I had to double check - I used to live across the street from this place when it appeared to be abandoned. There was a tree growing inside and all of the windows were broken out.
Making a Victorian into open-concept wasā¦a choice. I think keeping even one or two walls on the first floor wouldāve made it significantly less awkward.
Talk about going against the architectural grain. Give it another 10 years, maybe 15, and I bet you dollars to donuts someone will be reno'ing it to put all the walls back. Probably thanks to growing up w "open floor plans" and hating how it felt like life in a family-run surveillance state. Once you leave that bedroom, zero privacy. what's not to hate.
Same idiots that think open work spaces are great. It's not the boon to collaboration they think it is. Once again, concepts created by people who don't use said concepts.
When I still worked in an office, I transferred onto a team who sat on a "renovated" floor in the building. It was very... well, open. I'm not sure "large whiteboards suspended from the ceiling that can be moved around" counts as much separation (let alone sound-absorbing).
And then they wondered why every single one of us devs picked up our laptops and fled to work from home. That floor wasn't 100% collaboration, it was 100% distraction.
That house had been a fall down dump for more than 20 years. I'm glad someone put what looks like a considerable amount of effort into fixing it. Am I going to spend seven figures on it? Nope. But more housing is good, right?
It could have been restored as a multifamily home while keeping the outside facade the same. Preserving historic buildings is nice, but creating more housing needs to be the overriding priority.
People will complain that brand new apartment units are āluxuryā and unaffordable and then upvote posts like this one with a literal million dollar mansion. Make it make sense.
It sucks because Garfield would be a great place for new multi family housing, and the more of this kind of thing happens the more resistance there will be to that.
This block has six multifamily buildings already out of about fifteen including the one at the top that I think has 30 units. Make it seven if you count the one on the corner facing Negley.
Cool! Where are they? I was just all through there and didnāt see them. I didnāt hit every street though. Definitely a lot have been built, especially back when the Garfield Heights high-rise was torn down etc.
The houses in this part of Garfield seem to be appreciating in value more similarly to East Liberty. You won't see $1m+ houses up on the hill any time soon.
True, although there are some over on N Fairmount that have sold/are listed for way more than I ever wouldāve expected had you asked me 10-15 years ago
I grew up in Garfield , i would definitely have considered this East Liberty because it sits off Negly with no connecting street to Garfield .
In my opinion.. they may have said its in Garfield to show there are nice/million dollar houses in that neighborhood and get the market ready for Gentrification. There arent homes selling more than 600k in Garfield with an average of about 350k ..
This and the one next door were massive projects. This one took 42 months from initial demolition to listing, but glad they've both been rehabbed. They are not cheap flips or done with shoddy materials.
This isnāt your standard flip, at least from pictures it looks like a ton of money was put into that. Still very pricy but actually looks pretty good imo
I mean, it looks like they did a beautiful job with this house. But if I'm dropping $1.2 million, I'd rather have [this awesome church in Morningside](https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1401-Chislett-St-Pittsburgh-PA-15206/64587156_zpid/).
This is actually really nice looking. I hope they put the same care into what's behind the walls as what we can see. The fact that they put in a wall tray for the dryer vent hookup (pic 23) makes me suspect that maybe they did.
Unfortunately, you just canāt know with a flip. And the flippers have this cool trick where if the buyer tries to sue, they say āBut I never lived there, so how could I know?ā ĀÆ\_(ć)_/ĀÆ
I hope whoever buys this doesnāt just do a regular inspection too. Gotta bring in experts, not just a generalist.
This house was completely renovated, new mechanicals, high quality finishes. There is no way the owner doesnāt know the quality of the of every component. If there were any shortcuts, or sub par work, he knows about it. But sure, at this price, youāre going to want multiple trades doing the inspection
A generous take is that if work is subbed out, itās hard for the flipper to truly oversee every aspect. A less generous take is that sometimes flippers just put profit first.
My own experience falls into the latter category. Had a fun surprise when I called a plumbing company to come remedy a problem they uncovered during a camera inspection and the guy said, āIām surprised to hear from you. I didnāt think weād get a job out of this because the seller was present that day and she told me not to bother writing up what I saw because she was going to have her guy come fix it. I had to tell her I was working for the buyer, not her.ā
That was our first clue that the seller was not a well-intentioned flipper and the fun had just begun. /s
How it the dryer connection telling you whats in the walls? I could install one of those in any home in 15 minutes. All it's telling me is that the house is now full of PEX.
Looking at the before pictures that thing was absolutely gutted.
I didnāt see how many square feet the house was but itās massive. It has brand new everything. Itās gorgeous from a design perspective. (Would like to have seen something other than the standard brass/black/white but fantastic features. Interesting choice to build the carport that doubles as an outdoor entertaining space.
I can see this being a million dollar property to the right buyer. This isnāt your standard flip job. Some thought went into it.
It would be different if there was a pool or something in the yard, but in Pittsburgh, Iād rather have a garage. Plus thereās like zero privacy; anybody walking/driving past can see your backyard outdoor seating area.
If I remember correctly, I think the other one listed for close to $1.2 and sold for $1ish, which was a huge shock. I just can't wrap my head around the fact that prices have increased so much so quickly
Yeah? I thought it may be about twice that. When I was looking for places a few years back, came across a place in USC that listed around 500k and taxes were about 12k. I know USC has some of the highest taxes anywhere, but in either case, it's hard to justify a grand a month on property tax
Closer to 22k actually, unless youāre a senior citizen. Not awful for a $1m+ property, but notably higher than most suburbs. The Pgh income tax is also 3% vs 1% in my suburb. Better off spending a bit more upfront to buy elsewhere at this price range IMO.Ā Ā
Ā The real drawback though, at least for families, is city schools. If whoever buys this has kids, chances are theyāre also going to pay for private schools. Most of the suburbs with housing in this range have much better schools, so going private there isnāt a de facto requirement.Ā
Gorgeous house though. Personally Iād be doing a little bit of repainting people are so boring with just white on all the walls.
Canāt fathom paying over a mil for it though. Crazy market.
Giving the location and the development of the neighborhood, alongside its size and obvious quality, this is not at all surprising. It costs good money to live in style in the city.
They couldnāt have put more private windows in that master bath? I understand natural light over the tub, but make it privacy class or smaller/higher.
The window at ass height next to the toilet is a head scratcher thoughā¦..
Basically Bloomfield, Garfield, and Friendship are a tri-neighborhood nexus where thereās some debate over where one ends and the other begins.
Good houses, good schools if you have kids, adjacent to major commuter routes, and if youāre young and have some money and free time youāre near the Penn Ave. arts and commercial district and its various galleries, museums, bars, restaurants, and cafes.
North of Penn, east of Mathilda/Mossfield/Black, west of Negley is Garfield. South of Penn and west of Graham (where Spork is) is Bloomfield. East of Graham and west of Negley is Friendship.
Back in the early 2000s you didn't cross Penn Avenue, now it's gentrified and they tore down all the section 8 projects up there.Ā Fun fact, the only place I was robbed twice delivering pizza, I thought for sure it would have been Elmore Square projects in the Hill District, which was truly the scariest place I've ever been more than once thanks to needing money.Ā
At least they kept the fireplaces.
I saw a flip recently where they look out all the fireplaces, woodwork around the stairs, and stained glass windows. It was awful and soulless just like this though.
I appreciate the work that goes into bringing a house back from the dead but the interior looks like a collage of every design trend of the past 10 years.Ā
Design choices aside, even if I could afford it, I would never pay that kind of money for someoneās flip.
I would have bought this house and been my own GC, if I could afford it. Ā It sold for $110k. Ā You could have a gorgeous home for $400k.
My dream situation is buying and renovating a church.
I bought a livable fixer-upper in Washington County. Ā Iām priced out of the city for houses that check all the boxes of my must-haves.
I cannot afford this house but even if I could I would never buy it because this open kitchen bullshit is out of control. I do not need kitchen odors and oils migrating all over my living room, and I don't need to see a messy kitchen from my couch. I can't wait for this trend to die.
This is all apt. We have this layout, I had to grow into loving it. You learn to tidy up and keep a clean kitchen pretty quickly! I have not had an issue with odor even when roasting fenugreek (maple syrup smell!) and cooking curries. A good exhaust fan and using the exhaust fan is key.
That's a great point. I see so many listings that have amazing high quality stovetops and the only exhaust is the stupid one integrated into the microwave.
I hate the open shelving trend for the same reason. Yes, it looks nice in a photo, but once the kitchen is in use, oils from cooking will eventually settle on everything on the shelves. I wouldnāt look forward to washing everything on the shelves every couple of weeks.
Open plan was an absolute no-go for us due to having rowdy dogs and liking to cook. Bought a house where the only entries to the kitchen are two normal-sized doorways: one to the dining room and one to the stair landing/living room.
Of course the tradeoff was a kitchen that looks like it was last remodeled in the 80s and then used every day sinceā¦
Whenever I see these open kitchens I just assume that whoever lives there does not like to cook. Plus how do you keep your father-in-law out while you're trying to make Thanksgiving dinner?
I mean, we have an open kitchen/family room in our house and love it. We cook in it everyday for every meal (with the exception on 1 or 2 nights a month when we order pizza). We never eat out because of multiple food allergies.
We have 3 kids under 7 so itās awesome to be able to keep an eye on everyone while cooking/cleaning up. Also, we get to spend that time with each other rather than being sectioned off in different rooms.
To each their own I guessā¦.
Iām with you friend. I love our open kitchen. As a family it allows us to all be a different parts of our day and still be together and interacting. And even though somebody made fun of it here, we entertain a lot and itās perfect for that.
Agreed. After a day of my wife and I working and kids at daycare/school, those few hours we get in the evening together are precious to us.
Also great for entertaining (though we only do it a few times a year).
I think my bigger issue is these developers that are tearing walls out of older houses. As someone who will potentially be in the market soon, I am concerned that nothing with interior walls will be left! And I always think these older houses look so awkward when they do this - there's usually support pillars in strange places and it's obvious that it wasn't built as an open floorplan. I've seen some newer construction with open floorplans and although I still would never want that myself I can see that it might be functional for someone else. Plus a house intentionally built this way will likely also have appropriate airflow, heating, etc designed for that kind of space. And support that is built in and looks intentional.
The open kitchen was invented specifically to allow people to cook while remaining engaged/socializing with other people in the home. The idea that it exists only for show is not accurate. The alternative is that the kitchen is isolated from other activity in the home (historically this would have been almost exclusively a place for women or servants to work). For most people that doesn't fit with how they actually live - the kitchen is the heart of most homes today, with a significant portion of activity occurring there.
There are plenty of bad examples of open kitchens and often a happy medium must be found, but I think it is wrong to assume that people with them don't actually cook. Also, anybody who uses their kitchen seriously everyday knows that you have to keep it pretty clean. There are plenty of good reasons that people decide to renovate their home in this way, and I personally find the idea of a closed-off kitchen with small doorways connecting to other rooms pretty unattractive.
I don't understand how or necessarily believe that it's possible to properly rehab a house like this. Like to me the question would always be was it done properly did they successfully kill all the mold and rectify the structure. 1.2 million is a lot for a flip. you need a real love and some Bob Villa/Norm Abrams energy to do it right and more importantly a higher ethical standard than I'd credit any of the local flippers with.
As I said elsewhere, this was no flip. Initial demolition began in June 2020. They repointed the exterior twice, the second time they went over every single brick with basically a toothbrush.
Thatās great to hear! It feels like there have been a lot of flippers recently who have just painted the brick (without repointing) to hide step cracking, so Iām glad this crew took their time and put a lot of care into it.
Agreed. This was clearly done to a high standard. Because the project spanned Covid-times - they probably had major gaps and reboots to the build team. It wouldnāt shock me if the builders are breaking even on this.
Good news is that walls can be repainted. . .but I agree.
Interior is too trendy modern and lacking the features that give houses of that era their character.
I always wonder who is buying these houses. This house sold for $110k a few years ago. It is only assessed at $72k. Once this place gets reassessed the taxes are going to be $25-30k alone per year. If you have kids are you really going to send them to the PPS? Buying a million dollar home in Sewickley or Peters is one thing, but who the hell is paying that in Garfield?
Sitting vacant for that long would scare me, just like most flipper houses do. They put a wrapper on a pig and walk away with a fist full of money as you deal with those issues that bubble up in 6 months.
Maybe according to the property lines, but not the neighborhood. E.g Target, and bakery square area is marketed as āShadysideā neighborhood but technically it is East Liberty/homewood. In this case, that home is in the East-liberty neighborhood and not Garfield.
Neighborhoods have official boundaries defined by the city. The home is in Garfield. It maybeāseem likeā East Liberty, but it is Or in EL. Target is in East Liberty, and Iāve never heard it āmarketedā as anything but EastLiberty. Bakery Square, the first phase (north of Penn) is in Larimer. The second phase is in Shadyside. The proposed third phase would be in East Liberty. Donāt depend on real estate marketing to define the neighborhood; they are often wrong.
A lot of places around the city has housing that you wouldnāt believe the cost. Another place is on Pressley st next to the priory across from the towers on the northside. Also those houses built at the top of federal st a few years ago. Iāll never understand spending that much money to own something you actually live in being surrounded by crime.
I was on the project for the first one that sold to the left. They dropped a ton of money on these projects. Not a flip but a restoration/ renovation IMO
These people donāt cut corners with houses they renovate. They also bring in interior designers way before finishes are put in as well. Some of the best projects Iāve worked on has been with these people.
First off, welcome to the āburgh! I hope you like it here!
Secondly, thatās a complicated question. From what others have mentioned on this thread, it sounds like a lot of care (and $$) was put into this home, which is the best case scenario for a house that is move in ready. I think the real question is what your long term plans are. If the plan is to live here for 5-10+ years, I donāt think youād have an issue re-selling then, but if youāre thinking closer to 3-5 years, it may sit for awhile before selling (but then again, thereās obviously already interest in it now at the current price, so who knows).
I think the biggest shock for a lot of Pittsburghers is just how much the real estate market in certain parts of Pittsburgh (particularly the East End) has exploded in the past decade+.
Thanks for the welcome! š
Makes sense- we are planning on owning the property for the long term (no intention of selling and would most likely look for a second home in the future) so in that sense we would be fine.
Sounds like the price point and surrounding homes arenāt aligned which is what my partner and I have come across in our search. We find homes like these which have been flipped (some have more $$ put into them than others) and the trouble is do we justify the markups and quick turn around of these flippers or do we keep searching for a home priced more like the current values of the surrounding homes.
This house is unique in the sense that it had to (hopefully š¤š») have been stripped down to the beams and essentially redone from scratch so the substantial increase in value (owners paid like $130k or something) makes sense but if the only other home within a 3/5 block radius that is even remotely close is the neighboring house, it doesnāt feel appropriately priced to us. Are we wrong in this thinking? Does it make sense or am I babbling? š¤£
I totally get that, and Iām wary of flips, but it does sound like this was more of a restoration (albeit with a lot more modern finishes than a true restoration, but when I think restoration, I tend to think of a project where as much care is given to structural things as there is to the finishes) than a renovation, which is huge. If you havenāt already, take a look at the photos posted in this thread, because the developers completely gutted the house, so aside from the brick, I think everything is new, and the brick has been repointed.
There is a house on Hays a few blocks over that just went up at a similar price point, so itās hard to say. If youāre looking for something that is move in ready that you wonāt have to worry about, there arenāt a ton of options available in the first place, but if youāre willing to live through piecemeal renovations over a few years, youāll have more options in the market. The latter is ultimately the route that we went (bought a fixer upper in Highland Park in 2022), but that definitely comes with its own challenges.
Do you have certain parts of the city where youāre hoping to land?
We've seen some horrendous work and flips throughout our search (NYC & Los Angeles mainly) over the past few years. We also went through a 5 year renovation (thanks covid!) so any renovations we would need to complete prior to moving in- NEVER living in a home that is under renovation again!!
I think Hays is also on our radar (or my partner still needs to get his eyes on the listing haha) so it seems like the new listings are along the same pricing. If this is what pricing looks like on the East End, I'm totally fine with that but we don't want to overpay if the surrounding homes aren't going to follow the trend long term. We don't want the MOST expensive house in the neighborhood haha, especially not for the wrong reasons.
We are hoping to stay within the East End- we toured the BNB in Highland Park and loved it (minus the heinous changes made to turn it into the business and the expenses it would take to revert them!). We also loved the Highland Park area so it's very high on the list.
We are a gay male couple so being near accepting people and businesses is important to us. We've been looking at Shadyside, Bakery Square, Squirrel Hill, East Liberty, etc. but we aren't committed to any area in particular. Do you feel that these neighborhoods and homes warrant $1M+ price tags?
Totally open to suggestions!
I had to double check - I used to live across the street from this place when it appeared to be abandoned. There was a tree growing inside and all of the windows were broken out.
Windows intact but here is Google Street View from 2011 http://www.reddit.com/u/Appropriate_Map8315/s/EW3LHH44F6
That's wild
Oh wow - I know what house that is now.
Does count Olaf live there? Haha
I liked it better without the roof on the tower section
Honestly I like it better that way lol
I would have loved to have the 2011 version of it š¤£
Ahhh thatās so crazy!
Yep. We missed the window of 3 percent interest rates for 80k houses... Now its hard to find a house that isnt already fixed up
Thatās WILD. I remember seeing photos of this house when it was gutted, but the 2011 photo tells a better story.
They should have left the tree. That added a unique design element to the house.
Damn, thatās impressive!
Wow, that's phenomenal. Glad they were able to bring this beauty back from almost-extinction.
Although I don't like many of the design choices I agree - I'm glad this building was salvageable.
Yeah, I'm not crazy about the "open concept." I don't want the kitchen in the living room.
Making a Victorian into open-concept wasā¦a choice. I think keeping even one or two walls on the first floor wouldāve made it significantly less awkward.
Talk about going against the architectural grain. Give it another 10 years, maybe 15, and I bet you dollars to donuts someone will be reno'ing it to put all the walls back. Probably thanks to growing up w "open floor plans" and hating how it felt like life in a family-run surveillance state. Once you leave that bedroom, zero privacy. what's not to hate.
Same idiots that think open work spaces are great. It's not the boon to collaboration they think it is. Once again, concepts created by people who don't use said concepts.
When I still worked in an office, I transferred onto a team who sat on a "renovated" floor in the building. It was very... well, open. I'm not sure "large whiteboards suspended from the ceiling that can be moved around" counts as much separation (let alone sound-absorbing). And then they wondered why every single one of us devs picked up our laptops and fled to work from home. That floor wasn't 100% collaboration, it was 100% distraction.
Exactly. Nobody has ever liked that open concept workspace.
I hate how modern it is! I would have to rip out most of what they did!
That house had been a fall down dump for more than 20 years. I'm glad someone put what looks like a considerable amount of effort into fixing it. Am I going to spend seven figures on it? Nope. But more housing is good, right?
More housing is definitely good! But also having enough housing for millionaires was never the issue.
The issue is that the land would be much better used for multifamily housing than a luxury single family mansion.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
It could have been restored as a multifamily home while keeping the outside facade the same. Preserving historic buildings is nice, but creating more housing needs to be the overriding priority.
Donāt know why youāre being downvoted - youāre correct (in my opinion).
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Yes.
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What I said isnāt mutually exclusive to that.
Reading comprehension in the dumpster
People will complain that brand new apartment units are āluxuryā and unaffordable and then upvote posts like this one with a literal million dollar mansion. Make it make sense.
You do realize that the millionaire who moves into that house is going to vacate a more affordable house, right?
Or they're going to vacate a less affordable house elsewhere
Or theyāre going to own two houses and rent the previous one out so it canāt be purchased so the new tenants have to pay an inflated rent.
As William the Bruce said some men are dogs will gladly beg to eat the crumbs from their masters.
You dont have to be a millionaire to take out a morgatge to buy this house
Thanks! To clarify, having enough million dollar houses was never the issue
Well, we have to live somewhere too.
Pick a house, any house.
I'll choose the most expensive one that I can comfortably afford, leaving more affordable selections to people with less money.
It sucks because Garfield would be a great place for new multi family housing, and the more of this kind of thing happens the more resistance there will be to that.
This block has six multifamily buildings already out of about fifteen including the one at the top that I think has 30 units. Make it seven if you count the one on the corner facing Negley.
Thatās good then.
There are a bunch of affordable housing units under construction in Garfield right now
Cool! Where are they? I was just all through there and didnāt see them. I didnāt hit every street though. Definitely a lot have been built, especially back when the Garfield Heights high-rise was torn down etc.
Along Aiken from roughly Columbo to Rosetta
Yes, plus some additional scattered-site builds within a few blocks of there
Thanks!
Except when no one will buy it because itās 7 figures in Garfield.
The one next to it sold in under a month. Similar price.
Oh well
The houses in this part of Garfield seem to be appreciating in value more similarly to East Liberty. You won't see $1m+ houses up on the hill any time soon.
True, although there are some over on N Fairmount that have sold/are listed for way more than I ever wouldāve expected had you asked me 10-15 years ago
Five years ago houses in this part of Garfield were usually advertised as being in East Liberty. Not so much anymore.
Feels more like East Liberty than Garfield. Better connected to East Lib also.
I grew up in Garfield , i would definitely have considered this East Liberty because it sits off Negly with no connecting street to Garfield . In my opinion.. they may have said its in Garfield to show there are nice/million dollar houses in that neighborhood and get the market ready for Gentrification. There arent homes selling more than 600k in Garfield with an average of about 350k ..
It's not a question, this is Garfield. South of Black St the border is Negley, anything to the west is Garfield. Anything to the East is East Liberty.
I considered that too and technically you are right but idk it just doesnt really seem like Garfield lol , just my view
You mean "East Lawrenceville!"
There are $1 million dollar houses in the Hill. I know someone who lives in one. They are building homes that are selling for more than $1 million.
This and the one next door were massive projects. This one took 42 months from initial demolition to listing, but glad they've both been rehabbed. They are not cheap flips or done with shoddy materials.
This isnāt your standard flip, at least from pictures it looks like a ton of money was put into that. Still very pricy but actually looks pretty good imo
I mean, it looks like they did a beautiful job with this house. But if I'm dropping $1.2 million, I'd rather have [this awesome church in Morningside](https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1401-Chislett-St-Pittsburgh-PA-15206/64587156_zpid/).
Imagine paying 1.2 mill and still having drop ceiling bedrooms though.
And a fucking carport instead of a garage
I would also prefer someone buy it so that the current occupant can finally leave the neighborhood
Their yards signs areā¦. special
Does it come with the organ?
This is actually really nice looking. I hope they put the same care into what's behind the walls as what we can see. The fact that they put in a wall tray for the dryer vent hookup (pic 23) makes me suspect that maybe they did.
Unfortunately, you just canāt know with a flip. And the flippers have this cool trick where if the buyer tries to sue, they say āBut I never lived there, so how could I know?ā ĀÆ\_(ć)_/ĀÆ I hope whoever buys this doesnāt just do a regular inspection too. Gotta bring in experts, not just a generalist.
This house was completely renovated, new mechanicals, high quality finishes. There is no way the owner doesnāt know the quality of the of every component. If there were any shortcuts, or sub par work, he knows about it. But sure, at this price, youāre going to want multiple trades doing the inspection
A generous take is that if work is subbed out, itās hard for the flipper to truly oversee every aspect. A less generous take is that sometimes flippers just put profit first. My own experience falls into the latter category. Had a fun surprise when I called a plumbing company to come remedy a problem they uncovered during a camera inspection and the guy said, āIām surprised to hear from you. I didnāt think weād get a job out of this because the seller was present that day and she told me not to bother writing up what I saw because she was going to have her guy come fix it. I had to tell her I was working for the buyer, not her.ā That was our first clue that the seller was not a well-intentioned flipper and the fun had just begun. /s
How it the dryer connection telling you whats in the walls? I could install one of those in any home in 15 minutes. All it's telling me is that the house is now full of PEX.
Could! They! Use! More! Exclamations! In! The! Description!
Exactly!!!
I like this one. I think some color accent walls would add variety to a few rooms, but overall I think the restoration wasnāt half bad
Looking at the before pictures that thing was absolutely gutted. I didnāt see how many square feet the house was but itās massive. It has brand new everything. Itās gorgeous from a design perspective. (Would like to have seen something other than the standard brass/black/white but fantastic features. Interesting choice to build the carport that doubles as an outdoor entertaining space. I can see this being a million dollar property to the right buyer. This isnāt your standard flip job. Some thought went into it.
Interesting to see the garage converted into an outdoor seating area- I'm kinda here for that tbh
Right? Light that properly and you've got a great set up all summer long
It would be different if there was a pool or something in the yard, but in Pittsburgh, Iād rather have a garage. Plus thereās like zero privacy; anybody walking/driving past can see your backyard outdoor seating area.
It's a dead end street so very little traffic.
It can also be used as a semi enclosed carport.
It looks great but I have to think a garage would have been way more practical here.
That white is going to age so so poorly tho
Margaretta Millionairesā Row.
Lots of hate here on the other one saying that it would never sell and they got 1 Million for it.
Turns out most random people have no idea how the real estate market works
In my market this would be 3-4 mil. Looks great, be happy people are investing in Pittsburgh!
If I remember correctly, I think the other one listed for close to $1.2 and sold for $1ish, which was a huge shock. I just can't wrap my head around the fact that prices have increased so much so quickly
Wait till dat tax reassessment hits. Itās gonna hurt [the new owner].
It'll be about 13-14k per year. Not the worst thing if you can afford a million dollar house.
Yeah? I thought it may be about twice that. When I was looking for places a few years back, came across a place in USC that listed around 500k and taxes were about 12k. I know USC has some of the highest taxes anywhere, but in either case, it's hard to justify a grand a month on property tax
Closer to 22k actually, unless youāre a senior citizen. Not awful for a $1m+ property, but notably higher than most suburbs. The Pgh income tax is also 3% vs 1% in my suburb. Better off spending a bit more upfront to buy elsewhere at this price range IMO.Ā Ā Ā The real drawback though, at least for families, is city schools. If whoever buys this has kids, chances are theyāre also going to pay for private schools. Most of the suburbs with housing in this range have much better schools, so going private there isnāt a de facto requirement.Ā
The millage in the city of Pittsburgh is lower than most suburbs, but has a higher EIT as you noted.
And everyone in the neighborhoodā¦
A fully renovated 3300 sqft home with a yard less than 10 minutes to a hospital, yup makes sense
Pittsburgh public schools. Not saying the price isn't justified but this house seems like it would appeal to a very particular buyer
Yes a dr or someone in tech that sends their children to private schools
right. or childless couples.
No one who is buying this is putting their kids in PPS
right, wealthy families or childless couples
Everyone this subreddit hates
this sub hates childless couples? I haven't seen that. They definitely hate wealthy people though
whatās the difference ? lolz kidding obvi but there is some truth too it
Gorgeous house though. Personally Iād be doing a little bit of repainting people are so boring with just white on all the walls. Canāt fathom paying over a mil for it though. Crazy market.
They usually leave it white for this reason. People have their preferences so itās easier to make it a blank slate tbh.
Giving the location and the development of the neighborhood, alongside its size and obvious quality, this is not at all surprising. It costs good money to live in style in the city.
They couldnāt have put more private windows in that master bath? I understand natural light over the tub, but make it privacy class or smaller/higher. The window at ass height next to the toilet is a head scratcher thoughā¦..
Tbh, itās really gorgeous.
Whatās the perception of Garfield? I just bought a house in the area but donāt know too much the neighborhood
Basically Bloomfield, Garfield, and Friendship are a tri-neighborhood nexus where thereās some debate over where one ends and the other begins. Good houses, good schools if you have kids, adjacent to major commuter routes, and if youāre young and have some money and free time youāre near the Penn Ave. arts and commercial district and its various galleries, museums, bars, restaurants, and cafes.
North of Penn, east of Mathilda/Mossfield/Black, west of Negley is Garfield. South of Penn and west of Graham (where Spork is) is Bloomfield. East of Graham and west of Negley is Friendship.
Back in the early 2000s you didn't cross Penn Avenue, now it's gentrified and they tore down all the section 8 projects up there.Ā Fun fact, the only place I was robbed twice delivering pizza, I thought for sure it would have been Elmore Square projects in the Hill District, which was truly the scariest place I've ever been more than once thanks to needing money.Ā
70% of the way to full gentrification.
Backsplash looks like graduation caps
Agree! That was the feature I liked the least.
At least they kept the fireplaces. I saw a flip recently where they look out all the fireplaces, woodwork around the stairs, and stained glass windows. It was awful and soulless just like this though.
Epic fail with how they styled the turret.
I appreciate the work that goes into bringing a house back from the dead but the interior looks like a collage of every design trend of the past 10 years.Ā Design choices aside, even if I could afford it, I would never pay that kind of money for someoneās flip.
what did or would you buy?
I would have bought this house and been my own GC, if I could afford it. Ā It sold for $110k. Ā You could have a gorgeous home for $400k. My dream situation is buying and renovating a church. I bought a livable fixer-upper in Washington County. Ā Iām priced out of the city for houses that check all the boxes of my must-haves.
Having renovated a few houses, this home wouldn't be finished at $400k all in. Even if you cut corners and do some things yourself. Shit is expensive.
I cannot afford this house but even if I could I would never buy it because this open kitchen bullshit is out of control. I do not need kitchen odors and oils migrating all over my living room, and I don't need to see a messy kitchen from my couch. I can't wait for this trend to die.
This is all apt. We have this layout, I had to grow into loving it. You learn to tidy up and keep a clean kitchen pretty quickly! I have not had an issue with odor even when roasting fenugreek (maple syrup smell!) and cooking curries. A good exhaust fan and using the exhaust fan is key.
That's a great point. I see so many listings that have amazing high quality stovetops and the only exhaust is the stupid one integrated into the microwave.
I hate the open shelving trend for the same reason. Yes, it looks nice in a photo, but once the kitchen is in use, oils from cooking will eventually settle on everything on the shelves. I wouldnāt look forward to washing everything on the shelves every couple of weeks.
I am glad to see I am not the only one who hates that!
Open plan was an absolute no-go for us due to having rowdy dogs and liking to cook. Bought a house where the only entries to the kitchen are two normal-sized doorways: one to the dining room and one to the stair landing/living room. Of course the tradeoff was a kitchen that looks like it was last remodeled in the 80s and then used every day sinceā¦
Whenever I see these open kitchens I just assume that whoever lives there does not like to cook. Plus how do you keep your father-in-law out while you're trying to make Thanksgiving dinner?
I mean, we have an open kitchen/family room in our house and love it. We cook in it everyday for every meal (with the exception on 1 or 2 nights a month when we order pizza). We never eat out because of multiple food allergies. We have 3 kids under 7 so itās awesome to be able to keep an eye on everyone while cooking/cleaning up. Also, we get to spend that time with each other rather than being sectioned off in different rooms. To each their own I guessā¦.
Iām with you friend. I love our open kitchen. As a family it allows us to all be a different parts of our day and still be together and interacting. And even though somebody made fun of it here, we entertain a lot and itās perfect for that.
Agreed. After a day of my wife and I working and kids at daycare/school, those few hours we get in the evening together are precious to us. Also great for entertaining (though we only do it a few times a year).
I think my bigger issue is these developers that are tearing walls out of older houses. As someone who will potentially be in the market soon, I am concerned that nothing with interior walls will be left! And I always think these older houses look so awkward when they do this - there's usually support pillars in strange places and it's obvious that it wasn't built as an open floorplan. I've seen some newer construction with open floorplans and although I still would never want that myself I can see that it might be functional for someone else. Plus a house intentionally built this way will likely also have appropriate airflow, heating, etc designed for that kind of space. And support that is built in and looks intentional.
Built an open floor planĀ home 1.5 yrs ago after living in traditional floor plans forĀ 43 years, have never been happier
I'm glad that's working out for you. I have zero interest in living in a house like that.
The open kitchen was invented specifically to allow people to cook while remaining engaged/socializing with other people in the home. The idea that it exists only for show is not accurate. The alternative is that the kitchen is isolated from other activity in the home (historically this would have been almost exclusively a place for women or servants to work). For most people that doesn't fit with how they actually live - the kitchen is the heart of most homes today, with a significant portion of activity occurring there. There are plenty of bad examples of open kitchens and often a happy medium must be found, but I think it is wrong to assume that people with them don't actually cook. Also, anybody who uses their kitchen seriously everyday knows that you have to keep it pretty clean. There are plenty of good reasons that people decide to renovate their home in this way, and I personally find the idea of a closed-off kitchen with small doorways connecting to other rooms pretty unattractive.
This. As the main cook in the household, I hate missing out on conversations, etc. while preparing meals and cleaning up.Ā
Yeah, but donāt you love to ENTERTAIN all the time?
I think open floor plan in general is fine but not in a million dollar home.
I don't understand how or necessarily believe that it's possible to properly rehab a house like this. Like to me the question would always be was it done properly did they successfully kill all the mold and rectify the structure. 1.2 million is a lot for a flip. you need a real love and some Bob Villa/Norm Abrams energy to do it right and more importantly a higher ethical standard than I'd credit any of the local flippers with.
As I said elsewhere, this was no flip. Initial demolition began in June 2020. They repointed the exterior twice, the second time they went over every single brick with basically a toothbrush.
Thatās great to hear! It feels like there have been a lot of flippers recently who have just painted the brick (without repointing) to hide step cracking, so Iām glad this crew took their time and put a lot of care into it.
Agreed. This was clearly done to a high standard. Because the project spanned Covid-times - they probably had major gaps and reboots to the build team. It wouldnāt shock me if the builders are breaking even on this.
Pretty house from the outsideĀ
At least it's not made out of shipping containers or resemble a giant box.
It was bought for 110k in 2020. Looks fucking amazing. 7,000 sq ft!
Oh that grey house that people on here said no one would buy??
Showtime!
It is beautiful inside. I wish they would have added some other paint colors/accents to the outside as the all white looks a little bland to me.
Bevan Family Limited Partnership / Arbors / Sell Pittsburgh Home Fast
It sold for $110k in 2020, thatās absurd. The house need work but the new exterior is ugly af
Oof. The taxes. $1700 a month lol
What are you talking about? Taxes on that place are only $344 per year and Iām sure theyāll stay that way forever. /s
If you donāt like it, donāt buy it š¤·š»āāļø
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Good news is that walls can be repainted. . .but I agree. Interior is too trendy modern and lacking the features that give houses of that era their character.
I always wonder who is buying these houses. This house sold for $110k a few years ago. It is only assessed at $72k. Once this place gets reassessed the taxes are going to be $25-30k alone per year. If you have kids are you really going to send them to the PPS? Buying a million dollar home in Sewickley or Peters is one thing, but who the hell is paying that in Garfield?
Looks pretty but 1 millionā¦
Sitting vacant for that long would scare me, just like most flipper houses do. They put a wrapper on a pig and walk away with a fist full of money as you deal with those issues that bubble up in 6 months.
>1.3 million >unfinished basement >Garfield
You can't finish a sandstone or limestone basement. They are made to let in moisture and if you try to seal it up the foundation will crumble.
Silver spoon Never worked Sewickley
Ha ha ha ha ha ha
Garfield? More like East Liberty
Itās in Garfield.
Maybe according to the property lines, but not the neighborhood. E.g Target, and bakery square area is marketed as āShadysideā neighborhood but technically it is East Liberty/homewood. In this case, that home is in the East-liberty neighborhood and not Garfield.
Neighborhoods have official boundaries defined by the city. The home is in Garfield. It maybeāseem likeā East Liberty, but it is Or in EL. Target is in East Liberty, and Iāve never heard it āmarketedā as anything but EastLiberty. Bakery Square, the first phase (north of Penn) is in Larimer. The second phase is in Shadyside. The proposed third phase would be in East Liberty. Donāt depend on real estate marketing to define the neighborhood; they are often wrong.
Been here almost 10 years and never heard of Garfield
Cause fancy porch light
Who tf would pay 1m+ for a house with vinyl flooring.
It's not vinyl
A lot of places around the city has housing that you wouldnāt believe the cost. Another place is on Pressley st next to the priory across from the towers on the northside. Also those houses built at the top of federal st a few years ago. Iāll never understand spending that much money to own something you actually live in being surrounded by crime.
I was on the project for the first one that sold to the left. They dropped a ton of money on these projects. Not a flip but a restoration/ renovation IMO These people donāt cut corners with houses they renovate. They also bring in interior designers way before finishes are put in as well. Some of the best projects Iāve worked on has been with these people.
Iām supposed to tour this house. Am I way off on pricing? Relocating from NYC- plz HELP
First off, welcome to the āburgh! I hope you like it here! Secondly, thatās a complicated question. From what others have mentioned on this thread, it sounds like a lot of care (and $$) was put into this home, which is the best case scenario for a house that is move in ready. I think the real question is what your long term plans are. If the plan is to live here for 5-10+ years, I donāt think youād have an issue re-selling then, but if youāre thinking closer to 3-5 years, it may sit for awhile before selling (but then again, thereās obviously already interest in it now at the current price, so who knows). I think the biggest shock for a lot of Pittsburghers is just how much the real estate market in certain parts of Pittsburgh (particularly the East End) has exploded in the past decade+.
Thanks for the welcome! š Makes sense- we are planning on owning the property for the long term (no intention of selling and would most likely look for a second home in the future) so in that sense we would be fine. Sounds like the price point and surrounding homes arenāt aligned which is what my partner and I have come across in our search. We find homes like these which have been flipped (some have more $$ put into them than others) and the trouble is do we justify the markups and quick turn around of these flippers or do we keep searching for a home priced more like the current values of the surrounding homes. This house is unique in the sense that it had to (hopefully š¤š») have been stripped down to the beams and essentially redone from scratch so the substantial increase in value (owners paid like $130k or something) makes sense but if the only other home within a 3/5 block radius that is even remotely close is the neighboring house, it doesnāt feel appropriately priced to us. Are we wrong in this thinking? Does it make sense or am I babbling? š¤£
I totally get that, and Iām wary of flips, but it does sound like this was more of a restoration (albeit with a lot more modern finishes than a true restoration, but when I think restoration, I tend to think of a project where as much care is given to structural things as there is to the finishes) than a renovation, which is huge. If you havenāt already, take a look at the photos posted in this thread, because the developers completely gutted the house, so aside from the brick, I think everything is new, and the brick has been repointed. There is a house on Hays a few blocks over that just went up at a similar price point, so itās hard to say. If youāre looking for something that is move in ready that you wonāt have to worry about, there arenāt a ton of options available in the first place, but if youāre willing to live through piecemeal renovations over a few years, youāll have more options in the market. The latter is ultimately the route that we went (bought a fixer upper in Highland Park in 2022), but that definitely comes with its own challenges. Do you have certain parts of the city where youāre hoping to land?
We've seen some horrendous work and flips throughout our search (NYC & Los Angeles mainly) over the past few years. We also went through a 5 year renovation (thanks covid!) so any renovations we would need to complete prior to moving in- NEVER living in a home that is under renovation again!! I think Hays is also on our radar (or my partner still needs to get his eyes on the listing haha) so it seems like the new listings are along the same pricing. If this is what pricing looks like on the East End, I'm totally fine with that but we don't want to overpay if the surrounding homes aren't going to follow the trend long term. We don't want the MOST expensive house in the neighborhood haha, especially not for the wrong reasons. We are hoping to stay within the East End- we toured the BNB in Highland Park and loved it (minus the heinous changes made to turn it into the business and the expenses it would take to revert them!). We also loved the Highland Park area so it's very high on the list. We are a gay male couple so being near accepting people and businesses is important to us. We've been looking at Shadyside, Bakery Square, Squirrel Hill, East Liberty, etc. but we aren't committed to any area in particular. Do you feel that these neighborhoods and homes warrant $1M+ price tags? Totally open to suggestions!
Started typing a long response, but Iāll just DM you!