Although the Lehigh Valley has seen the real estate market heating up in June with offers on houses within 37 days, Carbon County hasn't been so lucky.

Cass Chies, president of Greater Lehigh Valley Realtors and a broker and owner of ReMax Diamond First in Palmerton, said good news is there are areas in Carbon County where homes are selling within days with multiple offers and purchase prices above or at the asking price.But overall, the county's numbers have been affected by spot reassessments in areas like Panther Valley and threats of them in Jim Thorpe."That was a shock," Chies said about the threat of them. "We never expected that. It's killing the market in Panther Valley. "Chies said the Jim Thorpe Area School District had selected 900 properties for spot assessments and discussed going back as far as three years on houses that were purchased. Then the community rallied against it. She said she was relieved when the school district decided not to pursue it.Had they continued, taxes could have gone up anywhere between $11,000 to $20,000 on some residences.There are vacation homes around, but there are also primary residences and people who can't afford on their property taxes to increase dramatically."Families are suffering," she said. "There are people who pay more in their taxes (per month) than they do in their mortgage. There are many owners whose work just pays their taxes."The result are families who can't afford basic necessities like school supplies for their children. Some end up having to sell the house or end up in foreclosure."Panther Valley needs to rally against the spot assessments," she said. "If they stop it, the market will turn around."She recently wrote a letter to Panther Valley Area School District Superintendent Dennis Kergick Sr. on behalf of the GLVR. She thanked him and the school board for not raising taxes, and asked him to consider halting the practice of spot assessments, which would result in benefiting the overall health of the community."This technique adds to the overall tax assessment disparity that presently plagues this region of Carbon County. We would request that you work with Carbon County Commissioners and lobby for countywide reassessment to restore a fair and equitable tax burden for the Panther Valley taxpayers," she stated in the letter.Chies is a strong proponent of House Bill 1213, which was introduced in April.A proponent of the bill, state Rep. Warren Kampf, R-District 157, Chester and Montgomery counties, said in a memorandum, "A significant number of school districts now routinely appeal the county assessments of individual properties to increase the revenue they use to balance their budgets. Much of the money achieved through these spot assessments, however, is paid to third-party bounty hunters who take a finder's fee for identifying the best properties to target."The targeted properties haven't been improved upon. In most cases they are properties that have been purchased within the past three years."The practice literally has the effect in some cases of hammering a property owner with a huge tax increase after he has decided to buy the property and participate in our state economy. It strikes me as one of the most anti-competitive government practices in existence today," Kampf said.He argues that the state's Uniformity Clause in the Pennsylvania Constitution and years of court precedent cases declared that spot appeals are not allowed.The practice creates "an anti-competitive landscape in our commonwealth, sends the clear signal that Pennsylvania is not open for business, and ends up punishing property owners, renters, retailers and lessees," he said.Until there is a change in the property tax laws in Pennsylvania, Chies recommends to buyers to spend less than they have been approved to borrow. Buyers should anticipate that the school district may conduct spot assessments and they could be caught in it."Don't overextend yourselves," she said.The June housing statistics showed that the inventory of houses for sale remains low in both Carbon County and the Lehigh Valley.Closed sales were far lower in Carbon County at 19.7 percent for June compared to just 2 percent in the Lehigh Valley. But pending sales for the June for both regions were on the upside with the Lehigh Valley at 16 percent and Carbon County at 23 percent."With job creation increasing and mortgage rates remaining low, the pull toward homeownership is expected to continue," Chies said.The lack of inventory is driving up prices. The average sales price in the Lehigh Valley in June was $232,361, up 12.5 percent compared to June 2016. In Carbon County, the average sales price was also up from $115,457 in June 2016 to $130,509 in June 2017.