Why did you move to Pittsburgh?

[londonbarcelona]

Originally Posted by guylocke

I'm so glad to hear that morefromcali! Out of curiosity, would you be okay with telling us where you moved to exactly?

Unfortunately, Pittsburgh isn't adding more and more jobs, we in terms of job growth, we are still below the national average. However, like has been discussed in the past, the job sectors that ARE growing are high-paying and lucrative, and that is significant. Like you said, a lot of placse in the country can claim booming job growth, but what is the quality of that job growth? It's often not as bright as you'd think.
It is stable. It's been affected of course, but it is considered one of the most stable housing markets in the entire country. The "crap a couple years ago" is still very much alive, and I think getting worse, still. Maybe Tallysmom can interject? I just read an article about 15 minutes ago on msnbc.com about the forclosure rate in the country. Detroit was hit the hardest, but right under Detroit's nose are many cities in California, Las Vegas, and Denver. The "booming" cities are in for some major hard times, I think we may all be quite surprised at what situations will be like in a few years. Pittsburgh could really look good to skeptics.

Gee thanks for tearing everything I said apart Guylocke. I give up.

[BrianTH]

As I see it, the real key going forward will be for Pittsburgh to generate a sustainable balance between the high value jobs and more entry level jobs (in retail, restaurants, and so on). And I think the key to all that is to provide the high value employees with the sorts of desirable neighborhoods--preferably close to their employment--where it makes sense for them to get out of their houses and visit the local shops and restaurants. It also wouldn't hurt to make Pittsburgh a more and more attractive place for people to visit (for business, or to see friends, or just ordinary tourism).

And I am reasonably confident the city is headed that way. Frankly, I think the overall job numbers, just like the overall population numbers, are still being distorted as Pittsburgh completes the transition between being a large industrial city to a medium-sized service center city. But I really do think that all things considered, that transition is going reasonably well (not perfectly, of course, but well).

[Tallysmom]

Originally Posted by guylocke

I'm so glad to hear that morefromcali! Out of curiosity, would you be okay with telling us where you moved to exactly?

Unfortunately, Pittsburgh isn't adding more and more jobs, we in terms of job growth, we are still below the national average. However, like has been discussed in the past, the job sectors that ARE growing are high-paying and lucrative, and that is significant. Like you said, a lot of placse in the country can claim booming job growth, but what is the quality of that job growth? It's often not as bright as you'd think.
It is stable. It's been affected of course, but it is considered one of the most stable housing markets in the entire country. The "crap a couple years ago" is still very much alive, and I think getting worse, still. Maybe Tallysmom can interject? I just read an article about 15 minutes ago on msnbc.com about the forclosure rate in the country. Detroit was hit the hardest, but right under Detroit's nose are many cities in California, Las Vegas, and Denver. The "booming" cities are in for some major hard times, I think we may all be quite surprised at what situations will be like in a few years. Pittsburgh could really look good to skeptics.

Interject? How about " Boy howdy, it still sucks out here!"

I've been using Trulia.com as a reference point, since they started listing foreclosures -- in my zip code alone there are 481 homes for sale. 390 of home are already listed as pre-foreclosure, in foreclosure or bank owned. That's 81%.

In all of Oaktown -- there's 2195 foreclosures -- 70% of the housing for sale is foreclosures.

And the kicker is, because there is so much high end housing which (so far) hasn't been hurt, our median house price is still edging up, and our foreclosure rates still look good in the big picture. But if you start breaking down the stories -- it's bad out here.

And how bad is this? We have some friends who walked away from their house -- a nicer house in a better area with some LAND -- real LAND, like you don't get out here... they walked away from it in May of last year... and the bank HASN'T done the foreclosure yet, as they are inundated with properties to sell, and no one is buying anything.

The kicker is -- they tried to sell it, and the land was the sticking point. No one out here wants to take care of it. And it's only 12196 square feet -- a little over a quarter of an acre. as a reference -- my lot is bigger than a lot of lots around here at 3840 square feet.... and I can hear my neighbor shower while I eat breakfast.

Just read an article about people calling this real estate agent wanting to buy fixer upper houses. He takes them to places that need cosmetic fix ups. Places that haven't been updated in 50 years, places that need small plaster work done because there's holes in the walls, places where the floors need refinished and painting... and the people are all -- no this needs too much work ... this one needs too much work. What they really want is turnkey, but prices haven't fallen enough.

In our zip code, due to some new housing being built, our house and others like it in the zip did experience a major run up in prices. And that is bad. In most places your rents are very similar to the mortgages that would be held. So -- if you rent a house for 1000.00, you would expect the mortgage to be around 1000 bucks, give or take. Out here, if your rent was 1000 bucks, the mortgage on the place would be 2500.00.

There were times in those wild years that appreciation was 60 or 70%. Nice if you can sell it. But the worst part is that people were encouraged to, and did in droves -- use their house like an ATM. Thier house was their ticket to a big time lifestyle... and now, not only isn't that ATM out of money, but the asset tied to the ATM isn't worth the paper held on it.

I've been in my house for 20 years. We paid 72K for our house and we're refied a few times but we were determined to keep the payment LOW. Our payment has been in the 700 range forever. Most of the refi money went to home improvements and vehicles for work. (Both brandy new cars under 20K each!) My mortgage now is 109K and the payments are 642.50.

This allows us to save big time cash. We have to -- we both want to retire early -- and considering that Brent just had a big time heart scare -- (more tests coming but the cardiologist doctor thinks it's nothing big) -- we really need to chunk it away.

[jackiehamilton]

I know Property Tax is always a hot topic for people relocating from other cities, but there is one thing to keep in mind especially those of you that are taxed on goods. We don't have sales tax on groceries (spirits yes) or clothing and shoes.

[morefromcali]

[quote=guylocke;2812736]I'm so glad to hear that morefromcali! Out of curiosity, would you be okay with telling us where you moved to exactly?

Hi Guylocke,

We moved to Mt. Lebanon

[carolinacracker]

I moved to Pittsburgh because I got married and she was from there. She's never been out of the state (except for maybe 2 vacations to Florida, which she hated). So I moved up there from NC for eight years. Now we're divorced and I'm back in the sweet, sunny South. There was a lot that I liked about Pittsburgh though. Mostly it was the fact that you all have a baseball team and an awesome park to boot. We're Braves fans down here in the Carolina Swamp country, and you've gotta drive 6 hours to catch a game in Atlanta. But there was plenty I didn't like about Pittsburgh too. Mostly the weather and the bleak outlook on life that a lot of folks have up there. It's sad. It seems like a lot of the people up there are sort of sleepwalking through their lives and waiting for a positive change that never comes, because they're expecting someone else to do it for them. Another thing is the defensive disposition of so many people up there. Everyone seemed so afraid of everyone else. It's weird.

[shutdownthefed]

Originally Posted by carolinacracker

the bleak outlook on life that a lot of folks have up there. It's sad. It seems like a lot of the people up there are sort of sleepwalking through their lives and waiting for a positive change that never comes, because they're expecting someone else to do it for them. Another thing is the defensive disposition of so many people up there. Everyone seemed so afraid of everyone else. It's weird.

Hi, I was thinking of relocating to Pittsburgh,...can you elaborate on what you meant with this quote?

[PeterRabbit]

^^^ Read under the name, "Not a member." That troll has been getting thrown off here for years. If you want to know something specific, ask.