Moving to Pittsburgh (Penn Hills, Ross Township, Washington: insurance, condo, income)

[tonyahunting]

My family and i will be moving to Pittsburgh from Southern California in about a year. We have looked online at several neighborhoods such as Penn Hills, Churchill, Verona. Anyway, we are lloking to buy a house not to exceed about 160,000. Lower is always better. We want to know what neighborhoods are safe, and nice in that price range. We have two kids 4, and 1. I am in the mediacl profession, and my husband is an auto tech. Any info is appreciated. Thanks-

[guylocke]

First of all tonyahunting, welcome to Pittsburgh (in a year)!! You will be joining what seems to be a growing population of people from SoCal who are crossing coasts!

Could you be a bit more specific in what you are looking for? Safe and nice for 160,000 could be one of a thousand places in Pittsburgh, lol. Do you want to be very close to downtown Pittsburgh? Do you want to be in Allegheny County or the less expensive and nearby Washington, Butler, or Westmoreland Counties? Does school district play an important role of you decision? Might you know what area you will be working in, yet? All of these types of things will help a lot!!

[PROJECT PAT]

maam, if ur moving 2 the burgh id recommend u stay away from penn hills, its 2 close 2 wilkinsburgh

[guylocke]

maam, if ur moving 2 the burgh id recommend u stay away from penn hills, its 2 close 2 wilkinsburgh

This HAS to be that troll that keeps on coming back. HAS TO BE.

[tonyahunting]

I want to be close to the city, but it's not a need. I want a good neighborhood, very safe. San bernardino, CA is not far from my current home which a few years ago was the murder capitol of the U.S, or very close. Anyway, it is a very dangerous area. We are safe where we live but being close to that is very annoying. So, yes I want a safe family area that has good schools. My oldest child will start kindergarten right at the time we arrive in Pittsburgh. I would like to be relatively close to a major hospitals as I am in healthcare. Any input is welcome. Thank you. I don't care what county, or neighborhood. I just want the house to be nice, safe, and in my price range. remeber I am coming from California where the average home start at the high 400,00-700,000's or more. $400,000 is for a condo or townhome. A house is atleast 500,000 or more where I live.

[claremarie]

Look at Ross Township and West View Borough (zip codes 15229 and 15237). They are in the North Hills School District, which is pretty good. Very safe, very convenient. There are at least 50 homes in your price range on realtor.com in these two zip codes. Mostly older homes (50+ years), and the West View homes tend to be on tiny lots, but you are minutes from shopping and I-279. Passavant Hospital is not far away, and Allegheny General (if that is still the name) is on the North Side, in addition to the major hospitals in Oakland.

[supersoulty]

Originally Posted by tonyahunting

My family and i will be moving to Pittsburgh from Southern California in about a year. We have looked online at several neighborhoods such as Penn Hills, Churchill, Verona. Anyway, we are lloking to buy a house not to exceed about 160,000. Lower is always better. We want to know what neighborhoods are safe, and nice in that price range. We have two kids 4, and 1. I am in the mediacl profession, and my husband is an auto tech. Any info is appreciated. Thanks-

As others have said, it depends on what you are looking for, but I'll repeat the advice I gave to another person on here, you should look at Brookline. There are a lot of nices houses there, it is located next a lot of main roads, it is within city limits, but it is more suburban in layout. Crime is low, people are fairly friendly and you are never too far away from anything.

[Mr. Mon]

Since you have children your big question is probably about school districts. But, as someone who has experienced city commutes vs, suburban commutes I think the question should be, "Where will you be working?" so that you can spend the most time with your children. Because, to be honest, to live in "cheaper" Cranberry, and work in Oakland is not the easiest thing to someone with a middle class income.

[la_torquemada]

ITA, Mr. Mon. We recently decided to move and decided to stay in the city for just that reason. We're homeschoolers, so the district doesn't matter to us. We'd thought about moving to a little land somewhere so we could have animals and place for the kids to run, but even if you find a cheap place, there are a lot of costs associated with that -- a second car, insurance, gas, the time spent driving, inconvenience of shopping, etc. In the end we decided that on one income that was just not doable with any level of comfort. We would have had to give up a lot of other things we love.

[Tallysmom]

Originally Posted by la_torquemada

ITA, Mr. Mon. We recently decided to move and decided to stay in the city for just that reason. We're homeschoolers, so the district doesn't matter to us. We'd thought about moving to a little land somewhere so we could have animals and place for the kids to run, but even if you find a cheap place, there are a lot of costs associated with that -- a second car, insurance, gas, the time spent driving, inconvenience of shopping, etc. In the end we decided that on one income that was just not doable with any level of comfort. We would have had to give up a lot of other things we love.

Why doesn't the school district matter? Doesn't each school district have their own curriculum and you have to teach to that? And aren't some school districts better than others, so their homeschool programs would be better?

I don't have kids, so I don't know anything about this... I hope this doesn't come off snarky...