Neighborhood info for Rochester, PA (Economy, Ambridge: section 8, sale, house)

[BeaverCoHH]

My husband and I are currently looking for our first home.

He mainly grew up in Ambridge and I grew up in Economy.

We know little about Rochester and don't hear much about it, whether it's a good, bad or ok place to live.

We saw an awesome house today in Rochester, small yard though, and don't know enough about the area to decide if you want to live there.

Location is more important to me than it is to him but neither of us want to buy a home in an area that is going to decrease in value over time.

We don't have kids and don't plan on it for at least 5 years.

Any information on Rochester or good or bad parts or anything would be a great help.

I don't know the area too well to describe where the house is but it's close to the K-Mart there. A few roads up/across the street from it

Thanks in advance!

[South Range Family]

You're kidding. Rochester is within spitting distance of both Ambridge, and Economy. Of the handful of people that actually read this forum, you should be the closest and most knowledgable of the area.

I would suggest calling the Rochester police department. Ask for Chief Joe DeLuca. Tell him where the house is. Joe will know if it is a good area, or not. He's a good guy that will be glad to help.

[Katarina Witt]

^^Great advice. Also, Rochy is only about 5000 people. There can't be too many neighborhoods, good or bad there.

[greg42]

Eh, although these areas are very close I could see living there many years without necessarily learning much about Rochester. I'm going on 7 years in Economy, and while I know roughly where the OP is talking about having driven through several times, I sure don't know what kind of neighborhood that would be.

Off the top of my head, though, it doesn't seem much like a spot where the home values will increase. It just doesn't have the proximity to anything that's really growing, etc. They may not decrease either, but sale times could be long, etc.

Or maybe not. I'm only guessing. I've had no reason to be looking into that area at all.

[Copanut]

Been there recently, nice homes, low priced, but a LOT of FHA financing and Section 8 housing.

[PeterRabbit]

Go out Virginia Ave. to the Y in the road and go either way and turn up the hill in a few blocks. To me that's the nicest part of Rochester.

[javajive711]

Originally Posted by PeterRabbit

Go out Virginia Ave. to the Y in the road and go either way and turn up the hill in a few blocks. To me that's the nicest part of Rochester.

...or go out the Deer Lane extention.

I grew up in Pulaski Twp about a block away from Rochester. There wasn't a whole lot of good happening in either place then, and I hear it's worse now. That said, if you don't have kids and you don't go looking for trouble, you should be fine. If kids/schools aren't an issue and you want to be centrally located in Beaver County, Rochester is a fine place to be...but if I were you, I'd look at Monaca instead, as it's now merged with Center School District. Better school district = easier to sell when the time comes.