young married couple moving to pittsburgh looking to buy a house up to 320k (Bethel Park: houses, neighborhood)

[em8944]

Hello ,
My husband and I are looking to relocate to the Pittsburgh area. We would like to purchase a home.. 3-4 BR , in a safe, friendly neighborhood. The price range is up to 320K . We are in our mids 20's and we dont have kids and not planning to have them any time soon. We do have a dog and would love to have a nice size yard and hopefully a 2 car garage . My husband will be working in the Bridgville , PA area and I will be working on downtown Pittsburgh . we would love a suburban atmosphere with places to grab some groceries and walk to restaurants. Any suggestions in areas we should look? (that the commute will be less than 20 min for both)

Thank you!

[eschaton]

Mount Lebanon would probably be ideal in terms of commute and what you are looking for. You could even take the T into Downtown from there (which I highly recommend doing if you're not getting a space from your employer - downtown parking is expensive and rare). You can certainly afford something at that price point, although it might be a bit dated and smaller than you'd like.

Second choice would be Bethel Park. Still has T access, but a bit further out. Lacks a walkable business district but it sounds like that's not your top priority.

[gladhands]

Pittsburgh doesn't have a lot of walkable suburbs, but Mt Lebanon is one of them, and it's convenient to downtown and Bridgeville

[Craziaskowboi]

If you don't mind older houses, give Mt. Lebanon a look. Most houses there are in your price range, and there's a walkable central business district as well. You can take the T into downtown, and you don't have to use any highways to get to Bridgeville either.

[em8944]

Thank you guys!!! I will start looking in Mt. Lebanon

[em8944]

Thank you guys!! I will start looking in Mt. Lebanon

[robrobrob]

A 2 car garage is not a given in Mt. Lebanon.

Suburban and walkable is tough in the Pittsburgh area and even more so when you limit your options to the South Hills.

You could also look in Sewickely. Your commute might be slightly longer to town than 20 minutes with traffic. Although I doubt you can get to town in 20 minutes from most parts of Mt. Lebanon. A friend commuted from Mission Hills in Mt. Lebanon to downtown (specifically the Manor Garage) and his commute was 20 minutes. His house was basically just over the Mt. Lebanon line and he parked in the closest possible parking garage to the the Liberty Bridge.

Getting to Bridgeville will be about 20-25 because you are so close to 79. Google says 23 minutes right now.

[guy2073]

I don't know if you will find a house that big in your budget in Mt lebo, maybe look in crafton and ingram

[em8944]

We dont want anything big , is just the two of us plus the dog. We will be happy with a 1800 sqft or less house. 3 bedrooms would be the ideal but we dont mind 2 or 4BR ..

[PghYinzer]

Just going to throw this out there...you could add a some time to your husbands commute, keep yours about the same and since you aren't planning on having children in the short term, you could cut your budget in half and keep your eye on Brookline (city) and sometimes Dormont (suburb) too.

Although this one in pending sale, these houses do come up every so often in Brookline...

http://www.realtor.com/realestateand...53-75327?row=2

This gives you some info on the neighborhood.

http://www.nextpittsburgh.com/featur...od-pittsburgh/

Also, City Books, a used book store which was located on East Carson for 30 years, was bought out after late last year and is in the process of moving to Brookline.