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Pittsburgh isn’t all that cheap to rent, but you can still buy a decent house for 150k. And, while our rentals aren’t “cheap” your 1500-2000/mo gets you a much nicer place than in many other cities.
The issue that a lot of people have is expectations. People move here and want a nice place with good schools for a reasonable rent. For starters, you got to figure out what are good schools. Most of the time we refer people to districts like Mt. Lebanon, Upper St. Clair and North Allegheny school districts. These aren't really "good" school districts. They are our top districts. Now we are lucky that you can find a "cheap" apartment in some of the top districts. However, this isn't easy at times. Especially if you are looking at multiple bedrooms and want something updated. So, looking at the middle third of the districts you are looking at Gateway, Shaler, Plum, West Allegheny, Allegheny Valley (Springdale) and Burrell as examples. Clearly, you have more options in these districts.
I really think that most families moving here should buy a house if at all possible. You have so many more options. Even Shaler can be pricey if your expectations are sort of high. 5 years ago we had friends who could not find a house that they liked for 180,000. They had to up their budget to 200,000. Depending on the size of the down payment and the property taxes you could probably buy a house for around 150,000 and have your expenses within your budget. Again, this would only work if your expectations are reasonable a good not great school and a nice house but not totally updated.
The issue that a lot of people have is expectations. People move here and want a nice place with good schools for a reasonable rent. For starters, you got to figure out what are good schools. Most of the time we refer people to districts like Mt. Lebanon, Upper St. Clair and North Allegheny school districts. These aren't really "good" school districts. They are our top districts. Now we are lucky that you can find a "cheap" apartment in some of the top districts. However, this isn't easy at times. Especially if you are looking at multiple bedrooms and want something updated. So, looking at the middle third of the districts you are looking at Gateway, Shaler, Plum, West Allegheny, Allegheny Valley (Springdale) and Burrell as examples. Clearly, you have more options in these districts.
I really think that most families moving here should buy a house if at all possible. You have so many more options. Even Shaler can be pricey if your expectations are sort of high. 5 years ago we had friends who could not find a house that they liked for 180,000. They had to up their budget to 200,000. Depending on the size of the down payment and the property taxes you could probably buy a house for around 150,000 and have your expenses within your budget. Again, this would only work if your expectations are reasonable a good not great school and a nice house but not totally updated.
The bolded portion is incredibly accurate. When people who move to Pittsburgh want “good schools”, they’re really asking for the best schools in the state, and of course, that comes at a cost.
I honestly think the area’s older (non-historic) housing stock presents a bigger hurdle.
The issue that a lot of people have is expectations. People move here and want a nice place with good schools for a reasonable rent. For starters, you got to figure out what are good schools. Most of the time we refer people to districts like Mt. Lebanon, Upper St. Clair and North Allegheny school districts. These aren't really "good" school districts. They are our top districts. Now we are lucky that you can find a "cheap" apartment in some of the top districts. However, this isn't easy at times. Especially if you are looking at multiple bedrooms and want something updated. So, looking at the middle third of the districts you are looking at Gateway, Shaler, Plum, West Allegheny, Allegheny Valley (Springdale) and Burrell as examples. Clearly, you have more options in these districts.
I really think that most families moving here should buy a house if at all possible. You have so many more options. Even Shaler can be pricey if your expectations are sort of high. 5 years ago we had friends who could not find a house that they liked for 180,000. They had to up their budget to 200,000. Depending on the size of the down payment and the property taxes you could probably buy a house for around 150,000 and have your expenses within your budget. Again, this would only work if your expectations are reasonable a good not great school and a nice house but not totally updated.
And I completely agree, that is the major issue as a Realtor. Everyone wants to ask whats the best school or is it a good school. Legally no agent should answer that question and for good reason, there is no answer. Good or Best are subjective to the person asking. We moved from Florida 12 years ago, in terms of the metrics that rank education (accurate or not) I could have pick most schools in Pgh area which would have beat all the public schools in our FL area. Just asking someone here if XX school was good I could get a response that it is soso or not prefered but compared to where my kids might have gone in FL it likely was an upgrade.
Anyway point is if you like the Pgh area, figure out what make sense location wise to where you need to commute then look for the top rated schools and see if they are a good fit for your kids. Top school doesn't mean the best for every kid.
We have three kids ( our oldest is 16,12 and 8 years old).
I was looking at Cranberry township and Ross Township but his job would be in downtown Pitssburgh.
Our budget is $2,000 a month, so looking forward to affordable rent . No more than$2000 monthly, including utilities and car insurance.
I know Pittsburgh people are very sporty and sport fans. My kids are not so sporty( unfortunately ( I Love sport myself).
Moving to this area on a budget of $2000/mo is doable, however your husband will most likely have to commute to the city for work. I'd look for places around Greensburg, Penn Twp, etc if I were you. 3 bedroom homes can be found for rent in those areas in the $1200-$1500 range fairly regularly. Your husband's commute wouldn't be unreasonable either. Pittsburgh's affordability in general has been a rather subjective notion over the course of the past 15 years or so, and if you're unfamiliar with this region I humbly would suggest looking into the aforementioned parts of the area (Greensburg, Penn, etc) just to play it safe. Not only are those areas more predictably reasonable in terms of affordability, they'd also be bucolically easy to adjust to for transplants like you and your family, or anyone for that matter. Pittsburgh proper (and it's immediate suburbs) on the other hand is not something I'd recommend diving blindly into. For example, you'll hear a lot of people who make 150k+ in the tech industries tout it as being "affordable", but many of them are here for the long-haul and have bought homes (the gap between monthly mortgage payments and monthly rent payments in Pittsburgh is usually quite large) in some of the more "upscale" parts of the area. On a budget of 2k however, you're gonna have a very, very tough time living comfortably in the city. Not only are rent prices high, but so are things like groceries and gas when compared with national averages.
Another thing to consider is the culture. Especially if you're dead-set on moving to anywhere within Pittsburgh proper, and cannot afford to live in one of the more desirable parts of the city. The last thing you want to do is wind up moving to an "up and coming" neighborhood like Braddock or Millvale. Places like those are nothing more than dumps with a label slapped on them in order to make them more appealing to newcomers such as yourself. In reality it is a massive stretch to call many of the "up and coming" neighborhoods in Pittsburgh "first world" in any way, shape, or form. Usually the infrastructure of those places are barely functional, and you'll be surrounded by a bunch of crazy, nosy, alcoholic neighbors. Your landlord will probably be like this as well, and will constantly hound you about everything. That's because the majority of the people you're going to come across in the more "affordable" parts of the city are going to be "yinzers". In essence, a yinzer is a stereotypical Pittsburgher. Every city has it's own version of people like this, especially in the northeastern US. They might seem endearing and quirky at first, but trust me....Living next to a yinzer for more than a few months will drive you insane if you're not one of them. You'll know about all of their health problems, and they will be numerous and usually gross. You will not ask them for this information. They'll just offer it to you. You'll know about all of their family issues. You'll know their entire life story, and they'll expect to know yours. In detail. And if you leave anything out, they'll know. And then they'll become suspicious of you for no reason. They'll find it peculiar that you're from Florida, and you'll be subjected to continuous attempts at football and alligator / hurricane related wisecracks every time you come into contact with them, which will be multiple times daily. They will laugh and find it funny every time. You will not. You will want to pull your hair out. You will also want to disconnect your doorbell, because a true yinzer neighbor is well versed in the art of randomly shattering his or her neighbor's quiet enjoyment with idiotic questions or requests for things like table salt, toilet paper, etc at odd hours. Yinzers can be quite insufferable at times, and I highly recommend avoiding neighborhoods with a disproportionate amount of them.
Moving to this area on a budget of $2000/mo is doable, however your husband will most likely have to commute to the city for work. I'd look for places around Greensburg, Penn Twp, etc if I were you. 3 bedroom homes can be found for rent in those areas in the $1200-$1500 range fairly regularly. Your husband's commute wouldn't be unreasonable either. Pittsburgh's affordability in general has been a rather subjective notion over the course of the past 15 years or so, and if you're unfamiliar with this region I humbly would suggest looking into the aforementioned parts of the area (Greensburg, Penn, etc) just to play it safe. Not only are those areas more predictably reasonable in terms of affordability, they'd also be bucolically easy to adjust to for transplants like you and your family, or anyone for that matter. Pittsburgh proper (and it's immediate suburbs) on the other hand is not something I'd recommend diving blindly into. For example, you'll hear a lot of people who make 150k+ in the tech industries tout it as being "affordable", but many of them are here for the long-haul and have bought homes (the gap between monthly mortgage payments and monthly rent payments in Pittsburgh is usually quite large) in some of the more "upscale" parts of the area. On a budget of 2k however, you're gonna have a very, very tough time living comfortably in the city. Not only are rent prices high, but so are things like groceries and gas when compared with national averages.
Another thing to consider is the culture. Especially if you're dead-set on moving to anywhere within Pittsburgh proper, and cannot afford to live in one of the more desirable parts of the city. The last thing you want to do is wind up moving to an "up and coming" neighborhood like Braddock or Millvale. Places like those are nothing more than dumps with a label slapped on them in order to make them more appealing to newcomers such as yourself. In reality it is a massive stretch to call many of the "up and coming" neighborhoods in Pittsburgh "first world" in any way, shape, or form. Usually the infrastructure of those places are barely functional, and you'll be surrounded by a bunch of crazy, nosy, alcoholic neighbors. Your landlord will probably be like this as well, and will constantly hound you about everything. That's because the majority of the people you're going to come across in the more "affordable" parts of the city are going to be "yinzers". In essence, a yinzer is a stereotypical Pittsburgher. Every city has it's own version of people like this, especially in the northeastern US. They might seem endearing and quirky at first, but trust me....Living next to a yinzer for more than a few months will drive you insane if you're not one of them. You'll know about all of their health problems, and they will be numerous and usually gross. You will not ask them for this information. They'll just offer it to you. You'll know about all of their family issues. You'll know their entire life story, and they'll expect to know yours. In detail. And if you leave anything out, they'll know. And then they'll become suspicious of you for no reason. They'll find it peculiar that you're from Florida, and you'll be subjected to continuous attempts at football and alligator / hurricane related wisecracks every time you come into contact with them, which will be multiple times daily. They will laugh and find it funny every time. You will not. You will want to pull your hair out. You will also want to disconnect your doorbell, because a true yinzer neighbor is well versed in the art of randomly shattering his or her neighbor's quiet enjoyment with idiotic questions or requests for things like table salt, toilet paper, etc at odd hours. Yinzers can be quite insufferable at times, and I highly recommend avoiding neighborhoods with a disproportionate amount of them.
Wow
I am a yinzer, you can rest assured that I will never ring your doorbell asking for toilet paper. I will just use the cushion to your porch chair or mail like a civilized person.
Moving to this area on a budget of $2000/mo is doable, however your husband will most likely have to commute to the city for work. I'd look for places around Greensburg, Penn Twp, etc if I were you. 3 bedroom homes can be found for rent in those areas in the $1200-$1500 range fairly regularly. Your husband's commute wouldn't be unreasonable either. Pittsburgh's affordability in general has been a rather subjective notion over the course of the past 15 years or so, and if you're unfamiliar with this region I humbly would suggest looking into the aforementioned parts of the area (Greensburg, Penn, etc) just to play it safe. Not only are those areas more predictably reasonable in terms of affordability, they'd also be bucolically easy to adjust to for transplants like you and your family, or anyone for that matter. Pittsburgh proper (and it's immediate suburbs) on the other hand is not something I'd recommend diving blindly into. For example, you'll hear a lot of people who make 150k+ in the tech industries tout it as being "affordable", but many of them are here for the long-haul and have bought homes (the gap between monthly mortgage payments and monthly rent payments in Pittsburgh is usually quite large) in some of the more "upscale" parts of the area. On a budget of 2k however, you're gonna have a very, very tough time living comfortably in the city. Not only are rent prices high, but so are things like groceries and gas when compared with national averages.
Another thing to consider is the culture. Especially if you're dead-set on moving to anywhere within Pittsburgh proper, and cannot afford to live in one of the more desirable parts of the city. The last thing you want to do is wind up moving to an "up and coming" neighborhood like Braddock or Millvale. Places like those are nothing more than dumps with a label slapped on them in order to make them more appealing to newcomers such as yourself. In reality it is a massive stretch to call many of the "up and coming" neighborhoods in Pittsburgh "first world" in any way, shape, or form. Usually the infrastructure of those places are barely functional, and you'll be surrounded by a bunch of crazy, nosy, alcoholic neighbors. Your landlord will probably be like this as well, and will constantly hound you about everything. That's because the majority of the people you're going to come across in the more "affordable" parts of the city are going to be "yinzers". In essence, a yinzer is a stereotypical Pittsburgher. Every city has it's own version of people like this, especially in the northeastern US. They might seem endearing and quirky at first, but trust me....Living next to a yinzer for more than a few months will drive you insane if you're not one of them. You'll know about all of their health problems, and they will be numerous and usually gross. You will not ask them for this information. They'll just offer it to you. You'll know about all of their family issues. You'll know their entire life story, and they'll expect to know yours. In detail. And if you leave anything out, they'll know. And then they'll become suspicious of you for no reason. They'll find it peculiar that you're from Florida, and you'll be subjected to continuous attempts at football and alligator / hurricane related wisecracks every time you come into contact with them, which will be multiple times daily. They will laugh and find it funny every time. You will not. You will want to pull your hair out. You will also want to disconnect your doorbell, because a true yinzer neighbor is well versed in the art of randomly shattering his or her neighbor's quiet enjoyment with idiotic questions or requests for things like table salt, toilet paper, etc at odd hours. Yinzers can be quite insufferable at times, and I highly recommend avoiding neighborhoods with a disproportionate amount of them.
Hmmm...you mention Pittsburgh proper, then call out two towns that are not even part of the City of Pittsburgh.
I am a yinzer, you can rest assured that I will never ring your doorbell asking for toilet paper. I will just use the cushion to your porch chair or mail like a civilized person.
Seriously! I'm not a yinzer. I'll admit when I first moved to Pittsburgh in 2010 yinzers were a tough pill to swallow, but now that I've been here I've grown to love yinzers. Yinzers are what makes Pittsburgh "unique" instead of just being homogeneous.
Yinzers are the ones who do annoying things like bang pots and pans out their windows when the Steelers score; use parking chairs to reserve their own on-street parking spaces; talk about sports non-stop; and trash-talk the city they grew up in whilst simultaneously slamming any transplant who likewise speaks ill of the same city.
On the other hand yinzers would be the first to pull over their cars and get out to try to help if they saw a pedestrian slip and fall on the ice or band together to try to give your car a push up an icy hill to get you on your way. Yinzers don't sugarcoat things and tell you---to your face---how they really feel instead of being politically correct about everything and anything to the extreme extent of displaying an aura of almost smug ambivalence about almost everything the way supposedly "progressive transplants" tend to do.
Yinzers are a good bunch overall. I will never understand their love of King's Restaurants (yuck!); Primanti's (double yuck!); or Kenny Chesney (triple yuck!), but in a mass shooting situation or being broken down on the roadside in the dark I'd rather be surrounded by yinzers than surrounded by holier-than-thou transplant progressive types.
I mean how many people in Lawrenceville or Shadyside vs. Lincoln Place or West Mifflin can change a flat tire?
Moving to this area on a budget of $2000/mo is doable, however your husband will most likely have to commute to the city for work. I'd look for places around Greensburg, Penn Twp, etc if I were you. 3 bedroom homes can be found for rent in those areas in the $1200-$1500 range fairly regularly. Your husband's commute wouldn't be unreasonable either. Pittsburgh's affordability in general has been a rather subjective notion over the course of the past 15 years or so, and if you're unfamiliar with this region I humbly would suggest looking into the aforementioned parts of the area (Greensburg, Penn, etc) just to play it safe. Not only are those areas more predictably reasonable in terms of affordability, they'd also be bucolically easy to adjust to for transplants like you and your family, or anyone for that matter. Pittsburgh proper (and it's immediate suburbs) on the other hand is not something I'd recommend diving blindly into. For example, you'll hear a lot of people who make 150k+ in the tech industries tout it as being "affordable", but many of them are here for the long-haul and have bought homes (the gap between monthly mortgage payments and monthly rent payments in Pittsburgh is usually quite large) in some of the more "upscale" parts of the area. On a budget of 2k however, you're gonna have a very, very tough time living comfortably in the city. Not only are rent prices high, but so are things like groceries and gas when compared with national averages.
Another thing to consider is the culture. Especially if you're dead-set on moving to anywhere within Pittsburgh proper, and cannot afford to live in one of the more desirable parts of the city. The last thing you want to do is wind up moving to an "up and coming" neighborhood like Braddock or Millvale. Places like those are nothing more than dumps with a label slapped on them in order to make them more appealing to newcomers such as yourself. In reality it is a massive stretch to call many of the "up and coming" neighborhoods in Pittsburgh "first world" in any way, shape, or form. Usually the infrastructure of those places are barely functional, and you'll be surrounded by a bunch of crazy, nosy, alcoholic neighbors. Your landlord will probably be like this as well, and will constantly hound you about everything. That's because the majority of the people you're going to come across in the more "affordable" parts of the city are going to be "yinzers". In essence, a yinzer is a stereotypical Pittsburgher. Every city has it's own version of people like this, especially in the northeastern US. They might seem endearing and quirky at first, but trust me....Living next to a yinzer for more than a few months will drive you insane if you're not one of them. You'll know about all of their health problems, and they will be numerous and usually gross. You will not ask them for this information. They'll just offer it to you. You'll know about all of their family issues. You'll know their entire life story, and they'll expect to know yours. In detail. And if you leave anything out, they'll know. And then they'll become suspicious of you for no reason. They'll find it peculiar that you're from Florida, and you'll be subjected to continuous attempts at football and alligator / hurricane related wisecracks every time you come into contact with them, which will be multiple times daily. They will laugh and find it funny every time. You will not. You will want to pull your hair out. You will also want to disconnect your doorbell, because a true yinzer neighbor is well versed in the art of randomly shattering his or her neighbor's quiet enjoyment with idiotic questions or requests for things like table salt, toilet paper, etc at odd hours. Yinzers can be quite insufferable at times, and I highly recommend avoiding neighborhoods with a disproportionate amount of them.
Holy f*ck, if you despise Yinzers so much just move outta here. We built this affordable city that you now greedily enjoy. Go away. Or is your post just a big joke?
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