The Burgh top city for Millennials (Pittsburgh, Media: buying a home, neighborhoods, buying)

[Paul2421]

Originally Posted by gladhands

The most walkable and expensive areas of Pittsburgh are cheaper than the cheap areas of those other cities, that's why Pittsburgh is a draw for millennials. That's literally the entire point.

I don't really think that was his point, but I don't disagree with what you are saying.

Pittsburgh offers an alternative to the expensive areas, though. You can live in the suburbs and be in town in 20 minutes. This is attractive to millennials as well. Not all of the transplants are google workers that can afford to live in Shadyside. Pittsburgh doesn't have the plethora of well-paying jobs that support multiple upper class areas.

Additionally, the transplants that have come to Pittsburgh so far are those that have a higher income and have been recruited by google, uber, etc. and would not have problems affording any other city. The companies are paying similar wages to high cost of living areas to attract these people so they see it as a double bonus. This is pretty well documented. The real test is when normal middle class folks decide on their own to move to Pittsburgh to live in the not so popular areas. There really isn't any proof that this is happening yet but it is the next step.

[ny789987]

Originally Posted by yinzer93

Again, how is this not downright condescending? Is no one else picking up on this?

I happen to think Pittsburgh is a major American city. Not by NYC standards of course, but it's major in its own way.

Sorry if you misunderstood. Of course Pittsburgh is a major American city that defines its region. A city like Pittsburgh is actually more preferable than a place like NYC in many ways because you can have a yard, vegetables, chicken, and deer walking through your yard in close proximity to urban amenities. Much better balance of country and city. I guess I will now have to apologize for being condescending to NYC. My point was that the city/suburb debate seems odd from someone coming from a bigger city. In NYC, life really is drastically different between city and suburbs. Here, not so much. If I worked in Manhattan, in order to get to the suburbs, I would need to hop on a train and sit for close to an hour. Here, you just pop through a tunnel and drive 5 minutes and you will officially be in a suburb.

[yinzer93]

Originally Posted by ny789987

Sorry if you misunderstood. Of course Pittsburgh is a major American city that defines its region. A city like Pittsburgh is actually more preferable than a place like NYC in many ways because you can have a yard, vegetables, chicken, and deer walking through your yard in close proximity to urban amenities. Much better balance of country and city. I guess I will now have to apologize for being condescending to NYC. My point was that the city/suburb debate seems odd from someone coming from a bigger city. In NYC, life really is drastically different between city and suburbs. Here, not so much. If I worked in Manhattan, in order to get to the suburbs, I would need to hop on a train and sit for close to an hour. Here, you just pop through a tunnel and drive 5 minutes and you will officially be in a suburb.

Thank you for clarifying things! I think I understand your points a bit better now. Especially the part I have bolded, I think this definitely makes sense!

[gladhands]

Originally Posted by Paul2421

Pittsburgh offers an alternative to the expensive areas, though. You can live in the suburbs and be in town in 20 minutes. This is attractive to millennials as well. Not all of the transplants are google workers that can afford to live in Shadyside. Pittsburgh doesn't have the plethora of well-paying jobs that support multiple upper class areas.

Young people can live in prime locations for under $1000/mo. That is OUTRAGEOUSLY cheap in this day and age. This is a $1000 TWO BEDROOM, with HEAT INCLUDED.

https://pittsburgh.craigslist.org/apa/5717299202.html

These are very much middle-class price ranges.

[Blackbeauty212]

Originally Posted by gladhands

Young people can live in prime locations for under $1000/mo. That is OUTRAGEOUSLY cheap in this day and age. This is a $1000 TWO BEDROOM, with HEAT INCLUDED.

https://pittsburgh.craigslist.org/apa/5717299202.html

These are very much middle-class price ranges.

To coasters yes this is very cheap, almost too good to be true type cheap. To a native Pittsburgher, never being outside the walls of Allegheny County, paying 1k$ a month should be luxury living in their minds. I know that sounds preposterous, this is what I'm talking about when I say Pittsburgh is currently deep in a Culture War with itself.

[Paul2421]

Originally Posted by gladhands

Young people can live in prime locations for under $1000/mo. That is OUTRAGEOUSLY cheap in this day and age. This is a $1000 TWO BEDROOM, with HEAT INCLUDED.

https://pittsburgh.craigslist.org/apa/5717299202.html

These are very much middle-class price ranges.

does it ever occur to you in any of your posts that there are subtleties and degrees to most issues? anyone can cherry pick facts and point out obscure cases to prove their point.

that is a student apartment in a student dominant area. housing in that area is magnitudes above that price.

[Goodjules]

Originally Posted by Blackbeauty212

To coasters yes this is very cheap, almost too good to be true type cheap. To a native Pittsburgher, never being outside the walls of Allegheny County, paying 1k$ a month should be luxury living in their minds. I know that sounds preposterous, this is what I'm talking about when I say Pittsburgh is currently deep in a Culture War with itself.

Exactly. As a recently transplanted San Franciscan, I felt like the proverbial kid in a candy store while I was house hunting. My friends and family back home couldn't wrap their heads around prices here. They were convinced I was moving to a dilapidated house in a terrible neighborhood because houses in bad neighborhoods in the SF Bay Area are at least five times what I paid for my house here. It wasn't until I posted pictures and had West Coast visitors that they began to understand why I was so excited about buying a home here. Around the same time a lot of articles on Pittsburgh's resurrgence began to appear nationwide and my friends would tell me they had been hearing good things about the city.

[Goodjules]

Originally Posted by Paul2421

does it ever occur to you in any of your posts that there are subtleties and degrees to most issues? anyone can cherry pick facts and point out obscure cases to prove their point.

that is a student apartment in a student dominant area. housing in that area is magnitudes above that price.

I think the example is the opposite of cherry picking. It's fairly representative of what your money can get you in the area. Obviously there are more expensive and cheaper options out there, but $1000 will get you a decent place to rent in most parts of Pittsburgh. In some of the trendier areas it may only get you a studio apartment however.

[Blackbeauty212]

Originally Posted by Goodjules

Exactly. As a recently transplanted San Franciscan, I felt like the proverbial kid in a candy store while I was house hunting. My friends and family back home couldn't wrap their heads around prices here. They were convinced I was moving to a dilapidated house in a terrible neighborhood because houses in bad neighborhoods in the SF Bay Area are at least five times what I paid for my house here. It wasn't until I posted pictures and had West Coast visitors that they began to understand why I was so excited about buying a home here. Around the same time a lot of articles on Pittsburgh's resurrgence began to appear nationwide and my friends would tell me they had been hearing good things about the city.

And its those people that are in fact coming to Pittsburgh ... Millennials from the High COL cities and Coasts. They're not coming from Midwest or South.

[Katarina Witt]

Originally Posted by lprmesia

Probably pretty good. I was happy when I bought my house. Being in the city affords the opportunity to be close to many great private schools, and all the savings I have from not having a $2,000/mo mortgage living in some burb with highly rated schools is pretty awesome too. Plus if I decide to move, I don't need to sell - I can rent out my house pretty easily. Plus, those ratings are typically based on the testing abilities of the average student enrolled, not necessary the teaching ability of that school. My city schools experience was far more valuable than my suburban school experience, but either way that was all several decades ago.

...and if I stay here, my kids would have plenty of educational and work opportunities. Think of all the savings of not having to pay room and board or having to buy a car for my kids if they go to school here. I've said this in previous posts, but a lot (potentially even the majority) of my twenties-something friends from the suburbs moved to the city because there are far more job opportunities for people in their demographic. They can save money because they don't need a car to get around. All of the entertainment they want is right outside their door. The suburbs have Buffalo Wild Wings to offer. Super exciting. A lot of the younger demo isn't interested in that sort of stale lifestyle.

This notion that the best thing to do for your kids is to raise them in the burbs until the point where you have to buy them a car so they can get to work at Sheetz for a few years in high school before they ship off to an out of state school on your dime to then work at some corporate office in a sunbelt suburb while you're left with an obnoxiously big house is incredibly outdated. It might work for some people, but not everyone sees the value of saving a few dollars a year on taxes for a $2000/mo mortgage payment when you can get a decent house in a decent neighborhood in the city for half of that.

Why not the public schools? Well, we know why, but therein lies the problem for many people trying to combine city life, in any city, and family life.

Your kids will probably not want to live "at home" and go to college. There tends to be a huge desire to get away, plus, it's really good for them to get another perspective.

I don't think too many people have that "notion".

Originally Posted by WhoIsStanwix?

There are lots of us buying in the city and with firm plans to stay here. There are a lot more young families in Lawrenceville than I expected, and seems like there are more everyday.

I agree with the "we'll see" part, though. It will be interesting to see who sticks around to keep the community and schools improving vs who flees to an established community with schools that already meet their needs. My philosophy is "be the change that you wish to see in the world." It won't ever get better if people wait for others to make it up to their standards.

Plans. But evidence that it is actually happening? School enrollment increasing? As for your last sentence, few people will sacrifice their kids' educations to try to improve the public schools. I wouldn't have. lprmesia won't. Most people won't.

Originally Posted by Blackbeauty212

Well here's some more "Spin" for you .... All Lies, I Guess. I will agree the Burgh needs more infrastructure if its to sustain this growth. We still move too slow with change for my liking, but we are progressing (I know, its a dirty word to certain segment)

Here's another one for you. Here are the cities with the actual greatest numbers of millennials already living there.
http://www.bizjournals.com/denver/bl...ties-with.html