Pittsburgh per capita income in top 10 after adjustments (California, Portland: real estate, foreclosure)

[BrianTH]

By the way, banks may well lend to you at something like 3 times for the mortgage with a 20% downpayment, which is obviously going to be more than 3 times for the full price. But last I saw, the Pittsburgh average was around 2.6 times for the full price, and again if you are new to the area in particular, I would advise being modest with your budget when buying (more modest perhaps than your banker would like).

[LeftCoastee]

Originally Posted by Katiana

That is a banking rule, based on 20% down. Things have gotten much more lenient since we bought our last house in 1980. Also, if you make $50,000/yr, that is only $150K in mortgage. You can't get a lot, even in Pittsburgh, for that. That's about $180K total (roughly).

Maybe you could post some comparisons of Pittsburgh's foreclosure rates to most other major cities.

Are curious or testing me? Regardless:

Cities worst hit by foreclosures - Jul. 30, 2009
Allegheny County Foreclosure Statistics, Trends and Heat Map | RealtyTrac
Clark County Foreclosure Statistics, Trends and Heat Map | RealtyTrac
Los Angeles County Local Foreclosure Trends and Foreclosure Information | RealtyTrac
King County Foreclosure Rate and Foreclosure Activity Information | RealtyTrac
Multnomah County Foreclosure Statistics, Trends and Heat Map | RealtyTrac
San Francisco County Local Foreclosure Trends and Foreclosure Information | RealtyTrac
San Mateo County Local Foreclosure Trends and Foreclosure Information | RealtyTrac
Cook County Local Foreclosure Trends and Foreclosure Information | RealtyTrac
Maricopa County Local Foreclosure Trends and Foreclosure Information | RealtyTrac
Baltimore County Foreclosure Market Information, Foreclosure Sale Prices | RealtyTrac

Search for most major cities (by their county) and compare it to Pittsburgh. There are not many that are lower.

[Katiana]

Originally Posted by BrianTH

Here is a writeup on foreclosure rates by metro area in the first half of 2009:

Sun Belt Dominates First Half 2009 Foreclosure Rankings but Unemployment-Related Foreclosures May Be Spreading

Pittsburgh was #134 out of 203 with a percent of housing units in foreclosure of 0.53. The U.S. average was 1.19%, and most of the cities ranked below Pittsburgh were smaller metro areas, but the lower metros did include New York and Baltimore (#147 and #148 at 0.47%). The top of the list is mostly Sun Belt cities with much, much higher rates (Las Vegas was #1 at 7.45%), although Detroit and Chicago made the top 40 (1.86% and 1.69% respectively). Cleveland was #56 at 1.36% whereas Philly was well below-average at #121/0.60%, which is a handy demonstration of how things are much worse over in Ohio.

So Pittsburgh is a little less than midpoint in the major metros. (I'd do the math, but I'm in a hurry at the moment.) Funny to read that Stockton is high in both the forclosure category and the drop in foreclosure category!

Originally Posted by BrianTH

By the way, banks may well lend to you at something like 3 times for the mortgage with a 20% downpayment, which is obviously going to be more than 3 times for the full price. But last I saw, the Pittsburgh average was around 2.6 times for the full price, and again if you are new to the area in particular, I would advise being modest with your budget when buying (more modest perhaps than your banker would like).

Originally Posted by LeftCoastee

Are curious or testing me? Regardless:

Cities worst hit by foreclosures - Jul. 30, 2009
Allegheny County Foreclosure Statistics, Trends and Heat Map | RealtyTrac
Clark County Foreclosure Statistics, Trends and Heat Map | RealtyTrac
Los Angeles County Local Foreclosure Trends and Foreclosure Information | RealtyTrac
King County Foreclosure Rate and Foreclosure Activity Information | RealtyTrac
Multnomah County Foreclosure Statistics, Trends and Heat Map | RealtyTrac
San Francisco County Local Foreclosure Trends and Foreclosure Information | RealtyTrac
San Mateo County Local Foreclosure Trends and Foreclosure Information | RealtyTrac
Cook County Local Foreclosure Trends and Foreclosure Information | RealtyTrac
Maricopa County Local Foreclosure Trends and Foreclosure Information | RealtyTrac
Baltimore County Foreclosure Market Information, Foreclosure Sale Prices | RealtyTrac

Search for most major cities (by their county) and compare it to Pittsburgh. There are not many that are lower.

According to the link Brian posted, there are 69 lower than Pittsburgh, including those he mentioned.

[Fiddlehead]

Originally Posted by Tinare

True. But I also think too many people today have a very inflated idea of what is the basic "standard of living." In the 50s most middle-class families had one car. The house had one television. There was no cable bill, no internet, no cell phones, most homes did not have dishwashers, closets were small -- people had fewer clothes, there were no X-Boxes (or the like) that kids just "had to have" -- for that matter, kids generally had fewer toys.

I know overall that adjusted for inflation average wages are down, but we also have a much greater sense, in general, of what we "should" have. A friend of mine did a mission trip to the mountains of Kentucky. As she put it, the people were dirt poor, but they all had satellite dishes on their houses.

You are very right that the middle class is where modest income and EXPECTATIONS meet. I read somewhere recently that the average home size has more than doubled in the US since the 1970s, though that may not be as pronounced in an older town like P'burgh. The McMansion effect....

Here in Ashland, Oregon it has been very confusing, with folks working part-time or telecommuting to Cali, and buying $700k homes, and spending two hours a day at the gym. Whereas the professors have to commute in... As the bubble began to burst, I recall a sob story in the newpaper about a young couple who were having a hard time selling one of their specially designed $750k "Ecohomes." All very, very confusing....

Glad to hear Pittsburgh has been much more sane!

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by Katiana

So Pittsburgh is a little less than midpoint in the major metros.

If you define "major metros" as the top 203 metros, Pittsburgh is right about at the bottom 1/3 mark, again with a foreclosure rate of under 1/2 the national rate. As I previously noted, if you cut the list to metros of around Pittsburgh's size or larger, it would be much closer to the bottom. For example, unless I missed one, the only metros in the top 30 lower than Pittsburgh were the aforementioned Baltimore and New York, putting Pittsburgh in the bottom 10% among the top 30.

[Katiana]

You're right that the Pgh rate is 33% of the national average (just did the math). I don't know about eliminating all these other metros. Albuquerque is also lower than Pittsburgh.

[LeftCoastee]

Originally Posted by Katiana

According to the link Brian posted, there are 69 lower than Pittsburgh, including those he mentioned.

I'm not sure of your motives here. Either you just like to argue or you are misreading things. I never said Pittsburgh had the lowest foreclosure rate of any city. I said it was lower than most large metro cities. No matter how you slice it...bottom third, bottom 10% of similar or larger sized cities, etc....the statement stands.

[Katiana]

Originally Posted by LeftCoastee

I'm not sure of your motives here. Either you just like to argue or you are misreading things. I never said Pittsburgh had the lowest foreclosure rate of any city. I said it was lower than most large metro cities. No matter how you slice it...bottom third, bottom 10% of similar or larger sized cities, etc....the statement stands.

Why are you impugning MY motives? I said nothing inflammatory, IMO.

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by Katiana

You're right that the Pgh rate is 33% of the national average (just did the math). I don't know about eliminating all these other metros. Albuquerque is also lower than Pittsburgh.

The Albuquerque Metro is #59 on the list of metro areas by size to Pittsburgh's #22, and is a little over 1/3 the population of the Pittsburgh Metro.

Anyway, if you go from top 30 to top 60, you also add Albany, Buffalo, Oklahoma City, Rochester, Raleigh, Honolulu, and Hartford. If I am doing the math right, that puts a total of 10 cities below Pittsburgh out of the top 60, so now Pittsburgh is a little into the bottom 20%.

By the way, the fact that Pittsburgh goes from the bottom 10% if you look at the Top 30, bottom 20% if you look at the Top 60, and bottom 34% if you look at the Top 203, nicely demonstrates that there is an imperfect but positive correlation between population size and foreclosure rates.

[Katiana]

Well, I just mentioned Abq b/c it is a large metro area for the southwest. Of course Pittsburgh's foreclosure rate should be lower than a lot of cities'. It has one of the cheapest housing markets in the country.