Property Tax Savings in Allegheny County – Homestead/Farmstead (Act 50) Exclusion

Allegheny County Act 50

Today, March 1st is the last day to submit your Act 50 Application to Allegheny County to be able to receive a deduction on the assessed value for your property tax in Allegheny County.

How much can I save on annual property taxes in Allegheny County? $85.14

If the property is your primary residence, you can apply and see a reduction of $18,000 from the assessed value of your property.

Here is the example from the Allegheny County Real Estate website:

Example 1 (Without Exclusion):

A property is assessed at $100,000. The property tax would be $473.00 year:

Assessed Value multiplied by the Tax Rate = Tax Owed
$100,000 x 0.00473 = $473.00


Example 2 (With Exclusion):

The same property receives an $18,000 Homestead Exclusion. This same property now has an assessment of $82,000 and the tax owed is $387.86 – a savings of $85.14:

Assessed Value minus the Homestead Exclusion multiplied by the Tax Rate = Tax Owed
$100,000 – $18,000 = $82,000 x 0.00473 = $387.86

How to Apply for the Homestead & Farmstead Exclusions in Allegheny County

  1. Check the Allegheny County Real Estate Website to see if you have already applied. You only need to apply once.
  2. Fill out the Act 50 Application and print. You can download a copy of the application here: ACT 50 Homestead Farmstead Exclusion Application
  3. Submit the Act 50 Application to Allegheny County
    1. By MAIL – must be postmarked by March 1
      1. Office of Property Assessments
        542 Forbes Ave., Room 347, PITTSBURGH, PA 15219
    2. By FAX – 412-350-5796 or 412-350-6084
    3. By EMAIL – forms can be emailed to Michelle.Dawson-Smith@AlleghenyCounty.us
    4. In PERSON – Office of Property Assessments, 542 Forbes Ave., Room 347, PITTSBURGH, PA 15219

Coming this Fall, a Transit-Tastic Event!

Are you a big sustainability nerd? Or are you looking for ways to improve transportation in your area? Well, then you’re going want to check out the Rail~Volution conference coming to Pittsburgh this fall. What’s Rail~Volution, you might ask? It’s a non-profit organization that seeks to build more livable communities with transit. You know, like what’s happening in forward-thinking cities like Pittsburgh.

The annual three-day conference, previously held in places like Denver, Portland, Dallas, Boston, and San Fran, features 80 sessions related to transit and livability. The event is for “people involved in urban planning, people who are involved in policy-making, people who are involved in advocacy related to development issues in any way shape or form,” says Breen Masciotra, Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) Project Manager for the Port Authority of Allegheny County. She explains that the event will “offer education, networking, and community…. and connects you to like-minded people that you can reach out to all year; it’s like summer camp for adults.”

Rail~Volution will be held on October 21-24, with registration in June. But before then, the Rail~Volution National Steering Committee, made up of 40+ livability professionals from across the United States and Canada, is calling for conference speakers. The committee seeks presenters for the event’s workgroups on topics that include: Innovations in Mobility to Enhance Livability; Transforming Communities through Transit-Oriented; Making Transit Great Again; Shaping Transit for Community Needs; Diversity: Equitable Development, Community Engagement, Communication and Placemaking; and Rail~Volution PK Slam, powered by PechaKucha. “Everyone and anyone should submit something; we are hoping to have a strong participation from local speakers,” notes Masciotra. Proposals are being accepted now till March 22nd. To learn more, visit the Call for Speakers page on Rail~Volution’s website.

To find out more about the conference or Rail~Volution head over to RailVolution.org. Also, stay tuned to Rail~Volution’s Facebook page for details on upcoming Happy Hour events and volunteer opportunities.

 

Soup N'at Union Project

Soup N’at: Eat Soup & Support Pittsburgh Artists

[tl;dr: $10 gets you some soup from awesome Pittsburgh chefs and the $ goes to local artists.]

Soup N'at Union Project

Soup N’At is back! Great to see this event continue. Soup N’at is the Pittsburgh version of the Sunday Soup crowdfunding. Check out some of our past posts on Soup N’at here.

How does Soup N’at work?

  • Each guest donates $10 in cash at the door
  • Guests eat soup donated by Pittsburgh restaurants, usually accompanied by delicious bread
  • Local artists present their projects
  • Each guest casts a vote for their favorite project.
  • The winning project takes home all of the $ that was collected at the door.

Soup N’at – Sunday, February 25, 2018

Location: The Union Project

Time: 6-8pm

Menu:

For more information about the dinner and the artists check out the Soup N’at Facebook event here and the Soup N’at website.

A Doggone Good Day With Beer

On one of the first warm days after what has been never-ending and cold winter, we got to go outside and take our dog to the dog park (in our case, the Highland Park Dog Run). And thank goodness we got to go out; our little dog has been chomping at the bit after being limited to short walks. The dog park was super muddy, which made it even more fun!

Tennis Ball + Dog = ❤❤❤❤❤❤

Our adventure was your pretty standard with a long classic game fetch; i.e., we throw a ball, and our dog, kind of, brings it back.

After forty minutes of running around in the mud it was time to head home, wind down, and just hang out. Luckily, we recently got our hands on a special mix of beers from Great Lakes Brewing Company, which included: Dortmunder Gold Lager, Eliot Ness Amber Lager, Turntable Pils, Commodore Perry IPA, Edmund Fitzgerald Porter, and Holy Moses White Ale. While we can’t deny that we have an affinity for beer made right here in Pittsburgh, the Steel City is a diverse powerhouse that has stepped out onto the national stage, we, of course, have access to beer from all over, like from our neighbors in Cleveland, Ohio.

Amongst these tasty brews, we found ourselves lost in thought when drinking the Dortmunder Gold Lager. It has the drinkability of an American lager with a subtle depth of flavor. A light underlying sweet maltiness is complemented by a touch of bitterness that results in a smooth medium-bodied beer that perfectly fits with our day. It’s the kind of beer that makes you want to be outside taking in some sun or hanging on the porch with your four-legged friend in your lap (well maybe not in your lap until your pup has had a bath to remove all that mud!). While we do like lots of different types of beer on this day this lager is totally ours. The only thing that would make the day better would be to add pierogi to go with this beer.

Dortmunder Gold Lager

You can fetch Great Lakes Brewing Company beer (yeah pun!) here in Pittsburgh by using the following link: www.greatlakesbrewing.com/beer-finder. (On this list, is the Tipsy Cow that allows dogs in their outside seating).

 

Bonus: Swag

Great Lakes Brewing Company is also giving away swag. Who doesn’t love swag?

Here’s how:
Go on the Twitter or Instagram machine
Post Great Lakes Brewing Company brew is yours – perhaps with a photo or video and tag @IheartPGH, @GLBC_Cleveland, and #GLBCisMine
Await contact for some super awesome swag.

 

Disclaimer: You must be 21 to drink alcohol in the state of Pennsylvania. We were asked to try this beer and we really did like the Dortmunder Gold.

914 8th Ave Beaver Falls

The Multrup Steel Mansion is still for sale. Open house on Sat 1/20. Now $49,000 or less!

914 8th Ave Beaver Falls

Sooo…. who is up for a little road trip to Beaver Falls this weekend!

I’ve been noticing that the two previous posts on the Moltrup Steel Mansion have been getting a lot of visits recently. So I thought I would check back and see if this house was still for sale.

The Multrup Steel Mansion located at 914 8th Ave is still for sale and the price has been reduced to $49,000.  There is a new listing agent for the property, Carol Tomayko, her team has been very responsive to questions.

You can read a history of the Moltrup Steel Mansion on our previous post here.

The house has been featured on several old house blogs and you can read some of the comments on Old House Dreams to learn more about the current condition of the house. Long story short… not good.

Here are a few notes from comments left by Philip Poburka who toured the home over the summer:

  • “One of the thing I noticed which has not been mentioned are the tension failures in some areas of the Masonry, which have occurred from the Home’s differential settling over time.”
  • “There is no Wood in any of the construction, other than for the small and modest Back Porch, and, of course, the Sash Windows and Interior Wood Moldings and Paneling and Stair Treads and.”
  • “Let alone, all the lovely Wood work which has not ever had any second coats of varnish or other finish.”

914 8th Ave, Beaver Falls Open House This Saturday

I have just confirmed with the listing agent that there is an open house at 914 8th Ave, Beaver Falls for this Saturday, January 20 from 1-4pm.

Price Drop $49,900 or Less?

The realtor has also told me that while the price is listed at $49,900, the property is now in foreclosure and the bank intends to sell the home via auction in the next few weeks.

See more photos and learn more about 914 8th Ave:

 

And now, a word from our sponsors…

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