Would you buy a condo outside of the city? (HOA, townhouse)

[Hopes]

You can get a 5 bedroom, 5-1/2 bath house in North Fayette for 199k---built in 2006 too.

North Fayette Real Estate - 336 COMMODORE DR, North Fayette, PA, 15057

I know he might not want to live in that township, but I'm just pointing out that you can really get a fairly new, large house for 200k in Allegheny County.

[mattjd]

Originally Posted by Hopes

You can get a 5 bedroom, 5-1/2 bath house in North Fayette for 199k---built in 2006 too.

North Fayette Real Estate - 336 COMMODORE DR, North Fayette, PA, 15057

I know he might not want to live in that township, but I'm just pointing out that you can really get a fairly new, large house for 200k in Allegheny County.

Thanks, I'll pass that along. That's a nice size house for the price. One of the reasons he was looking in Cranberry though was the difference in taxes. $6,200 a year in taxes on $200k home is pathetic. The county should be embarrassed about ripping off hardworking people people like that. And we wonder why our young people don't want to stick around after hs???

[Hopes]

I was just showing you what 200k can buy. He doesn't need a 5 bedroom, 5-1/2 bath house. He's looking at a 3 bedroom, 1,300 sf condo for 200k. 1,300 sf is a very small house. He can find a smaller house for much less than 200k in Allegheny County and pay the same yearly taxes as he would for the Cranberry condo. I've looked and it appears that it's about 3k in taxes for a condo in Cranberry for that price. If you think about it, 3k in taxes is pretty expensive for a 1,300 sf condo in Cranberry. That Allegheny County property is double the size for 6k in taxes. Seems like there isn't much of a tax savings in Cranberry to me. He's just buying less house.

[mattjd]

Originally Posted by Hopes

I was just showing you what 200k can buy. He doesn't need a 5 bedroom, 5-1/2 bath house. He's looking at a 3 bedroom, 1,300 sf condo for 200k. 1,300 sf is a very small house. He can find a smaller house for much less than 200k in Allegheny County and pay the same yearly taxes as he would for the Cranberry condo. I've looked and it appears that it's about 3k in taxes for a condo in Cranberry for that price. If you think about it, 3k in taxes is pretty expensive for a 1,300 sf condo in Cranberry. That Allegheny County property is double the size for 6k in taxes. Seems like there isn't much of a tax savings in Cranberry to me. He's just buying less house.

Yeah, I understand what you're saying. There might be a tax difference, but Cranberry is also probably more expensive per sqft. than most areas of allegheny county, so it all probably evens out in the end.

[Hopes]

Condos in Cranberry doesn't make sense to me. I thought the whole purpose of moving to surrounding counties was to get larger houses and yards for less money and taxes. It just doesn't make sense to me that people would move so far away from the city to live in a condo. Rental apartments make sense for lower income people who work at retail stores in Cranberry, but condos seem illogical up there.

[Tallysmom]

My mom is saying that taxes are going to go sky high in Cranberry to pay for some major infrastructure improvements. Might be something to look into.

[mattjd]

Originally Posted by Tallysmom

My mom is saying that taxes are going to go sky high in Cranberry to pay for some major infrastructure improvements. Might be something to look into.

Yeah, I believe PennDot already has a plan to widen 228, but I'm not sure if the money was already there, if it's stimulus money they just got, or what. But, what can you do? You can't base all your decisions in life on rumors. Heck, for the past 30 years I've heard rumors about PennDot building some crazy expressway from Uniontown to Pittsburgh. Yeah, I'll believe that when I see it.

[Copanut]

Originally Posted by Hopes

Condos in Cranberry doesn't make sense to me. I thought the whole purpose of moving to surrounding counties was to get larger houses and yards for less money and taxes. It just doesn't make sense to me that people would move so far away from the city to live in a condo. Rental apartments make sense for lower income people who work at retail stores in Cranberry, but condos seem illogical up there.

There are a TON of townhouse dwellings in the Cranberry-Adams-7 Fields area. Some people like living maintenance free.

[raynist]

Originally Posted by Hopes

Condos in Cranberry doesn't make sense to me. I thought the whole purpose of moving to surrounding counties was to get larger houses and yards for less money and taxes. It just doesn't make sense to me that people would move so far away from the city to live in a condo. Rental apartments make sense for lower income people who work at retail stores in Cranberry, but condos seem illogical up there.

Great point, I totally agree.

[hinsey86]

Originally Posted by COPANUT

There are a TON of townhouse dwellings in the Cranberry-Adams-7 Fields area. Some people like living maintenance free.

And some people work there. I never understood why some folks don't understand that some people do work closer to the suburbs they live in than the city.