Buying Here: Mount Washington
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The living room features one of the house's three fireplaces. -
This four-bedroom brick house on Mount Washington is on the market for $195,000. -
The kitchen has a ceramic tile floor, laminate counter tops and newer stainless-steel appliances. -
The dining room has built-in cabinets and a fireplace converted to burn gas. -
The master bedroom. -
One of the house's two full bathrooms, which haven't been updated. They still have some 1950s-'60s-era tile and fixtures.
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When her daughter was attending Duquesne University, Sherry Adams went looking to buy a house nearby where she could live less expensively than in a dorm.
She found it at 412 Bailey Ave., Mount Washington, a four-bedroom, 21/2-bath brick house with a two-car garage and more street parking than usual for the neighborhood. Now that her daughter has graduated, it's back on the market for $195,000 (MLS No. 900359) through Liz Caplan of RE/MAX Realty Brokers (412-302-2645 or www.pittsburgh-homes.com /).
"I thought it was cute as could be," Ms. Adams said. "It had a lot of style and a big front porch."
Built in 1900, the house has three fireplaces, leaded-glass windows and hardwood floors.
"They kept a lot of the original details and the integrity while still doing some nice updates," said her Realtor. "And with almost 2,000 square feet, it's a lot of square footage for the money."
A leaded-glass transom and sidelights surround the front door, which also has leaded glass. The 12-by-11-foot dining room has built-in cabinets and a fireplace converted to burn gas. The other two fireplaces -- in the 20-by-15-foot living room and a bedroom -- are wood-burning, but the owner does not know if they work.
The house also has front and back staircases, suggesting its original owners were wealthy enough to have servants. The back staircase leads to the 12-by-11-foot kitchen, which has a ceramic tile floor, laminate counter tops and stainless-steel GE refrigerator, dishwasher and stove that were new when Ms. Adams bought the house in August 2006 for $184,000. The property has a county assessed value of $79,700 (www2.county.allegheny.pa.us/RealEstate/Default.aspx).
PG MAPAt a glance
- Website: www.mwcdc.org
- Size: 1.139 square miles
- Population: 8,799 (2010 census)
- School district: Pittsburgh Public ( www.pghboe.net )
- Enrollment: 26,123
- Average SAT scores: 405 verbal; 434 math; 391 writing (Brashear High School)
- Annual taxes on a home assessed at $100,000: $2,870; City: $1,080 (10.80 mills); School: $1,392 (13.92 mills); County: $398 (4.69 mills)•
- Earned income tax: 1 percent (Includes the Act 50 Homestead Exclusion, which reduces assessed market value by $15,000 for county taxes)
- History: The Monongahela and Duquesne Heights inclines, which together have carried about 200 million passengers without incident to Mount Washington's summit, are among the oldest funiculars anywhere. Originally powered by steam, they're the sole survivors of the 17 inclines that once served a half-dozen Pittsburgh neighborhoods.
• Includes the Act 50 Homestead Exclusion, which reduces assessed market value by $15,000 for county taxes.
Gretchen McKay , Post-Gazette
Also fairly new then were the forced-air furnace and components of the central air-conditioning system. Ms. Adams bought a new water heater and replaced the roof and all but the leaded-glass windows. She also had the chimney repointed. She did not update the two full bathrooms upstairs or the powder room downstairs; some still have their 1950s, '60s-era tile and fixtures.
The bedrooms measure 18 by 13 feet, 18 by 12 feet, 18 by 11 feet and 12 by 11 feet. The smallest bedroom is the most unique, with a fireplace, dark wood paneling, a porthole and a nautical feel. Ms. Adams said her daughter and housemates used it as a study.
The women rarely parked in the two-car tandem garage and had little trouble finding street parking, she said, because the large new townhouses across the street have a parking lot and there are relatively few houses on this block. Many of the lots on the river side are too narrow and/or steep to build on.
From the front porch, Ms. Adams said her daughter could see the river and Duquesne's Uptown campus when there are no leaves on the trees.
"It's a nice view without the cost" of other Mount Washington properties, she said.
Using McArdle Roadway and the Liberty Tunnels, her daughter could drive to campus in 10 minutes or less. The property is also within a block of a bus stop and within easy walking distance of restaurants and shops. An entrance to Grandview Park is a block and a half away.
The house also has a back porch, tall wooden privacy fence and a small patio. The garage can be accessed from the unfinished basement, which has hook-ups for a washer and dryer.
Ms. Adams said the house would work well as either a single-family home or for college students; several other houses on Bailey Avenue are rented by students. Over the past three years, 11 properties have sold on Bailey for prices ranging from $95,000 in July 2011 to $545,000 in January 2011 ( www.realstats.net ).
An open house will be held from 1 to 3 p.m. Sunday.
First Published January 28, 2012 12:00 am
