Sewickley -- Relocation (Pittsburgh, Bethel Park, Lebanon: for sale, real estate, chapel)

[relonow]

We are contemplating a move from the NYC/NJ area to Pittsburgh. While we haven't yet made a visit, some people we know say we would want to look in Mt. Lebanon, Fox Chapel & Sewickley.

In searching this website, I don't see many mentions of Sewickley. Also, in searching real estate listings, there are TONS of Sewickley homes for sale. Is there something I don't know?

Any advice is appreciated!!!

[BrianTH]

Sewickley (usually defined to include several local boroughs) is a very nice residential suburb, with lots of beautiful--and expensive, by Pittsburgh standards--homes, a nice commercial district, and excellent public and private schools. Sewickley is actually one of several areas to which Pittsburgh's elite moved when they started leaving the City of Allegheny (today Pittsburgh's North Shore) around the turn of the last century, and many of Pittsburgh's elite today still favor Sewickley.

I'm not sure why people are not mentioning it more, but it might be an affordability issue: again, by Pittsburgh standards Sewickley can be pretty expensive. But of course that implies high demand, and the demand is high because Sewickley appeals to a lot of people.

[zip95]

Indeed, Mt. Lebanon is very popular on these forums.

But as alway...opinions depend on who you ask. Often times it can be useful to start with average household income as a VERY rough gauge of a neighborhood.

Here are Wikipedia 2000 household incomes for select townships over $50k.

$147k Fox Chapel
$116k Sewickley Heights
$102k (Wexford) Marshall
$93k (Wexford) Pine
$87k (Wexford) Franklin Park
$87k Upper St Claire
$79k Sewickley Hills
$73k (Wexford) McCandless
$67k Churchill
$64k Murrysville
$66k Cranberry
$60k Mt. Lebanon
$57k South Park
$57k Moon
$55k Robinson
$53k Monroeville
$53k Bethel Park
$46k Ross

So as you can see, Mt. Lebanon is really in a different class from Fox Chapel and Sewickley.

[gameguy56]

I figured this would be pertinent:

Originally Posted by gameguy56

I grew up in Sewickley, in fact I'm typing this in Sewickley right now (I don't go back to college until tomorrow). There's a ton of old money here. So many kids are driving daddy's new BMWs and Benzes it's insane. It's got a walkable town center, snooty private school and pretentious country club with huge housing estates to complete the feel of living in some sort of upscale suburb of Boston.

The people are very nice though, as katiana pointed out.

[BrianTH]

zip95,

Although I think Sewickley Borough had a household income of around $40,000.

[Pitman]

Originally Posted by zip95

Indeed, Mt. Lebanon is very popular on these forums.

But as alway...opinions depend on who you ask. Often times it can be useful to start with average household income as a VERY rough gauge of a neighborhood.

Here are Wikipedia 2000 household incomes for select townships over $50k.

$147k Fox Chapel
$116k Sewickley Heights
$102k (Wexford) Marshall
$93k (Wexford) Pine
$87k (Wexford) Franklin Park
$87k Upper St Claire
$79k Sewickley Hills
$73k (Wexford) McCandless
$67k Churchill
$64k Murrysville
$66k Cranberry
$60k Mt. Lebanon
$57k South Park
$57k Moon
$55k Robinson
$53k Monroeville
$53k Bethel Park
$46k Ross

So as you can see, Mt. Lebanon is really in a different class from Fox Chapel and Sewickley.

Zip, your stats are very misleading. Some of your numbers are "household income"; some are "family income" depending on what town it is. Those are different stats that may be tens of thousands of dollars apart and not comparable. Furthermore you fail to include the actual borough of Sewickley, which by the way is what the OP's topic was about, maybe because Sewickley's household income is 39,598. 21K less that Mt Lebanon's 60,783.

[zip95]

Originally Posted by Pitman

Zip, your stats are very misleading. Some of your numbers are "household income"; some are "family income"...Furthermore you fail to include the actual borough of Sewickley

There's nothing misleading about it so don't get mad at me. The numbers are the numbers. And unless I made a mistake, the numbers are exactly as I stated them. Household income from the last official census in 2000. Furthermore, I used wikipedia for all the data, so as not to mix sources (city-data has a lot of estimates for 2005).

[BrianTH]

So if my math is right (big if), the average household income in Sewickley, Sewickley Heights, and Sewickley Hills combined was $60973.

[zip95]

Originally Posted by Pitman

Furthermore you fail to include the actual borough of Sewickley, which by the way is what the OP's topic was about, maybe because Sewickley's household income is 39,598. 21K less that Mt Lebanon's 60,783.

Dude, why are you getting defensive? I didn't list these household incomes to personally offend you. I have no personal stake in Sewickley Boro's household income and whether or not it is larger or smaller than Mt. Lebo's. I could also care less which high school football mascot has the biggest feet...None of these things effect my life.

Anyway, I reject your conspiracy theory that I neglected Sewickley Boro because its household income is lower than Mt. Lebo. Just reread my original post where I clearly said I was only including areas over $50k. (I made an exception for Ross since it is a major retail center).

[relonow]

Thanks for the info............very helpful. We live in a large house on a 2 acre lot now and would like something similar. I love the idea of older, large homes and a walkable borough with a small town feel. I don't want to get into a community that is too snooty or pretentious (plenty of those around here!). I'm hopeful that since there is a mix of incomes (borough, hills, etc.) maybe that is not the case.

Also, since we are a family with three very active kids (every sport you can name, music lessons, etc.) I want to be sure that is available also. Do Sewickley, Fox Chapel and Mt. Lebanon all have the typical travel soccer, baseball, gymnastics, etc. available??

Thanks so much for your help!