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Old 03-13-2019, 02:51 PM
 
Location: Manchester
3,109 posts, read 2,892,965 times
Reputation: 3718

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Quote:
Originally Posted by xdv8 View Post
It's a pretty big problem that the industry doesn't want to address. Someone new to the area doesn't stand a chance unless they have already picked their neighborhood or municipality.

It's just like this forum, someone comes for advice on moving and like clockwork you have people just suggesting their hood. The idea that some agent from the burbs would give me an honest answer about school districts or commute times is so phony.
It cuts both ways. As much as people just promote their neighborhood without taking into consideration the OPs wants, there are other posters on this forum who post things about neighborhoods and they don't even live in them and then refute the people that actually do.
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Old 03-13-2019, 03:04 PM
Status: "Too Much Mod" (set 20 days ago)
 
1,950 posts, read 1,108,403 times
Reputation: 725
Quote:
Originally Posted by eschaton View Post
When my wife and I were first dating, she was looking for a house because she was getting gentrified out of her apartment in South Side. The real estate agent she was referred to kept on showing her houses in the Swissvale/Swisshelm Park area, even though she made it very clear that area wasn't urban enough for her in several discussions.

Guess where the realtor was located.

Quote:
Originally Posted by xdv8 View Post
When I was looking for an agent I choose someone who knew and lived in the immediate area I was interested in. That just makes sense. Agents can't be experts on every street across a metro. If I picked a North Hills agent and gave them my specs they would likely try to get me into a place in the North Hills. You can't tell me your own bias never comes into play. But really it comes down to having a hyper-local expert helping you.

Disagree mostly and dont want to hijack someone's thread but for eschaton she had a poor agent that obviously didnt listen to her client. I hope she went with someone else. No agent can read a clients mind on what they mean by urban or walkable or anything, that is why we are not allowed to tell someone if a school is Good, too subjective and can be considered steering. That agent should have talked more to understand what is meant by urban.


For xdv8, I can tell you my own bias doesnt come into play. I can't say that about everyone but if you are truly focused on your client it wont. I dont care if someone lives in my city or across town. Any client the first thing is what is important to them, if it's specific location then great if they have other points not location specific I would go over all option including where I live if they met them. I dont think a hyper local expert really works in Pittsburgh, the areas are too small to support an agent. Would I know more about my area than someone who never comes here? Of course but every agent is different. Personally I live in North Hills, Most of our clients and much of our free time is spend around the city area, my family is all over in Crafton/Greentree or in Carnegie and we enjoy exploring on our free time.



Bottom line is if someone is a good agent they listen to their client then use their own knowledge and research for them any issues they are as familiar with. I can understand your point though, many agent treat this as sales. Some are very successful but a sale is not our goal, its a relationship since I'd rather have a good client referring to us down the road than a single sale getting me the most commission.
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Old 03-13-2019, 03:08 PM
Status: "Too Much Mod" (set 20 days ago)
 
1,950 posts, read 1,108,403 times
Reputation: 725
Quote:
Originally Posted by xdv8 View Post
It's a pretty big problem that the industry doesn't want to address. Someone new to the area doesn't stand a chance unless they have already picked their neighborhood or municipality.

It's just like this forum, someone comes for advice on moving and like clockwork you have people just suggesting their hood. The idea that some agent from the burbs would give me an honest answer about school districts or commute times is so phony.

An industry problem, maybe but like anything you can not apply it to every agent. We moved here 15 years ago and I knew Crafton that was about it, I did a lot of research on my own but in the end it was an agent who showed us a place I never heard of that met all our needs and guess what that place was 30 min away from their home location.
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Old 03-13-2019, 03:25 PM
 
Location: Pittsburgh, PA (Morningside)
14,360 posts, read 16,875,553 times
Reputation: 12390
Quote:
Originally Posted by Knepper3 View Post
Disagree mostly and dont want to hijack someone's thread but for eschaton she had a poor agent that obviously didnt listen to her client. I hope she went with someone else. No agent can read a clients mind on what they mean by urban or walkable or anything, that is why we are not allowed to tell someone if a school is Good, too subjective and can be considered steering. That agent should have talked more to understand what is meant by urban.
Her own personal search for a house stopped abruptly when her car broke down and she needed to use her planned down payment on a home to finance a new (okay, used) car. Thankfully we were getting more serious by then (I was planning on moving in with her after she bought anyway), and I just started looking for a house instead.

FWIW, the realtor we used wasn't a "city expert." He was based out of Monroeville. However he was the father of one of my coworkers/good friends, which meant that I trusted him.
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Old 03-13-2019, 03:28 PM
Status: "Too Much Mod" (set 20 days ago)
 
1,950 posts, read 1,108,403 times
Reputation: 725
Yeah personally I think that is the problem with any sales role, they want to sell themselves. City Expert, what does that even mean. I can be an expert on anything if I get to define it. People just need to worry about listening and working hard, the rest works out.
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Old 03-13-2019, 04:10 PM
 
Location: East End, Pittsburgh
969 posts, read 764,105 times
Reputation: 1044
Quote:
Originally Posted by Knepper3 View Post
Yeah personally I think that is the problem with any sales role, they want to sell themselves. City Expert, what does that even mean. I can be an expert on anything if I get to define it. People just need to worry about listening and working hard, the rest works out.
Ok but why would I pick an agent based out of the North Hills for my East End search? Especially if I was new here? This is a super easy example and it goes both ways. This thread is derailed, but hopefully OP will get something out of it when they pick an agent for their search or decide to take advice on walkability from a suburbanite.
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Old 03-13-2019, 04:12 PM
Status: "Too Much Mod" (set 20 days ago)
 
1,950 posts, read 1,108,403 times
Reputation: 725
I'm happy to debate this if you want to open a new thread but not going to clutter theirs with details not related to their questions
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Old 03-13-2019, 04:40 PM
gg
 
Location: Pittsburgh
26,137 posts, read 25,777,749 times
Reputation: 17378
Quote:
Originally Posted by amwangel View Post
[*]Regent Square seems to fit in well with our ideals, but there isn't much on the market in our price range.

Thanks!
I like this idea for your and it was first on your list. There are other areas as people mentioned, but just reading what you wrote, I would really look into Regent Square, but you want to be in the city limits, and I mean it! No Wilkinsburg as the taxes are nuts. I think Wilkinsburg is a good very long term investment because at some point I really think the city will pick it up, but that may not happen in my lifetime.

Point Breeze is possible as well in some areas. Sort of walkable depending how far you are okay walking. I walk miles and miles and don't even think about it and enjoy it, but I also know most don't want to do that.

Aspinwall might be too expensive, but the word "diverse" has one heck of a lot of meanings. Some focus on race, but if you are a "worldly" person, you don't even consider race as Americans are Americans. Most from other countries find it silly to categorize people by race. That being said, Aspinwall has O'Hara Elementary for school and there are one heck of a wide variety of kids going to that school from all over the world, not to mention from all economic classes. There are homes around $20K that are in that district as well as homes well over a million. Very diverse economically and in a world sense. I consider it one of the best.

Again, I like Regent Square for you as a first choice. If you are going to homeschool throughout I like the South Side as well and maybe the North Side. Perry Hilltop seems to get over looked and it is really cool up there, but not walkable. Down in the flat areas it can get pricy, but you might find something in Manchester or around there.

Good luck.
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Old 03-13-2019, 06:15 PM
 
Location: Pixburgh
1,214 posts, read 1,448,267 times
Reputation: 1380
Irwin
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Old 03-14-2019, 10:11 AM
 
1,577 posts, read 1,271,900 times
Reputation: 1107
Quote:
Originally Posted by xdv8 View Post
It's a pretty big problem that the industry doesn't want to address. Someone new to the area doesn't stand a chance unless they have already picked their neighborhood or municipality.

It's just like this forum, someone comes for advice on moving and like clockwork you have people just suggesting their hood. The idea that some agent from the burbs would give me an honest answer about school districts or commute times is so phony.
why wouldn't they? agents have an interest in getting you a house they want. I would honestly be more skeptical of an agent only pushing their neighborhood. this speaks more to the quality of the agent.
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