WSJ gets into the practicalities of investing in real estate and becoming a landlord: Are You Ready to Be a Landlord?

Note the mention of Pittsburgh as one of the very few places where rents are rising.

Reminds me though.  One of the most…  words escape me a bit..  most something, I have ever read. Written right here in Pittsburgh:   Rent-o-vation.

Every line in it is amazing.  On our current topics though on page 53 is this ultimate explanation (not that it was the intent) for why Allegheny County needs to do a much better job now and in the future of keeping property assessments current.  Thus was the state of assessments and the local real estate market in general not long ago when property reassessments were not done regularly:

When you purchase a house there is a “REAL ESTA TE ASSESSMENT” done on that property. The tax assessment is 25% of the fair market value of the property, or one fourth the fair maket value. On the last 10 houses I purchased, the fair market value (according to the county tax assessment) was higher than tbe purchase price. But, when I purchased the property, I knew that after the first of the next year, I could go to the county tax office to appeal my taxes. Which means that you are asking the county to lower your property taxes because the assessed value of the property is higher than what you paid for the property.

Honestly, it all provides me with more than a certain motivation.