Pittsburgh's "popularity" a problem? (Sewickley, Austin: closing, live, cost)

[Goodjules]

Originally Posted by eschaton

As an aside, can someone on the forum please buy this house? It's within my price range, right next to a T stop, and fantastic. I can't get my wife to even look at houses right now, as for some odd reason, she insists we can't put our house on the market in Lawrenceville until we finish fixing everything up. I'm so pissed I can't put in an offer on it, so I want someone to at least check it out.

What neighborhood is it in? If I hadn't just bought a house, I'd sure look at that one. Beautiful. You know that nothing will get you to finish the work on your place faster than making an offer on another house!

[Tinare]

That's lovely. Have you looked at it in person, eschaton?

[eschaton]

Originally Posted by Tinare

That's lovely. Have you looked at it in person, eschaton?

I want to, I really want to. Beechview is a neighborhood I wouldn't mind living in as well. The question is, how to get my wife to agree to look.

[ferraris]

Originally Posted by Hip Priest

All I'm going to say is, it's one of the following neighborhoods: Beechview, Brighton Heights, Brookline, or Marshall-Shadeland.

There's a 1 in 4 chance we're neighbors!

Congrats on your purchase. Is everything completely finalized? It sure moves a lot faster when you're shopping from out of town and don't have a bank involved! I hope you had it inspected at least!

[jay5835]

Originally Posted by eschaton

I want to, I really want to. Beechview is a neighborhood I wouldn't mind living in as well. The question is, how to get my wife to agree to look.

It's a beautiful house. I remember looking at it and admiring the paint colors. So many people are guilty of paint abuse, but someone has done a lovely job here.

EDIT: I just sent a link to two friends whose house in the North Hills sold before it was listed, and who may not be able to get into the house they made an offer on in time.

[The King of Um]

Originally Posted by ferrarisnowday

There's a 1 in 4 chance we're neighbors!

Congrats on your purchase. Is everything completely finalized? It sure moves a lot faster when you're shopping from out of town and don't have a bank involved! I hope you had it inspected at least!

You might see me walking around town, you never know. I had it inspected, and the inspection went fairly well; the house, however, needs a little work--small stuff, mainly (gutters need to be cleaned, gutter guards need to be replaced, a downspout needs to be capped, parge needs to be filled in a couple of spots, chimney needs a metal rain cap, flashing sealant around the chimney needs a little work, one of the storm doors needs to be replaced, 2 smoke detectors need to be added, carbon monoxide detectors need to be added, a tree needs to be trimmed, and a few other minor things). Now, I hope the sellers agree to fix the things I want fixed; otherwise, I'm going to have to hire contractors, considering I can't fix crap myself. If the sellers agree to fix and/or replace the things that are broken/missing, then we've got a deal! If they don't, I'm going to have to get them to reduce the price as a concession.

There are only two things that concern me: (1) The main carrying beam, which is made of wood, has some cracks and splitting. Is that normal for a 100-year-old house? (2) Although the basement doesn't smell of mold, one of the walls was definitely quite damp. But the house is over a 100 years old, so again, is this normal?

[MathmanMathman]

I don't know if Pittsburgh is that popular. I've been noticing a litany of stories about companies setting up or even moving to Atlanta over the past months while there's been little such type of news about Pittsburgh. A lot of film and television productions are setting up in Atlanta and a lot of IT is moving there as well. Atlanta is looking like Hollywood and Silicon Valley East. It's like once you get the ball rolling past a certain point, other same types of companies want to be there too.

[ferraris]

Originally Posted by Hip Priest

You might see me walking around town, you never know. I had it inspected, and the inspection went fairly well; the house, however, needs a little work--small stuff, mainly (gutters need to be cleaned, gutter guards need to be replaced, a downspout needs to be capped, parge needs to be filled in a couple of spots, chimney needs a metal rain cap, flashing sealant around the chimney needs a little work, one of the storm doors needs to be replaced, 2 smoke detectors need to be added, carbon monoxide detectors need to be added, a tree needs to be trimmed, and a few other minor things). Now, I hope the sellers agree to fix the things I want fixed; otherwise, I'm going to have to hire contractors, considering I can't fix crap myself. If the sellers agree to fix and/or replace the things that are broken/missing, then we've got a deal! If they don't, I'm going to have to get them to reduce the price as a concession.

There are only two things that concern me: (1) The main carrying beam, which is made of wood, has some cracks and splitting. Is that normal for a 100-year-old house? (2) Although the basement doesn't smell of mold, one of the walls was definitely quite damp. But the house is over a 100 years old, so again, is this normal?

Ahh so you are just under contract. I guess the process doesn't move quite so fast even with cash!

I had a list of about 30 things done to the house by a contractor when I first moved in. Spent about 4 grand on it. In hindsight, I wish I had only had about 5 or 6 of those things done at that time, the rest was stuff I wanted done soon, but it wasn't super urgent, and some of it was done poorly/incorrectly. So my advice is to do some of the stuff yourself. No reason to pay someone to hang a carbon monoxide detector, $20, a battery, and a hammer and you can install one yourself in 2 minutes. Smoke detectors are available for free from the fire department and I think they'll even install them for you if you request it, or at least suggest where to put them. For trimming the tree, I'd just get a nice saw on an extension pole, but if it's really high up you could use Lumberjack Suppliers; I used them for a bulk mulch order, but I know they do tree stuff like that too. The tree is probably a good example of something that can wait a few months until you're less stressed and settled in.

As for the main carrying beam being cracked...that is absolutely something your inspector should be knowledgeable about. Call him and ask about it. If he can't tell you, then you need a new inspector or possibly a structural engineer (and maybe a refund!). Some dry rot on a wooden beam that old doesn't sound out of the ordinary to me but I'm not an expert. My basement stairway landing's support beam is dry rotted wood. I sprayed it with an $8 can of shellac to at least slow down the process.

A damp wall isn't unusual at all. My basement actually had some mold growing on the floor when I first looked at it. I bleached the heck out of it and had the gutters cleaned and haven't had any water in my basement since. So the problem in the house you're looking at might go away as soon as the gutters are cleaned. But even if it doesn't, some water getting into the basements isn't out of the norm here, especially if it's just moisture and not even puddles or anything. It definitely attracts bugs like centipedes and silverfish though, so you might want to spray for them, or at least block any cracks between the basement and first floor so they don't get into your living area..

[The King of Um]

Originally Posted by ferrarisnowday

Ahh so you are just under contract. I guess the process doesn't move quite so fast even with cash!

I had a list of about 30 things done to the house by a contractor when I first moved in. Spent about 4 grand on it. In hindsight, I wish I had only had about 5 or 6 of those things done at that time, the rest was stuff I wanted done soon, but it wasn't super urgent, and some of it was done poorly/incorrectly. So my advice is to do some of the stuff yourself. No reason to pay someone to hang a carbon monoxide detector, $20, a battery, and a hammer and you can install one yourself in 2 minutes. Smoke detectors are available for free from the fire department and I think they'll even install them for you if you request it, or at least suggest where to put them. For trimming the tree, I'd just get a nice saw on an extension pole, but if it's really high up you could use Lumberjack Suppliers; I used them for a bulk mulch order, but I know they do tree stuff like that too. The tree is probably a good example of something that can wait a few months until you're less stressed and settled in.

As for the main carrying beam being cracked...that is absolutely something your inspector should be knowledgeable about. Call him and ask about it. If he can't tell you, then you need a new inspector or possibly a structural engineer (and maybe a refund!). Some dry rot on a wooden beam that old doesn't sound out of the ordinary to me but I'm not an expert. My basement stairway landing's support beam is dry rotted wood. I sprayed it with an $8 can of shellac to at least slow down the process.

A damp wall isn't unusual at all. My basement actually had some mold growing on the floor when I first looked at it. I bleached the heck out of it and had the gutters cleaned and haven't had any water in my basement since. So the problem in the house you're looking at might go away as soon as the gutters are cleaned. But even if it doesn't, some water getting into the basements isn't out of the norm here, especially if it's just moisture and not even puddles or anything. It definitely attracts bugs like centipedes and silverfish though, so you might want to spray for them, or at least block any cracks between the basement and first floor so they don't get into your living area..

Thanks for the wise advice, ferrarisnowday. You're right, in that I think it would behoove me to only take on a few projects at any given time--whenever you've got too much going on simultaneously, everything winds up going wrong. I think I'll pay some contractors to do the most urgent work and put off the rest for later.

I didn't know the fire department gives out smoke detectors for free! That's great to hear! Free is always good.

The tree is quite tall, so a saw on a pole won't suffice; I'll give Lumberjack Suppliers a call and get an estimate from them, along with estimates from three other companies. The tree actually can't wait, as some of its branches are literally touching my roof.

I spoke with my inspector tonight about the main carrying beam. He said that the cracks are insignificant and quite old--basically nothing to get concerned about. There's no sign of deflection or structural damage. In a house as old as the one I'm buying, the inspector told me that cracks in the main carrying beam are normal. That was good news! I was quite worried about that.

I didn't notice any mold in the basement. Actually, I didn't even smell anything nasty down there; the basement didn't smell nearly as bad as most of the homes I was shown. I'm going to get a good quality dehumidifier and put it in the basement; perhaps that will do the trick with the bit of moisture on the wall.

[pghdude28]

Originally Posted by MathmanMathman

I don't know if Pittsburgh is that popular. I've been noticing a litany of stories about companies setting up or even moving to Atlanta over the past months while there's been little such type of news about Pittsburgh. A lot of film and television productions are setting up in Atlanta and a lot of IT is moving there as well. Atlanta is looking like Hollywood and Silicon Valley East. It's like once you get the ball rolling past a certain point, other same types of companies want to be there too.

Finally a voice of reason! I think pittsburgh is more middle of the road in terms of popularity. It has become more popular over the years but not to the degree some cheerleaders on here are making it seem. I definitely would not consider it the most livable city, but it isn't awful either.