We buy houses in Blair County, PA

Taxes left unpaid on December 31 go from your tax collector to the Tax Claim Bureau. The Bureau mails a notice of claim the next spring.

If the taxes are still unpaid by July 1 of the second year, the property is advertised for an upset sale. Blair's 2026 upset sale was September 16 in the courthouse basement.

State law sets the notice you must get before a sale (72 P.S. 5860.602):

• ads at least 30 days ahead in two newspapers and the legal journal
• certified mail to each owner at least 30 days ahead
• a notice posted on the property at least 10 days ahead

You can stop a sale by paying in full. Or the Bureau may let you pay 25% down and the rest in up to three payments within one year (72 P.S. 5860.603).

Blair's Bureau says the last chance to pay is the close of business the day before the sale. Homes that do not sell can go to a judicial sale, which clears most liens.

The county rate for 2026 is 5.133 mills. The Altoona Mirror reports that commissioners added a quarter mill. That is about $513 for a home assessed at $100,000.

Your full rate also has a school share and a town share. The county's 2026 sheet runs from 12.6283 mills in part of Tyrone Township to 22.1419 in Bellwood.

In Hollidaysburg, 19.3523 mills works out to about $1,935 a year per $100,000 of assessed value (our math).

If two or more years are past due, the Bureau takes no personal checks after April 1. It takes cash, money orders and certified checks. It also offers one payment plan to owners who have not broken one before.

Pennsylvania charges a 1% realty transfer tax on a sale, and the Recorder of Deeds collects it with any local tax. Blair's 2026 tax sale terms collect 2% in total on each deed.

If the house is your main home, the homestead exclusion cuts your school tax. To count for the next tax year, file by March 1.

Storms on July 5 and 6, 2026 left flood damage in Blair County. The county held a meeting in Tyrone so victims could report damage and find help.

Commissioners said that help was open because the county had just renewed its hazard plan. The plan took effect May 26, 2026 and runs through May 25, 2031.

If your house took on water, buyers will ask about it. Keep repair bills and any aid papers together.

Farm and forest land may be in Clean and Green, the state program that taxes land on its use. A parcel usually needs 10 acres. Smaller farms can qualify if they can earn $2,000 a year.

If the use changes, the owner pays seven years of rollback taxes plus 6% simple interest a year.

Pennsylvania's DEP does not regulate private wells. So no state rule makes you test a well before you sell.

Septic is different. The sales contract must carry a set statement in these cases (25 Pa. Code 72.32):

• no public sewer is available to the lot
• the lot uses a holding tank
• the system went in under the 10-acre permit exemption

Selling a titled mobile home that someone lived in? PennDOT says you need a tax status certificate from the county Tax Claim Bureau. It shows the county, town and school taxes owed on the home.

That certificate goes to the buyer and to PennDOT with the title transfer.