BIKEPGH MESSAGE BOARD ARCHIVE

Depends on where you're headed (from those places)...

I'd look in and around Edgewood/Wilkinsburg... The eastern edge of Squirrel Hill is often affordable once you get out of the CMU Rich Foreigners Rental zone (3 miles from Beeler and Forbes). I've also always thought Friendship was cool, and it should be cheaper, Bloomfield too.

Don't rule out buying - yes, even in this market, in Pgh you can find dirt cheap decent housing for a monthly mortgage payment that's less than a month's rent. I have a friend who bought a house facing Allegheny General on the North Side for less than he could rent anything, didn't have to fix it up much (carpet, paint, factored in to mortgage), and did it making barely above minimum wage - there are a lot of those houses around there. Glenwood is in a bit of a hollow but could also be likewise super cheap (and very close to trails). If you own it, you can fill it with as many pets as the Health Department will ignore

You will find something, what you are describing is out there, I've encountered it many times, and you'll find it too

Seems like Millvale might be a place to look (don't you work in the strip dist somewhere?).

It seems like a nice little pocket community, with trail access to town, great river front park, and seems like it would be sort of overlooked, housing-wise.

I have to back-up don't rule out buying. My husband and I bought a house in SS (technically slopes but right behind the tracks so there's no slopes to climb to my house). The rent is cheaper than a efficiency , a kind of crappy, apartment we had before. Everyone keeps saying the first few years your only paying interest and it's not worth it, but we're not looking to make money. If you plan on being here for more than a year or two, I'd at least take a look at some homes to buy. Personally for us, we plan to rent the home when we relocate when my husband finishes school (2012), but there's lots of options!

Buying is awesome, but you didn't ask about that so I'm not going to preach. Purchasing my place in Bloomfield six years ago has allowed me to do all sorts of fun stuff in life.

For rentals though, the advice I give everyone is to get on your bike or on foot and walk up and down every street and alley in places you want to rent. Many of the best apartments are held by small time landlords with just a few properties and they never get advertised besides a For Rent sign in the window.

If you can, bike to any potential living space. When we moved into the apartment the landlord acted like he'd never seen a bike before and why in the world would we want to bring it in at night!?

EDIT: or just don't be stupid like me and not mention that your a biker.

Can I ask why you're against heights/slopes/hills? There can be an advantage to living on the top of one: every ride starts out going downhill!

I'll second BradQ's suggestion. Pick a neighborhood and ride up and down every street looking for 'For Rent' signs. I found a nice apartment in Friendship that way; I went up and down every road and wrote down all of the phone numbers and then got on the phone. A lot of them turned out to be junk, but I wound up finding a really nice apartment with lots of room that was much cheaper than anything I saw in the paper.

When I lived in Millvale my dog and I were on the trail down there every single day. I miss it.

If I was a betting man, I'd say to purchase a house just a bit up a hill from a very flat area. Slopes, Millvale, NSide fit this perfectly. Thinking 20, 30 years out, I see that these areas are going to go up in value, whereas the McMansionvilles will be the slums of 2040.

You want to be up a hill a little bit just in case of flooding. Millvale took it on the chin in Ivan as well as a couple of summer downpours in recent years. Maybe not halfway up Logan, just not in the flood plain.

Flats vs slopes.

When I worked in the steel mill, the first thing anyone would ask about a new house is "Is the lot level?" I'm thinking that a house on a slope has a certain chance of structural integrity problems. Not a problem for renting.

As far as the top of the hill? Then you always have to struggle to get home. If you are like me, you find yourself staying way too long at parties and other events, because you're "too tired to get home." When I swim in the river, I start out going upstream. When I notice a wind, I start out riding upwind.

On the other hand, living in Squirrel Hill and working in Oakland is like driving to work and getting exercise on your way home.

Stu is right about the flood plain. I t's good to have the bottom of your basement be higher than the highest flood level of the nearest creek or river. Particularly in Millvale.

+1 for avoiding flood plain. My aunt was pretty stranded in a second story apartment during Ivan. She's now in a first floor apartment, betting her knees and independence wouldn't outlast the time between major floods. Besides, everything is uphill from the flood plains, even the bridges

And if you find a place in Millvale, you could commute by bike and kayak to the Strip. That would be totally awesome.

Two houses in Millvale in the PG today, 4BR/2ba $40K, 2BR/1ba $30K. Up the hill a bit. There are a good many used cars that cost that much. They ain't the Taj Mahal, and your neighbors are wedged right in next to you, but you could do a lot worse, I'd think.

EDIT: Geez, there's one for $13,500! Out of the flood plain but not up a huge hill.

Go to maps.google.com, key in the address, find it, click on More, enable "Terrain". Bingo, flood plains immediately apparent.

I lived in Millvale for a year when I first moved to Pittsburgh. I liked living there. Easy access to the trail and a relatively quiet neighborhood (except for the motorcycles). DeMores Pizza is AWESOME! Definitely find a place above the flood plane though.

Then I moved to Lawrenceville. If you value your sleep and don't want your apartment to smell like a bus fart...Do not live on Butler St. and avoid Wylie Holdings apartments.

I'm living near Regent Square/Wilkinsburg now and I think this is my favorite place out of the bunch.

I have to agree with finding a landlord rather than a holding company to rent from though. The place I lived in L.ville was owned by a company who didn't give a crap about anything but the rent check. Building was managed by some dude who leaves his office at 5:00.

The place I'm living now is owned by a guy named Ken. I have his personal phone number incase I have an emergency and he's a pretty cool guy. Also lives across the street which makes it convenient for him and me incase something needs fixing

Landlord = personal interaction

Holding Company = put on hold while your water heater is exploding.

+1 on avoiding Wylie Holdings. They treat their properties and their tenants like shit.

Thanks for warning about wylie holdings - I've been contacting them on two different places. I saw a super cheap house on the north side, several bedroom....

as far as hills, anyone who's met me can see that I'm not built for climbing hills (I got winded going over 10th st this morning [but I was really tired, other generic excuse, etc]). I like busing it, but can't afford it anymore.

I have a cat and bad credit - so none of the good places will take me, heh.

I'm gonna try to take a day and ride around millvale and etna, see what's going on there. Thanks for the advice!

Our Wylie Holding building was missing the retractable part of the fire escape. So escaping a fire meant leaping about 15 feet onto a concrete parking lot. Just imagine being pregnant in that situation.

The fire escape on the other side of the building was too low and little hood rats would pull it down and run up and down the fire escape.

I could go on and on but I won't

Others to avoid - Kelly (wouldn't let anybody I've known out of a lease early even with replacement lined up) and Walnut Capital (maintenance dept run by airheads, boiler exploded in the middle of winter = dead pet fish, cold angry tenants, also super expensive but allow cats). I've never heard anything good about Mozart, but nothing specifically evil.

In general I've found that Real Humans are easier to work with than Corporate Machines, though the latter are made up of the former. You and your cat will find something awesome!

yeah, my old landlord allowed bugs to run rampant in all his buildings, several of which didn't even have private bathrooms. My roof leaked the entire time I lived there, no matter how many "repairmen" he sent to fix it (read: he gave his tennants money off of the rent in order for them to fix things, which they never did). Then, he changed his pet policy, and because I had no lease, he told me to GTFO. Stay away from Alex Alexiades on E Ohio St. Eat at Ritas's! (Also, avoid Pickles and Peanuts, the kitchens are disgusting - my first complaint being that the cooks don't wear hats or even tie their long hair back. That might have changed since I reported them to the health dept

My current landlord is much better, but a bit more expensive.

On the topic of those to avoid, add Forward Management to the list. The short version included water leaks, a lot of recurrent mold, and little done about it until I called a lawyer.

I personally am looking into the purchasing route myself at the moment, although I'm in no rush to move as I like my apartment - I just wish it wasn't in the South Side.

yeah, I've found affordable, pet friendly apartments - in the south side area. As in, too close to E Carson to practically take Arlington into town. No thank you.

2 bedroom

$450

Liberty Ave in bloomfield (near 38th)

Just a few blocks up the hill

plus electric and heat

No charge for the kitty.

first floor apartment.

Either this guy is a terrible landlord, or its haunted

seems right on par with that area to me

I wish I'd known that last year when I got evicted

Oh well, what's done is done!

I'm pretty stoked about moving

Hrm, I'm renting from Wylie Holdings and are having a great time so far. I LOVE LOVE LOVE my apartment, and don't have any complaints.

Yeah, I will admit that I've heard their bad-rep from other people before, but so-far so good for me.

Just a different point of view.

NOW.... who I would avoid like the plague, is Forbes Management, and Lobos Management..... seriously!

the dude I'm renting from - who's name I forgot to ask for - seems like he's just one guy renting a few buildings out. there was no application process or anything, just - "Pay me the security deposit, and then you can move in this november."

So I now have a super-affordable place to live.



I'm so stoked, the kitchen walls are red, and they match my blender, coffeemaker, scale, etc.

"Pay me the security deposit, and then you can move in this november."

I don't mean to be the cause of alarm, but I assume it was more involved than that. In case it wasn't, you really should do a bit more checking up on this fellow before you hand over any money. Was there a lease?

The prevalence of rental scams has skyrocketed since the housing market crashed. In short, people rent things they have no right to rent...they have broke into a foreclosed/for sale house and show it as if they own/manage it. By the time your move-in date rolls around they're long gone with your deposit and you're homeless. It is an awful thing to do to a person.

I'll take him the check and question about a long-term lease, as I'm not looking to move again for a while.

Any owner who is so lax that he/she doesn't bother to have a random person off the street sign any lease or run any sort of background or credit check would send up red flags for me--especially if you think the price is too good to be true, just sayin'.

You can check the county tax records to see who owns the property in question.

http://www2.county.allegheny.pa.us/realestate/Default.aspx

Then make sure the guy you are paying is that person.

If you are suspicious like I am, you simply ask to see his drivers license to verify identity before you sign any contracts.

fair enough. I'll do that this friday.

http://www.hud.gov/local/pa/renting/tenantrights.cfm

Know your rights. Pittsburgh has a lot of slumlords in the Eastend. I thought the state had a link to a "standard" renter's agreement, but I cant find it.

I'm amazed to find, in doing a plain old Google search on "Marshall G Neft", that this very thread is already showing in the search results. And at this typing, the name only appeared in the thread 52 minutes ago.

That said, Marshall G Neft appears to be a real homeowner in the area. Check the address in question, though, as suggested above.

he is the owner of the property, but I forgot the name of the guy I'm talking to. I'll probably just ask to see his license, and show him mine, explaining that I don't want anyone getting ripped off before I write him a check. If he refuses to show me his license, I'll take off on my bike, and hit cragslist again.

get a lease or you might very well show up in november and find someone else renting the place. even if the guy you are dealing with IS the owner, this is why they have contracts.

Better still, call Mr. Neft and verify that his property is available as described, and get the name of the agent HE is working through. Then, on Friday, take down the name of the agent you are working through, bolt on the bike if different, and report to police AND Mr. Neft.

I'll call him tomorrow afternoon to ask about the lease, and to see if I could pick up a copy of the lease to review the terms before I give him any money. Then, on friday, I'll get a picture from his license, and if the name on it isn't "Marshall Neft," I'll try to sneak a picture of him to show the police when I call them.

If he's not ACTUALLY Marshal Neft, I have no way of getting in contact with the real one.

http://www.zabasearch.com

An amazing tool.

He's also listed in a 2006 Pittsburgh white pages phone book that's at my office. Same address and phone as Zabasearch. Which also tells me he's 54, but does not verify baldness. (Technology has its limits, you know.)

While there are many scammers in the world, there are quite a few landlords that are just cool, laid back people.

I've found quite a few throughout the years. My current landlords are the best I've ever had by far and it was the same story as you described. We walked in, had a look around and a beer and the whole thing was decided with a handshake.

We obviously signed a lease but not until we were moving in. Point is that sometimes that can be a really good sign that he won't screw you over when you try to leave or have a problem or the rents 1 day late. Just trust your gut on the guy.

Good luck!

Well, I can't trust my gut, because my gut says that everyone is out to get me.

I'll just ask about the lease, and review it before I give him any money, and explain that nowadays, people may not be who you think they are, and ask to see his ID, and show him mine, so he knows I'm not fooling anyone. If he refuses, I'll just tell him the deal's off.

RF, just a thought, but if you are feeling this sketched out maybe it would be a good idea to take a friend with you, safety in numbers and all.

lol, i googled this dude and found this. i'm interested in how this went, RF. i can tell you pretty much anything you'd like to know about him.

Well, I gave him some of the security deposit, I'm just looking for a physical description of the guy before I give him any more money.

i googled this dude and found this

Uh-oh. Bad sign.

joined one hour ago.

Exactly my point... looks like an abort situation

Okay, I made a check out to "Marshall Neft" when I paid him a little bit of the security deposit. I know that at Ace and Western Union, they won't cash a personal check without calling the number on the check.

Banks usually require some kind of ID to cash a check, or at least an account with the bank in that name. The check went through.

I really don't want to have to look for another apartment.

So can anyone recommend a reliable and inexpensive moving service? It turns out that I can't get anyone to drive a u-haul for me, and I don't know how to drive or have a license.

unfortunately, I now need to get a lawyer - the guy definitely owned the place, he's just a scumbag.

any recommendations

If you have limited income, a good place to start might be the Neighborhood Legal Services Helpline: http://www.nlsa.us/about_nlsa/helpline.htm.

You should also file a complaint with the PA State Attorney Gen office. They can take a long time to investigat a claim. But if this person does own the building they will not want to deal with being investigated for fraud/theft.

http://www.attorneygeneral.gov/complaints.aspx?id=451

I'd imagine you're still looking for a new place to live as well? Or do you have that undercontrol?

Sorry for your drama, hope it's a happier ending!

It was a whole big ordeal with an existing tennant and her section 8. It sort of worked out, but my current landlord isn't happy that I have to stay till the end of the month, as he was planning on putting this apartment back up soon. But I am moving in on dec 2, and I'll save the links above just in case.

I need help finding a new apartment and someone to help me move again. This place is terrible.

I just have a sedan, but I'll help you move as long as it's not this weekend.

When is the move?

don't know - I'm able to move in, in fact, I"m mostly moved in, but it's not what I was told it would be.

He said, "all the apartments in the building are the same, so I can show you one of them and give you the first one that's open."

The one he showed me was great. The one I moved into was not anywhere near the other one. not that the one I saw was perfect, but the one that my stuff is in now is supposed to be a two bedroom. I don't know if there's a legal definition of what can be called a bedroom, but this isn't it. You can just barely fit a twin bed in this room, and nothing else. It is literally a closet with its own closet.

My electricity isn't on until monday! I can't sleep there. The heat won't turn on until the electricity is on.

I'm going to have to ask around to people I know if I can crash on a couch until monday morning when I go to work.

I'm going to have to live here for now, but I'm going to tell this guy that I'm moving out as soon as I find another place. I don't know when this will be - I need a two bedroom for cheap, in an area close to downtown.

Bedrooms must have a window, or another alternate fire escape route than the door.

nothing. just the door.

also, I'm getting no bites on couches. so if anyone up near liberty and 38th can spare some room, I'd be really grateful, and I'll cook you dinner or something. I have a place for my cat to stay already, so it'll be just me and my bike, and I'll be gone monday morning.

Please pm me or call me if you can help me out - I just need a warm place to sleep. My internet connection is spotty, so I'll just post my number: 412.628.2111

so an update, in case anyone was wondering - I found a place to stay for the weekend, which was awesome, and now I have electricity, heat, and internet. this apartment is pretty gross compared to what I saw in the other one. I'll probably look for a different one. but in the meantime, I'm kind of stuck here.

I'm also kind of scared to turn off the lights. oh well, I'm saving 200/month at least - probably more because I don't need to take a bus up the hills every day anymore.

Until I can move again, I'm making the best of this situation, sleeping with the lights on, etc.

If you dont mind me asking, is there any particular area you looking to live? My boss owns some buildings and always has the down low on at least a few apts for rent.

somewhere relatively flat, or at least, not a bad walk (arlington=bad walk. bloomfield=decent walk) that is close to town so I don't have to bus anywhere.

I'll keep my ears open for you!

Thanks! I'm looking for a two-bedroom, btw.