Home prices are wildly high around Pittsburgh and they are selling (West View: high crime, cheap home)

[gg]

Originally Posted by PGH423

Jeez, I'm thinking how does a 5 bedroom, 3 full and 2 half bath, 3000 square foot house apparently in good condition go for under $300K? Pittsburgh is remarkably affordable still.


That house has some gorgeous interior features too (wood work, fireplace mantle, stained glass).

There is still a cap on home prices in our region because of the crazy high millage rates when you plug that into that purchase price. I don' know how much the millage is in West View, but I suspect you are looking at over $18,000 a year in tax at around $600,000. Affordable?

[jea6321]

Originally Posted by Knepper3

I'm wondering what my mom's townhouse (nice little 2bed in Bellevue) will sell for when we list it after she finally gets a call about her spot at a senior center. She bought it 7 years ago at 66k and has maintained it well, she wants everything perfect for whoever gets it. It's not a big deal really, not talking big $ but last summer I'd have thought maybe $80k but now I'm thinking more like 90k. Move in ready in a nice area for under $100k is rare now though you need to be ok with 2 beds. Just hope it is in the next month or so, still think she won't have an issue selling in the fall at that price range in this market.

bellevue is finally starting to see some appreciation. The few new restaurants and brewery will continue to add a bit of draw to the area. Its got a great location and a lot of beautiful old homes that can be salvaged. Rents have begun to climb upwards as well. its not uncommon to see 1k-1200 for a 2 bed apartment now, which just a few years ago would have been extremely high. I think its a market that will do pretty good in the coming years.

[PGH423]

Originally Posted by gg

There is still a cap on home prices in our region because of the crazy high millage rates when you plug that into that purchase price. I don' know how much the millage is in West View, but I suspect you are looking at over $18,000 a year in tax at around $600,000. Affordable?

The affordable comment I made was about the previous house (note I said $300K, which is not much above the national average). There are not many nice city metro areas where a family of six can have a bedroom for each child for that price in a good house.

That West View house is obviously luxury. (Right now it's listed at $670 a month property tax but that will likely be re-assessed.)

[Knepper3]

Originally Posted by jea6321

bellevue is finally starting to see some appreciation. The few new restaurants and brewery will continue to add a bit of draw to the area. Its got a great location and a lot of beautiful old homes that can be salvaged. Rents have begun to climb upwards as well. its not uncommon to see 1k-1200 for a 2 bed apartment now, which just a few years ago would have been extremely high. I think its a market that will do pretty good in the coming years.

yeah, I'd like her to keep it and rent it but then I'd get to actually run it plus the extra income would cause issues for her. I do think Bellevue has made some positive improvements with the main street upgrades and new businesses but there are still a good number of empty. I expect it to keep doing well but the only issue is the taxes vs the SD rankings being kinda high. There is always talk of Northgate and Avonworth merging but Avonworth always kills the talk I think. Honestly it makes sense, they both share several sports teams.

[bradjl2009]

Originally Posted by jea6321

bellevue is finally starting to see some appreciation. The few new restaurants and brewery will continue to add a bit of draw to the area. Its got a great location and a lot of beautiful old homes that can be salvaged. Rents have begun to climb upwards as well. its not uncommon to see 1k-1200 for a 2 bed apartment now, which just a few years ago would have been extremely high. I think its a market that will do pretty good in the coming years.

I moved to Bellevue recently and could see this happening but hopefully nothing like what's going in the East End will happen here. The borough is definitely in that grouping of nice inner ring suburbs that offer a lot of what you would want from a city neighborhood. It does have a lot of great homes (though there are several scattered about that definitely need some TLC) and a good main street with not many vacancies at all. While it's not a commute I'd really want if I had to work in Oakland, on the flip side, I imagine it's not a bad commute at all to a job in Cranberry or Wexford for someone who'd want a more urban feel than those places could ever offer.

[Knepper3]

Yeah over to Oakland or Shadyside is a drive around rush hour time so unless you work off hours I wouldnt want to make that drive 5 days a week. Bellevue is reinvesting into itself, nice improvements by the boro and it is paying off. Plus it is/was a nice more affordable area close to the city. Still not bad prices but up a good amount from 5 years ago. I can see it spreading more into Brighton Heights, just wonder how far it will go.

[bradjl2009]

Originally Posted by Knepper3

Yeah over to Oakland or Shadyside is a drive around rush hour time so unless you work off hours I wouldnt want to make that drive 5 days a week. Bellevue is reinvesting into itself, nice improvements by the boro and it is paying off. Plus it is/was a nice more affordable area close to the city. Still not bad prices but up a good amount from 5 years ago. I can see it spreading more into Brighton Heights, just wonder how far it will go.

I could see it spreading to Brighton Heights too as the housing stock there is very similar, but I think one thing that hurts it is having much less of a walkable business district than Bellevue, though it does have a few spots. I do head over to Shadyside/Squirrel Hill here and there when it's not rush hour and the drive honestly is the same or not much longer than what I had to get to those places from Upper Lawrenceville, but rush hour would not be way worse.

[jea6321]

Originally Posted by bradjl2009

I moved to Bellevue recently and could see this happening but hopefully nothing like what's going in the East End will happen here. The borough is definitely in that grouping of nice inner ring suburbs that offer a lot of what you would want from a city neighborhood. It does have a lot of great homes (though there are several scattered about that definitely need some TLC) and a good main street with not many vacancies at all. While it's not a commute I'd really want if I had to work in Oakland, on the flip side, I imagine it's not a bad commute at all to a job in Cranberry or Wexford for someone who'd want a more urban feel than those places could ever offer.

I don't think you need to have any worries of it becoming the east end in any way shape or form. From my perspective it will continue to see a bit of investment and moderately rising prices/rents for homes. However, it was so cheap comparably that its really just catching up to where it should be. I don't think you will ever see a new construction luxury apartment building in the neighborhood.

I don't really think the commute to Oakland or shadyside is bad at all. You have easy access to 279/65 and are only a few miles from downtown. its a much better commute than from say wexford, mccandless or cranberry and plenty of people commute from those areas daily.

[jea6321]

Originally Posted by bradjl2009

I could see it spreading to Brighton Heights too as the housing stock there is very similar, but I think one thing that hurts it is having much less of a walkable business district than Bellevue, though it does have a few spots. I do head over to Shadyside/Squirrel Hill here and there when it's not rush hour and the drive honestly is the same or not much longer than what I had to get to those places from Upper Lawrenceville, but rush hour would not be way worse.

in all fairness, Brighton heights has been similar price wise as bellevue for a long time. if anything, Brighton heights had more flips and higher end rental units being rehabbed over the past few years. in the past 12 months Bellevue has only had 3 homes sell for north of 250k, where Brighton heights has had 6 sell for above 250k.

[caroline2]

Originally Posted by gg

I was just searching around and noticed homes are under agreement that I never dreamt they would ever sell for those prices. I am speechless. I have been following the market for over 30 years and never remember a time like this.

Anyone else have a look around? I don't consider Pittsburgh overly affordable. Certainly not in FC or the East End.

I truly cannot believe what is going on the market for ~$200k these days in O'Hara. Will they sell? We'll see.