen times before.

Also, I believe we’re being taxed/assessed inappropriately due to this confusion.

I searched your criteria in meetup and found about two dozen hits on RE Networking groups in your area.

There are dozens of employees that run the site that need to be paid somehow.

We approached at least a dozen lenders after deal 1 died and ask if they could do it. 

But after I had measured several dozen of these houses I could see the patterns of construction and had a better understanding of how things were built.I still think back to the lessons I learned measuring those houses in my work now. ( maybe even more than my architecture classes in college)