Can I have rural & urban? (Pittsburgh, Bethel Park: skyscrapers, relocating, apartment)

[hereandthere]

We are possibly relocating to Pittsburgh as well. My husband and I both grew up in rural PA and have traveled and moved all over the US. We would like to have the best of both worlds as in owning a few acres or a small farmette and still have a reasonable commute to downtown. Are there areas in which this is possible?

[Pitt Chick]

It would help if you define "reasonable commute"! Your idea might be WAY different than mine...

They are many options in Westmoreland County.

[hereandthere]

well, right now we are spoiled with a 10 min. commute. We were hoping to do not much more than 30 min. I have read other posts though that describe a good commute as being "only" 40 min.

[hinsey86]

You may have some success with Indiana Township which is north. But remember the taxes. We can get downtown (in non-rush hour traffic) in about 25 minutes. I work in South Side and my commute is 45-60 minutes. Or a bit futher away is Tarentum which has alot of farm area.

[Katiana]

Beaver County has some rural-ish areas, e.g. Chippewa Twp, Big Beaver, South Beaver, Darlington, etc. Would take up to an hour from some of those places to downtown, probably 45 min from Chippewa. Chippewa is actually more suburban than rural, but you might be able to get a pretty good sized spread there.

[CaptainObvious]

As far as "farmettes" go, you'd about have to get more than a half-hour away from the city to find that. We're a pretty small city here, but not THAT small. Having said that, places like Fox Chapel have several 30 acre home sites and is only 15 minutes away from the city, but I shutter to think what you'd pay to get it (we're into the TENS of millions there). A good compromise (a few acres, relatively close) might be these areas...

Hampton, Indiana, Gibsonia, Mars, Cranberry, Moon, North Fayette, Thornburg, Upper St. Clair, Bethel Park, McMurray, North Strabane, Monoreville, Murrysville, Plum.

Come to think of it, a lot of those places are pretty expensive too. I don't know what you'd be looking to spend, but Beaver or Washington Counties might be your best bet if keeping costs down is a high priority...but then you're into an hour's drive too! Central-Northern Butler County starts to get pretty rural pretty quick too...maybe somewhere like Sarver would be a good option.

Captain

[looking4hm]

I want the same thing but it is not easy. We are currently looking for a farmette experience that has a progressive leaning and is not too pricey. Its not easy. We are looking in Fox Chapel and Highland Park. We are waiting to be charmed. If you do move here I suggest you get a temporary apartment here to get a better sense of the neighborhoods. Good luck. Keep us posted.

[JacksPgh]

You might look at Penn or Hempfield Townships in Westmoreland County. Particularly around the Irwin Turnpike entrance. Off peak travel time to downtown is less than 1/2 hour. During peak you will have to deal with the Squirrle Hill Tubes

[garryfromPIT]

Pittsburgh is a good place for what you want, it seems like we have a lot of communities like that around here. Beaver County had a lot to offer and even some of Allegheny County towards the west side of the airport. You might also want to check into adjoining counties in West Virginia and Ohio, the commute would be slightly longer, but the property and taxes are reasonable and it isn't as far from "Dahntahn" as you would think...

[Hopes]

Reserve Township is surprisingly rural for being right next to the city. There are farms in Reserve with views of the skyscrapers in the city. Your commute would definitely be 10 minutes if you found something in Reserve. Here's a link about Reserve: RESERVE TOWNSHIP - Community** As stated, it's literally right next to the city (up on a hill) and is a combination of rural, urban and suburban all within the same district. It's not everyone's cup of tea, but you can't get rural closer to the city than looking in Reserve Township. If you look at a map, Reserve extends from the edge of Troy Hill all the way back past St. Mary's cemetary.