My family and I have recently outgrown our 2 bedroom duplex. While it’s really a great house and we have the best landlord in the world, we just need some more room (and a better backyard for our little one). So, we are (once again) performing the rental search. We need another year or two to save to buy and we all know it will be a buyer’s market for a long time, so we decided to just rent for another year.

Well, I forgot how painful the renting process is. Not only is it hard to find a 3 BR house right now, but we supposedly need to worry about scammers from across the world tricking us. Within only one week of looking at a small number of properties online, I have received two scam offers and thought I should share my experiences with everyone in the area so no one else is scammed. Luckily, I was smart enough to do some heavy research the first time, which saved me a large sum of money, but I am afraid that others have been scammed, which is why I’m writing this. Keep reading for the whole story and what you can do to avoid being scammed. Full Story »

Oakland: The Loss of a Community, Part 2

This is Part 2 of the Oakland Series. There’s so much to say about the Oakland community that you will see a number of posts devoted to Oakland, The University of Pittsburgh, and especially, bad housing conditions in Pittsburgh - one of my personal crusades for change. This entry is dedicated to the history of housing law and the older residents who have lived in Oakland for a long, long time (and who many simply have forgotten).

I would like to note that the University of Pittsburgh has done an excellent job to rebuild the bridges they broke in the late 60s and early 70s with Oakland’s long-term residents (as explained in this posting), but there is still more work to do when it comes to improving housing conditions for both the students renters and the long-term residents of Oakland.

Oakland in the 1950s: The Cathedral of Learning Mobbed by Many as the University Grows in Popularity!

Law and Housing Conditions

“Miserable and disreputable housing conditions…may indeed make living an almost insufferable burden. They may also be an ugly sore, a blight on the community which robs it of its charm; which makes it a place from which men may turn. The misery of housing may despoil a community as an open sewer may ruin a river”
~ Supreme Court Justice William O.Douglas, in Berman v.Parker. Full Story »

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One of Pittsburgh’s most fascinating Web sites, JURIST, is powered by a volunteer team of students at the University of Pittsburgh Law School. JURIST displays breaking legal news across the Web 24/7 to an audience of lawyers, judges, policymakers, government employees, law professors, law and college students and has even been recently recognized as a (second time) Official Honoree in the 2007 Webby Awards. Full Story »