Would you rather live in a Victorian house in small town rural Southwestern PA or a condo in SLC?

[Continential]

A sequel to this

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1274-State-Route-40-W-Claysville-PA-15323/49765461_zpid/
https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/44-W-Broadway-APT-302S-Salt-Lake-City-UT-84101/347194089_zpid/

[S019]

Claysville is less than an hour away from Pittsburgh, the choice is obvious.

[Dr. Cynic]

I grew up IN Washington County (Monongahela). I know exactly where that house is. Obviously, I'd prefer to live in familiar surroundings than in Salt Lake City.

[Independents for Nihilism]

I didn't expect to say this, but I'm picking rural PA. It's not too far from the reasonably sized town of Washington and only an hour to Pittsburgh if I'd ever have the unfortunate necessity of having to go to Pittsburgh.

[Electric Circus]

That condo looks like sh!t and I wouldn't want to live in SLC. But even as someone who loves older houses, I'm not thrilled about that "Victorian" number:

• No basement photos on the listing (which implies that there are expensive issues down there)
• A few hundred feet from an interstate highway (constant noise, will be worse in a lot of older construction)
• The restoration work is inconsistent. A lot of it is gaudy and out of place (although it looks like this home has always been a gaudy mess of clashing styles). These updates are pumping up the asking price, but if that's what you want, you don't need an old house to get it.
• The lot is small and cramped, especially for a grand old house like that. When you're not that close to amenities, you want some yard. The most usable section of yard abuts a parking lot and doesn't offer much privacy.
• The neighbor on the other side of that parking lot appears to be operating an unauthorized junkyard.
• You are definitely buying the most expensive house in the neighborhood.

I don't know that area, but it also looks like they're asking for way too much. The listing has been on and off of the market for the better part of a decade without a sale. I see nearby sold listings for livable older houses with plenty of personalty for under $300k. You could get a nice old house along with dozens of acres in that area for what they're asking for here.

[dead0man]

I'd be worried about heating and cooling an old house in a place with 4 seasons, more specifically, how much that would cost.

I'll take the sh**tty condo in SLC over the money pit in rural PA.

[Meclazine for Israel]

Rural Pennsylvania for me.

[pikachu]

Condo in walkable area (even if it's Utah) > middle of nowhere rural PA

(there also might be more nonwhite people on my floor than in that entire zip code, so uh, easy choice)

[Electric Circus]

Reflecting on this: Is the joke that both of these places are unprofitable short-term rentals?

Everything that confused me about the Second Empire/Italianate hybrid makes sense now. It's a former bed and breakfast.

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

The SWPA Victorian, even though I share all of Electric Circus's criticisms of it.

[Continential]

Claysville is less than an hour away from Pittsburgh, the choice is obvious.

An hour away from Pittsburgh is quite far away from Pittsburgh. Once you get past 40ish minutes away from Pittsburgh, it is rural.

I don't know that area, but it also looks like they're asking for way too much. The listing has been on and off of the market for the better part of a decade without a sale. I see nearby sold listings for livable older houses with plenty of personalty for under $300k. You could get a nice old house along with dozens of acres in that area for what they're asking for here.

Yeah this has been up since September of last year and I am not a huge fan of that house for those aforementioned reasons. Also, I can't imagine the internet being good in Claysville.

[No War, but the War on Christmas]

SLC, for sure. Which surprised even me, but I absolutely couldn't clean an entire house and don't want to. 

[bagelman]

The condo in an actual city if forced to choose, but it's too expensive. The victorian manor looks cool, wouldn't mind staying a night there if there was an attraction in Claysville worth visiting, but I would not want to live there and Claysville is >70% Trump and not worth a visit.

[Mr. Smith]

Southwestern PA, because SLC is too smoggy at this point.

[retromike22]

Definitely the condo in SLC

[Nutmeg]

Probably the Victorian, but treat it as a rural retreat and also get a pied-a-terre in Pittsburgh.

[vitoNova]

Zero desire to live anywhere else in the US outside the DC area, but of these 2 options, Salt Lake City definitely sounds the most interesting.   

[satsuma]

There's a good reason that beautiful historic mansions don't sell for 10 bajillion dollars. Buying a house like that would define your life, between the maintenance and the middle-of-nowhere location.

Yeah the condo has barely been touched since the 1980s but that can be fixed. Condo fees probably run about as high as the Victorian house upkeep issues. But the benefit is the downtown major city location and probably easy resale for that reason, so I'd pick that one.

[RINO Tom]

I live in a condo in Chicago now (Roscoe Village), and the wife and I really prize the opportunity to walk to happy hour, dinner, etc .... so I imagine SLC would be an easier adjustment.