Submitted by Nice_Charge8971 t3_10kcvxy in pittsburgh
Hi everyone, I am a PhD student at CMU/UPitt, and I was looking for buying a house recently.
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Given my budget (from 100k to 250k) and location requirement (near UPitt), Greenfield and South Side Slope are my choices.
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I heard that South Side Slope is not that safe, but the price is too low to believe (~ 120k).
Any thoughts or advice? Thanks!
There's nothing unsafe about The Slopes, and some of the streets are insanely convenient to catch a bus over to Oakland. Be cautious of structural issues with houses here and be ready to deal with steep narrow streets and bad parking (though that applies to Greenfield as well!)
I adore my neighborhood and think it's a fantastic place to live with good access to many amenities and a really unique charm. I looked at places in both neighborhoods when I was buying a few years back. If you have more specific questions feel free to message me!
Can confirm that busing to Oakland from Greenfield isn't particularly easy - unless you live 1-2 blocks from Murray Ave. Bus #58 is NOT reliable.
In the two years I lived in Greenfield and worked in Oakland I biked to work (thru Schenley park) and bused home.
Two different kind of lifestyles in my experience from living in both. Greenfield is much quieter, but both are easy commutes to Pitt.
Your money will probably go farther in the slopes in terms of house size vs Greenfield.
My husband and I have lived near the Monastery in the slopes since 2006 and before that we lived on 18th near Crossman. We love it. It’s quiet and safe and an easy bus ride into Oakland and downtown. It’s interesting that people wouldn’t think of the slopes as safe but I can say as a woman I walk everywhere and haven’t had anything crazy happen.
Also many of the homes in the slopes have amazing views of the city as well. Once you have a view you won’t want to live anywhere else in the city.
Greenfield has some views.
Source Bigelow St
You’re right they do but nothing like the slopes.
We bought in Greenfield when I was working in Oakland at UPMC Presbyterian and my wife was working in Shadyside. We've been very happy and have a big enough house that we've had 2 kids and a dog. Greenfield is more of a neighborhood/family vibe, but we love it
Be careful about what realtors consider the slopes. You might be in Arlington, Arlington Heights, Mt. Oliver or Allentown. Those neighborhoods range from street to street.
Slopes are safe however greenfield will be more convenient
Greenfield is a great area, and safe. It skews a lot older, so it depends on if you want peace and quiet, or access to nightlife.
Greenfield is also pretty big, but depending on where you are, it's easy to walk from there to Oakland or Squirrel Hill. Also handy access to the Waterfront for big box stores.
I lived there for seven years, so let me know if you want more details.
The part of greenfield that’s close to Murray av is very convenient for bussing to Oakland. If driving or biking, the commute over the greenfield bridge to get to CMU/pitt is fantastic and very fast.
Can’t speak for the slopes, but greenfield is a lovely place to live and there are a lot of grad students here (although many rent). Quiet, close to suburban-style shopping, and some parts are within easy walking distance of the squirrel hill business district. Also very good access to 376, which can get you a lot of places pretty fast.
How’d you get into a PhD program saying “UPitt?”
internal marketing is changing everything to UPitt. It is disgusting.
How do people not get that it’s inherently redundant?
Hi everyone!
I really appreciate all your valuable replies! I never imagine that I will live in such a friendly community!
Definitely Greenfield if you are going to be on campus at CMU/Pitt frequently.
The slopes aren't unsafe. But, like others have mentioned, the houses are old and definitely need work. I live in a rental in the slopes and love it as a rental, but I know my landlord wasn't able to sell it even a year ago when the market was nuts because it needs a lot of updates.
I’m a recent graduate and bought a house in the Southside Slopes about 1.5 years ago. Have nothing but good things to say about the area. The street I live on is a mix of families, college students, and old yinzers. Incredibly safe and can get to just about anything you would need within a walking distance. Feel free to pm me if you have any questions!
Look into Bloomfield, Polish hill or Friendship
Those areas tend to get a little bit more expensive pretty quickly. I agree with you, those are literally my 3 favorite neighborhoods in the city, but if you want a decent sized house or maybe a small yard, it jumps out of their budget pretty quickly. All depends on what they're looking for though.
Dude, all these replies and people only had nice things to say about their hood. I don't think you could go wrong with either place.
I lived in greenfield my whole life before moving out of state. It's pretty conveniently located, decent bus routes, and super quiet. Very hilly though. The nicer houses are at 250k or higher. Below 200k, you'll be hitting houses that will need some work.
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Either one is fine and has it's pluses and minuses. South Side Slopes is harder to navigate and depending where it is, you may be outside of reasonable walking distance to amenities (not to mention huffing up the slope). I believe the slopes is as safe as any other city neighborhood.
Greenfield is more residential with some smaller business districts. Generally easier to navigate, walkable. Much like folks have said 'beware realtors labeling the neighborhood the slopes when it's really Arlington, Mt Oliver, Allentown'...realtors also label parts of Hazelwood as Greenfield. This isn't to discourage, put any judgement on neighborhood titles, etc, but just know realtors play a little loose with neighborhoods to make it sound like it's in a 'nicer one'.
I would keep both options open and take close looks at the houses you're interested that meet your other criteria (bedrooms, yard or not, etc). For houses below ~175k in either neighborhood, I'd be prepared to take a really close look especially if they are 'recently updated' because for that price range you'll see a lot of amateur flips or poor-quality jobs where the upgrade is really to hide something or more make it more presentable. When we were looking for houses ~4 years ago in the 120k price range within city limits, I'd say 9/10 houses either needed significant work or updates (think crumbling dry wall, electrical, no major updates since 1970) or were flip jobs that were either poorly done (wonky tiling, trim work, etc) that would need to be redone and/or was hiding something worse behind it.
If you get to the point of the home inspection, know ahead of time it is largely a visual inspection. Home inspectors usually don't 'peel back' anything or do more than a surface level investigation. The inspection helps withs some things but is not a thorough report of EVERYTHING in the house.
Keep in mind that any home under $250,000 in Greenfield will likely need some work or will be cosmetically dated.
I've lived in the slopes and have no complaints. Some areas come with beautiful views and some of the houses in that area can be a real steal. I completely expect that area to continue to rise in property value over the next few years because of continually rising interest from (shitty) rental companies buying up and "renovating" houses. As an investment, slopes might be the better move. That being said, I have a soft spot for any neighborhoods between the rivers. It's my personal favorite part of the city. I think I'd prefer Greenfield despite never having lived there.
I hope you don't mind hills with either one haha
Lower Greenfield (aka The Run) all the way. It’s a small neighborhood, but super convenient to CMU and the prices on homes are generally decent.
I like to use city-data to get a feel for the different zips and neighborhoods, in and around Pittsburgh.
https://www.city-data.com/neighborhood/South-Side-Slopes-Pittsburgh-PA.html
https://www.city-data.com/neighborhood/Greenfield-Pittsburgh-PA.html
Greenfield will be a hell of a lot cheaper
The slopes are fine. It's down here in the flats that aren't safe anymore
>Greenfield will be a hell of a lot cheaper
It's the opposite.
I rented an entire house in Greenfield for $385 in 2012
Both areas are hilly and that needs to be taken into consideration. landslides do occasionally happen. There are also a number of mines under the hills in Pittsburgh that have caused issues over the decades.
The entirety of Western Pennsylvania has been undermined. Telling people to reconsider living here because of mines is like asking people to reconsider their relationship with water and oxygen.
I am simply telling OP to look into this when buying a house. They could be coming from a very flat area and be unaware of buying houses on a hillside. I am not saying they shouldn’t necessarily but they need to research the property first. If they were looking at property in Millville or another lower area I would say to make sure they look into flooding issues. Sorry you took this as I told OP to never buy a house on a hillside.
Have you ever looked at mine map? It's mostly just the higher elevation areas. Far from the "entirety of Western PA".
Yeah, when I bought mine in greenfield, I was able to look and confirm that I wasn’t on a mine. Pretty sure mine subsidence insurance is required if you are on one but I may be wrong.
"UPitt?" Don't buy here.
Crafton
I took the bus way to pitt for a long while and it was great. It took a while to finally finish the construction but it's back open and I paid less than 100k for a decent house in this area.
Only unfortunate part is that you have to transfer.
Rent….Homes in Pittsburgh are cheap and everyone on that price range wants to move. And don’t mention the real estate tax going up because your purchase price “Sets the Value
Old_Science4946 t1_j5q2alf wrote
i definitely wouldn’t call the slopes unsafe. a lot of the houses for sale over there are going to be full rehabs, though.