Wilkinsburg Question for the experts (Pittsburgh, Franklin: apartment complex, to rent, mortgage)

[rockthecasbah121]

How is the 900 block of South Avenue in Wilkinsburg? I know it looks pretty ugly, but potentially have a good opportunity to buy a house there for cheap. Would you be able to rent out a house there? If so, what would be the going rate for a 5-6 bedroom house?

[barneyg]

I'll let the Hamnett Place experts give you a more definite answer as it's fairly close to that part of town, but unless things changed significantly in the past 3-4 years I'd say it would take quite an urban pioneer. I wouldn't live there with my kids.

[ferraris]

I would not buy a large place in Wilkinsburg with only the intention of renting it out. It will be difficult to find a tenant interested in that large of a house, and any you do find are likely to be problematic. In general, a family is only going to chose to live in the Wilkinsburg School District if they can't afford anywhere else, that's really not an ideal situation for your tenant to be in. Even though that area is starting to attract some urban pioneers, they probably aren't going to be renting. They will buy their own cheap house.

Basically your target demographic would have to be someone with a large enough family to need a 5 or 6 bedroom house and enough cash to use private schools for all of their kids, AND this well-to-do person must also be okay with living in a place like Wilkinsburg. If you price it low enough you might find some sort of urban pioneer, young professional, or couple that would be interested in it, especially if the house is historic, but even that would be difficult since it sounds like it's just too large for one or two people to be interested in it.

Your best bet financially would be to split the place up into multiple apartments, but that's not such a cheap prospect.

[rockthecasbah121]

Originally Posted by ferrarisnowday

I would not buy a large place in Wilkinsburg with only the intention of renting it out. It will be difficult to find a tenant interested in that large of a house, and any you do find are likely to be problematic. In general, a family is only going to chose to live in the Wilkinsburg School District if they can't afford anywhere else, that's really not an ideal situation for your tenant to be in. Even though that area is starting to attract some urban pioneers, they probably aren't going to be renting. They will buy their own cheap house.

Basically your target demographic would have to be someone with a large enough family to need a 5 or 6 bedroom house and enough cash to use private schools for all of their kids, AND this well-to-do person must also be okay with living in a place like Wilkinsburg. If you price it low enough you might find some sort of urban pioneer, young professional, or couple that would be interested in it, especially if the house is historic, but even that would be difficult since it sounds like it's just too large for one or two people to be interested in it.

Your best bet financially would be to split the place up into multiple apartments, but that's not such a cheap prospect.

That was my exact thought. Turning it into a duplex would probably be pretty easy, as it is currently set up for 6 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms. However, the cost of rehabbing the house and paying the property tax may not be worth it for the amount of rent you can get in Wilkinsburg.

[Uptown kid]

How is the 900 block of South Avenue in Wilkinsburg?

South Avenue is a part of the Franklin neighborhood in the borough. That section had two homicides (a robbery on South Ave & gang related one on Franklin Ave) and a countless number of shootings. To say the least, Franklin is one of the roughest parts of debatably the worst hood in the Greater Pittsburgh Area. Central Wilkinsburg is in the rock bottom status, and unlike Hamnett Place, Pebbles Square or Kelly West (all which are currently gentrifying, and are to the point that they've been of their former sketchiness for a while) in the forseeable future there's no sign of gentrification...

If so, what would be the going rate for a 5-6 bedroom house?

BPR: LOW

[stburr91]

Originally Posted by rockthecasbah121

That was my exact thought. Turning it into a duplex would probably be pretty easy, as it is currently set up for 6 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms. However, the cost of rehabbing the house and paying the property tax may not be worth it for the amount of rent you can get in Wilkinsburg.

I would make sure that you can turn it into a duplex before making any decisions, because that may not be an option in the borough anymore.

Originally Posted by Uptown kid

South Avenue is a part of the Franklin neighborhood in the borough. That section had two homicides (a robbery on South Ave & gang related one on Franklin Ave) and a countless number of shootings. To say the least, Franklin is one of the roughest parts of debatably the worst hood in the Greater Pittsburgh Area. Central Wilkinsburg is in the rock bottom status, and unlike Hamnett Place, Pebbles Square or Kelly West (all which are currently gentrifying, and are to the point that they've been of their former sketchiness for a while) in the forseeable future there's no sign of gentrification...


BPR: LOW

Only the Regent Square section of Wilkinsburg has seen any gentrification. Hamnett Place, Pebbles Square or Kelly West, have seen some improvement, but are not gentrifying.

[groar]

yeah, this is near where i live and it's not a great block. there's a cap to the rent you can get around there and you'd definitely do better splitting the place into apartments. that's what landlords do around here with places like that, pretty uniformly. i don't like to see it happening because usually (although not always), they do a really cheap, ugly job of it, but i understand why they do it. you'd never get $1500 a month for a house that size but you could easily turn it into 3 $500+ apartments.

[shogun221]

I currently live in Wilkinsburg, where I rent in an apartment complex. I'm fine with this arrangement for now, but would never consider buying a home here.

A huge drawback to owning property in Wilkinsburg are the taxes. The taxes are terrible. Buying a house assessed at $100,000 will cost you an extra $200/month in taxes if it is located in Wilkinsburg as opposed to the city proper. And and others can attest to, the quality of the services is such that you get practically no value for your money. You'd be better off buying more house somewhere else....unlike taxes, at least a mortgage payment eventually ends.

[Uptown kid]

Only the Regent Square section of Wilkinsburg has seen any gentrification. Hamnett Place, Pebbles Square or Kelly West, have seen some improvement, but are not gentrifying.

I feel you... What's your opinion on Greater Park Place not too get too off topic.

[selltheburgh]

You can rent a house out anywhere easily if it is priced accordingly

The question is: Will the tenants pay? Will they wreck the house? How much upkeep will there be? How much can you rent it for? Do the answers to these questions to these questions still make you want to buy it?