Submitted by hambone012 t3_10crngk in pittsburgh
A bit of a story but awhile back my niece moved back to Pittsburgh and was looking in that area but decided to move for a school district. It sparked my curiosity and I look on that realtor app at houses. Why do you think the north side like Marshall shadeland, perry hilltop, Brighton heights and that area have such a high amount of houses with so many days on the market. I thought the north side recently has been a desirable place to live.
School quality is probably is probably the bigger factor in Brighton heights than crime or blight. Perry has a much worse crime and blight problem. It’s interesting how much crime can change block to block. Point breeze is a wealthy neighborhood but borders Homewood and the infamous killing fields
Edit: source https://crimegrade.org/safest-places-in-pittsburgh-pa-metro/
"Killing Fields" ???
I enjoy watching the market and I’ve noticed a few trends among the houses that sit on the market for a long time.
Much of the time they’re overpriced. Usually it’s a flip that someone is asking the moon for (many of these have been lingering since the summer when you could feasibly get that kind of money- right now you sure as hell can’t).
Other times it’s a house that’s otherwise nice and theoretically is worth the money, but has other things making it less desirable. For example this one is on a street with tons of traffic and people frequently flying past at 40+ (25 zone), plus the next door neighbors have a pair of beagles that are outside much of the day and are the loudest damn dogs I’ve ever heard (I can hear them half a mile away): https://redf.in/B5u4QF
Most of the rest are just crappy. They’re in that state where they need more work than most buyers are willing to put in but the asking price is too high for the flippers, and often on a rough looking street.
The falling-apart houses sitting on half-abandoned streets and selling for a 5-figure sum? Nobody has any trouble moving those. Even if the area sucks the house flippers are still interested.
A nice house at the right price still sells very fast here. Examples:
Good breakdown. I bought my first house this past summer. I looked at houses in several of the aforementioned “North Side” neighborhoods. I ran into a lot of houses in that middle ground – needs a new roof, signs of recent water in the basement, floors or carpets wrecked by pets, really old furnace or other appliances, etc. – but it’s priced like it’s completely move-in ready. The traditional (non-flipper) sellers see the going rates and can’t understand why they’ve overpriced by 10-20%. I had bids rejected on a couple homes even though they didn’t sell anytime soon after my bid. If I have to spend $20k+ before I can even move in then I’m going to bid accordingly. Eventually got something that fit me really well.
Interesting break down. The last time I bought a house I bet most of redditors didn’t exist. I always thought Brighton heights was a desirable neighborhood for the north side. Interesting from someone who lives there.
90% of BH is desirable. Most of the houses sell fast and everyone I interact with likes it here. There’s a very nice neighborhood community.
The mentioned busy street is being redone this spring to slow down the speeders- planters, Chicanes, Traffic circle. Value add to the current/ future homeowners on the street.
Can’t happen soon enough.
You got a source on that? I’d love to see the plans.
The beagles will eventually die, but you'll never get rid of the McKees rocks bridge. Location, location, location!
Even that nice one is on a corner. Unless they get a new fence half the neighborhood will either cut across their lawn or let their dogs shit and piss all over it.
Schools aren’t great, houses are old and likely need a ton of work, depends on the specific neighborhood but not particularly “walkable”.
Most of the area is actually very walkable. The problem is in a lot of places (Perry North for example) there’s hardly anything to walk to.
Pittsburghers and especially those from the Northside will tell people looking to move that you have to check out the neighborhood block by block, meaning within a span of a couple blocks you can go from abandoned houses to beautifully restored Victorians. But the problem is a lot of the people looking to make a buck (mostly house flippers) don’t take any of that into account. Their data tells them that a remodeled 3br/2ba in 15212 is worth on average $250k and that’s what they stick to even in a place like Perry North. In an area like that, drop the price to $175k and you’ll have an offer within days, even in a rough looking area. But they don’t do their market research like people familiar with the area because they aren’t.
Part of being “walkable” is the ability to get to some places with only walking. If there are no amenities to actually walk to, then it’s not really a walkable area.
And the neighboring houses probably need a ton of work as well. So you put money into your place and don’t get any added clue because the surrounding houses drag down the value of yours.
I lived on the north side in a nice house with very nice houses on my street as well but the crime, homeless ppl, and amount of ppl you see shooting up or super high like twitching and acting very abnormal is insane. I never felt safe.
This is not a buyers market. Many home prices are heavily inflated - im talking 30, 40, 50%.
Many homes are also flips that could be described as a pig wearing lipstick - just a quick inspection would reveal many problems.
Houses are still priced like mortgages are still 3%. If the flipper used cash and not a loan they can probably afford to sit on the house because it has a low property tax valuation until they sell it. To them that better than taking 30% off the ask.
65 and 279 both kinda fucked the north side over. Beaver Ave in Chateau used to be a bustling commercial street not too dissimilar from Carson St. The area needs a lot of TLC and highway overhaul in order to make it pedestrian friendly again. I'm not sure California Ave can be a viable business strip without that and serious zoning changes.
Lol fuck all that pedestrian shit. Never going to happen.
You may be mistaking the north hills suburbia with the north side.
Some north side neighborhoods suffer from high crime rates, a lot of dilapidated buildings, etc.
North side has seen huge leaps forward, just not in those areas.
https://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/1500-Termon-Ave_Pittsburgh_PA_15212_M35391-01663
Like this house seems very nice inside and out but has been rotting on the market.
Or this one. I just don’t understand
https://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/1825-Kleber-St_Pittsburgh_PA_15212_M38727-48936
1500 Termon is on a street where the speed limit is 25 and drivers regularly do 40-50. I once had to pick some stuff up from a neighbor on that street and backing out of their driveway was one of the most terrifying driving maneuvers I’ve ever had to do in my life. It’s like backing out into McKnight Rd. Also the next door neighbors have the loudest dogs I’ve ever heard in my life and let them outside most of the day when the weather is nice.
1825 Kleber has been off-and-on the market since early 2020 when we bought our house. It was full of outdated finishes and carpet from the 1970s that was probably harboring its own ecosystem. They eventually pulled it off the market and spent over a year doing minor cosmetic improvements, basically putting lipstick on a pig, and then relisted it asking probably $50k more than it was worth (at the time; prices have since fallen). As a matter of fact the house next door, of similar size, sold for $15k more last summer in a matter of days. Because it’s actually worth it.
The reason these houses are still sitting is because they’re asking way too much money for what they are.
They are overpriced
Really? How much do you think they are worth?
They are only worth what someone is willing to pay. It’s especially tricky bc they are priced as some of the most expensive in the neighborhood. If I had to guess 300-320 and 260-280. you could get something smaller near the trolly line in bethel or mt Lebanon for those prices with top tier schools.
I don’t think this phenomenon is unique to the north side. I’ve seen plenty of houses in bethel park and mt lebanon sit on the market when they are over priced and the seller is too stubborn to lower the price. the market isn’t crashing like 2008 but the first to suffer over high interest rates are going to be the sellers trying to get a rich price.
Knock a hundred grand off each
No way in 2023 those are 200k houses. The housing market isn’t going to come tumbling down like 08. We may see some houses come down in price but unless people start foreclosing en mass it is what it is.
It sure is what it is...
Here are some houses in my Lebanon and bethel park that have been on the market a long time. I think you can find houses sitting in any neighborhood that are overpriced.
213 days
454 Royce Ave, Pittsburgh, PA 15216
116 days
220 Broadmoor Ave, Pittsburgh, PA 15228
92 days
38 Terraceview Ave, Pittsburgh, PA 15243
89 days
1014 Logan Rd, Bethel Park, PA 15102
I really like the first one!
Probably because the one on kleber started at 365 and had no yard but a pool, which is a huge liability. The people lived there for like 40 years I bet it needs electrical, plumbing, sewage, or some combination replaced and that's gonna be tens of thousands of dollars on top of paying almost 400k and being on yet another street that is an approach to the McKees rocks bridge.
Both are relatively close and downwind from the sewage treatment plant there under the McKees Rocks bridge, maybe
It’s not as much of an issue as people think. I’ve never smelled anything. Now when an animal died in some abandon house’s yard, that was unbearable.
You can get houses up the road in shaler where the schools are nicer and it’s safer for the same price. Those are nice homes and would have sold fast 18 months ago, but not now
Yeah the only nice thing the city got is the taxes are a fraction
They’re less but you get terrible education and higher crime.
Property taxes are lower in the city but income tax is higher
Pittsburgh
DeleteSystem33 t1_j4hdbz7 wrote
There's a lot of reasons but #1 is probably crime, followed by blight. "The North Side" is over a dozen neighborhoods. Perry South, Marshall-Shadeland, and a few others are not the 'desirable' ones.
When people talk about how much they love the North Side, how great it is, etc., they mostly mean the Mexican War Streets.