Young Professional Relocating to Pitt (Pittsburgh: lofts, neighborhood, buy)

[Hopes]

See my post above.

[Deepend2099]

Originally Posted by Hopes

Living downtown would be cool if downtown wasn't literally dead after the office workers leave.

Put it this way. Pittsburgh's downtown is the equivalent to NYC's Wall Street. It's dead when the workers go home.

Pittsburgh's neighborhoods, like Shadyside, Squirrel Hill, Southside, Bloomfield, etc., are more like NYC's residential neighborhoods.

Loosely speaking. My point is that the Pittsburgh neighborhoods are still the City of Pittsburgh.

Downtown is just the business district. It's not a residential district, just like Wall Street isn't a residential district of NYC.

Thanks! That helps a lot, and was the explanation I was seeking. It might have sounded like a dumb question, but we're talking about a city I've never even been to before so of course I was going to ask!

[Garvdog]

Honestly, I'm shocked at what rentals go for in Pittsburgh compared to what you can buy a house for in a decent neighborhood. I know we're talking about the trendier city neighborhoods, but when I moved here I was shocked at what the rental prices were even in the more popular suburbs. In most cities rental prices go up because it's prohibitively expensive to own a house. That's not the case here, in most cases it's cheaper to own, and a better investment, and you get a nicer place to live on top of it all.

I can only imagine that rent is high because there is not a good supply of rentals in the more desirable neighborhoods where younger, more transient people (who don't want to be tied down to a property) want to live.

[UKyank]

Originally Posted by Deepend2099

Why is everyone so anti downtown in Pittsburgh? I've never really seen a city before where everyone is so opposed to downtown living/chilling!

Are all the bars/clubs in southside kind of like college places? Or are there some nicer places down there as well?

As for costs, year $1300-$1500/month was what I was estimating I would pay.

Thanks again!

Downtown - while it is indeed turning around & changing, it is still mainly a 9-5 bustling area with limited choices after that unless there is a big event going on & nowhere where I would recommend one to live now (maybe a few years down the road).

As for the Southside bars/clubs, i would say its a mix between straight college type bars & non college ones though with a greater number of the former on Carson St esp. between 11th & 21st.....it's not until you've lived there (or I guess go out regularly) that you learn specifically what crowds frequent each establishment & thus which to avoid like the plague.

[Deepend2099]

Originally Posted by Garvdog

Honestly, I'm shocked at what rentals go for in Pittsburgh compared to what you can buy a house for in a decent neighborhood. I know we're talking about the trendier city neighborhoods, but when I moved here I was shocked at what the rental prices were even in the more popular suburbs. In most cities rental prices go up because it's prohibitively expensive to own a house. That's not the case here, in most cases it's cheaper to own, and a better investment, and you get a nicer place to live on top of it all.

I can only imagine that rent is high because there is not a good supply of rentals in the more desirable neighborhoods where younger, more transient people (who don't want to be tied down to a property) want to live.

Yea, that's exactly the trend i'm seeing. There only seems to be a handful of apartment buildings throughout the entire city that are really really desirable and for the reason the rents are high. However, I really only intend to staying in Pitt for a year or two, so owning just doesn't make any sense for me. Although, I can definitely see how it is much more cost effective if you're looking to stay long term.

On the upside, I'm used to NYC prices where a half decent 500 sq/ft flat in a doorman building costs $2400+/month, so this still is a nice break from that haha.

[Moby Hick]

Originally Posted by Deepend2099

Why is everyone so anti downtown in Pittsburgh? I've never really seen a city before where everyone is so opposed to downtown living/chilling!

While the Southside does sound like a better fit, you might try to the strip district. I'm not entirely sure why nobody is mentioning it at all. It is close to downtown, has some nightlife, and nice apartments with more going in. People say they are nice, at least. I've never had reason to see the insides. Years ago, when I did briefly live downtown, there was usually plenty to do in the Strip. It isn't as lively as the Southside, but there's very good restuarants. The Strip also puts you close to the part of downtown where things do happen at night sometimes (i.e. the plays and things in the cultural district).

[UKyank]

Originally Posted by Moby Hick

While the Southside does sound like a better fit, you might try to the strip district. I'm not entirely sure why nobody is mentioning it at all....

The Strip got the bad rap as the place to go out to & get shot at, hence why the nightlife there is now nearly non existent.

[Moby Hick]

Originally Posted by UKyank

The Strip got the bad rap as the place to go out to & get shot at, hence why the nightlife there is now nearly non existent.

As long as Eleven is still there, I'll be by at least occasionally.

[Geeo]

I've heard that the Cork Factory is very nice, too. And I think another apartment building is going up right across the street from that. Pittsburgh has one of the tightest, if not THE tightest, rental market in the country right now. Somethng like 98%, so it's tough finding just the right place.

As for downtown, the geography is one reason it has only about 5 - 7,000 people living in it. It is basically a small peninsula surrounded by rivers on two sides. It's historically been the business center for the region. In its very early days, there were people living there, but the office towers and corporations took over. Just across the Allegheny River is a residential district, which, were it not for the river dividing it, would be considered "downtown" in other cities.

[sealie]

I was going to mention to him before this particular.... reaction came up that I had a lifelong-Pittsburgh-resident cabbie comment to me once that Pittsburghers really, REALLY like things to be cheap, so if there's a Yelp interview about a notably "posh" apartment (or wine/tapas bar, which invariably has "too small portions" etc) then people are going to gripe about the price. I generally think of Pittsburgh as pretty tolerant, if I go out to a dive beer bar it's no skin off my nose if someone goes to a swank martini bar that night and vice versa.