The Rent's Just Too Damn High! (Pittsburgh, Liberty: renter, homeowners insurance, refinance)

[Der Schwabe]

Seems folks also spend a lot of time focusing on the OMG east end/getting priced out of it but the flip side is the improvement that surrounding areas will see (that is much needed!!). Home ownership is expensive and young people who have the energy and means, in whatever balance, should be a much needed injection in many of these city neighborhoods outside of the hot hot hot zone.

[Caladium]

Originally Posted by SteelCityRising

Perhaps I'm just psychotic.

What you are is unrealistic. Also, you seem to think that whining on an internet site somehow makes you more caring than others. That doesn't make you psychotic, but it does make you ineffectual. Complaining on the internet doesn't actually accomplish anything. To me, a person who cares is a person who stops complaining and goes out and actually does something about it.

If you really want to show that you care, go out and buy that house that you've been talking about for as long as I've known you. We have a thread showing all sorts of properties in Pittsburgh for $50K or less. You want to show your compassion for the "poor renters in Millvale who will be pushed out"? Buy a place in Millvale, rent out some of the rooms for really inexpensive rents, and then you can personally be part of the solution. Want an even loftier project? Start a partnership with a few of your friends for the sole purpose of buying, running, and living in a low rent apartment building. It's a big project but I know people who have done things like that. You've been saying you want to get involved in politics--a project like that is something you could do that would springboard your political career.

Or, you could just complain on the internet and tell yourself that nobody has as much compassion as you do. But you'll be the only one who believes it.

[Blackbeauty212]

Originally Posted by Goodjules

I would add low wages to the list. In many fields wages have not kept up with COL. I think this is true nationwide, with the exception of some very marketable careers. There simply aren't nearly as many good blue collar jobs as there once were in the US. Many lower level white collar fields have stagnated as well.

This and the fact that a lot of our jobs are being replaced by Machines.

[Hopes]

Originally Posted by SteelCityRising

I don't know more details about my partner's finances, but my own current bills are here:

-$230/month for Student Loans
-$435/month for Car Payment (Didn't have stellar credit when I signed the dotted line)
-$145/month for Auto/Renter's Insurance
~$250/month for 1/2 Landline Phone, Cable, Internet, Gas, Electric, Water/Sewer
~$300/month for Gasoline (for work)
-$350/month for 1/2 Rent
-----------------------------------
~$1,700/month + (Groceries, Clothing, Entertainment, Cell Phone, Car Maintenance, etc.)

>$2,000/month in expenditures.

I tend to net just under $3,000/month. My partner nets under $2,000/month. I could probably afford to increase my 1/2 rent by $200/month without breaking the bank while still permitting me to save a bit each month towards my down payment; however, my partner/roommate makes less than I do, has more student debt than I do, and can't afford much higher rent, and I'm not willing to pay >50% of our rent/utility obligation, which means we're capped out at about $800/month in rent, plus utilities, for a 1-BR. Toss in how few landlords will rent to a pet owner, and we're feeling the pinch with how rapidly rents have risen just over the past several years here.

$3,000/month in take-home pay is probably what many, many local Pittsburghers earn, but when you factor in student-related debt, vehicle-related debt (including maintenance, gas, and depreciation), our expensive local utilities, expensive groceries, etc. it really dwindles. This is why I was so angry about the pothole damage back in January. An unexpected ~$700 repair bill took a huge chunk out of my savings towards my first home.

Combined you have a net income of $5,000. First step is to stop viewing finances as roommates. You're a couple.

[SteelCityRising]

I think I've just been brainwashed with all of this "Rage Against the 1%" talk over the rapidly-growing gap between the wealthy and the poor (and how much more difficult it is to be "middle-class") on a macroeconomic scale that it's trickled down into my local viewpoints as well.

The median household income and median rent has been rising more rapidly in my neighborhood than in all of Pittsburgh as a whole, which also skews my opinions a bit. When I first moved here in 2010 I didn't think to myself "Look at all of the potential here. I should cash in!" I thought to myself "A quiet walkable neighborhood with great architecture, working-class neighbors, and nice views that's within my budget? Sign me up!"

Truth be told I don't know if we'd miss the East End. We don't patronize Whole Foods or Trader Joe's. We don't eat at the trendier restaurants. We don't go to the museums or the library. My only concern is how bad my commute to Squirrel Hill would be if I did plunk myself down in Esplen, Beechview, etc.

[Hopes]

For a family of 2, a $5,000/month net income puts your household in the top 25% of the country.

[ElijahAstin]

Originally Posted by SteelCityRising

So if I move into Carrick and pay $800/month for my 1-BR apartment, pricing out your next-door neighbor who can't afford that much, then you're okay with that?

What I'm saying is that the buck has to stop somewhere. I'm NOT considering places like Homewood or Larimer, for example, to be "habitable" due to the fact that neighbors there hear so many gunshots on a daily basis they don't even call the police anymore, as was just reported when police found yet another homicide victim the other day.

There are a ton of younger people moving into this city nowadays. Not everyone is making enough to comfortably afford the new units being brought to the marketplace, most of which are well over $1,000/month for a studio (looking at you, Summerset at Frick Park; Lot 24; Bakery Square 2.0; Cork Factory Lofts; Locomotive Lofts; Doughboy Square; Walnut on Highland; etc.). Many will move to fringe neighborhoods, of course, which I'm not going to argue with. My concern is what will happen to those in the current fringe neighborhoods who get priced out? Why does nobody seem to care about them?

I'm glad that Polish Hill is being revitalized. It seems like there's a house being renovated on every block right now. I'd rather them be refurbished than collapse. With that being said just as how many people priced out of Lawrenceville are moving to Shaler Township, Etna, Troy Hill, and Millvale, many being priced out of Polish Hill will also need somewhere to move. If we also move to those same places just across the river as the Lawrenceville economic refugees, then we'll effectively drive up demand enough to price out existing residents. I don't want that to happen.

Perhaps I'm just psychotic. I don't know. All I know is that while we'll never personally be priced out of this city due to our middle-class dual incomes, I know people who will. I grew up lower-middle-class and was friends with everyone---poor and rich alike. Now I'm also friends here in Pittsburgh with single mothers and attorneys alike. How can so many of you not care about the latter eventually pricing out the former?

You're not psychotic, but you are endlessly harping about a problem that (a) has yet to truly come to fruition, and (b) if (probably when, to at least some extent) displacement of working/lower middle class families occurs on a more significant scale due to the free market, there isn't much that can be done about it.

I also don't have apocalyptic visions of Pittsburgh becoming the kind of place where the median SFH in a place like, say, Lawrenceville, will balloon to the higher sixes. When I say "there's room to grow," I don't mean that no displacement occur, but rather, there's enough "improvable" space to go around that a Bay Area/DC/NYC style exodus of the poor and working class will almost certainly never occur.

I'll re-echo my stock urban revitalization mantra that some neighborhoods get better and some neighborhoods get worse. Gentrification has its pros and cons, and it's certainly not to be confused with a cure for poverty. But above all else, no one has the inherent right to lay claim to any neighborhood, whether it be whites in a Cranberry cul de sac or African Americans off a Garfield side street. I probably won't be doing any "urban pioneering" in my lifetime, as my tastes tend to orient me toward fully-established neighborhoods. However, if I ever were to move to a gentrifying area, I'd simply try to work with my neighbors, rather than "against" them, and try to make the area suitable for all. That's all anyone can really do (besides implementing rent control policies, which even most leftie economists abhor). The free market is bigger than us, and expecting a landlord to charge a below-market rate "out of the goodness of his heart" is as unrealistic as it is hypocritical.

[BarqCider]

if you deliver food, live in a city full of potholes, wear out your car.. why not buy a junker every 1-2 years for 1500-2000? save yourself 400/mo and slow down, don't speed the hell out of everywhere. This is Pittsburgh, where food service is slow so don't try to hussle for an extra buck when you'll spend another 10 on repairs and gas.

5k a month combined? damn.. that's probably more than most couples I know who work in the food industry combined, yet they are happy and living in the east end. buying a house in it? they realize probably not, but they are fine with moving outside and working in the city.

SCR I like your posts when they aren't filled with the angst and dislike of the city you say you love. I love the city but ive come to conclude it is not meant for me as a single person. I've had to deal with very subtle racism during my time here( yes, even in the mighty diverse east end). I compare daily the politics and life in the city to the suburbs of nova all the time, but I don't go off on how much I could never buy a house there, when the avg single family is around 400k and more and more houses are going for 1.2 million and up.

cheer up, don't let life stress you because you'll live a grumpy stressed life and let the small but important things pass you by without you realizing it.

[PghYinzer]

Originally Posted by SteelCityRising

I think I've just been brainwashed with all of this "Rage Against the 1%" talk over the rapidly-growing gap between the wealthy and the poor (and how much more difficult it is to be "middle-class") on a macroeconomic scale that it's trickled down into my local viewpoints as well.

The median household income and median rent has been rising more rapidly in my neighborhood than in all of Pittsburgh as a whole, which also skews my opinions a bit. When I first moved here in 2010 I didn't think to myself "Look at all of the potential here. I should cash in!" I thought to myself "A quiet walkable neighborhood with great architecture, working-class neighbors, and nice views that's within my budget? Sign me up!"

Truth be told I don't know if we'd miss the East End. We don't patronize Whole Foods or Trader Joe's. We don't eat at the trendier restaurants. We don't go to the museums or the library. My only concern is how bad my commute to Squirrel Hill would be if I did plunk myself down in Esplen, Beechview, etc.

What time do you typically go to work?

Even in the worst traffic I can be in Squirrel Hill in 20 mins from Brookline.

You can either sit in the traffic to go inbound in the Liberty Tubes which isnt really that bad at all, or cut over the Mount via Beltzhoover thru Knoxville to the last little bit of Brownsviille in Mt. Oliver, and down 18th to Josephine and ride that all the way down to 26th Street, then across Hot Metal and you are either Bates or Greenfield Ave away from Squirrel Hill.

[Aqua Teen Carl]

Originally Posted by PghYinzer

Even in the worst traffic I can be in Squirrel Hill in 20 mins from Brookline.

No offense, but I think this is the typical Pittsburgher underestimation of travel time. If you time it you will find that the actual travel time is around 45 minutes in rush hour traffic. I have done that commute before during rush hour and getting from Brookline to Squirrel Hill in 20 is quite frankly not possible, even going down side streets.