Penn Hills (Pittsburgh, Plum, Wilkinsburg: mortgage, real estate, for sale)

[Ken_B.]

Can someone fill me in on Penn Hills, east of downtown. I'm seeing home prices there a bit to good to be true. Thanks.

[guylocke]

Penn Hills is an okay area, it's next to Verona and Oakmont. Some parts of the town are quite pleasant and some others could use a little work. Overall, I don't think anyone would say Penn Hills is a terrible place to live by any means, those houses might be the real deal. You'd have to go check it out and see what part of the city they fall on, but overall, Penn Hills is a very average town, in my opinion. Nearby Verona is also quaint in areas and in Oakmont there are actually some stunning pieces of property that fetch a lot of money.

Take a look out in Penn Hills, for the price, you may be pleasantly surprised. Also, nearby Plum is a growing area. See what houses cost in Plum, I think it's a nicer place to live. It's still fairly rural but there are really lovely neighborhoods going up everywhere.

[Ken_B.]

Originally Posted by boylocke

Penn Hills is an okay area, it's next to Verona and Oakmont. Some parts of the town are quite pleasant and some others could use a little work. Overall, I don't think anyone would say Penn Hills is a terrible place to live by any means, those houses might be the real deal. You'd have to go check it out and see what part of the city they fall on, but overall, Penn Hills is a very average town, in my opinion. Nearby Verona is also quaint in areas and in Oakmont there are actually some stunning pieces of property that fetch a lot of money.

Take a look out in Penn Hills, for the price, you may be pleasantly surprised. Also, nearby Plum is a growing area. See what houses cost in Plum, I think it's a nicer place to live. It's still fairly rural but there are really lovely neighborhoods going up everywhere.

thanks Boylocke this seems to good to be true and isn't the only example.....

am I crazy or is this realistic? I'm wondering is the place is haunted or something

Pittsburgh, PA Homes, Real Estate, Condominiums & More - REALTOR.com

[la_torquemada]

That's probably an okay area now, but IMO Penn Hills is unfashionable and most of the houses are 60s-ish ranches and raised ranches -- which isn't exactly what a lot of people are looking for today. So my feeling is that Penn Hills is not on its way up and parts of it are definitely on their way down. Since Pittsburghers don't seem to be much for updating, I'll bet you at that price, that place has its original kitchen, baths, and light fixtures, and might even have its original carpet. The basement will have paneling.

If you want to live in it like that, you're golden. If you want something more "now" it's going to cost you another $50-75k to redo it. So you just need to do all the math.

Finally, if you're going to be working in town, it is not a quick commute from there. You'll be traveling through the Sq. Hill Tunnels, which is always bogged. Expect at least 45 minutes on a good day, 1.5 hours when traffic is bad.

[guylocke]

You'll be traveling through the Sq. Hill Tunnels, which is always bogged. Expect at least 45 minutes on a good day, 1.5 hours when traffic is bad.

I would never go that way. Use Rt. 28.

I looked at that house. It seems nice enough! It's a pretty lot. I wonder how much work the inside needs, the price does seem somewhat low. 5 bedrooms??

[Ken_B.]

yeah, I'd call it a flipper if I knew the area better. I love remodeling and putting my own stamp on a place - finding stuff like this is incredible for a guy coming from Boston - where you can only buy a shack for less than 300K

[Hopes]

I agree that parts of Penn Hills are on the decline. The parts of Penn Hills that is farther away from Wilkinsburg is definitely better. That particular house you posted is in an okay area. If you're not worried about school districts, I'd say snatch up something that cheap if you're a do-it-yourself kind of guy. That's outrageously cheap for a house that size even in Penn Hills though. I'd guess there's going to be something seriously wrong with it, but you never know until you look into it. Who knows, maybe you could mortgage the upgrades and still be getting a good bargain.

[guylocke]

Who knows, maybe you could mortgage the upgrades and still be getting a good bargain.

Good point!

[Dorian]

I am from penn hills and spent most of my life there(i am 24). Penn Hills is a huge suburb and is pretty diverse. Almost the entire community is middle class with some smaller parts upper and lower. The east side is definintly better than the west side. The east side is surrounded by nice neighborhoods like Monroeville, Oakmont, Plum, and Fox Chapel. The west side is surrounded by troubled neighborhoods like Homewood-Brushton, East Hills, Lincoln-Lemington, Lamier, East Liberty, and Wilkinsburg. What is happening is the people from those troubled areas are slowly spilling over into Penn Hills making for trouble. so the further east you are the better off you are. Penn Hills ranges for highly populated suburb that is close to a city, to slighty more spacious area with big houses, to farm land type of area. If you know what street that house is on I could tell you exactly what the area is like. Oh and for the person that was talking about traffic, it is bad everywhere in Pittsburgh and the parkway east is bad but traffic here on the south side of the county is even worse. I used to complain about traffic on the east side of town, now I am jealous of it at least they have two major roadways, I-376(parkway east) and Route 28, and a bunch of alternate routes to town.

[jhprentiss]

Hey Ken--

I just moved out of a temporary house in Penn Hills, which was comfortable enough, huge yard, good for my kids and doggies. We hadn't really considered buying in that area, mostly because it wasn't convenient for us. But we did meet A LOT of people moving out.

We were a little disturbed by our neighbors description of the area and its decline (their house is for sale). They said the schools are bad, full of (and they whispered AND spelled this) B L A C Ks from the neighboring areas with worse schools. They said that lots of people take a bus to the edge of Penn Hills area and then get on a school bus to go to Penn Hills schools.

This is all hearsay, but I did hear it from a few people.