HELP!! Condo in 1700-1800 block of perrysville ave.!!! (Washington, Wilson: real estate, condos)

[flexinpa]

I have been perusing around for awhile and was wondering what you all thought of this section of p-avenue. It's halfway between central North Side and Observatory.. It is a great condo with amazing views, however I am concernced with the area itself. I know there are some long term tenants on that street and it seems to be ok in that area. I would just like some of your thoughts before moving forward with the buying process. thank you all in advance!
Brian

[Geeo]

I had a friend who lived up there and the views are about as good as Mt. Washington. That stretch of Perrysville is pretty residential with urban homesteaders, and I know they used to have an active neighborhood association/block club.

I used to live on the flats of the North Side (East Allegheny) and loved it. But it takes a person who knows how to live in the city, who likes architecture, who doesn't mind the things you have to put up with sometimes. It's noisier, there are all sorts of different cultures, there are rich, middle class and poor, different races, etc, all living in the same area. I liked it that way, but a lot of people are uncomfortable out of their comfort zone. If your idea of the good life is driving straight into the garage and turning on the TV when you get home from work, this isn't for you. If you like the advantages of living in the middle of everything, going to the theatre, good restaurants, street life, it's probably for you.

[Chautauquast]

I'm VERY familiar with the area, and live a few blocks away.
First, is it the condos at Lookout Point or the townhouses on Clayton?
Two different colored horses.
That area of Perry Hilltop is basically quiet. With a few exceptions the folks in Lookout Point & the townhouses mostly stick to themselves, and don't much interact with the rest of the neighborhood.

Other sections of Perry Hilltop have multiple problems, but that area of Clayton is so remote that not too much happens.
It's not like you'll NEVER hear gunfire, but you won't hear it on or around Clayton.
You'll be close to all of the City's amenities and won't have a long drive home from anything downtown or North Side/Shore related.
RockLobster lives up there.

[kiggis13]

Originally Posted by Chautauquast

I'm VERY familiar with the area, and live a few blocks away.
First, is it the condos at Lookout Point or the townhouses on Clayton?
Two different colored horses.
That area of Perry Hilltop is basically quiet. With a few exceptions the folks in Lookout Point & the townhouses mostly stick to themselves, and don't much interact with the rest of the neighborhood.

Other sections of Perry Hilltop have multiple problems, but that area of Clayton is so remote that not too much happens.
It's not like you'll NEVER hear gunfire, but you won't hear it on or around Clayton.
You'll be close to all of the City's amenities and won't have a long drive home from anything downtown or North Side/Shore related.
RockLobster lives up there.

What streets of that section of Perry Hilltop would you deem relatively safe? I've always been curious about that section (and Perry North/South) of the city. It just seems so hidden from everything else in the city.

[Chautauquast]

[quote=kiggis13What streets of that section of Perry Hilltop would you deem relatively safe? I've always been curious about that section (and Perry North/South) of the city. It just seems so hidden from everything else in the city.[/QUOTE]

It is a little hidden. Right between the Mexican War Streets and Observatory Hill, two of some of the highest priced real esate communities on the North Side, and in Perry Hilltop we're practically giving housing away.
Perry Hilltop is Perry South and Ob Hill is Perry North. No one refers to them as Perry North/South except the city maps.
I live on the eastern end of Chautauqua. All single family homes with varying degrees of yards/gardens. Nearly all of the homes have front porches, so if you sneeze on your porch in good weather, four neighbors will say "bless you" from theirs.
Chautauqua is blessed with being lined with 37 pin oak trees, so the canopy over the street keeps the street relativiely cool in hot weather.
The view-area of Clayton (Ave? St?) is probably the highest priced real estate in Perry Hilltop, and yes, the views rival Mt. Washington.
University Avenue (the original home to the University of Western Pennsylvania, later to become Pitt) is quite nice, and soon to be the home to two brand new large single family homes.
An area of Kennedy is nice, an area of Maple is nice. A friend lives back on Overlook, and her view is every bit as nice as Clayton, but the housing stock, what there is of it, mostly stinks.

Notice I say that "areas" of some streets are nice.
My street is quite long, with no intersecting streets, so things could be very different at the western end. Places with too many unsupervised children should be avoided, obviously.
There are small pockets of subsidized housing, and that could be good or bad.
My husband and I regularly sit on our front porch with a glass of wine in the evening, and it's very pleasant.

[Chautauquast]

Originally Posted by flexinpa

I have been perusing around for awhile and was wondering what you all thought of this section of p-avenue. It's halfway between central North Side and Observatory.. It is a great condo with amazing views, however I am concernced with the area itself. I know there are some long term tenants on that street and it seems to be ok in that area. I would just like some of your thoughts before moving forward with the buying process. thank you all in advance!
Brian

Remember, the condos are NOT in the 1700 block of Perrysville, that's where the infamous landslide is.
Your condo is on Clayton.
I hope you like it up there!
Invite us all for fireworks!

[kiggis13]

That's interesting. On street view I checked out parts of Perrysville and Clayton. Some pretty cool/unique houses. Other than those two streets I noticed that those nice areas are pretty spread out. What would you consider the worse areas on Perry Hilltop to be. Also, how's the Fineview neighborhood?

[Chautauquast]

Originally Posted by kiggis13

That's interesting. On street view I checked out parts of Perrysville and Clayton. Some pretty cool/unique houses. Other than those two streets I noticed that those nice areas are pretty spread out. What would you consider the worse areas on Perry Hilltop to be. Also, how's the Fineview neighborhood?

Re: Perry Hilltop

Well, parts of Kennedy are sketchy, mostly the eastern end. No one knows what goes on up on some parts of Osgood; it's so remote in some places that you could film an urban Deliverence there and no one would know. Believe me, I don't say this in a bad way. Some folks like to live quietly apart from other folks; well you can do that in places in Perry Hilltop and still walk to work downtown in under an hour. Just sayin'.
Right now my biggest problem is deer and the @#%$*! groundhog.
An area with a bad reputation is the intersection of Wilson and Burgess. Since I live about a block and a half away I know of it's reputation. Sometimes it's bad and sometimes it's very bad. And yet someone's doing a full rehab on Wilson within sight of this intersection that is really beautiful. Go figure!
A main intersection with a bad rep is Charles Street and Perrysville Avenue; blame the U. S. Attorney's office. Between 3,000 and 5,000 people travel through this intersection daily (car, foot and bus mostly), and the Feds control the most deteriorated builings there, taken in a drug bust in 2002. The buildings have been boarded up since then and are now grafitti covered, crappy and falling apart. Thank you, our tax dollars at work.

Fineview: Isolated due to topography, and it seems pretty white to me. Oops! Darn, did I just say that?
Folks in Fineview are great, they've done great rehabs and even new construction VERY successfully. Not much retail stuff happening, like much of the outlying North Side neighborhoods, but some great housing stock and the occasional "Fine" view!

Hope this helps...

[PghGHM]

Does anybody know about what the condos at Lookout Point go for? I visited a friend there recently and the views are fantastic. Just wondering. Thanks.

[Chautauquast]

Originally Posted by PghGHM

Does anybody know about what the condos at Lookout Point go for? I visited a friend there recently and the views are fantastic. Just wondering. Thanks.

According to the Allegheny County Assesment website the 18 condos up there go from around $89,000 - $130,000. The "little" ones are 763 sq. ft. and the bigger ones are 1,144 sq. ft.
They all have to-die-for views.