Pennsylvania Realtors Plan to Fight Transfer Tax Proposal

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Blocking statewide increase, big fight for 2007
Blocking statewide increase, big fight for 2007

RISMEDIA, December 14, 2006?(MCT)?The price of owning a home shouldn’t go up to provide money for mass transit, an official with the Pennsylvania Association of Realtors told midstate peers Friday.

Last month, a state panel recommended increasing the real estate transfer tax to help fund mass transit. Real estate transfer taxes are paid when a sale takes place.

Under the recommendation from the Transportation Funding Reform Commission, the state real estate transfer tax would increase from 2% to 2.9% of the sale price.

Robert Hay, association first vice president, said the group recently defeated an attempt by Reading to increase its transfer tax.

Blocking a statewide increase is the big fight for 2007, Hay told about 160 members of the Greater Harrisburg Association of Realtors during an annual luncheon at Colonial Country Club in Lower Paxton Twp.

Hay, a real estate agent from Stroudsburg, emphasized that he doesn’t oppose mass transit. He is chairman of an authority working to bring commuter rail service from the Poconos to New York City.

But increasing real estate transfer taxes is not the place to get money for such projects, Hay said. “The real estate transfer tax is an easy target for our state legislators,” he added.

State Transportation Secretary Allen Biehler has estimated an increase would add about $5 a month to a 30-year, $150,000 mortgage.

Hay also said the 33,000-member state group has formed a coalition with the Pennsylvania Builders Association and housing advocacy groups to provide more homes that working families can afford.

“It’s not low-income housing,” he said.

The average-priced home in Pennsylvania is beyond the reach of many teachers, police officers and firefighters, Hay said. The statewide average home price was $241,600 at the end of the second quarter, according to the most recent data from the state association.

The midstate average as of Sept. 30 was $177,420, according to Central Penn Multi-List, which tracks sales in this region.

Hay said in the Poconos, where he lives, the regional police force now allows officers to live up to 40 miles away from where they work instead of 10, because housing is too expensive.

“I would hate to think if we had a major incident and an off-duty officer had to travel 40 miles,” Hay said.

In northeastern Pennsylvania, the second-quarter average home price was $224,500.

Other highlights from the association’s annual meeting:

–Jerrod Paterson was installed as president for 2007. He will succeed Fred Humphrey. Both men are with RE/MAX Realty Professionals Inc. in Lower Paxton Twp.

–The association will soon own Central Penn Multi-List. The association is half-owner of the listing service and is acquiring the 50% now owned by National Realty Trust. The purchase will increase association income because all the fees real estate agents pay to subscribe to the multi-list will go to the association, said Sherri J. Pursel, association government affairs director.

–The association hopes to move into a bigger building in 2007. It has outgrown its office in East Pennsboro Twp., Pursel said. The association has added about 100 members?bringing its total to about 1,650?and also absorbed the former Carlisle Realtors association, she said.

Copyright ? 2006, The Patriot-News, Harrisburg, Pa.

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

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