Pittsburgh Ranked #4 in Housing Markets You Can Afford (Washington, Indiana: mortgage, relocation)

[Shenandoah]

http://realestate.msn.com/Buying/Art...2739&GT1=10431

Housing markets you can afford

In these cities, buyers earning the median income can most easily purchase a median-price home. Think Indianapolis and Cleveland.

By Matt Woolsey, Forbes.com

If you're not sweating your monthly mortgage payment and don't obsessively check refinancing rates, chances are you live in one of America's most affordable areas.

Homeowners in Indianapolis know what that's like. Residents there don't have to scrimp and save to afford a home at the median price. There, the bulk of the housing stock is well within reach of the average household.

Savings depleted? According to our calculations, it would take just two years of gross salary to become a homeowner there.

Cleveland and Detroit also are reasonably priced. But affordability isn't limited to the Midwest. Pittsburgh, Atlanta and Greensboro, N.C., also made our list of the country's most affordable real-estate markets.

Read the rest:

http://realestate.msn.com/Buying/Art...2739&GT1=10431

[beeswax]

That statistic is one of the major reasons we're moving to Pittsburgh - the lure of affordable (and attractive, historic, urban) housing is too much to resist.

Now, I hope that the job outlook is better than I've been hearing. Here's to optimism and new opportunities!

[beth ann]

Originally Posted by beeswax

That statistic is one of the major reasons we're moving to Pittsburgh - the lure of affordable (and attractive, historic, urban) housing is too much to resist.

Now, I hope that the job outlook is better than I've been hearing. Here's to optimism and new opportunities!

Affordable housing is luring....but, make sure to check out the high tax structure...it was surprising to us when researching a relocation move. We would literally pay 3x the amount in taxes in Pgh as we would in the suburbs of Wash, DC. Not sure you're getting anything more for the triple tax rate.

[beeswax]

Even with the taxes, its still a deal.

Where I'm moving from, rent on a one bedroom apartment costs about the same as a mortgage payment on an entire house in Pittsburgh. The median home price where I live now is almost half a million dollars and there's little, if any, hope of purchasing a home in the vibrant downtown core. One has to settle for a $300k fixer in the ratty suburbs. *gulp!*

Facing that, I'm going to give Pittsburgh a chance.

[guylocke]

We would literally pay 3x the amount in taxes in Pgh as we would in the suburbs of Wash, DC.

In what regard? I don't believe that for a second, aside from higher property tax. Virginia also taxes clothes, food, retirement, and luxuries.

I'm not sure where you did your homework, but my cousins got their financial adviser to compare and contrast VA (DC) and PA and they found that they would be much better off in PA, even with the higher property tax. I mean, their house in Alexandria is worth roughly a million dollars and they are looking into some beautiful homes in Pittsburgh for around 400k or so. Do you have any idea how many years you could offset Pittsburgh taxes with 600k profit??? Until the day you die, I assure you.

It would be crazy to base your move solely on a purely tax-basis. Did you also look into the cost of energy difference? The cost of living differences? I hope you realize once you retire, VA is going to hit you mighty hard. I know this might sound silly, but I am broke going to DC for the night life when I get back. Parking, entry-fees, drinking (alcohol), and eating out is exorbitantly more expensive in DC than Pittsburgh. Even groceries are more expensive and imagine how much you pay a month for those (this is coming from my mother who is a gourmet chef who spends quite a bit of time in DC).

I've said it once and I'll say it again, Pittsburgh is consistently ranked among the very most affordable cities of it's size in the country and the rankings I have personally seen take taxes into consideration, among everything else I've mentioned. Washington DC never makes the list, far, far from it.