Showing posts with label house hunters. Show all posts
Showing posts with label house hunters. Show all posts

Monday, September 29, 2014

Real Estate Monday: Forest Hills

How'd you like to be my neighbor? Well, not directly next door, but down the street a little is this [now] adorable house that's been completely renovated. Edgewood Acres is such a cute neighborhood, where almost every house is unique and kept up to a T. My mom and I use to walk by this house, however, and complain about how ugly it was and how it just didn't fit. Now it doesn't even look like the same house! Inside it was completely gutted and redone, along with new landscaping outside, a freshly paved driveway, and a new garage. So in the true spirit of Redesignation, here's 310 Castlegate Rd. Pittsburgh, Pa 15221. It's a 3 bedroom, 2 full/ 2 half bath house listed at $209,900.

The deck is connected to a walk-out basement and has a built-in fire pit perfect for entertaining.

I told Jim, the renovator/homeowner, I was proud of him for not doing the "typical" flipped house kitchen with the dark cabinets/ cheap granite. This looks light and fresh, and I like the extra molding on the cabinets. There's room for stools at the island, and probably a 6 foot dining table for an eat- in kitchen (not pictured here). There's also a half bath off the kitchen on the way down to the basement. 

The living room, which would greatly benefit by being staged, is actually much bigger than it looks in this pic. 

Master en-suite bathroom. 

Master bedroom. 

The ultimate man-cave/finished basement. There's two rooms like this equal in size, then a cold storage room, plus plenty of closets and a half bath. 


***UPDATE***
Unless I go into labor before hand :), I volunteered to do an open house for THIS Sunday October 5th, from 1-3. Stop by and say hi, and introduce yourself.  

Monday, August 18, 2014

Real Estate Monday: Edgewood

Today's pick is to prove a point to myself. To trust my gut. A lot of my seasoned readers know we bought a foreclosure on Maple Avenue before, and when I lost out on the chance to act again, I thought it'd be ages till another one came on the market. Then there was 440 Maple, listed at $105,000. I called my Realtor (I wasn't licensed at the time, still had a month to go) and asked her to see it. She then proceeded to give me all the reasons why it wasn't worth seeing. Mistake #1. I should have found someone else willing to show it to me. In her defense, I was looking on behalf of my parents, who aren't the quickest investors to pull the trigger, but I was determined. Insert sob story here.
Flash forward four months, it sold for over asking price at $123,500. Clearly other people saw its value as well to bid up the price like that. And I'm going to give you a little secret: anything on that side of Maple around $100k no matter what the condition is WORTH IT! Because once you put a little money into it, these houses sell consistently around the upper $300's. That's a huge deal!
I've been driving by the house watching the progress and it's finally back on the market at a whopping $455,000! Wanna see it?
Here's 440 Maple Avenue, Pittsburgh, Pa 15218
It boasts 5 bedrooms, 3.5 bathrooms. Here are some photos:
They re-stuccoed the entire front, and staged it with porch furniture & some flowers. 


I love this fireplace for some reason. Maybe it's the simple contrast of the white brick against those newly refinished floors. 


I feel like this is a very typical kitchen for a flip. You watch those shows on HGTV, you know what I mean, right? I would have liked to have seen a little more creativity here, but I understand, their goal is to appeal to the masses, not to little ole' me. 

How's this for a dressing room? 



Love fireplaces in the bedroom. So cozy! 


 Can you see why I'm a little sad about missing this opportunity? Oh well. C'est la vie.
As always, if you'd like to see this house, or any others on the market, feel free to call or email...we'll schedule a showing. And if you're a fellow investor/interested in flipping, I'm really good at finding a deal, and I promise to not talk you out of seeing something based on my own opinions (not. bitter. at. all)!


Monday, July 28, 2014

Real Estate Monday: Fineview

I've been sick with a stomach bug for like 3 days now... turns out you don't fight things off so well when you're prego. So what do I do? Send my husband off to Kennywood with the 3 yr. old and blog/surf the web. Do people still say, "surf the web?" I'm not so sure.
Anyways, this past week I went exploring the Mexican War Streets to check out an investment condo I've been trying to talk my parents into. They're my toughest clients ;)
As I meandered up Federal street, I happened to find Fineview, yet another unique, little Pittsburgh neighborhood tucked away with a million dollar view. Hence the name Fineview, I guess. It's actually home to one of Pittsburgh's longest set of steps. If you want more info on its history you can click here for a great neighborhood profile. The views are seriously breathtaking.
The house I went looking for is a new build at only a whopping seven years old! It's curb appeal can't be beat, in my opinion. Here's a 3 bed/1.5 bath house for $159,900 with a view that's priceless.

1910 Meadville St, Pittsburgh, PA 15214

I wanted to make sure the neighborhood was decent before I took a client to see this house, and I was pleasantly surprised to see most of the homes were kept up quite nicely. There's a mix of both old and new as well. I especially love the mustard doors against the gray siding. 

 While I don't think the decor maximizes the potential of this space (those windows and high ceilings are amazing!) I still think you get the general idea of what a cute house this is.
I always want to paint those standard oak cabinets. Maybe some new light fixtures, too. Not a huge kitchen, but adequate for sure. 

I think this is the view at the end of the street. Not bad, huh? 




Another reason I like this house is that there's room to put your own stamp on it. The rooms are simple and clean. The bathroom needs a little updating, but with this price tag I think there's room for that. All in all, an adorable house with the comfort of it being a newer build sounds good to me. 

* I am not the listing agent for any of the homes I share on Real Estate Mondays, unless otherwise stated. I do not receive any compensation for these posts. If you'd like more information on any of the homes, I am a licensed Realtor, so please contact me via email or cell and I can schedule a showing for you. 

Monday, July 14, 2014

Real Estate Monday: Oakland

Today we're going mountain lodge style in the middle of the city. Sounds fun, huh? This is such an interesting looking property I dug up when looking at comps for someone selling their home in Oakland. I think it could be spectacular with a little leg work.
3816 Wolf Way, Pittsburgh Pa 15213 4 bed/3 bath for $199k
Doesn't it look straight out of the wild west? So atypical for Pittsburgh. I love the wrap around porch on the second story. Can you imagine filling those window boxes with some gorgeous flowers and just kicking back out there?
 This is a really dark kitchen, but I'm sure you could do a lot to keep in the style of the house, yet brighten it a bit with some new countertops and appliances. Maybe some beautiful, Tuscon-patterned granite? Some modern art piece on the brick wall. I love mixes of rustic and modern.

That fireplace is awesome. I want to see a huge driftwood chandelier cascading down over it. 




 I kind of like the paneling on the ceilings, but I think I'd go with a fresh white coat of paint on the walls...brighten it up a bit, but still give it that cottage charm.
How about some inspiration photos of what it could look like, so you don't think I'm crazy?!
source


I realize it'd take a lot of work to get it to this point, but I think it's totally doable without breaking the bank...just lots of painting skills. :)


* I am not the listing agent for any of the homes I share on Real Estate Mondays, unless otherwise stated. I do not receive any compensation for these posts. If you'd like more information on any of the homes, please contact me via email or cell and I can always schedule a showing for you :)

Monday, June 9, 2014

Real Estate Monday: Dormont

If we're facebook friends you'll know that I've been showing houses to a client in the Dormont/Brookline area. I'm a pretty loyal fan of the East End of Pittsburgh, but the south hills area has been pretty fun to explore.
Today's Real Estate Monday is a load of potential. If the downstairs living room and dining room are a sign of what could be, then I think this house is a real winner. Beware, everything else needs quite a bit of elbow grease [read: sweat equity], but that's what this blog is all about, isn't it? 
 The outside of this house looks great, and the location is wonderful. I love the grand stairway, as well, and I was so excited to see the wood paneling has some different wood-colored detail.

So from the first three pictures, you're probably wondering why I'm calling this a fixer-upper, but wait for it...

 Ah, the kitchen. The hub of the home. Not so much in here. But it could be. The space is there, and I bet this could be fabulous.
One of the many upstairs bedrooms that needs refinished. If you weren't handy with a sander, you could just pay for new carpeting and call it a day. 

One of three bathroom. Not so bad. Nothing a little paint can't freshen up for a quick fix. Or go all out with some new tile. 

Looks like one of the rooms on the third floor. It'd probably make an excellent master suite. 

And finally, who doesn't like a nice two car garage for your cars. Or a place for your furniture to wait while you restore the second and third floors. 
If you're looking, give me a call and we'll set up a time to go through it. I'm super curious, aren't you? 

Monday, May 26, 2014

Real Estate Monday: Central North Shore

Hope you all had a wonderful, relaxing Memorial weekend. I took about a three hour nap that felt great!
I thought I'd throw in a place I've actually seen in person. This weekend I took a client around the North Shore area. He's a young professional and wants to live where he can walk to work, or at least be a short bus ride away. I don't blame him. We looked at a place called Foster Square, right down from the Children's Museum and the legendary Gus & Yia Yia's snow cone stand. It's a co-op and it appears to be beautifully taken care of- the grounds are very well-maintained.
I wish I would have taken my own pictures because I actually felt like this apartment was much cuter in person. I told the listing realtor that the owner did a fabulous job at de-cluttering and staging as well, especially since they have small children. Not an easy task to do even without kids.
Here's 50 Foster Square, a 3 bedroom, 2 1/2 bathroom co-op, listed at $176,900.

You walk immediately into the kitchen. It's small, but completely up-to-date and very adequate. There's a half bath opposite of the kitchen, and an open floor plan that flows into the dining room, then living room. 

 Every bedroom has huge closets that line the wall. I was very impressed by the amount of storage this condo has. The master occupies the entire third floor. It has a Juliet balcony and an en-suite bathroom. On the second floor there are two bedrooms and a bathroom, with the laundry room tucked in one of the closets.
 The second bedroom has a balcony off of it as well, and it's a fairly large room.
Living close to downtown is definitely lifestyle decision that I find appealing. We park near here for Pirate games...it'd be awesome just to walk right outside your back door. What do you think?