East End Ave, 100 - 600

[BrianTH]

It may well be that given Humanoid's particular preferences, his $1600 apartment in a suburb of LA is more desirable to him than his $1100 apartment in Shadyside. Since that is ultimately a matter of his personal taste, there isn't much point in arguing with him about that.

But of course since that is a matter of his personal taste, that does not have any particular relevance to juliegt, unless she happens to share Humanoid's particular preferences.

[Humanoid]

his $1600 apartment in a suburb of LA is more desirable to him than his $1100 apartment in Shadyside.

I didn't say that really, I said its bigger and more upgraded. That it is. I would suggest minus the size difference the apartments are fairly similar. My current one is more upgraded, but the actual building in Pittsburgh was nicer. Overall I think they are "comps" in apartment land. In fact we rather intentionally got something similar because we were happy with the standard of living we had in Pittsburgh (as far as housing went).

But of course since that is a matter of his personal taste

What I'm talking about has little to do with personal taste, rather trying to compare apples-to-apples the best you can. Comparing a suburb of LA to that of Pittsburgh is just not a good comparison given some suburbs of LA are bigger than the entire Pittsburgh area and just as developed (There are downtowns etc). In fact Pittsburgh isn't much of a metro area in the first place. Its really not much like LA, NYC, Boston etc. Its like an odd cross between a big city and suburb, in that regard its a bit neat.

Anyhow, my general point is that apartments in major metro areas in CA aren't double that of Pittsburgh more like 20~50% more depending on the area.

In any case, confusing "condemned" or "unliveable" with "doesn't look like the Jones's mansion" is what got us into this mortgage crisis in the first place. As a country, we really need to work on some of this house snobbery that we have as a nation.

I'm not confusing the two at all. Some of the properties in Pittsburgh should be condemned. A lot of the apartments (and houses) are very low quality builds and after 50+ years they pretty much need to come down. Many of the apartments on 5th are of this nature. The nicer apartments are either in new buildings (very few of these) or older
renovated Victorians. The apartment I had last (for $1,100) was a nice renovated Victorian that was well built with all updated wiring, plumbing etc.

Anyhow, I could care less about granite counter tops etc. We got the apartment we did in Pittsburgh because we liked the location and the features of the apartment (washer-dryer, recessed lighting, good management company etc). I never claimed that any 2-bedroom below $1,000 in Pittsburgh is complete crap, but a 2-bedroom in Pittsburgh for $800 would not compare to what I rent in CA.

[subdivisions]

Originally Posted by Humanoid

I never claimed that any 2-bedroom below $1,000 in Pittsburgh is complete crap, but a 2-bedroom in Pittsburgh for $800 would not compare to what I rent in CA.

Ok, that's probably true.

I just objected to the term "unliveable". It's a pet peeve of mine - not just about City-Data, but about America in general - this confusion that a lot of people these days seem to have about what constitutes "must haves" in a house, even starter homes or apartments.

A great example can be found in this article here about how luxury homes in Las Vegas are now considered totally outdated and unacceptable if they are more than 3 years old:

From the article:

The chandelier? Plastic. The granite surrounding the upstairs bathtub is tile, not slab. And those polished travertine tiles in the entryway may look luxurious, but at 12 inches by 12 inches, they just won't cut it today.

"Now you've gotta have at least 20 by 20 to sell something at this price," Antos explained.

The housing slump has fattened the inventory of unsold homes throughout the country, and a staggering 51% of them in Las Vegas are vacant. But there's another twist to the story here: a glut of glitzy homes.

About 1,000 houses are listed for sale in Las Vegas for $1 million or higher, more than 600 of them built since 2004. But unless they've been constructed in the last year or two, the properties are considered out-of-date, making them all that more difficult to sell, real estate agents say.

More here:
Aging process quickly hits homes in Las Vegas - Los Angeles Times (http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-vegas8apr08,0,3236506.story?track=mostviewed-storylevel - broken link)

I'm very big into restoring my older home, so I watch a lot of house porn on TV, and I see it all the time there too. 23 year old couples who are just married and just out of school taking out interest-only loans because they just can't bear to live in a house that only has 1200 square feet or doesn't have walk-in closets, clients expecting every amenity under the sun and throwing a fit when they find they can't afford it, refusing to even consider anything more than 2 years old or anything they might have to put some sweat equity into, etc etc. It's all part of our growing culture of self-entitlement, and everybody is now having to pay some of the consequences that arise from this particular social attitude (i.e., the current state of the economy). It just ticks me off.

If you are not the kind of person who is like this, then I apologize.

And thanks for reading all the way to the end of this rant.

[fleetiebelle]

Subdivisions, I'd give you a rep point, but it won't let me--I totally agree with the above post.

[BrianTH]

Humanoid,

Your personal evaluations are duly noted.

[Humanoid]

If you are not the kind of person who is like this, then I apologize.

Considering I'm renting an apartment that should indicate I'm "not the kind of person who is like this". We will continue to rent until the rent-to-buy ratio makes more sense. In fact I don't know if we'll ever buy anything, being able to pick up and move every few years is pretty awesome. Not to mention not having to worry about this and that breaking.

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by Humanoid

In fact I don't know if we'll ever buy anything, being able to pick up and move every few years is pretty awesome. Not to mention not having to worry about this and that breaking.

Indeed, renting can be an underrated option, and it is not at all uncommon for people who could afford to buy to keep renting anyway.