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Old 08-20-2012, 10:41 PM
 
43,011 posts, read 107,739,078 times
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I'm blown away by how high rent has gotten. Maybe that happens after owning for decades. It's been that long since I've rented. I've been trying to help my girlfriend find affordable housing. She is recently divorced with teenage children. We have been trying to find a large enough rental that she can afford on her own income (30k) since the child support payments (1k/month) aren't dependable. 700/month is doable but there is nothing left over for anything other than absolute necessities. We're trying to find something in the 500 range. With a few exceptions, almost all of them are located in impoverished, dangerous neighborhoods or terrible school districts. She doesn't require the best school district. Average would do.

This all is leading me to wonder how the truly impoverished are managing to afford the rentals in the substandard areas. Are multiple families living together?

At this point, I'm almost tempted to buy a property for her. I have no clue how to buy houses that the local governments put up for auction for unpaid taxes Does anyone know?
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Old 08-20-2012, 10:48 PM
 
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Is she okay with an apartment instead of a single family house? How many bedrooms does she need? Can she drive? Where does/will she work?

Quote:
This all is leading me to wonder how the truly impoverished are managing to afford the rentals in the substandard areas. Are multiple families living together?
Probably some combination of Section 8, food stamps, lower taxes, a lack of car related costs, and no money going towards savings.
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Old 08-20-2012, 10:53 PM
 
Location: Kittanning
4,692 posts, read 9,000,011 times
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It's getting rare to find rentals under $700 anywhere (not just Pittsbugh), and that is for a simple 1br without utilities included. I think this is a reflection of the economy and people losing their homes.
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Old 08-20-2012, 11:01 PM
 
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I think an apartment would be a hard sell. She would prefer a single family home. She will settle for a townhouse or duplex. She wants 3 bedrooms. She could manage with 2, but it would be tight. She does drive. She works in the East End. She currently lives in a township in the eastern suburbs and wants to upgrade to an average school district. She is willing to live anywhere but the southern and western part of the county. She can't move too far out because she needs to take the father's residence into consideration. Since they have joint custody, he has to drive them to/from school on alternating weeks. This is all quite a challenge. But she needs to move ASAP because she is currently living in a place that she budgeted with the child support. When he skips a few months, she literally can't buy food. And she doesn't qualify for food stamps, reduced lunches, or anything because the agencies count the child support as income even though she doesn't recieve it in a dependable manner.
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Old 08-20-2012, 11:12 PM
 
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I wonder if there's anything in the Reserve Twp - Milvale - Etna - Sharpsburg belt. I could see a duplex or small row home going for her price range around there maybe. A quick craigslist search turned up a few 3 bedroom homes for $600 and $700.
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Old 08-20-2012, 11:22 PM
 
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Yeah, we saw them. It does seem she will have to be in the 600 range. It would be awesome if she could find something slightly lower.

I wish we could find a landlord that would allow her to pay X monthly, and then the remaining balance as the support payments come. But that's wishful thinking. He never goes more than 2 or 3 months without paying because there are steep penalties. It's like he purposely drags it out to torture her. He has the money. Trust me.

I might need to get into the landlord business...
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Old 08-20-2012, 11:43 PM
 
Location: Crafton via San Francisco
3,463 posts, read 4,629,052 times
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Being a single parent is tough. She probably will have to get an apartment to start. Maybe the kids will have to get part time jobs to help. The main thing is to find something safe and affordable. Once she gets established things will fall into place. I know it isn't much consolation, but in many other parts of the country, they'd be lucky to find a one bedroom apartment in her price range. Good luck to her. I've been in her shoes and I know how very difficult it is.
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Old 08-21-2012, 12:27 AM
 
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A 3BR for under $600 in a safe neighborhood with decent schools is going to be very difficult. Perhaps something in Brentwood, Baldwin, or Castle Shannon, but that would be cutting it tight for 3BR. If she has a family of 3 or more and cannot afford at least $600 a month for rent, then section 8 housing seems to be the only option, outside of moving out of allegheny county. Has she considered moving to a cheaper area, like Beaver County? The City of Butler would have what she wants most likely. Also, if you're considering buying a house for her, why not go the cheaper route and have her rent an townhouse at normal price and just spot her the remaining amount she needs every month?
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Old 08-21-2012, 03:25 AM
 
Location: The canyon (with my pistols and knife)
14,173 posts, read 22,627,266 times
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Maybe she should consider finding a roommate to cut down on the costs? Of course, she'd have to be comfortable with it, and it'd have to be somebody who's comfortable with a mother and her children.
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Old 08-21-2012, 05:31 AM
 
Location: Pittsburgh area
9,912 posts, read 24,569,067 times
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The rent you're looking to pay for that type of property is crazy low. Actually, the biggest wrench in the works here is looking for single family properties. Rentals of these are just not as prevalent in a lot of better areas. The other factor is that the rental market here is tight in general. There is almost more demand than supply. That pushes the rents up. You know full well it can often be cheaper to buy houses here; this is why!

What about something like Millvale? Oh, this is what ferrarisnowday already said. That's the kind of area that might turn up SFH rentals in those kinds of price ranges, with Shaler schools which are adequate as you know.

This is a side note but given that at work we are garnishing wages for child support, I wonder why the payment has to be erratic. Presumably once the garnishment happens the state smooths out the payments, but I don't really know what happens after we send it to the state and I gather there is some red tape. Plus maybe one has to go back to court to get this kind of thing happening. We get court orders in the mail, we withhold it from their pay and send it somewhere. That's really the end of our involvement.
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