The East End Real Estate Bubble (tax, areas, driving)

[ferraris]

Originally Posted by eschaton

Under $50,000 without a gut though I think is getting damn near impossible in Pittsburgh. Most of what you find at that price is just junk.

That really depends what you define as a a gut job. Like Aqua Teen Carl said, if you can deal with stuff like faux wood paneling, ancient laminate flooring, and pastel colored bathrooms you can cut a lot of the costs out. Even a lot of old furnaces, plumbing, and electric is still pretty serviceable even if a complete re-do would be preferable.

Obviously these places at $50K aren't in Bloomfield and Lawrenceville anymore, but they definitely still exist in the city. And not necessarily in ghettos, either.

[steindle]

I am a notorious optimist, but I also wouldn't necessarily call Spring Hill "pretty undesirable." I know a surprising number of people who have moved there in the last year or two... It's not a bad place if you want decent, detached housing stock in a relatively stable (and sometimes even semi-suburban) area for a low price. Its lack of a business district or significant "walkability" would be a dealbreaker for me, but diff'rnt strokes for diff'rnt folks.

[eschaton]

Originally Posted by I_Like_Spam

South Side Avenue is City View, not Spring Hill, that's an error on the part of the real estate website. The funeral home at South Side and Matthias is in the building of the old City View School.


But the property is on a transit route, and close to a decent looking park on Romanoff St.

I knew it was in City View. Still, due to the city lumping the two neighborhoods together, there is no separate City View designation on the MLS, just Spring Hill. And there's mostly not a dime's worth of difference between the two. The only two differences I can see is parts of Spring Hill are right next to Three Rivers Manor, and thus kinda unsafe, and Spring Hill tends to have more varied housing stock than City View, due to having a few streets like Yetta which were built out a bit later.

[Moby Hick]

Originally Posted by Aqua Teen Carl

Of course if you don't mind pink/green bathrooms, wood paneling, ancient kitchens, and aluminum awnings you could cut back on upgrade costs in a big way.

I'm not sure aluminum awnings, wood paneling, and ancient kitchens will ever come back into fashion, but pink/green bathrooms are a thing again.

[eschaton]

Originally Posted by steindle

I am a notorious optimist, but I also wouldn't necessarily call Spring Hill "pretty undesirable." I know a surprising number of people who have moved there in the last year or two... It's not a bad place if you want decent, detached housing stock in a relatively stable (and sometimes even semi-suburban) area for a low price. Its lack of a business district or significant "walkability" would be a dealbreaker for me, but diff'rnt strokes for diff'rnt folks.

Desirability refers to low housing prices, which can be for a number of reasons, not merely being a ghetto. I honestly feel like the eastern portions of the North Side in many ways, given prices are depressed yet the area is not highly unsafe.

[Aqua Teen Carl]

Originally Posted by Moby Hick

I'm not sure aluminum awnings, wood paneling, and ancient kitchens will ever come back into fashion, but pink/green bathrooms are a thing again.

Are they really? That's interesting.

I have seen some places that look like Chairy from Pee Wee's Playhouse got reincarnated as a bathroom.

[Moby Hick]

Originally Posted by Aqua Teen Carl

Are they really? That's interesting.

I have seen some places that look like Chairy from Pee Wee's Playhouse got reincarnated as a bathroom.

Well, I wouldn't rush out and build a spec house based on what I'm saying, but I know of people who deliberately keep those old bathrooms when they get them.

[doo dah]

Originally Posted by Moby Hick

Well, I wouldn't rush out and build a spec house based on what I'm saying, but I know of people who deliberately keep those old bathrooms when they get them.

I am positive we (all) have had this conversation!
Save The Pink Bathroom

[jay5835]

Originally Posted by doo dah

I am positive we (all) have had this conversation!
Save The Pink Bathroom

I sometimes use pink and chartreuse Fiestaware together, though not in the bathroom.

[SteelCityRising]

Originally Posted by eschaton

SCR put move in ready in quotes, so I think what he really means is houses which don't need to be gutted and rehabbed to be habitable, but ones you can move into and slowly work at restoring. There are still dozens of houses like this in Pittsburgh on the market right now under $100,000, and although they aren't in true desirable areas, they all aren't in ghettos either.

^ This. I just need the house to have working electric, running water, and structural stability. I don't mind living in a "dump", for lack of a better term, for several years if I slowly improve the house little by little as funding permits. I'm not delusional. The days of PreservationPioneer being able to buy a house needing almost zero TLC in Stowe Township for $10,000 are long gone now that we're "trendy". I'm not even finding many in the sub-$50,000 category that aren't complete gut-jobs anymore, even in "crappy" areas like Carrick, Sheraden, Garfield, Hazelwood, or Allentown.