Help! Moving to PGH: maybe Mt. Wash, Brookline, Dormont (Washington: sales, 2014)

[arich2014]

Hi all, I am a 25 y.o. professional and soon will be moving (back) to the 'burgh. My new position will be based in Bridgeville, PA, so I am looking for a settling place that's fairly close. For the past 3 years, I've been living/working in rural PA and I would like to live the city-life for a bit (couldn't handle living on East Carson St, though). I am thinking about Mt. Washington, Dormont, Brookline, etc. because of the access to rt 376 & 79. I would like a "neighborhood" feel within walking distance to some good restaurants, bars, etc. while keeping the city feel and not venturing into suburbia. I will probably try do do a short-term lease and eventually purchase, so resale values and low crime rates are in the mix. So my main questions are:
-What are the best locations?
-How hellish will the commute to Bridgeville be?

Thanks!

[ferraris]

You might want to add Carnegie to that list. If you can find a place close to the business district it could be as urban as Brookline or Mount Washington are.

[grapeh8]

I think any of the options (Brookline, Dormont, Mt. Washington) would work. Personally I prefer the food choices in Brookline over the other 2. You can actually find rentals on the border of Dormont and Brookline so it's easy to go to the main business district in both. Traffic isn't that bad since you are heading away from the city, however sometimes around evening rush hour West Liberty can back up especially during Pens games.

[PghYinzer]

Originally Posted by arich2014

Hi all, I am a 25 y.o. professional and soon will be moving (back) to the 'burgh. My new position will be based in Bridgeville, PA, so I am looking for a settling place that's fairly close. For the past 3 years, I've been living/working in rural PA and I would like to live the city-life for a bit (couldn't handle living on East Carson St, though). I am thinking about Mt. Washington, Dormont, Brookline, etc. because of the access to rt 376 & 79. I would like a "neighborhood" feel within walking distance to some good restaurants, bars, etc. while keeping the city feel and not venturing into suburbia. I will probably try do do a short-term lease and eventually purchase, so resale values and low crime rates are in the mix. So my main questions are:
-What are the best locations?
-How hellish will the commute to Bridgeville be?

Thanks!

For what you are looking for here are my 2 cent and probably Brookline biased.

Neighborhood feel....I would go with Brookline and Dormont...the Blvd anchors the neighborhood and the residential goes off in both directions from it. Dormont has West Liberty, although it feels more like a highway, and Potomac which is nice and has a very neighborhood feel Mt. Washington has Shiloh, but it just doesn’t have the same vibe in my opinion, as the topography can be limiting....I might be wrong but the hills seem longer than they are in Brookline.

Bars.....toss up with all three...Mt. Washington probably has some better bars, but depending on where you live, the walk can be horrible. Brookline they are mostly old smoky dives, and I continue to pray for a good smoke free bar with craft beers on the Blvd. Dormont, basically the same as Brookline bar wise.

Restaurants...Brookline def has more diversity in its food scene but most are more of take out joints with the exception of a few. Dormont has some nice places to eat also, and so does Mt. Washington with Shiloh Grill and Bingham Tavern and of course those on Grandview but those aren’t everyday places.

Crime....Brookline is pretty boring, except for thefts, but it usually due to people leaving everything unlocked. I often see people leave their cars running with the door open when they go into Cogos to grab something quick. Not sure why since it isn’t hard to turn your car off. We had a few incidents this past summer, but nothing really that bad, and all of the perps were caught quickly. Dormont is about the same. Brookline is pretty isolated from the rougher areas, so that helps. Mt. Washington isn’t bad either, however it does bump up against some grittier areas.

Resale value...I don’t think you can really go wrong with any of the three.

If you are looking to rent Brookline can be a little tight when it comes to the rental market. It has one of the highest levels of home ownership in the city, and there isn’t the large number of apartment buildings like Dormont has. It has some SFH conversions, but nothing on the scale of other neighborhoods.

As for buying Brookline...the market is strange here right now....all the really cheap, never renovated or abused housing gets bought up quick, assuming by investors, and flipped pretty fast. That leaves the outdated, but solid houses to sit. The high end price point really hasn’t broken 150k yet, although there are a few outliers. 125k seems to be the sweet spot for houses that are redone nicely, and have a good layout. Those come and go from the market in less than a week.

As for location I can only really comment on Brookline...

If i was looking in Brookline I would try to get as close to the Blvd as possible, in what I say is the older section (not sure if it is really older or not) where the streets are more grid pattern. You walkability increases greatly in that area. And like previously said, if you are on the Dormont side, you can walk to Dormont too.

Commutes....can’t say, I ride the bus to downtown everyday.

[guy2073]

What about bridgev. I lived in bridgeville for years as a single man.

[I_Like_Spam]

Originally Posted by PghYinzer

If you are looking to rent Brookline can be a little tight when it comes to the rental market. It has one of the highest levels of home ownership in the city, and there isn’t the large number of apartment buildings like Dormont has. It has some SFH conversions, but nothing on the scale of other neighborhoods.

The Southcrest apartments over in Brookline seem pretty orderly. I made a bid on a house in B'line on Larose just behind them, they have relatively good ratings, although its a tad of a hike if you're looking to walk to a bar or restaurant from there.


Down below, you have apartments on West Liberty, I know that there are rentals on the Beechview Mantle property. Probably a tad noisy down there, but there is a lot of traffic and you could walk to the bar and restaurant at the bottom of Capital there as well as Wendy's.

Also, in the eastern part of Brookline, there is a trailer court near Whited and 51, near the Larry's Road House property, as well as a bar at the bottom of Nobles lane- if you want to consider that.

[JimboPGH]

Originally Posted by I_Like_Spam

The Southcrest apartments over in Brookline seem pretty orderly. I made a bid on a house in B'line on Larose just behind them, they have relatively good ratings, although its a tad of a hike if you're looking to walk to a bar or restaurant from there.


Down below, you have apartments on West Liberty, I know that there are rentals on the Beechview Mantle property. Probably a tad noisy down there, but there is a lot of traffic and you could walk to the bar and restaurant at the bottom of Capital there as well as Wendy's.

Also, in the eastern part of Brookline, there is a trailer court near Whited and 51, near the Larry's Road House property, as well as a bar at the bottom of Nobles lane- if you want to consider that.

Yeah, those are all the ends of Brookline that DON'T have a neighborhood feel.

To the OP, I recommend renting in Dormont and then, if you like the area, looking in Brookline when it comes time to buy. Dormont has a pretty wide selection of apartments for a very reasonable price, and is about the most densely populated, "urban feeling" streetcar suburb around.

[PghYinzer]

Originally Posted by JimboPGH

Yeah, those are all the ends of Brookline that DON'T have a neighborhood feel.

To the OP, I recommend renting in Dormont and then, if you like the area, looking in Brookline when it comes time to buy. Dormont has a pretty wide selection of apartments for a very reasonable price, and is about the most densely populated, "urban feeling" streetcar suburb around.

Agreed. You can definitely find a way better rental in Dormont than in Brookline....

[jea6321]

For mt washington.

rental prices and home sales prices have been increasing pretty steadily over the past 18 months. The closer you are to grandview/shiloh, the more in demand for rentals. For buying, it depends. There have been a lot of reno projects on various streets and lots of newer townhomes a SFH's built in the past 2 years with more in the works.

the back side of mt washington has been seeing a lot of action this past year. Homes had been pretty cheap in that area but have been getting bought up pretty quick. A lot of people have been buying the cheaper houses and doing some minor fix ups to keep as rentals. There tends to be a lot more options for rent around may-Aug than this time of year, but that could work in your favor if looking for a short term lease.

[JimboPGH]

Originally Posted by PghYinzer

Bars.....toss up with all three...Mt. Washington probably has some better bars, but depending on where you live, the walk can be horrible. Brookline they are mostly old smoky dives, and I continue to pray for a good smoke free bar with craft beers on the Blvd. Dormont, basically the same as Brookline bar wise.

Moonlite is non-smoking now, and Zippy's is relatively well ventilated (I still smoke when I drink, so I may be a bit more immune to it than non-smokers). There's nothing fancy about either of those places, but they're both friendly and comfortable and relatively free of douchebags. I dig 'em.

The Pub is definitely NOT free of douchebags, and Gordon's... Gordon's is like an ashtray that hasn't been emptied since the Steelers won their first Super Bowl.