East Liberty, Garfield??? Good for fixers?

[Lost_In_Translation]

Originally Posted by Hal Roach

One reason I like smaller homes...easier to do it right. Unfortunately, real estate is filled with compromises. I would also be concerned about over improving for certain neighborhoods....great chefs fail all the time, when they open restaurants. I have seen way too many broken builders. Cash management is so critical on big projects. A doctor was looking at my condo and asked if I was an engineer. He noticed everything was in order and running smoothly. No, business graduate. But I live in the tropics and have a large louvered window that is thirty years old....I could spend 1600 USD and get an imported German dual pane replacement.....If it cut my energy bill by 33%, (more like 3%), it would take 14 years for me to get my money back. The big money comes with the bulldozer, not someone with 3% down looking for granite countertops. Someone is paying 200,000,000 for the Australian Embassy in Bangkok built in 1979, on 3 acres....would be worth more without the building on it. Same with the British Embassy on 9 acres....500,000,0000. Location, etc., etc.... it's true, but yeah, I don't want to start a house fire, and also consider what the national builders get away with...PEX plumbing? 2x4s in the attic? 15/32 wherever they can? But they can show you an appraisal before it is constructed.

BTW, the house in the above picture sold for 1.6 million in 2015 and now Zillow says 1.85.

Right, not start a house fire...it's not terribly hard to meet building codes so just do it. You aren't going to make big money either way, but flippers think they will get rich by turning their mistake of buying a falling down shack someone else's mistake by selling it to them and hiding its crumbling foundation. Nobody cares what windows you buy here, but cities being renovated are full of shady flippers hurting unsuspecting buyers.

[SteelCityRising]

Originally Posted by Hal Roach

But downpayment is the biggest predictor of foreclosure. You work for the Federal Government (or did), must be making 50K...and after 7 years you can't save up enough to buy a house in one of the cheapest markets in the world? Yet, you will gladly report on the number of same sex couples holding hands? I seriously doubt you are the voice of Pittsburgh. 1%? Are you serious? Just how many Michael Moore movies have you watched?

Here is a good one...used to live in an apartment next door. 1910 built, 4500 sf lot, they dug out the crawl space and now it is 3200 SF of living area, doubling the living space. A car jacking in front of the house, two Dollar crack rocks down the street (that was 20 years ago), car break ins galore, and pretty bad K-12. Any educated guesses?

I don't work for the Federal government. I work for the city government and make a salary of <$30,000/year. There you go with the assumptions again, though.

Never said I was "the voice of Pittsburgh". I just tired of arguing with the condescending likes of you daily in Northern Virginia and don't want to have to move from here, too, if people like you start to overrun this place with your pushy attitudes.

Also, if one can already afford $1,000/month in rent, then why couldn't one afford LESS than that to OWN? Renting is expensive in Pittsburgh. Owning is not.

[aw_now_what]

Originally Posted by AaronPGH

If you are coming to flip a house, stay out of Garfield. The neighborhood does not need to be eaten alive by flippers.

Unfortunately, it's already started.

[gg]

Originally Posted by Hal Roach

If you think it is better to have poorly maintained units with cheap rent, you are part of the problem, not the solution. If people that got almost no money down mortgages weren't such worthless pigs, you wouldn't have such a large inventory of REO. I suppose that Bernie Sanders is going to put in new copper plumbing, get rid of the energy wasting fixtures, and remove the asbestos?

Agreed. It amazes me how people think those that rehab the horrific homes are somehow bad. Laughable really. People that fix things up are GOOD period. Homes need to be maintained, not torn down. You want areas to end up like the Hill with the empty lots? You want green space, move to the far out suburbs. The city needs good housing and people that fix these homes up are more then needed.

[Hal Roach]

Originally Posted by SteelCityRising

I don't work for the Federal government. I work for the city government and make a salary of <$30,000/year. There you go with the assumptions again, though.

Never said I was "the voice of Pittsburgh". I just tired of arguing with the condescending likes of you daily in Northern Virginia and don't want to have to move from here, too, if people like you start to overrun this place with your pushy attitudes.

Also, if one can already afford $1,000/month in rent, then why couldn't one afford LESS than that to OWN? Renting is expensive in Pittsburgh. Owning is not.

If you had simply attended a State University, would you still be in debt? Maybe you could offer some guidance to those selecting a college. Getting in on the property ladder is the way to go. You gotta start some where, just like you did in your job. I have bought nine homes, and have laid cash for the last six. Very few people are able to buy their dream home at their first at bat. Even more failures in those, who think they can build their own...or those who simply went forty per end over budget and are in court for years. Rent at 40%+ of your gross income? In Pittsburgh? Too much. You will never get ahead. I can see why the apartment REITs are gold mines, and paying great dividends.