One works in Oakland, the other works in Canonsburg, where to live? (Bethel Park: buying a house, neighborhood)

[blove72]

I just found this forum and found some good infor here.

My question is, I will work in Southpointe of Canonsburg, but my girl friend will work in Oakland. So where do you guys think is good for buying a house?

Collegues here recommend Franklin Park and Wexford in north. How do you guys think? I heard travelling from South Hills to Downtown is really bad during rush hours.

Any suggestions?

[fleetiebelle]

I don't know much about the North Hills, but it seems to me that living in Wexford would give you both a hellishly long commute.

If you lived in a neighborhood on the T line in the South Hills like Mt Lebanon, Dormont, Bethel Park, your girlfriend would be able to take public transport into the city, and you'd have more of a reverse commute.

[Windwalker]

Green Tree, Dormont, Mt. Lebanon

DO NOT go north; it'll be an hour commute for you one way.

The thing about Pgh that's hard to understand until you get here is that going 8 miles can take 30 mins. We're geographically limited by rivers and mts. here.

[Mr. Mon]

Originally Posted by Windwalker

Green Tree, Dormont, Mt. Lebanon

DO NOT go north; it'll be an hour commute for you one way.

The thing about Pgh that's hard to understand until you get here is that going 8 miles can take 30 mins. We're geographically limited by rivers and mts. here.

^
This

Any of the towns around or near 19/279 and public transit would work just fine. I would also look in Scott Twp. and Bridgville.

Going north would make your commute ridiculously long and would limit her ability to take the bus to Oakland if she needed or wanted to.

[alleghenyman]

Carnegie. Central, cheap, decent.

[BrianTH]

You could actually think about the South Side as well, even though it is on the other side of the tunnels. Basically that would be giving up on splitting the distance, but she could take public transit to Oakland and you would be doing a reverse commute through the tunnels so it shouldn't be too bad.

[fleetiebelle]

Mt. Washington would work, too, since it's on top of the tunnels--commute would be reverse to Canonsburg (you'd be leaving the city as everyone else is coming in) and the commute by car or bus to Oakland isn't bad at all.

[blove72]

Thank you guys for the input!

I showed your opinions to my fellows here and had a discussion. The argues are summerized as below:

1. Franklin park/wexford area (North hereon)for me is almost totally freeway driving with little congestion and takes about 30 minutes - not bad at all.

2. If driving to work, it takes about 25 min for my girl friend to Oakland (she has flexible schedule, flexible enough to avoid rush hours). If take T from south, she needs to do Park & Ride, T, then bus to Oakland, which takes nearly one hour. Driving would be a little faster, but still not as good as North. In the afternoon, driving out of city using Liberty tube is horrible.

3. In terms of price, we prefer newer houses (~10 years or newer), which are generally ~50K cheaper in North than in South for 300K-350K ones. In addition, North has far more options for us.

4. There are six of my fellows living in North and are happy with their choice. Two of them actually moved out from South.

Based on that, we still prefer to live in North, but would like to listen to your opinions again.

[fleetiebelle]

Franklin park/wexford area (North hereon)for me is almost totally freeway driving with little congestion

Most people wouldn't agree with "little congestion". It's a 30 mile commute, one way. If you work in Canonsburg, it's just ridiculous to live as far north as Wexford. I just can't believe that you couldn't find the kind of house you're looking for in Upper St. Clair or Peters Township, with a much friendlier commute for you.

In the afternoon, driving out of city using Liberty tube is horrible.

So you cut up and over Mt. Washington. I live just south of the Liberty Tunnels and work at CMU in Oakland, and the Liberty tubes are not part of my commute at all. You learn shortcuts.

[BrianTH]

If you really want to live up in that area, I am not going to argue--far too many of the relevant issues end up being subjective.

That said, I do think there are many options for substantially cutting both of your commutes, which would add to your leisure time and save considerable expenses (particularly if you live somewhere your girlfriend can use public transit, but even if she drives).

Now, it may well be the case you can't do that and get the exact same residential property at the same price, which would mean maybe buying a slightly smaller house and/or yard. But I would note that when people have studied these issues, it turns out that longer commutes tend to have a greater negative impact on happiness than smaller houses/yards.

Again, though, that is ultimately a subjective issue--I just thought I would mention it.