Selling an Older Pittsburgh House As-Is: An Honest Local Guide

If your house was built before your parents were born, you’re in good company. Pittsburgh’s housing is some of the oldest in the country, and that’s a big part of its charm. Brick, hardwood, stained glass, front porches you can actually sit on.

It’s also why selling one can get complicated.

I’m Mark Schinzel with We Buy Property. We buy houses all over Pittsburgh and the surrounding counties, and we’ve bought 100+ houses since 2018, a lot of them older homes that need more work than the owner wants to take on. Here’s what I’d tell a neighbor who asked me whether to fix up an old house or sell it the way it is.

Just how old is Pittsburgh’s housing?

Older than almost anywhere in the U.S.

• City of Pittsburgh: about 49% of homes were built in 1939 or earlier, among the highest shares of any big city, alongside Buffalo, St. Louis and Cleveland, per a Census-based analysis (CCR Magazine).
• Allegheny County: the median home was built in 1957, and about 28.1% of homes predate 1940 (Home365, citing Census and county data).
• Pittsburgh metro area: 303,972 of 1,174,149 housing units, roughly 26%, were built in 1939 or earlier (U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2020-2024 5-year estimates, table B25034).

So if you’re in Lawrenceville, Bloomfield, Carrick, Brookline, McKeesport, or most of the Mon Valley, chances are your house is pushing 100.

Why older houses cost more to keep up

Age doesn’t just mean more repairs. It means different repairs.

Harvard’s Joint Center for Housing Studies found that homes built before 1980 spend 76% more on maintenance than homes built since 2010 (as cited by Home365). In Allegheny County, that describes the typical house, not the unusual one.

A survey of owners of homes 30+ years old found an average five-year repair spend of $10,700 (CCR Magazine). And national material costs are up about 11% year over year (Home365).

The big-ticket items buyers and inspectors flag on old Pittsburgh houses

These are the ones that make a buyer’s inspector start writing fast:

• Old wiring. Knob-and-tube or undersized panels. Usually a replace job, not a patch.
• Clay sewer laterals. Roots get in. It’s a well-known expensive Pittsburgh line item.
• Roofs, especially slate. Patching slate is specialist work.
• Hillside drainage and retaining walls. Half this city is built on a slope, and walls fail.
• Wet basements. Most of these basements were never designed to stay dry by modern standards.
• Foundations. Settling and cracks in old stone or block. More on that in selling a house with foundation problems.
• Lead paint. Federal law requires sellers of homes built before 1978 to disclose known lead-based paint hazards (EPA).
• Code issues. Old additions, porches, and stairs that were never permitted. See selling a house with code violations.

The list of systems above comes from Home365’s breakdown of common expensive repairs on older Pittsburgh homes (Home365), plus what I see walking through houses.

Why it’s harder to sell an old house right now

Two things are working against older homes this year.

Rates. When borrowing is expensive, buyers have less left over for repairs. A buyer stretching to afford the mortgage often can’t also afford a new roof and a sewer line in year one. The average 30-year fixed rate was 7.40% as of October 15, 2026, up from 6.27% a year earlier (Freddie Mac PMMS).

More choices for buyers. Pittsburgh’s active listings were up 15.2% year over year, with a median of 57 days on market, per Realtor.com’s October 2026 data (Realtor.com). When buyers have more to pick from, the house that needs work is the one that sits.

We hear from sellers whose deal fell apart about once a month, and agents call us a few times a week about clients’ listings that have gone stale. That’s when you start seeing price cuts, inspection renegotiations, and deals falling apart because a lender’s appraiser won’t sign off on a house with a failing roof or exposed wiring.

Your three real options

1. Fix it up and list it

Best if the house is mostly sound and you have the cash, time and patience to manage contractors. You’ll likely get the highest price, minus repair costs, agent commission, closing costs, and the months of carrying costs while you work. My comparison of selling to a cash buyer versus listing walks through the math.

2. List it as-is

You can list an old house “as-is” with an agent. Just know that “as-is” doesn’t stop a buyer’s inspection or their lender’s appraisal, and Pennsylvania still requires a seller’s property disclosure. I break that down in what as-is really means in Pennsylvania.

3. Sell directly to a local cash buyer

No repairs, no showings, no lender. You trade some price for speed and certainty. This makes the most sense when the repairs are big, the house is inherited or vacant, or you just don’t want another year of dealing with it. If that’s you, here’s how we buy houses and our page on selling a house that needs repairs.

How to decide

Ask yourself honestly:

• Do I have the cash to do the big repairs before listing?
• Can I handle contractors, permits, and inspections?
• How much does another 3 to 6 months of taxes, utilities and insurance cost me?
• Would a buyer’s lender even approve this house the way it is?

If most answers point to “no,” selling as-is is probably the better move. If you’re on the fence, call me and I’ll tell you straight whether I think you’d do better listing it.

If the house was a parent’s

A lot of the older homes I see are a parent’s house after they move to assisted living or pass away. If that’s your situation, see selling a senior’s home with deferred maintenance and our inherited house page. And if the deed is still in a late relative’s name, read our tangled title guide first.

Frequently asked questions

Is it harder to sell an old house in Pittsburgh?

It can be. Older homes often need big-ticket work like wiring, sewer lines, roofs and basements, and buyers with tight budgets or strict lenders may pass. Houses that are in good shape for their age still sell well.

Do I have to fix knob-and-tube wiring before selling?

Pennsylvania doesn’t require you to fix it to sell, but you do have to disclose known issues, and many buyers’ insurers and lenders will balk. A cash buyer can take it as-is.

What do I have to disclose when selling an old house in PA?

Pennsylvania requires a seller’s property disclosure of known material defects, and for homes built before 1978, federal law requires disclosure of known lead-based paint hazards.

How old is the average home in Allegheny County?

The median home in Allegheny County was built in 1957, and about 28% were built before 1940.

Will We Buy Property buy a 100-year-old house?

Yes. We buy older homes in any condition across Allegheny, Washington, Beaver, Westmoreland, Butler and Armstrong counties. Call (412) 424-6412 for a cash offer.

Got an older house you don’t want to fix? Call Mark at (412) 424-6412 or get your cash offer. We buy as-is, and you pick the closing date.