Is house hunting always so depressing? (Pittsburgh: renting, houses, neighborhood)

[DomerJen]

Well, our 2 priorities are schools and commute. Mt. Lebo offers the T, and great schools, so that's why we chose it. We do love the look and character of the homes, but with character comes small closets and compromise. Unfortunately we don't have time to sit and wait and pounce on things as they come up, b/c we can only come up once (maybe twice) more before we move (and before we have a newborn and a toddler). I guess if we don't find anything we can move in with the IL's or get an apartment temporarily, but I loathe the idea of moving twice with said newborn and toddler.

Thanks for the thoughts though - we had considered N. Allegheny and Fox Chapel, but we really prefer to commute by mass transit and stay w/ having one car (silver lining that Mt. Lebo has one-car garages?)

[JD984]

Originally Posted by Caladium

I'm not sure this would mean much to the OP, since she's moving there from Atlanta.

There are a lot of people who live in smaller, older houses in NoVa (for example, in Arlington, Alexandria and parts of Falls Church) who would surely gravitate toward a place like Mt. Lebo if moving to Pittsburgh. I think, for many of them, what would probably strike them is not that the houses are small, but that they often haven't been updated much. That's less common in NoVa, where there's both more money and people moving more frequently, so there's a greater chance an older house will have been substantially updated.

Of course, if someone has money to spend on a renovation, that may be a good thing, since you're less likely to be saddled with what someone thought was great in 1988.

[ossewa]

Why would an "easy commute" trump being satisfied with your house? You'll spend 10-20x more hours of your life in your house than commuting...

Mt. Lebo's housing stock is at least 75% from the 20's and 30's; people just made do with less square footage. Nobody entertained in the kitchen back then so most houses have efficient galley kitchens, everybody had ONE Model A Ford so many garages are too narrow for modern cars. If you are looking for Atlanta-style upper middle class living then you should definitely move to Peters Township.

[robrobrob]

I don't understand why you were looking in Mt. Lebanon in the first place. It is common knowledge that you find older, smaller homes in Mt. Lebonon. Sure everyone wants a nice commute with an easy commute but not everyone is willing to live in an older house.

[Burghgirl17]

To make a gross generalization, the homes that are closer to mass transit (and thus the OP's version of an "easy commute") are going to be smaller and older. If the OP wants more house for less money, she needs to look at some of the other suburbs with great schools - Peters, South Fayette, North Allegheny, Fox Chapel, etc. The commute isn't going to be as easy as Mt. Lebanon, but then you're also not paying more for a home that will be cramped.

There are trade offs, and the OP really needs to examine which things are more important.

It would also help to know the OP's budget.

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by ossewa

Why would an "easy commute" trump being satisfied with your house? You'll spend 10-20x more hours of your life in your house than commuting...

Surveys suggest long commutes are the biggest source of unhappiness for many people. Conversely, the rewards of large homes and lots are not very well-confirmed--it turns out a lot of people don't need a lot of space to do basic things like eat, sleep, watch TV, read a book, fiddle-faddle on the Internet, or so on.

Accordingly, I think prioritizing a short commute makes ample sense for many people. I'd certainly at least try out.

[BrianTH]

Mt Lebanon is a former "streetcar suburb". Such former streetcar suburbs are roughly the minimum population density you can get away with and still provide convenient public transit for commuting purpose. That density in turn implies constraints on the size of the houses and lots you can expect--of course a few can be bigger, but not too many, which means they will be relatively scarce and more expensive.

On the other hand, they don't necessarily need to be old. However, we haven't been doing a good job in recent decades building new such neighborhoods, including in Pittsburgh.

[DomerJen]

it's just a different market here than atlanta. we don't live in the suburbs of atlanta - we live downtown. the house we almost closed down there was a 15 minute drive downtown, 2700 sq ft all brick colonial four-square with huge rooms and a 3/4 acre wooded lot. It needed a ton of work, but it had character and charm. Like someone said, though, it did not have much to walk to. We look forward to walking to parks and the library and such in mt. lebo.

commute is important - my husband works 12+ hour days or more in public accounting and an extra 30min/day is a big deal for him. he does not spend all or most of his time at home, unfortunately.

our budget is around 300k. we saw 9 houses yesterday and will see another 7 tomorrow. like i said, we saw some charming houses, but it's a bit underwhelming to spend that kind of money on a 1300 sq ft house - we weren't expecting to break the $200/sq ft mark anywhere in PGH, to be honest.

[Burghgirl17]

You can get a lot of house in Pittsburgh for $300K. Certainly a heck of a lot more than 1300 sq. ft. I moved out a of a 1300 sq. ft. townhome that I bought for $125K into a brand new 4/5 bedroom house for just over $300K, on a nice lot in a nice neighborhood. Both my townhouse and our new home are in a great school district, South Fayette (one that is consistently ranked up there with Mt. Lebanon and USC). This isn't to say that South Fayette would be the right place for you, but more of an example of what you can get elsewhere.

The commute on the T also isn't all it is cracked up to be. It is not a high speed vehicle. It can be crowded and backed up during peak times. There are sometimes delays and there have been various electrical problems as of late. My secretary takes the T in every day from Bethel Park, so I hear a lot about it! I have have taken the T a great number of times when I lived closer to it.

If your husband is working 12 hour days, he may be commuting at off-peak times. If that is the circumstance, driving may actually be quicker. My house to downtown in non-peak time is 20 minutes or less. He could be sitting downtown just waiting for the T for that long.

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by DomerJen

like i said, we saw some charming houses, but it's a bit underwhelming to spend that kind of money on a 1300 sq ft house - we weren't expecting to break the $200/sq ft mark anywhere in PGH, to be honest.

Unfortunately, the fact that housing is relatively cheap in Pittsburgh doesn't mean all the housing is objectively cheap. So you still will pay a premium here for walkable neighborhoods with good public transit and good schools.

That said, the median sales price per square foot in Mt Lebanon is a lot lower than $200/sqft, and lots of modest homes have sold recently for well under your budget.