Sell your Pennsylvania land for cash

Yes, Pennsylvania's state realty transfer tax is 1% of the value of the real estate transferred. The county recorder of deeds collects it, often along with a local realty transfer tax that the municipality and school district can share. In Allegheny County, the total ranges from 2% to 5% of the price, depending on the municipality. Philadelphia's total is 4.578%, and most of Pittsburgh totals 5%. Ask your title company for the total rate where your land sits. Source: Pennsylvania Department of Revenue, Realty Transfer Tax.

Your county tax claim bureau can sell the land at an upset sale, usually about two years after the taxes were due. Unpaid taxes and penalties go to the bureau by April 30 of the next year, then 9% yearly interest and notice costs are added. If the claim is not paid by July 1 of the year after the bureau's notice, the land is advertised for sale later that year. Paying in full before the actual sale still stops it, but extra time some counties give owner-occupied homes does not apply to vacant land. Philadelphia and Allegheny counties use other laws, so ask your county or city tax office for your dates. Source: Pennsylvania Real Estate Tax Sale Law sections 306, 308, 501, 503.1 and 601.

Usually not, because most counties sell under the Real Estate Tax Sale Law, which allows no redemption after the actual sale. Paying the full claim before the sale stops it, and the bureau may accept full payment while the land stays unsold after an upset sale. Philadelphia and Allegheny counties use other laws, such as the Municipal Claim and Tax Lien Law for sheriff's sales. Under that law, vacant property cannot be redeemed once the sheriff's deed is acknowledged. Ask your county tax office or a Pennsylvania attorney what applies to your parcel. Source: Pennsylvania Real Estate Tax Sale Law sections 501(c) and 618, and Municipal Claim and Tax Lien Law section 32(c).

Not the state's property disclosure statement. Pennsylvania's seller disclosure law covers homes with one to four dwelling units and expressly excludes transfers of unimproved real property. A contract to sell a building lot with no community sewage system must say so, and say the buyer needs an individual sewage permit. Without those statements, the seller cannot enforce the contract against the buyer. Ask a Pennsylvania real estate attorney what your sale needs. Source: 68 Pa.C.S. 7103 and Pennsylvania Sewage Facilities Act section 7.1.

Not a sale of the whole tract, if the land stays in a qualifying use. A change to a non-qualifying use triggers roll-back taxes for up to seven tax years on the entire tract, plus 6% interest a year. Selling off part of the tract for a non-qualifying use, called a split-off, also triggers roll-back on the entire tract. Small split-offs within acreage limits, up to 2 acres a year for a qualifying use or the buyer's home, trigger roll-back only there. Ask your county assessment office how a sale affects your parcel. Source: Pennsylvania Farmland and Forest Land Assessment Act of 1974 (Clean and Green) sections 2, 5.1 and 6.

Yes. You do not need to live in Pennsylvania to sell Pennsylvania land. Liberty Acres buys land anywhere in the US and closes through a title company. We pay back taxes and all closing costs. There are no agents and no commissions.

Possibly, because Pennsylvania inheritance tax is a lien on inherited real estate until it is paid. The rate is 0% for a spouse, 4.5% for lineal heirs such as children over 21, 12% for siblings and 15% for most others. The tax is due at death and becomes delinquent nine months later, and paying within three months earns a 5% discount. The lien ends on land sold by a bonded estate fiduciary, or once tax is paid on all property in the estate's return. Farmland left to family can be exempt, but one exemption is lost if the land stops being farmed within seven years of the death. Ask the estate's attorney how the tax will be handled at closing. Source: Pennsylvania Department of Revenue, Inheritance Tax, and Tax Reform Code sections 2111(s), 2116, 2142, 2167, 2170 and 2171.