The Oil City Photo Trip - You can ride shotgun (Columbia: relocate, for sale)

[Cosmic]

Originally Posted by Wisteria

The yellow house above this blurb -- is that a "For Sale" sign or a "For Rent" sign on the porch??

That is a For Rent sign, I remember that one. Did see a few For Rent signs scattered about. But in general the town was not littered with signs of any type.

My general impression it would be like most places when development starts, peeps go docile and lay low, timing their moves. Many of these places the only time a place sells is if the owner dies.

Another flaw to NAH plans, the house you really want may not always be available. Good buying is a waiting game. You only get to pick from what is available in the stock to be sold.

My guess is about like many places in Ohio now. If it is priced right for the condition / location, it sells in a heart beat. Dogs or over priced houses are on the market forever. The areas I know the best in Ohio the available stock to buy is mostly clinkers. I am looking to move up, SE Ohio has become very difficult to bag the just right property at a good price.

If I had to guess I would venture Oil City is probably a sellers market at this point. I don't understand why NAH keeps sliding that moving date back???

Just about have to have boots on the ground and a continuous presence in the area by some method. About like long distance Love, difficult to consummate the deal.

[Need_affordable_home]

Originally Posted by Wisteria

The yellow house above this blurb -- is that a "For Sale" sign or a "For Rent" sign on the porch??

Looks like a for sale by owner. Probably one of those $50k houses

Lots of nice big cube-shaped houses, think those types are more like $100k than $50k. Saw one of those in bricks for $85k at Realtor com. Can still get nice houses for $50k, most of them will be smaller and rectangle shape instead of the big robust cube shape. Dont matter, cant afford Florida and dont wanna stay here anyway. Dreamt about Oil city last night but dont remember much of my dream Still plenty of snow/ice and the locals think its cold. 50 degrees arent cold

What was the biggest, nicest house you saw? Was expecting some 10000 square feet mansions

[Cosmic]

This has nothing to do with nothing.

Just a couple of pix I took because the light was just right. Got a bro that wins a lot of photo contests, so I got a ways to go. He never likes my photos, just hoping he ain't making a buck off the ones I send. Some of his are extremely good. Maybe I need to concentrate on nudes!

These are of a power plant over in West Virginia. The smaller thingee with the plume is the cooling tower. Lots of these along both sides of the Ohio River, difficult to set them up for a good shot. If you live in the eastern part and up in New England probably got lil parts of this one in your lungs.

H,mmm should I clip those branches on the edges. I can see it both ways.

[Wisteria]

CosmicThat is a For Rent sign, I remember that one. Did see a few For Rent signs scattered about. But in general the town was not littered with signs of any type.

Cosmic said it was a "For Rent" sign. I'd suggest taking that trip up there, or looking in the local Oil City paper and calling those people! It would probably be pretty cheap rent, and my guess is that house may have been split into separate apartments, like they've done with many old homes.

Why doesn't your dad like those beautiful old homes? In the days those homes were built, they were expensive. Buffalo, where I'm from, has tons of gorgeous old Victorians, several Frank Lloyd Wright houses, and lots of beautiful Tudor homes. That's because it was a very wealthy city at one time, too. Those beautiful old homes are often built better than new ones nowadays. I love the older homes, however, I don't want to live in the rustbelt anymore. And I am tired of 6-month long winters, thunderstorms three times a week during the summer, and the horrible humidity back there. But the houses are really nice.

When do you plan to visit Oil City?

[Cosmic]

Originally Posted by Need_affordable_home

Looks like a for sale by owner. Probably one of those $50k houses

Lots of nice big cube-shaped houses, think those types are more like $100k than $50k. Saw one of those in bricks for $85k at Realtor com. Can still get nice houses for $50k, most of them will be smaller and rectangle shape instead of the big robust cube shape. Dont matter, cant afford Florida and dont wanna stay here anyway. Dreamt about Oil city last night but dont remember much of my dream Still plenty of snow/ice and the locals think its cold. 50 degrees arent cold

What was the biggest, nicest house you saw? Was expecting some 10000 square feet mansions

No that is the standard red / black For Rent that you buy in any hardware store. Most of the "For Sale By Owner" are White / Black with a space to write in your phone number.

I liked a lot of the houses. For different reasons. That lil brick one with the creative dormer was super nice, also that lil one up in the crow's nest, would love to have one like that in a super good view perch with 20 acres up back.

[MoonlightMadness]

Wow! It was like taking a trip through my sister's neighborhood - hills & all. She lives in Belmont Hills, PA - a quiet upper-middleclass suburb just outside Philly. Nice area in Montgomery Cty., nextdoor to upperclass neighborhoods like Narberth & Ardmore. If the stores had been more upscale in the downtown pics, I would've sworn I was in Narberth. I think I'm falling in love with OC (& I thought I wanted to move to Kentucky). Save me that lavender number!

[hiknapster]

Once again, Cosmic, I apologize. Great stuff.

NAH, Oil City is much better than I realized. I noticed your shock that a river would be frozen over, though. That's not a good sign. I don't think you realize how cold it gets up there. Right now, it's 36 degrees and fixin' to snow. There will be a lot of sliding around those hills.

I've been out of the northeast for over a decade. I forget that people don't wave at you, let alone make eye contact.

[Figment 07]

Bravo, Cosmic! Fantastic picture thread of an interesting place that I'd never have seen otherwise. Thank you for all the pictures and commentary.

Excellent job.

[jmarkey]

That's it??!!

That's the END??!!

NOOOOOOOO!!!!!

I'm hooked on the picture captions. More tea came out my nose than went down my gullet. Great stuff.

Did the dog get lunch?

How about another road trip next week?

[katzenfreund]

Great Job, Cosmic I have read so much about Oil City here and have been curious about that place. Much nicer than I thought it would be! Thanks for doing this!!!!