Pittsburgh Homes Daily

Development on Pittsburgh’s North Shore continues.

The Pittsburgh Planning Commission approved the Hyatt Place hotel near PNC Park despite the opposition of Pittsburgh United, which will have an opportunity to air its concerns in front of the Pittsburgh City Council.

The nearby Marriott Residence Inn on the North Shore broke ground this month and is scheduled for completion in Fall 2009.

Other North Shore development projects include the North Shore Connector, the Majestic Star Casino, and Federal-North.

Read more in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.

Dare I even suggest that the Pittsburgh real estate market is heating up in 2008?

And to do so at a time when foreclosures in the Pittsburgh area set a near record in the first quarter, with economists believing that the Pennsylvania housing market could still get worse, and with the amount of sales activity and the median home price on the decline.

Why would I even suggest that the Pittsburgh housing market would do anything other than decline? Well - The Pittsburgh Business Times reports that foreclosures are down in Pittsburgh. And two articles in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette recently - which you can check out for yourself - are titled Downtown Condos Selling Fast & When houses are hot, they’re hot.

Photo by thenicole through a Creative Commons license.

Pittsburgh tops the list of the most courteous drivers in the nation. It also had the lowest percentage of drivers reporting cell phone use by other drivers. Read more in the Pittsburgh Business Times.

Drawing by Mike Kline via a creative commons license.

Reuters had an article on Monday about the increasing number of squatters living in vacant foreclosed homes. It is written from the perspective of the mortgage companies and their real estate agents detailing the squatting problem. But I’m not feeling too sorry for the new owners of the foreclosed homes. They aren’t particularly good neighbors.

Cities across the nation are now, or are considering, suing lenders and banks for there role in the foreclosure problem and the consequences of the vacant foreclosed homes, according to the USA Today. A recent statement indicated that Cleveland would have to spend $65 million a year over 5 years to handle abandoned homes. And that doesn’t count the economic effect on the neighbors because of decreasing property values. Or probably the problem that mosquitos from swimming pools at foreclosed homes could pose (see the wsj article).

The problem of vacant homes is one that Pittsburgh has known all to well. At various points in recent history, Pittsburgh has tried to make an effort to deal with the problem - through legislative or other means. Noteably, it attempted to board up vacant buildings to secure them a few years ago at taxpayers expense.

Ideally, foreclosed homes would be put up for sale on the market and quickly sold by the bank - since they aren’t in the real estate business. But now that they have so many foreclosed homes - and there’s no indication that they’ll be out of the real estate business quickly, it’s time a real solution to the problems of vacant homes and squatting are worked out. I don’t think anyone is happy with the current situation.

Read other articles on squatting and foreclosures here and here.

Photo by LukeGordon1 through a Creative Commons license.

Brighton Heights on the north side of Pittsburgh is holding a chocolate house tour on Sunday, May 18, 2008 from 1 pm to 5 pm. Enjoy a self-guided walking tour of ten homes and the tasty chocolate treats provided inside. Photos of the ten homes are currently available on Flickr. For more information, or to purchase tickets at the reduced rate, visit the Brighton Heights Citizens’ Federation.

UPMC must be pretty excited that their new facility (the Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC) in Lawrenceville will be opening one year from now - in May 2009 - as they’ve already released a press release here about the opening.

Want to see what all the fuss is about? Take a virtual tour of the new hospital (other tours found here) or check out the construction photo gallery.

Photo by KitAy through a Creative Commons license.

Money Magazine’s Real Estate Survival Guide has published Fiserv Lending Solutions’ 1 year price change predictions for the top 100 U.S. Cities. Real estate values are expected to decline, on average, 9.7 percent in the United States over the next year. Pittsburgh’s prediction? A relatively modest loss of 1.3%.

Prices are expected to increase in some areas of Texas and Upstate New York, while areas of Florida, California, Las Vegas, Arizona, Washington D.C., New York City and New Jersey are all set for an expected decline of more than 10%.

Photo by KitAy through a Creative Commons license.