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Old 08-25-2012, 08:08 AM
 
11 posts, read 15,241 times
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We are considering moving to Pittsburgh to retire in the not to near future. I work in the health field so I need to stay close (for commuting) to the city but I don't want to live in the city. What are some good neighborhoods outside the city limits to consider? I'm in the market for homes priced ~$150k, low taxes but in a decent school district (for resale valve), average community income $60K-100K. I would like to avoid homes in communities that have associations.
thanks
Catherine
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Old 08-25-2012, 09:28 AM
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by fivecrazykitties View Post
We are considering moving to Pittsburgh to retire in the not to near future. I work in the health field so I need to stay close (for commuting) to the city but I don't want to live in the city. What are some good neighborhoods outside the city limits to consider? I'm in the market for homes priced ~$150k, low taxes but in a decent school district (for resale valve), average community income $60K-100K. I would like to avoid homes in communities that have associations.
thanks
Catherine
Avoiding associations is relatively easy, as most older neighborhoods don't have them. You need to provide some more info about what you're are looking for though. Even though the Pittsburgh metro is one of the cheapest in the nation, $150k isn't going to go far in a suburb that has a good school district. This might get you a nice town house or a smaller ranch, but that is about it. Also, town houses tend to have associations. You could probably find a decent housing stock in that range in places like Shaler, Ross/West view area. Ross and West View both being in the North Hills SD, Shaler in Shaler SD. Dormont might be another location, especially if you want to take the T in to the city.
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Old 08-25-2012, 09:49 AM
 
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Just an aside, but the best school districts don't necessarily have the best appreciation, because you are buying high to begin with.
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Old 08-25-2012, 10:22 AM
gg
 
Location: Pittsburgh
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Quote:
Originally Posted by BrianTH View Post
Just an aside, but the best school districts don't necessarily have the best appreciation, because you are buying high to begin with.
Hard to say how everything will play out investment wise, but if I wanted to hedge against the financial mess the state is in as well as the federal government' wild spending and the almost insurmountable debt load, you might be better off finding the wealthiest districts in our region and buy there for some protection, or at least as much protection as possible. We can't continually live on credit and accumulating debt forever. At some point we have to pay. I feel the time is getting nearer and cuts are going to happen which will effect the poor districts first since they have the highest percentage of state help needed per student. This of course is from an investor's point of view.
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Old 08-25-2012, 10:58 AM
 
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Thanks for the comments. But I don't want to be in the city limits, Allegheny county. We have been search Westmoreland county. Any thoughts on that area?
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Old 08-25-2012, 11:11 AM
gg
 
Location: Pittsburgh
26,137 posts, read 25,973,648 times
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I think you are confusing "city" and "county". Seems you don't want to be in Allegheny County, which is obviously out of the city. Look in Butler, Washington and Westmorland Counties for okay commutes. Butler is pretty popular because Rt. 279. Might want to consider Saxonburg. That place is overlooked a lot and is nice.
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Old 08-25-2012, 11:38 AM
 
Location: Foot of the Rockies
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^^Allegheny County is huge, ~750 sq. mi. Pittsburgh is but a small part of it. There's lots of non-urban type places in AC. If you really want to get out of the county, you could look at Beaver County as well as the others mentioned.
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Old 08-25-2012, 11:50 AM
 
Location: Pittsburgh PA
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I believe that either northern Washington or southern Butler county would work. They have lower taxes than Allegheny county and on average good school districts. Both have to put up with traffic, but Butler county (i.e., Cranberry) would have lighter traffic into the city than Washington county (i.e., Peters twp.) due to the "parkway north"(any section of the parkway north of downtown) being FAR more up to date than the "parkway west" (any section of the parkway west of downtown.) Westmoreland county, while nice, would require taking the parkway east into the city which is usually the worst of the three.
As an aside, not all of Allegheny county is urban, but if you want to avoid it for tax issues (taxes are much higher than surrounding counties) then I say your best bet would be around Cranberry twp north of the butler county line.
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Old 08-25-2012, 12:11 PM
 
2,538 posts, read 4,711,423 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by fivecrazykitties View Post
Thanks for the comments. But I don't want to be in the city limits, Allegheny county. We have been search Westmoreland county. Any thoughts on that area?
Pittsburgh makes up a tiny fraction of Allegheny county, less than 10 percent. The rest of the county is made up of dozens of other municipalities. There are over 40 school districts in Allegheny county alone.
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Old 08-25-2012, 12:32 PM
 
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looking at the different real estate sites & city-data.com, Westmoreland county seems to offer the most for the money I am willing to spend. thanks for the heads up about traffic. Being I am still in the research stage and don't know where I will be employed, downtown Pittsburgh is a central point of reference. I'm currently driving 50+mins to go 20 miles. Traffic will suck no matter where I live being a need to be near a city for work.
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