First-Time Investor Looking for Advice and Connections in Pittsburgh!

[Noy Rivlin]

Hi everyone!

I’m excited to take my first steps into real estate investing and have decided to focus on Pittsburgh for my first property.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on:

• *Neighborhoods or areas in Pittsburgh that are good for investment and typical price ranges I should expect.
• *Any red flags unique to the Pittsburgh market.

I’m also hoping to connect with fellow investors, agents, or property managers who are familiar with the local market. If you’re based in Pittsburgh or have experience investing there, I’d love to hear from you!

Thanks in advance for any tips or advice you can share :)

[Jeremy Taggart]

@Noy Rivlin Most single family homes that make sense as rental properties are about $125k-$225k. Multi family can range from about $60k-$125k/unit. Once you go above $125k/unit you start to get into the high end areas that won't have very good rent/price ratios and are under the 1% rule mark for turnkey stuff.

Neighborhood wise in the city the "East End" is where the most expensive real estate is since that's where the universities and a lot of the hospitals are located. So I'm a fan of buying in the path of progress from here since it's starting to expand outwards into cheaper neighborhoods. Think across the river or highway from the East End, or south/north of downtown in neighborhoods that have easy access to the city and walkable downtown areas. Those tend to be the neighborhoods that are gentrifying.

Unique stuff to Pittsburgh I would say is don't go based on zip codes since one zip code can be composed of multiple different areas/neighborhoods. We have zip codes that have lower and and higher end areas within the same zip so not a good marker to use.

Going along with that a lot of the neighborhoods are very street by street or change pretty quickly by block, so you have to be aware of that. You can have two houses within a quarter mile of each other with vastly different ARV and rent amounts. The hilly terrain is a main reason for this and you can't really see that on a map so knowing the areas is key.

We have old housing stock as well so big things like plumbing and electrical can vary cost wise if they have or haven't been updated. A lot more important compared to newer construction homes where you don't have to deal with certain things when it comes to either of those.

Many other nuances but those are just a few that come to mind. Pittsburgh is a good market to make money in now cash flow wise and has good upside as well if you know what you are doing.