Moving to Pittsburgh with kids. Which areas should I look for houses? (Baldwin: crime, schools) - Pennsylvania (PA) - Page 4 - City-Data Forum

JLeigh2182 · 03-21-2012, 10:24 AM

What about Pleasant Hills or Jefferson Hills? Big place so obviously some areas would be more diserable than others. You could take Streets Run Road or Mifflin Road down to East Carson, go across the Hot Metal Bridge, and take Bates up into Oakland. It would put you right by Magee and you would be avoiding downtown completely.

Both of these areas use the West Jefferson Hills school district, which receives goods scores on greatschools.org.

Jefferson has quite a few newer developments while much of Pleasant Hills has slightly older housing stock. It wouldn't be difficult to find something in your price-range.

I can understand the appeal of the North Hills but being able to take the backroads and cut through the South Side and up Bates might be something to consider.

greg42 · 03-21-2012, 10:35 AM

Good point. West Jefferson Hills should be good schools, yes. I wouldn't count that area among my favorites, but then we tend to favor what we know better.

I do think that 2nd Ave to Glenwood Bridge might be better than Carson, at least in that evening drive home. Not sure though. I've gone both ways, but only a couple times.

JLeigh2182 · 03-21-2012, 10:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by greg42

Good point. West Jefferson Hills should be good schools, yes. I wouldn't count that area among my favorites, but then we tend to favor what we know better.

I do think that 2nd Ave to Glenwood Bridge might be better than Carson, at least in that evening drive home. Not sure though. I've gone both ways, but only a couple times.

Good point. I always forget about 2nd Ave.

Jmark123 · 03-23-2012, 01:29 AM

Does anyone have any thoughts on Robinson? How would that commute in the afternoon compare to Mt. Lebanon?

greg42 · 03-23-2012, 06:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jmark123

Does anyone have any thoughts on Robinson? How would that commute in the afternoon compare to Mt. Lebanon?

About the same. It's more highway drive, but you still have to wait for the Ft Pitt Bridge and tunnel backup. From Oakland you don't really have a viable alt route, because Robinson is west so you always have to get through downtown somehow, which puts you through effectively the same traffic. Depending upon where you lived in Robinson it could actually take longer than Mt Lebo, but in generalizing I would estimate around the same time for both.

Robinson is in the Montour school district. It's good, doesn't get the tip top recognition but certainly appears to be better than average. Robinson itself is a fairly typical suburban area with built up shopping sprawl that's rather separated from any residential areas. Not exactly a town to speak of out there.

interested_burgher · 03-28-2012, 10:41 PM

I think parts of the South Hills make a lot of sense. Jefferson, Pleasant Hills, Baldwin, Whitehall, Brentwood and Castle Shannon all put you in that driving time frame you're looking for and offer good school systems along with quiet suburban living.

Chaohsun · 03-28-2012, 11:30 PM

I would suggest aspinwall or blawnox, which are both on route 28. Traffic is never an issue to me for the most of the time. I myself live in blawnox where I've never heard of until my agent introduced me this quite, nice small town. It's included in the fox chapel school district which might be a big plus to you. Normally it takes me 20-25min to get to my office in central Oakland. Waterworks mall is just minutes drive away, so it's quite convenient to get anything a family might need. As to the housing, you might be able to find a decent 4 br house for about 200k (that's the case on my street) but it certainly will take some time since the housing market is not very robust in this area.

Jmark123 · 03-30-2012, 10:02 PM

Thanks for all the tips. I am in Pittsburgh now and spent the first day seeing houses in the south hills. I like houses in Upper St Clair and South Fayette.

I am really trying to figure out the commute and it is tough. I tested the commute from Magee to Upper St Clair by leaving Magee at 5:45 and heading south. My GPS sent me over the Liberty Bridge and through the Liberty tunnel then down 19 most of the way. Honestly, the bridge and the tunnel weren't the issue, just the congestion on the streets after that. Is there a better way? It was a 30-40 minute commute time range depending of the area of Upper St Clair. I imagine South Fayette is worse? Or is it faster to take the Fort Pitt tunnel and then stay on the freeway the whole time?

I am looking at north hils houses tomorrow but I am not optimistic about the commute there either. I wanted to drive to Hampton this afternoon, but gave up after 45 minutes (leaving from Magee at 4) and we weren't even to Etna yet. The GPA sent us from Blvd of the Allies to 579, to 28, to 8. Again - is the GPS just messing with me and giving me the worst possible routes or is the drive really that bad?

greg42 · 03-31-2012, 08:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jmark123

Thanks for all the tips. I am in Pittsburgh now and spent the first day seeing houses in the south hills. I like houses in Upper St Clair and South Fayette.

I am really trying to figure out the commute and it is tough. I tested the commute from Magee to Upper St Clair by leaving Magee at 5:45 and heading south. My GPS sent me over the Liberty Bridge and through the Liberty tunnel then down 19 most of the way. Honestly, the bridge and the tunnel weren't the issue, just the congestion on the streets after that. Is there a better way? It was a 30-40 minute commute time range depending of the area of Upper St Clair. I imagine South Fayette is worse? Or is it faster to take the Fort Pitt tunnel and then stay on the freeway the whole time?

That's not bad really. If you got 30-40 min that way I think you're doing pretty well. For most parts of USC I think (I don't have a lot of experience) it's best to stay on 19. For S. Fayette, it's probably better to do 376 to 79. For reference 376 on the far side of the tunnel is known as the Parkway West, and on the downtown side of the Ft Pitt Bridge out to Monroeville it is known as the Parkway East. The traffic reports will talk about both directions on both the Parkway West and Parkway East. Usually they refer to inbound and outbound. So your commute home if you go that way takes you on a small section of the inbound Parkway East, until you get to the Ft Pitt Bridge, and then onto the outbound Parkway West. Just so you know the local terminology.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jmark123

I am looking at north hils houses tomorrow but I am not optimistic about the commute there either. I wanted to drive to Hampton this afternoon, but gave up after 45 minutes (leaving from Magee at 4) and we weren't even to Etna yet. The GPA sent us from Blvd of the Allies to 579, to 28, to 8. Again - is the GPS just messing with me and giving me the worst possible routes or is the drive really that bad?

Wow that's pretty bad, although that is certainly within the worst-case time scenario, especially on a Friday with nice weather.

Rt 28 northbound right now is a problem because of the construction they're doing on the part closest to downtown, which you have to go through using that route. But would you beat that time going across the city instead? Not sure. Probably. 45 minutes and not even to Etna is pretty long. Would you beat the 30-40 min USC that you experienced, going across the city to get to somewhere like Hampton? Actually, probably not. Once 28 is complete, that route will improve dramatically, but I'm not sure when it's due to be fully complete. I think it's 2014 sometime, or another 2 years.

Right now, something that would take you on 279 instead would be better. This is your Ross Township, West View, Ohio Township, those kinds of areas. I do not believe you'd regularly be stuck in 45 min of traffic before getting to most parts of those. I am familiar with the 279 traffic as I go that way every day. Not sure how long the average 579 to 279 ramp delay is, but I think it's about 10 minute backup or so. Whether it will overall beat the 30-40 min USC depends upon where in those places. Some parts will, and some parts will not.

YinzerMama · 03-31-2012, 09:04 AM

I've mentioned to you on the car seat board - my last baby was born at Magee and I had a number of early morning appts there and the Shaler - Magee commute wasn't awful. Naturally it was faster at 11pm when we drove there to actually deliver.

My husband works in East Liberty and as we house hunt he has ruled out Hampton for being too far out. It does make for a long drive. He is set on Aspinwall and a 10 minute commute (we've made an offer on a house but have not decided, it's all on me, and I just don't feel 100% right about it somehow) - where we are now is not a bad commute for him, but he is NOT over the moon about Hampton. We looked at a few places out that way. We both like older houses and Hampton has some old stuff but lots and lots and lots of cookie cutter stuff which he is foaming at the mouth opposed to. I used to be opposed to it, but would take that, if if meant KIDS around.

I have a friend who works in Aspinwall and works at St Margarets in the ER, used to work at Magee, obviouslly she can walk to work now which is great but never heard her complain about the commute to Magee, for what it's worth. I don't think Aspinwall, Ross, the nearer parts of McCandless will be bad, commute wise - but Hampton is just putting your further out, distance wise, and there's no getting around that. Now, there are different parts of Hampton - where I am in Shaler it's really maybe only a mile to the Hampton line - but everything we looked at in Hampton was further up than that, Wildwood Highlands area. That is a tricky area because you can get there from rt 8 but it's a bit of a drive - and as the crow flies it's not TOO far to McKnight, but you have to deal with the obnoxious 25mph speed limits in North Park (which are WONDERFUL if you are walking there, not so wonderful when you are driving there!!!) and then there's McKnight itself which can be - as we call it - a McKnightmare. Ideally you would live where your time on McKnight is short and you will be on 279 pretty quickly - I can actually get to 279 from Thompson and spend very little time on McKnight. This would hold true for many homes that feet to North Hills schools - I seem to think Thomspon is the Shaler/NH line?

Anyway. I wouldn't rule out the North Hills based on commute. Some parts of Hampton are further away than others. Ross is an option. McCandless may be an option.

All this said I spent 5 years in the bay area which tends to have kicked my tolerance for traffic up a notch. Not to open the "You don't know what traffice is" debate that was going here fairly recently - just saying, I may have more patience than others, having been through that.