Calling everyone who knows about Oil city, PA (Pittsburgh, Franklin: homes, purchasing)

[hikingotter]

Congrads on the second house. Narrow dead end street, water view, can't beat it. The houses I am looking at are more $., on the South side. One is on Orange street, the other is a brick on 1st street. 69K and 79K asking prices.
I look every day to see what comes up. I can't decide if I would rather have
something on more property outside that area, or buy pick on up for 60K and
buy a piece of property to play on. I found 6 areas with a nice creek for 20K.
We will see.
You do live in Oil City? How do you like it? Otter

[JAG_HRD]

Interesting. My wife and I are exploring Franklin/Oil City area for retirement. Her brother is retiring there next year and there is some other family in the Cranberry area.

We see many great deals. Would like to buy some land and build like brother-in-law is doing (has three acres on the Allegheny) but cold feet about drilling well, getting power, fuel, etc.

[PA-native71]

That part of PA is a great place to live and there is more businesses coming in and looking constantly but hopefully it will happen slowly and over time, drugs rampant that is a big joke until you have some guy walk up to your car at a stop light to sell you crack in broad day light the biggest worry there is pot and underage drinking and that is just about every small town in western PA ,always has been just getting a lil tougher to do today,when I was going thru there in March taking my son to PITT in Titusville I couldn't believe the change that has happened and for the best hell that area used to be alot worse just about 10 years ago and this after the oil companies all left ,now it is getting alot cleaner and saw they had torn down a couple buildings that were blights when I was a kid and that they got a Sheetz at the old quaker state and lube station which was a shock to the system.
My uncle used to tell me that main street Oil city used to be covered with hookers all over the place on pay day when oil refineries ran .
Crime rate in that area is real low and I would feel safer living there than I ever did in Reading ,and one block down from my old apartment in Reading 3 people have been shot in the same place in the last couple of years.
If you don't believe me go to Reading to visit and see and take a nice drive along cherry street and neighboring streets after 10 to see how many drug dealers and hookers approach your car then tell me if Oil City have a crime rate.

[hikingotter]

Hi, Happy to see replies here. :JAG - I don't blame you about being nervous
about building. I played with that idea just because you could pick your spot
and build to suit your taste, however the cost of supplies and contractors
has gone through the roof, so since I only have so much buying power, I can't go that route.
PA Native: Interesting perspective, great to hear posts from people who know the area. I can't wait to go check it out again, going in July when I take my
son to Pitt.
One thing I will want to know is the cost of the city water/sewer/trash.
The little PA town I live in just got it installed and listen to these bills:
Water-$440 a yr, trash-$240 a yr, sewer -$1200!!!a yr. All separate bills.
I heard Oil City is cheaper than that but I need to know.
On a happier note I want to check out the hiking, I imagine there are some nice
trails.

[JAG_HRD]

hikingotter- I know in the Franklin area there is a rails to trails program converting old railroad track to bike/hiking paths. That means in most cases fairly flat as RR don't like grades too well. There is always Cooks Forest.

I think we have finally realized that we are unlikely to have enough equity in our CA house to both build from scratch and put away a chunk for retirement. It would be nice to build the dream house but reality says otherwise.

We MIGHT take a trip back there for First Night in Oil City. Our friend is the musical director for the event and we get to stay on his farm.

[hershey14]

No, the bills are not nearly that high in Oil City - I think that the total price for all 3 is probably about $400-$800 a year depending entirely upon the water. Oil City is nice - especially in the summer when everything is green, though I can't wait to go back and visit the house in the fall. I'm back to North Dakota at the moment.

[hikingotter]

Even if it is 800 a yr for those services that's acceptable. I just got back from
oil city, spent Sat. night there. Didn't have a lot of time but eye balled a few
properties. I forgot how steep the roads are! They rival San Fransisco!
There were 2 bands in the parks playing, the nx day was a box car derby for the
kids, and then on my way out the little market in the square in Franklin.
Nice small town happenings.
I have to go out again in August so I plan to make appointments to view some
of the houses I have my eye on.
How the heck do you get to work in the winter with those steep roads? lol
Is a 4 wheel drive a must? Otter

[mystree]

In the winter they are on those roads like nobodies business.They are really good at keeping them cleared.

[dstrong2000]

Free houses available to homeowners who want to renovate houses and live in Oil City.
I am a art district developer and have looked at the 50+ houses available, I am not sure there is demand or market of people wanting to move there, even if the homes are free.
The city (town) of 15k residents has more housing than people. It has a ton of old housing stock, no new houses no trailers, buetiful old houses that need work. And that is the catch, the houses all need work, property values are low, and property taxes are increadiably high. The area is nice, remote, low crime, safe, there are many good youtube clips of the area.
But for $10k-$40k you can have a renovated house in an art district.
I have pictures of 20 of the houses, the local bank will lend up to 100% on the renovated value of the house. Or Look on Realtor.com there are houses listed for as low as $5k.
www.Artsoilcity.com

Other cities I have spoke to also have some free houses for working artists include Covington, KY and Padducah, kY
Good luck
www.brokenforkdesign.com
If anyone is interested in the area, or in buying a free house let me know, I think we will be going up in the spring to remodal a few creative houses in the art district.

[sr1234]

I wonder about this Oil City relocation project. I am interested myself in relocating to the area. The one negative is that I have seen great areas destroyed by the influx of city people that also find the country a great place to live. The city people seem to enjoy it for a short time and then become bored and want their old big city amenities. Pretty soon the nice town is turned into just another suburban sprawl. Is Venango county doing anything to fix their zoning regulations before the growth hits or is Venango county just destined to be another big box retailer area?