How tax sales, foreclosures and probate work in Bucks County, PA

Overview

Not legal advice: check with a local real-estate attorney before you buy at a tax sale or sheriff sale.

So Bucks is really three markets. Lower Bucks has more modest, older, often owner-occupied tract homes and more rentals. Central Bucks has higher values and long-held equity. Upper Bucks has rural lots, wells, septic tanks and family land.

What makes Bucks stand out in the data:

• Rich sales history. The County's Board of Assessment shows every sale with buyer, seller, price, transfer tax and recording date. That is a lot more than most Pennsylvania counties show.
• Assessed values from 1972. Bucks has not reassessed since 1972. An assessed value of $48,000 can sit on a house worth several hundred thousand dollars. The County publishes a factor to convert it, and LeadCounty uses that factor for market value.
• A Tax Claim Bureau that sells online. Unpaid tax goes to the County's Tax Claim Bureau, part of the Treasurer's office, and its upset sale and judicial sale are held online through a vendor.
• Local tax collectors. Each municipality and school district has its own elected tax collector, so there is no single county balance for a property.

The law behind all of this is in the Pennsylvania state rules. This guide covers what is different in Bucks.

Reading the records: what you will see and what it means

Each small section below starts with what you see in LeadCounty, then what it means, the usual reasons, and what to do. The last part puts the signals together, because one signal alone rarely tells you much.

How a Bucks tax bill works

One property, three bills, three collectors. The county, the municipality and the school district each bill. A local elected tax collector in each municipality collects for them. Bucks has many municipalities, so there are many collectors. In LeadCounty, the annual tax is either the Board of Assessment's own figure or the county, municipal and school rates times the assessed value. About 97% of properties have a tax figure.

Tax owed: why it is empty for most properties

Delinquent and years behind

Tax lien: school, municipal and Tax Claim

The upset sale and the judicial sale

Mortgage foreclosure flag

Sheriff's sales are held monthly, in person at the County Administration Building in Doylestown. The Sheriff publishes the list each month. Dates are often postponed.

Deeds, sale prices and ownership history

Value, 1972 assessments and equity

Owner type: person, LLC, trust, estate

Mailing address: absentee and out-of-state owners

Foreclosure and code signs

Bucks has no countywide code database. Bristol Township publishes some parcel and occupancy information. Municipalities each keep their own. A clean record in one tells you little about another.

Likely-to-sell score

Useful combinations

• Delinquent + out-of-state mailing + older building: a landlord or heir who stopped paying. Best chance of a flexible seller.
• Delinquent + homestead on + owner for 30 years: a long-time resident in trouble. Most equity, most emotion. Tell them about payment agreements.
• Delinquent for two years + on the upset list: time is short, usually until September or December.
• Tax lien + school lien + low value: the debt may be close to the value.
• "Estate of" + a balance: the owner has died. Look for a case at the Register of Wills.
• Foreclosure complaint + long hold + high value: equity is probably large, a quick sale can leave cash.
• Several parcels + the same LLC + liens: a landlord with trouble across buildings.

Step by step: the tax timeline

1. School bill in summer. Most school districts bill in July or August, with an early discount, a face period and a penalty. Dates vary, so check the district.
2. County and municipal bills early in the year. Same pattern of discount, face and penalty.
3. Local collector. The elected collector keeps trying until the end of the year.
4. Returned to the Bureau. At the start of the next year, unpaid taxes pass to the Tax Claim Bureau, with interest and costs. The Bureau mails notices and posts the property.
5. Payment agreement. Owners can often set up a payment agreement and stop the sale. It ends if they miss a payment.
6. Upset sale in September. A property about two years behind can be sold. The buyer pays in full, online, in a short time.
7. Continued upset and judicial sale in December. Unsold properties return in December. A judicial sale clears more liens. Remaining unsold parcels can go to a repository.

Foreclosures and auctions

Pennsylvania is a judicial foreclosure state. The steps are in the Pennsylvania state rules: Act 91 notice, complaint with the Prothonotary, judgment, writ of execution and a Sheriff's sale.

• Monthly Sheriff's sales. Held in person in Doylestown. The Sheriff posts a list. Dates are postponed often. See the Sheriff sale list.
• Tax Claim sales online. The upset and judicial sales run on GovEase. See the County's sale page and the GovEase listing.
• Free and clear? Neither sale clears everything the same way. A title company must check liens, ground rents and mortgages.
• Occupants. If someone is living there, the buyer goes through a court process.
• Levittown specifics. Many homes are small, owner-occupied and long held. Deferred repairs, such as roofs and old oil tanks, are common.

Inherited homes and probate

When a Bucks owner dies, the home goes through the Bucks County Register of Wills. The Register issues letters testamentary or letters of administration to the person who settles the estate. Only that person can sign. Disputes go to Orphans' Court.

• Lower Bucks has many families who bought a Levittown house in the 1950s or later. Many homes pass to the second or third generation, sometimes with the deed still in a parent's name.
• Pennsylvania's inheritance tax is 0% for a spouse, 4.5% for children and grandchildren, 12% for siblings and 15% for others (see the state rules). That pushes siblings and distant heirs to sell.
• Medical Assistance claims can attach to the home of someone who received long-term care.
• Heirs often live out of state, and the home sits empty.
• Bucks shows no inheritance deed flag in LeadCounty, so look for "Estate of" in the owner line and for executor and administrator deeds in the sales history.

Who publishes what (with links)

How to use this as an investor or wholesaler

• Early in the year. Taxes have just passed to the Bureau. Owners get notices and are most likely to listen.
• July to August. Before September's upset sale, parcels on the list need a plan.
• After a Sheriff's sale date is set. About a month remains, and dates move.
• After an owner dies. Wait a respectful time.

1. Pull a short list with two or three signals.
2. Open the Tax Claim account and read the real balance.
3. Look at the sales history and recent sales on the same street, not just the assessed value.
4. Write a plain message: who you are, that you buy as-is. Mail first, then call.
5. Offer something real. For a long-held home with a tax problem, that may be a fair price and a quick close, or the information about a payment agreement.

Watch out for

• Blank is not paid. Tax owed shows only where the Bureau holds the account.
• 1972 values. The assessed value says little about today's price.
• Sales online. Out-of-county bidders compete. The price can exceed the upset price.
• Liens that survive. Neither sale clears everything the same way. Use a title company.
• Dates move. A Sheriff's sale or upset list can change up to the last day.
• Old tract homes. Levittown-era roofs, oil tanks and electrical need checks.
• Wells and septic. Upper Bucks homes often have them.
• Flood risk. Parts of Lower Bucks along the Delaware and its creeks flood.
• Occupied homes. Removing occupants needs a court process.

Key dates