Evidence of Pittsburgh's Rapidly Appreciating Housing Market (Bellevue, California: houses, buyer)

[sealie]

No, it doesn't. AA is just being unreasonable. There is no reason why anyone shouldn't have a house of the preferred materials and construction, with vintage period charm, walkable, in habitable condition, in the urban core, in a vibrant neighborhood that is silent after 9:30, for a quarter of the price the rest of us poor chumps would have to pay.

[Caladium]

Originally Posted by alleghenyangel

Sounds like a lot of people here are just complaining because they want something they can't afford. Here's a plan:

1) Find the neighborhood you can afford, preferably one that you also like. If you can't find one you like that you can also afford, find one you dislike the least. Focus your search on this neighborhood. Wait for the deal to come along.

2) If you can't find what you want, change what you want!

3) If you want something that other people want, you're going to have to pay for it!

Logical, true, and so worthy of being stuffed into a fortune cookie. (Well, maybe a really big fortune cookie....) Seriously, this may be some of the best advice I've read in months.

ps. One other thing I'd add... if you don't feel you can afford to buy a house, that's ok, too. Sometimes renting is better than owning. Renting has a lot of advantages. People who have apartments have the freedom to easily move around. They don't have to spend their weekends fixing things. There are all sorts of perks to brag about.

[The King of Um]

Personally, I would have loved to move to Troy Hill; however, I couldn't find anything in my price range there that didn't need a huge amount of work. Why it's so difficult to find an affordable home for sale in Troy Hill is beyond me.

I'd take unfashionable, blighted East Deutschtown over Brighton Heights any day, because I strongly feel that it won't remain unfashionable and blighted forever. I shouldn't have let the house on Vista St. get away! I probably shouldn't be, as it's pointless to do so, but I'm still kicking myself over that mistake.

I looked at a very cute house in Spring Garden, another neighborhood I like, but it had major issues with water intrusion in the basement.

I wish there were more homes for sale in places like Troy Hill and East Deutschtown! That there's very little for sale is incredibly frustrating. The fact that I couldn't find much in those neighborhoods was very disappointing to me. In the end, I would up buying in Brighton Heights, which isn't the end of the world, as it's a decent area, but it's certainly nowhere near ideal.

[eschaton]

Originally Posted by Hip Priest

Personally, I would have loved to move to Troy Hill; however, I couldn't find anything in my price range there that didn't need a huge amount of work. Why it's so difficult to find an affordable home for sale in Troy Hill is beyond me.

I'd take unfashionable, blighted East Deutschtown over Brighton Heights any day, because I strongly feel that it won't remain unfashionable and blighted forever. I shouldn't have let the house on Vista St. get away! I probably shouldn't be, as it's pointless to do so, but I'm still kicking myself over that mistake.

I looked at a very cute house in Spring Garden, another neighborhood I like, but it had major issues with water intrusion in the basement.

I wish there were more homes for sale in places like Troy Hill and East Deutschtown! That there's very little for sale is incredibly frustrating. The fact that I couldn't find much in those neighborhoods was very disappointing to me. In the end, I would up buying in Brighton Heights, which isn't the end of the world, as it's a decent area, but it's certainly nowhere near ideal.

A peril of long-distance buying is you can't wait it out for the house you want. Brighton Heights has positive real estate appreciation, so you should be able to recoup your closing costs and regroup within a year.

[aw_now_what]

I shouldn't have let the house on Vista St. get away! I probably shouldn't be, as it's pointless to do so, but I'm still kicking myself over that mistake.

Why don't you contact the real estate agent and offer to buy it- effectively, offer to take over the sales agreement, and you would pay a few thousand bucks to the buyer-to-be for walking away from the deal. If the buyer is an investor, they may see that as an excellent return on investment; if they plan to be occupants, it might be less likely to work. But what have you got to lose?

I've heard of a couple cases where that exact scenario has happened. And I agree with you that that house is quite charming.

[The King of Um]

Originally Posted by aw_now_what

Why don't you contact the real estate agent and offer to buy it- effectively, offer to take over the sales agreement, and you would pay a few thousand bucks to the buyer-to-be for walking away from the deal. If the buyer is an investor, they may see that as an excellent return on investment; if they plan to be occupants, it might be less likely to work. But what have you got to lose?

I've heard of a couple cases where that exact scenario has happened. And I agree with you that that house is quite charming.

I already talked to my agent about that, and it's not even an option for me. So, I need to sit back and hope something in one of the areas I like comes to the market in the not-too-distant future. When the right house comes up, I'll have to jump on it quick; I'll have to make an offer contingent upon the sale of my own house and hope the seller accepts!

On a side note, I bought in the sketchy part of BH, as I couldn't afford the good part. Where I bought, I don't expect to see appreciation. I don't know what I was thinking; I guess I wasn't thinking. I focused on the house (which is actually nice, I must admit), but not the neighborhood, not its undesirable location within the neighborhood, which was foolish. So I think it's probably wise to move when I can find something that suits me, in a neighborhood I like.

[Goodjules]

Originally Posted by Hip Priest

I already talked to my agent about that, and it's not even an option for me. So, I need to sit back and hope something in one of the areas I like comes to the market in the not-too-distant future. When the right house comes up, I'll have to jump on it quick; I'll have to make an offer contingent upon the sale of my own house and hope the seller accepts!

On a side note, I bought in the sketchy part of BH, as I couldn't afford the good part. Where I bought, I don't expect to see appreciation. I don't know what I was thinking; I guess I wasn't thinking. I focused on the house (which is actually nice, I must admit), but not the neighborhood, not its location, which was foolish. So I think it's probably wise to move when I can find something that suits me, in a neighborhood I like.

Get to know your neighbors and join the neighborhood improvement association. You can have a positive impact and meet like minded people. I lived in a so-so neighborhood that had a very active neighborhood association. We were able to get the city to do eminent domain and raze apartment buildings that were populated by drug dealers, install a gunshot locator system, and build Habitat for Humanity homes where the apartments once stood. The house we bought for $145k in 1987 was worth $650k in 2005. Neighborhoods can change. Granted, we were in Silicon Valley with a very different housing market, but the changes we instituted would have helped home values even if the market wasn't as "hot" as it was in that area.

I really hope you come to like your new neighborhood. If not, you can sell or rent as soon as it is feasible. you are not as trapped as you think you are.

[ferraris]

Originally Posted by Hip Priest

I already talked to my agent about that, and it's not even an option for me. So, I need to sit back and hope something in one of the areas I like comes to the market in the not-too-distant future. When the right house comes up, I'll have to jump on it quick; I'll have to make an offer contingent upon the sale of my own house and hope the seller accepts!

On a side note, I bought in the sketchy part of BH, as I couldn't afford the good part. Where I bought, I don't expect to see appreciation. I don't know what I was thinking; I guess I wasn't thinking. I focused on the house (which is actually nice, I must admit), but not the neighborhood, not its undesirable location within the neighborhood, which was foolish. So I think it's probably wise to move when I can find something that suits me, in a neighborhood I like.

I don't believe you have closed yet, right? I really don't understand why you don't want to back out of the deal and rent in an area that's more suited to your tastes until a home in an area you prefer pops up. It sounds like you've decided to be miserable with the place before even closing on it...so why would you follow through and close on it? You might save some money living in Brighton Heights compared to renting, but is it worth it if you'll be resenting it the whole time?

[jay5835]

Originally Posted by Caladium

I was living in southern California at the time and wanted to by a place in Santa Monica. But all I could afford was a little townhouse in another beach city that was kind of run down (back then) and far from the trendy parts of LA.

Here's the good news. After I moved in, I discovered things I liked in my new town. I discovered I liked living in a suburban neighborhood more than I thought I would. And I also discovered I was part of a trend--that more and more people started "discovering" my town and over time it became as trendy as Santa Monica (and I was able to brag about moving there before it became popular, LOL).

Which town? Living the rest of my life in Santa Monica was a dream of mine once (I lived 4 blocks from the beach, in Ocean Park), and then I got a job in Seattle, then Portland, then DC, and I haven't been back in 30 years.

[The King of Um]

Originally Posted by ferrarisnowday

I don't believe you have closed yet, right? I really don't understand why you don't want to back out of the deal and rent in an area that's more suited to your tastes until a home in an area you prefer pops up. It sounds like you've decided to be miserable with the place before even closing on it...so why would you follow through and close on it? You might save some money living in Brighton Heights compared to renting, but is it worth it if you'll be resenting it the whole time?

My agent told me that I can't back out of the deal; he said if I did, I'd be in default. So, I don't think I have much of a choice in the matter.

Furthermore, I would never pay the high rent that people like SCR are paying; if it came to that, I'd rather not live in Pittsburgh. While I like da 'burgh, to me it's not worth that lofty price. I would most likely move to Cleveland.

Still, I guess there are worse places than the sketchy side of Brighton Heights. I could be living in someplace such as Tarentum, Ambridge, or Monessen--or even worse, somewhere all the way out in the sticks in some rural (and Republican) part of Pennsyltucky.