Need info on the Greater Pittsburgh Area

[Zach Adair]

Hi Everyone,

Myself and a business partner have been looking into the Pittsburgh, PA area to do some investing in some multi-family properties out there. After some initial research we love the cash flow possibilities out there and think it is a great place to start building our portfolio. Unfortunately for us, neither of us have been to the area and have some obvious holes in our knowledge when it comes to a multitude of things that I'm hoping someone out here can give us insight into.

1) What are some of pitfalls that we need to look out for in the area?

2) What are the top 3-5 locations for investing?

3) Names of good contractors in the area? Because anything we acquire will deal with some sort of maintenance.

4) Which are the best property management companies in the area?

These are our four big questions at the moment so if anyone can help us with this information from experience in the area we would greatly appreciate it. 

Thanks,

[Jeremy Lee]

Hi Zach,

Welcome to BP. I think the short answer is "it depends". Pittsburgh is a very diverse area with different types of properties and different markets. Yes, the area (in general) is great for cashflow, but depending on your appetite for class of area (A, B, C etc) will determine how much cashflow you actually get.

A few quick pitfalls are:

1. There are 100+ year old houses, they are bound of have issues, the question is what and how much will it cost.

2. When working in lower price points, one or two miscalculations on the amount of repairs needed will put your underwater. 

3. Pittsburgh is street by street in some areas, for example wholesalers will advertise marshall shadeland as brighton heights, despite the fact that the property is no where near BH.

You can DM me and we can continue the conversation there.

Best,
J