Pittsburg, PA
Affordable-ish Housing in Pittsburgh: Grandma cottages and tunnel monsters edition
Photo: Courtesy of Zillow
2046 Jacob St.
Lots of people say they want affordable housing … just not their own home. That should only be affordable precisely once, when they buy it. After that, those prices should skyrocket as much as possible.
Seems like a problem!
Yes, there is a constituency that doesn’t really want housing to be affordable. Or at least, it’s in their interests that housing prices keep going up, no matter what they actually say.
Am I one of those people? Ugh, maybe! As a longtime homeowner in the city of Pittsburgh, I certainly want my home’s value to go up, not down (the only two options; there’s no secret third thing). And there are a lot of us; the U.S. homeownership rate is 65.7%. Americans probably have too much of their wealth wrapped up in their homes, but it’s a little late to change that.
Okay, so homebuyers and homeowners want different things. One wants low prices so they can afford a house; the other wants them high. Is there any common ground here?
I have no idea. Maybe someday conditions will be right where we can build enough housing where it is needed most, and entrenched homeowners (like me, I guess) won’t try to thwart it just because scarcity benefits us.
In the meantime, Pittsburgh still has some affordable houses, if you’re willing to look past the usual places.
BROOKLINE
For sale: 2046 Jacob St., $190,000
This weird little Pittsburgh grandma cottage — with its mismatched red-and-tan bricks, semi-subterranean garage, and nebby little porch perch — is close to a masterpiece of its kind. On the inside, though, it’s up-to-date in a good way, with a bright, spacious kitchen, well-kept hardwood floors and a bright-white palette that’s easy on the eyes instead of oppressively institutional. It does not come with a real, authentic Pittsburgh grandma sautéing butter and onions for pierogies, but there are probably a few nearby you can ask.
Photo: Courtesy of Zillow
2409 Glenarm Ave.
For rent: 2409 Glenarm Ave., $1,375/month
Every time I think that we’ve found the last affordable house for sale in a great neighborhood in Pittsburgh — and that’s it, there will be no more — I remember Brookline exists. Brookline is one of Pittsburgh’s biggest, most populated neighborhoods, but gets only a fraction of the attention. Maybe that’s good; maybe being quiet and inexpensive is enough — though the small shops and cafes on Brookline Boulevard could probably use the business from at least some outside interlopers (I recommend Oak Hill Post for breakfast). Until someone figures out how to build market-rate starter homes en masse again, existing ones like this are best thing available. And the only thing you have to worry about in Brookline is the Tunnel Monster that lives in the Liberty Tubes (sorry, forgot to mention that).
Photo: Courtesy of Zillow
602 Crane Ave.
BANKSVILLE
For sale: 602 Crane Ave., $189,000
Banksville sounds like some kind of verdant, sun-dappled enclave of the robber barons and their descendants (well, it has “bank” in the name). It’s not, though; it’s a city neighborhood disguised in some of the trappings of the suburbs — tired strip malls, hostile to pedestrians — and few of the advantages. Still, there are some very inexpensive houses to be found like this 1955 special with a garage, two bedrooms, and an abundance of updated neutral-grey interiors. You’ll need a car for everything except the walk to school, but at least there are sidewalks.
Photo: Courtesy of Apartments.com
Crane Village Apartments, 651 Oaklynn Ct.
For rent: Crane Village Apartments, 651 Oaklynn Ct., $1,050-1,660/month
Crane Village is about as friendly to bikes and pedestrians as outer space. But if that’s not a big deal to you — and having a diverse, low-cost community on a wooded hilltop that’s convenient to a lot of job centers (by car) is — then Crane Village isn’t a bad place to spend some time. Banksville Park nearby is an underrated gem, with basketball courts, dek hockey, swimming, and often a cricket match going on, usually at the same time.
Photo: Courtesy of Zillow
6434 Rosemoor St.
SQUIRREL HILL
For sale: 6434 Rosemoor St., $250,000
It’s good and right to be a little suspicious when a house for this price appears in Squirrel Hill. And the eyeball test (online at least) is definitely a mixed bag, with vast amounts of attractive deck above the garage, weird carpet everywhere, creepy basement, oddly shaped yard, et cetera. But hey, I lived on this street once — and it was indeed a mixed bag. The street was great, but the absentee landlord fell considerably short of the standards expected from Mister Rogers’ (actual) neighborhood.
Photo: Courtesy of Zillow
6533 Rosemoor St.
For rent: 6533 Rosemoor St., $1,525/month
Though it looks a little like a 3rd grader’s drawing of a house — that’s probably too many triangles — this three-bedroom rental home looks fairly well-kept inside and out. It’s a short walk to a dozens of great places to eat on Murray and Forbes Avenues, a five-minute drive to the Waterfront, and if you can merge onto 376 East from a dead stop, then you truly have nothing left to fear in this world.