Yet Another “Neighborhood Recommendation” Thread (Pittsburgh, Scranton: renter, brokers, safe area)

[Hopes]

Originally Posted by onwardandupward

For quiet, safe and quaint, it's hard to beat Oakmont. I'm surprised at the price of this house, as it's hard to find a sub-100k house in Oakmont. It is kind of off the beaten path (which is not saying much, as it's a very small town). I'd definitely keep Oakmont on your list of places to see when you visit - it's really a Mayberry kind of place. It's a walkable town with restaurants, coffee shops, boutiques, the best bakery in Western PA, a retro artsy movie theatre, and a lovely park on the river.

Yep! It's a FANTASTIC neighborhood! The OP should definitely check it out!

[TechieTransplant]

Originally Posted by onwardandupward

For quiet, safe and quaint, it's hard to beat Oakmont. I'm surprised at the price of this house, as it's hard to find a sub-100k house in Oakmont. It is kind of off the beaten path (which is not saying much, as it's a very small town). I'd definitely keep Oakmont on your list of places to see when you visit - it's really a Mayberry kind of place. It's a walkable town with restaurants, coffee shops, boutiques, the best bakery in Western PA, a retro artsy movie theatre, and a lovely park on the river.

We love Oakmont, but it's a slow and painful commute in to the city during rush hours.

[sewickley]

Sorry to say, but your price range is limiting you to Beaver County. Check Ambridge, Beaver, Beaver Falls, New Brighton, Monaca on prudentialpreferredrealty.com or howardhanna.com. These are all small towns that were born of the steel industry. Some have seen better days, but there are bright spots and come-backs too. Allegheny County is just too expensive; not just home prices but the real estate taxes, school taxes, boro taxes, and the closing costs are quite an eye-popper, especially the Allegheny Cnty transfer taxes. "Where to Retire" magazine describes Allegheny Cnty as a "tax hell". The cost of living is reasonable, however. There are lots of cost of living calculators on the internet that you should check out. Most don't include property and school taxes, however. Beaver Cnty is probably the easiest access to the city. Any other direction requires going through a tunnel. I lived in the South Hills (Dormont) for many years, and I could be at the middle of "dawntawn" (that's how it is said here) in 15 minutes. Rushhour turned that to a 40 minute stand still drive. No tunnels required from Beaver County. Good Luck!

[dirimini]

Thanks, everyone, for the continued input - this is incredibly helpful.

Oakmont does, indeed, look great - although I'm a little worried about the commute. I will definitely keep it in mind. In my price range, I know I'm not going to get everything I want, and that I'm going to have to make some compromises - so in the end, I'll have to weigh all the variables (location, commuting, housing quality, taxes, amenities, etc.) and try find a location that has more plusses than minuses.

Sewickley, I appreciate the candor on taxes in Allegheny County, and this is definitely something I'll have to put into the equation. However, perusing the sites you list (as well as truia.com or realtor.com), there do appear to be at least some options that would be affordable to me, without going as far as Beaver County (note, for example, Hopes' suggestion of the property in Brighton Hieghts). As someone who has bought/sold properties in NYC, I'm no stranger to ridiculous transfer taxes, and the figure I noted as my ceiling takes into account the fact that I understand I'm going to have a sizeable figure for closing costs on any transaction. That being said, I wouldn't, in fact, be averse to Beaver County, if the commute looks manageable.

Some time today, I think I'm going to make up a list of those areas I think might be most fruitful to focus on. If so, I'll post it here, and anyone can feel free to offer any additional input. Again, thanks for all of this - I feel I owe everyone a free lunch for the advice!

[Hopes]

A commute from Beaver County will be much worse than a commute from Oakmont. The Oakmont isn't that bad. It's about 30 minutes.

[BrianTH]

Don't forget to look at what sort rental income you can get! Obviously you need to take things like taxes seriously as a cost, but you also have to look at the revenue side to get a full picture of the expected financial outcome.

[dirimini]

Originally Posted by BrianTH

Don't forget to look at what sort rental income you can get! Obviously you need to take things like taxes seriously as a cost, but you also have to look at the revenue side to get a full picture of the expected financial outcome.

Absolutely. And I'm a very conservative preson regarding finances, so when crunching the numbers, I'm always sure to OVER-estimate the funds I think I'll need for ongoing repairs/maintainence, and UNDER-estimate the amounts I think I'll be getting as rental income. That way, there's sort of a built-in buffer.

[Hopes]

Brian brings up a good point.

An apartment near Regeant Square will bring in more income than an apartment in the lower level neighborhoods you were initially considering.

Even Brighton Heights will produce higher rent. I only posted listings that are in areas where people would be more likely to rent.

Many of the areas you were initially considering aren't going to bring in very much income and I woudln't be surprised if you even had a hard time finding renters in those areas.

As I'm sure you already know, you can research potential income by checking the rental prices in the various neighborhoods.

[Hopes]

Here's an example.

Mt Oliver rentals:

pittsburgh apts/housing for rent classifieds "oliver" - craigslist

Brighton Heights rentals:

pittsburgh apts/housing for rent classifieds "brighton heights" - craigslist

[dirimini]

Originally Posted by Hopes

Here's an example.

Mt Oliver rentals:

pittsburgh apts/housing for rent classifieds "oliver" - craigslist

Brighton Heights rentals:

pittsburgh apts/housing for rent classifieds "brighton heights" - craigslist

Ha! This is exactly what I've been doing each time I put another neighborhood on my list!

By "lower end," do you mean places like Carrick and Mt. Oliver, and/or Millvale, Etna, and Sharpsburg? I'm probably not considering the first two any longer, because there seem to be better options.