Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
My husband will start his new job at WVU in December! We're moving from a beautiful, dense, walkable, older neighborhood in Lincoln, Nebraska, and we'd very much like to find something similar in Morgantown. But with more hills.
We have a daughter in third grade, and the quality of the zoned elementary school is important to us—not test scores, of course; we're looking for a warm and welcoming learning environment, relatively diverse student population, progressive teachers and leadership, and a wide range of opportunities for enrichment beyond the classroom. We also have a large dog who will need at least a little outdoor space to patrol. We lean toward older houses, on streets with sidewalks and kids playing in the street, with maybe a park nearby. People have been telling us to look for houses in the South Park neighborhood, which frankly seems a little pricey to me (and the houses are for the most part quite large for a three-person family). I've been seeing some attractive places in Wiles Hill, but I haven't been able to learn much about the neighborhood other than that apparently a lot of gorgeous old houses were demolished all at once and it was a great travesty. Can you tell me anything about what it's like now? And what about Greenmont? It seems a bit downtrodden, but is it up-and-coming? What kinds of people live in these neighborhoods?
Our budget is in the less-than-300K range, preferably much less than that, ideally a 3BR/2BA. Where would you suggest we focus our search?
My advice is not to buy a house right away. When moving to a new area you are not familiar with, it's best to rent first while you get to know the area, the neighborhoods, and the people then decide where to purchase a house. That's what we did when we moved here in December of 2010. We rented for a year and half and then purchased a house. Best decision ever!
The areas around the upper part of South Park and near MHS are the best on that side of town. You can also look at parts of Woodburn or the First Ward. On the other side of town you would be looking at the Suncrest neighborhood. Wiles Hill is hit-or-miss. Morgantown has some of the highest housing prices in the state so good luck with that. Students live all over, but are concentrated in Sunnyside, in parts of Wiles Hill, South Park, and Greenmont, and along Falling Run/Stewart/Willowdale and Willey.
There isn't a whole lot of diversity, but there's more than the rest of the state. The best elementary schools are Suncrest (which will be building a new school in the next couple of years), North, Eastwood (just opened), and Cheat Lake, I believe.
And the town is beautiful, dense, and semi-walkable. Plus, the PRT is free for students and faculty and $0.50 per ride otherwise and it connects downtown and the different campuses of the University. The most walkable neighborhoods would be South Park (also Greenmont) and parts of the First Ward. Suncrest is nice and pretty walkable, but there are more auto-oriented developments on that side of town.
I lived in town for 6 years, mostly in the North Hills area. If I was in the position to move back and buy a house (and I love older houses, historic districts, and walkability), I would most likely buy one near MHS in South Park, probably near Park St or Wagner.
I'd also advise renting first so you get a feel for everything. Then you'll know where the loud, party areas are and who lives where. Definitely stay away from Sunnyside or the area north of the downtown campus between College and Willey St. Lower South Park and much of Greenmont has a lot of students, but I'm not as familiar with that area as I am with the others.
You are not going to find beautiful, dense, walkable; nor will you find tons of diversity in the schools. You will find overpriced.
You should probably visit first to get your expectations in order.
Pay no attention to this Pittsburgh troll. We have absolutely wonderful, safe neighborhoods, good restaurants, a very good arts scene, and awesome outdoor venues right out our back yards. That is why so many Pittsburgers are now calling our area home, and why that city is losing population.
What we don't have is a ghetto area (such as they have in Pittsburgh), so if that is your definition of "diversity" you won't find it here. We have a tolerant community with people from all over the world living here, and they live in harmony and mutual respect.
My husband will start his new job at WVU in December! We're moving from a beautiful, dense, walkable, older neighborhood in Lincoln, Nebraska, and we'd very much like to find something similar in Morgantown. But with more hills.
We have a daughter in third grade, and the quality of the zoned elementary school is important to us—not test scores, of course; we're looking for a warm and welcoming learning environment, relatively diverse student population, progressive teachers and leadership, and a wide range of opportunities for enrichment beyond the classroom. We also have a large dog who will need at least a little outdoor space to patrol. We lean toward older houses, on streets with sidewalks and kids playing in the street, with maybe a park nearby. People have been telling us to look for houses in the South Park neighborhood, which frankly seems a little pricey to me (and the houses are for the most part quite large for a three-person family). I've been seeing some attractive places in Wiles Hill, but I haven't been able to learn much about the neighborhood other than that apparently a lot of gorgeous old houses were demolished all at once and it was a great travesty. Can you tell me anything about what it's like now? And what about Greenmont? It seems a bit downtrodden, but is it up-and-coming? What kinds of people live in these neighborhoods?
Our budget is in the less-than-300K range, preferably much less than that, ideally a 3BR/2BA. Where would you suggest we focus our search?
Send me a personal message. I know a builder that can put you in a luxury 3 bedroom + townhouse for well less than 300K in a nice neighborhood located next to a community park.
I don't know the statistics for Morgantown, but my common sense tells me that any small city with a fairly large university is going to have a more diverse population than a similar sized city without such a school. I can't recall ever hearing about a lack of diversity in Morgantown.
Pay no attention to this Pittsburgh troll. We have absolutely wonderful, safe neighborhoods, good restaurants, a very good arts scene, and awesome outdoor venues right out our back yards. That is why so many Pittsburgers are now calling our area home, and why that city is losing population.
What we don't have is a ghetto area (such as they have in Pittsburgh), so if that is your definition of "diversity" you won't find it here. We have a tolerant community with people from all over the world living here, and they live in harmony and mutual respect.
Re-read their post. I said nothing untrue. Sorry if reading comprehension isn't your strong suit.
Please point out all the beautiful, dense, family neighborhoods where most needs can be met on foot. I'm waiting.
Thank you for all the tips so far. Renting would be great, but our large dog makes that difficult—we've seen very few suitable places in our online searches. Another consideration is that we'd like to avoid making our daughter switch schools within Morgantown, so if possible we'd like to settle on a neighborhood right off the bat. We'll be visiting in a couple weeks to get the lay of the land, and maybe some rental options will turn up. In an ideal world, renting would be the default and it'd be easier and more humane.
And by "beautiful" in Lincoln I just meant our immediate neighborhood, which is lined with enormous old trees and Craftsman-style prairie box houses and bungalows. The broader city of Lincoln is one of the ugliest I've ever seen; the downtown in particular is horrendous. Morgantown definitely trumps it on that score (and I haven't even been there yet). Also, I don't expect Lincoln-style diversity (kids at our daughter's school speak something like seventeen different languages at home!), just a healthy mix of different kinds of families and backgrounds.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
