In a line stolen from A Chorus Line, "well, you get what you pay for, I guess." Yes, I'm getting a four bedroom house for $54,000 but hey -- it is in Pittsburgh, ya know?

Technically it's a two unit duplex, though I will be turning it back into a single family house. Does that make the dollar figure more or less alarming?

Apparently my parents paid not too much more for their house than I'm paying for mine. The difference? It was 35 years ago.

My house is in Polish Hill, which is up-and-coming, but, you know, not yet really arrived yet. Combine that with the current lousy housing market (lousy for sellers, that is, but great for me!) and the fact that the insane (and, likely, drug addict) homeowner will be foreclosed on if she doesn't sell ... and you've got the recipe for the perfect starter house.

FWIW, every hideous Pittsburgh thing that could've been done to it has been done to it. Dropped ceilings. Shag carpet. Fake wood paneling. Asphalt siding that's been painted, so as to make it even less attractive than regular asphalt siding. Address just spray painted onto the exterior wall.

Yup. She's a charmer all right. :)

There's an "ahem, hydroponic" store in Larryville? How did I not know this?