Help Me Find a Starter Home! (Pittsburgh, Bethel Park: rental market, crime, buying a house)

[SteelCityRising]

Hello Pittsburgh sub-forum!

So as some of you know I've been on-again and off-again searching for my first home for a number of years but have always hit some sort of financial snag or death in the immediate family or health issue or identity theft or job change/loss that has delayed that for me.

My fiance and I have now been pre-approved to buy a home and are working with a buyer's agent. I figured I would start a new thread on this (at gg's recommendation) because I was bumping the Marshall-Shadeland neighborhood thread to get more information on that neighborhood because we submitted an offer on a home there. Since there are now multiple offers on the table (with no guarantees we're getting that particular home) I thought I would open the floor up on here for any advice or recommendations since we may very well be looking elsewhere.

REQUIREMENTS:
-Within city limits (city residency requirement for my job)
-Within walking distance of transit (bus or "T")
-2 BR's
-1 BA
-Around 1,000 square feet
-Small yard, if any
-Either ample on-street parking or a rear alley that would provide the opportunity for a future parking pad in a backyard
-<$60,000
-Relatively move-in ready (a house that looks like "grandma just died in here!") is okay
-Refrigerator conveys (albeit we could always negotiate that with a seller)
-NOT currently tenant-occupied. Read one listing we loved and then saw "long-term tenant is hassle-free and wants to stay!" We would feel HORRIBLY about gentrifying someone out of their long-term rental by moving our own arses in given how tight the rental market is now in this city.

WISH LIST (you never know!)
-3 BR's
-1.5 BA's
-1,200 - 1,500 square feet
-Driveway

What do you all think of the following two listings?

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/3...11603590_zpid/
(Brighton Heights)

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/3...11554116_zpid/
(Carrick)

The Brighton Heights home looks like it needs a tad more "love" than the Carrick home, but it IS detached (yay!) whereas the Carrick home is a half-duplex (meh). Currently as a bottom-floor resident of a top/down duplex I can say it is VERY noisy between floors. Anyone on here live in a half-duplex that is a side-by-side (or a rowhome)? Do you often hear your neighbors through the walls? I believe Brighton Heights has better future resale potential than Carrick. Agreed? I'm guessing a bus commute from either wouldn't be so bad.

Thanks to any and all suggestions!

[eschaton]

What about this home? The price was just cut by $10,000, meaning they're eager to sell. There is clearly some little parking alley in the back. The house looks habitable. And the location is literally a block/four minute walk from South Bank Station on the T.

Downside is you're right on Route 51.

[svband76]

I would avoid a duplex. Brighton Heights s=is ok but those stairs would hurt resale.

As for Mt Oliver, here's one. But OMG/LOL what the hell is going on with the decorating? https://www.realtor.com/realestatean...-93182?view=qv

[SteelCityRising]

Originally Posted by eschaton

What about this home? The price was just cut by $10,000, meaning they're eager to sell. There is clearly some little parking alley in the back. The house looks habitable. And the location is literally a block/four minute walk from South Bank Station on the T.

Downside is you're right on Route 51.

We looked at that home. We liked the interior. We liked the exterior. We had some concerns, though (potential flashing damage around the chimney; missing downspouts; a sagging living room floor beneath the wood; some moisture issues; a rear retaining wall leaning towards the first-floor; etc.)

As you can see with the property's history this owner initially wanted closer to $100,000 for this property and is now down to $59,000. Given that we might need to pump $20,000 of work into this property (and knowing that even in 7 or 8 years we're unlikely to get $79,000 for this property) it's a non-starter. This home is only going to sell to a primary occupant home-buyer IF it goes for well below its current asking price. As a rental? Sure. You could probably get $800/month in rent. Over the years you'd definitely earn your money back and then generate a profit.

Believe it or not it's NOT that noisy inside. One of the bedrooms faces the rear of the home. With the door shut and the windows shut you can barely hear 51. I also told my fiance we could plant some emerald green arborvitae out front that would eventually make the noise even less noticeable over the years as they grew thicker and taller as a natural sound barrier (while also hiding the facade of the house from the highway in the process).

We just can't justify buying a house for $60,000, putting $20,000 worth of work into it, and then NOT getting $80,000 for it someday upon resale. We don't expect to buy a home for $60,000, put $20,000 worth of work into it, and then sell it for $100,000. We're not greedy. We just can't justify losing money like that in the long run, though.

Originally Posted by zalewskimm

I would avoid a duplex. Brighton Heights s=is ok but those stairs would hurt resale.

As for Mt Oliver, here's one. But OMG/LOL what the hell is going on with the decorating? https://www.realtor.com/realestatean...-93182?view=qv

Thanks. Our issue with the one on East Agnew in Carrick (half-duplex) is even if the current neighbor is a sweet old lady or something as soon as she passes away a nightmare could move in next-door, and we'd be trapped. We really wanted to avoid shared walls because of the noise.

We can't do the Mt. Oliver one because that part of Mt. Oliver isn't part of the city limits, unfortunately.

[eschaton]

What about this one in Overbrook? Not the best location, but there is a bus stop nearby which is the last stop the Y buses make before getting to the South Busway - and there's a T station about a 20 minute walk away. Certainly looks habitable inside.

Maybe this one in the Hill District?

[jea6321]

Originally Posted by SteelCityRising

We just can't justify buying a house for $60,000, putting $20,000 worth of work into it, and then NOT getting $80,000 for it someday upon resale. We don't expect to buy a home for $60,000, put $20,000 worth of work into it, and then sell it for $100,000. We're not greedy. We just can't justify losing money like that in the long run, though.

you really need to understand that your dollar today is worth more than a dollar 8 years from now. If you paid 60k, and put 20k into it, 8 years from now just standard home inflation takes the price to around 100k(using 3% yearly housing inflation). You are not being greedy expecting an asset to appreciate at the same rate as other similar assets.

[robrobrob]

Lincoln Place is modestly priced. There are buses but it is frankly pretty far removed from downtown.


https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/5...11352256_zpid/

[SteelCityRising]

Originally Posted by eschaton

What about this one in Overbrook? Not the best location, but there is a bus stop nearby which is the last stop the Y buses make before getting to the South Busway - and there's a T station about a 20 minute walk away. Certainly looks habitable inside.

Maybe this one in the Hill District?

Thanks so much!

1.) The Overbrook house had multiple offers, according to our realtor, so we decided not to schedule a showing. We then learned that the buyers with the accepted offer just backed out prior to inspection, so it's technically "available" again, but if we were made aware of this I'm sure all the others who made offers may also put new offers in. We are afraid of a bidding war for our first home. Yinz are all on the right track, though, for the types of homes we want! I think we may just need to wait for more inventory to appear.

2.) Not necessarily opposed to the Hill District. I mean my fiance could take the gondola to work in the Strip District in the coming years, and I could walk to work Downtown. Again, we just have worries about shared walls after negative experiences with noise living in our current duplex.

Originally Posted by jea6321

you really need to understand that your dollar today is worth more than a dollar 8 years from now. If you paid 60k, and put 20k into it, 8 years from now just standard home inflation takes the price to around 100k(using 3% yearly housing inflation). You are not being greedy expecting an asset to appreciate at the same rate as other similar assets.

I suppose you're right. I'm just realizing how hard it's been to afford to buy OUR first home, and I wouldn't want to resell at a price in 8 years that would make it even harder for someone else in our same circumstances in the future to have difficulty affording their own first home. There's no way we would buy the Route 51 home for $60,000, put $20,000 worth of work into it, and then sell it in 2028 for $100,000, though. It would probably sell for like $70,000---tops---to an investor at that point (a loss).

Originally Posted by robrobrob

Lincoln Place is modestly priced. There are buses but it is frankly pretty far removed from downtown.


https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/5...11352256_zpid/

Yeah. My fiance used to live on Keefe Street almost across the street from this listing. We DO love this house. His commute each way used to be more than an hour long to and from the Strip District, though, using the buses. What's even the point of living in the city if your commute is that long? Lincoln Place is indeed a bit too far "removed" for us.

[Charley Barker]

Originally Posted by robrobrob

Lincoln Place is modestly priced. There are buses but it is frankly pretty far removed from downtown.


https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/5...11352256_zpid/

I wouldn't worry too much about that. We live in Bethel Park and spend about 80% of our fun/entertainment time in the city or outside the burbs. We are mostly traveling in and out between 7pm and 11pm, normally, and we have never been more than 25 mins commuting. Plus the T is a 7 minute walk when the weather is fair.

What I am saying is that if you find a right-priced house in a city neighborhood that is all residential, "far removed" from town (with good public transit, of course), do not be dissuaded one bit. We thought about the city, but reasonably priced homes (under $200K) with good PT access, near a large park, and with a garage were few and far between. We'd be hard pressed to give up any of that now.

[SteelCityRising]

Originally Posted by Charley Barker

I wouldn't worry too much about that. We live in Bethel Park and spend about 80% of our fun/entertainment time in the city or outside the burbs. We are mostly traveling in and out between 7pm and 11pm, normally, and we have never been more than 25 mins commuting. Plus the T is a 7 minute walk when the weather is fair.

What I am saying is that if you find a right-priced house in a city neighborhood that is all residential, "far removed" from town (with good public transit, of course), do not be dissuaded one bit. We thought about the city, but reasonably priced homes (under $200K) with good PT access, near a large park, and with a garage were few and far between. We'd be hard pressed to give up any of that now.

Yeah. The commute from Lincoln Place to my office building (near Second & Ross) would be a breeze. One bus. About 30 minutes. No sweat.

My fiance would have to take the bus from Lincoln Place to Downtown and then walk across Downtown to Liberty Avenue and take another bus to his office in the Strip District. It used to take him an hour each way altogether when he lived in Lincoln Place. I think Lincoln Place is so cheap because the commute sucks. Otherwise crime is low and it's convenient to the Century III shopping areas. If nothing else starts coming onto the market soon we'll consider these Lincoln Place homes that we DO like and just see if my fiance wouldn't mind the commute again.

I wish the city limits were larger. I would happily live in Etna or Dormont or Carnegie or McKees Rocks.