Pittsburgh investing low

[Lisa Sims]

So my Husband and I starting investing in Pittsburgh. We currently have 5 properties  3 in Clairton 2 in Turtle Creek. purchased and rehab for 30k-45k all in  we are getting $ 750-1125 a month. We paid cash for the purchase and rehab. So we are pulling out our money and we are going to do it again. My question?? When I mention TC or Clairton  Realtors just say HMM. But we have had a great experience.  In both places there is bad but there is very nice areas also. When we put a property up for rent, people are knocking down the door to get it. Good credit score, good jobs. I get we are only a year in but If the numbers work the number work. Right?  

[Jim K.]

@Lisa Sims

You are buying these places and intend to hold on to them for the next twenty-or-so years, correct? Let's looks at Clairton, where my great-grandfather burned coke between the world wars, so I have more than a passing familiarity with it.

The population of Clairton has been in deep decline for the last seventy years. According to Wikipedia quoting the US Census, Clairton's population in 1950 was 19,652.  By 1990, it was 9,656. The current estimated population is 6,611. What's the future look like for Clairton? What kind of possibilities for eventual revitalization can you foresee? Is it likely that your rentals are going to be in an abandoned area soon?

Turtle Creek has also undergone 70 years of population decline, but it is more centrally located, surrounded by places where there are jobs to be had. I think TC's long-term prospects as a bedroom neighborhood for a new, more compact Pittsburgh are a bit better than Clairton's for that reason.