We are so excited to be moving to Pittsburgh! (West Mifflin: affordable apartment, leases)

[quitecontrary]

Hi. My husband and I are planning on moving to Pittsburgh in February. We are currently living in my hometown of Greeneville, TN, and after much discussion and research via the internet, we have happily decided that Pittsburgh is where we want to be.

My husband is from San Jose, CA, and he loves city life. I am a country girl, but I am open to living in or near a big city. We are both 40 years old, and my children are grown, so it will be just the two of us. I know this will be a major culture shock for me, but I am ready for it.

We don't have jobs lined up, but with our savings, we will have time to find jobs and get settled into an apartment. We are not interested in buying a home at the present time.

So here is my question: Which communities would be the best for us to try to find an affordable apartment that would be either close to or in the city where we can easily commute to work?

[aveojohn]

Please let us know what your interests are so we can better direct you.BTW--You will be welcome!!

[BrianTH]

As an aside, one of the interesting things about Pittsburgh is that you can find areas in or very near the City that feel relatively suburban and sometimes borderline rural. So you two may be able to reach some sort of compromise.

Anyway, the two biggest employment centers in the region are Downtown and Oakland, so it may be worth your while to try to be within a reasonable commute of both. For that purpose, it is tough to beat one of the East End neighborhoods, particularly the ones along the East Busway with express service to Downtown. But lots of people also cross-shop the East End with the South Side (just across a river from Downtown, and not a bad commute from Oakland) as well as various inner suburbs, some of which have a semi-urban feel thanks to their own walkable commercial areas.

In short, there are lots of areas which may work. So to help narrow it down a bit, it might be helpful to get more details on your ideal neighborhood, and what you consider affordable, and maybe what job fields you would be looking at.

[quitecontrary]

As far as jobs, my husband and I aren't professionals, just a couple of laborers looking for a job. I have been doing factory/assembly work at the same company for nine years. He is a jack of all trades, master of none.

This is all new to me, so I am letting him sort of guide me in this. He wants to be able to take public transportation to work. I have a car, but I've heard parking is expensive, so I may have to go with PT as well.

As long as the neighborhood we live in is safe and clean, that is my main concern.

We will want a 1 or 2 bedroom apartment, depending on the cost. I don't know what an average amount of rent is for an apartment there, but here it is around $500 for a 2-bedroom. It's just that here, everything is so spread out that you have to drive forever to get anywhere.

We are planning on visiting museums, the zoo, and other local attractions often.

Does that help?

[BrianTH]

On a general note, without knowing where you will be working it is tough to guarantee you will both be able to use public transit. Personally, I would plan on the possibility of starting one place and then moving somewhere more permanent once you have jobs nailed down.

I'm also still not entirely clear on your budget--I am going to assume you are willing to pay around $500 give or take, but let us know if you could spend more.

Anyway, one place to look might be Morningside--it is a fairly quiet and safe residential area right next to the Zoo, not too expensive (e.g., $500 might get you a 2BR), and is served by some buses. If you are up for something just a bit more urban, you could check out Lawrenceville, which is very well-located and with more buses running through, although maybe a bit more expensive than Morningside.

[quitecontrary]

As for our budget, we really don't know how much we will be getting paid without know where exactly we will be working. After researching some on the internet, it seems the cost of living in Pittsburgh is not much higher than where I live now, and the pay rates for jobs are similar. So I am thinking I would like to pay around $500 per month for an apartment. It doesn't have to be two bedrooms, but we would prefer it to be.

Another question: Do apartments there usually have a 6-month lease? Here, you usually pay a deposit, the first month's rent, and sign a 6-month lease.

[jzak1972]

Originally Posted by quitecontrary

As far as jobs, my husband and I aren't professionals, just a couple of laborers looking for a job. I have been doing factory/assembly work at the same company for nine years. He is a jack of all trades, master of none.

This is all new to me, so I am letting him sort of guide me in this. He wants to be able to take public transportation to work. I have a car, but I've heard parking is expensive, so I may have to go with PT as well.

As long as the neighborhood we live in is safe and clean, that is my main concern.

We will want a 1 or 2 bedroom apartment, depending on the cost. I don't know what an average amount of rent is for an apartment there, but here it is around $500 for a 2-bedroom. It's just that here, everything is so spread out that you have to drive forever to get anywhere.

We are planning on visiting museums, the zoo, and other local attractions often.

Does that help?

I moved here from Minnesota close to a year ago. I work in downtown Pittsburgh and take the bus each day because parking is very limited and very expensive. The transit system (Port Authority it's called here) is very extensive as far as having a large number of routes, and people use it heavily.

The Pittsburgh metro area is generally very compact, so you can do alot of things and not have to drive very far to do them. Pittsburgh is full of world-class museums, the zoo is located in the city and other stuff as well.

We are moving to the South Hills region of Pittsburgh in about a month, which is relatively close to Pittsburgh. In the South Hills, Castle Shannon, Dormont, Baldwin, West Mifflin have alot of apartments, with reasonable rents. These are areas that are pretty safe for the most part. More importantly, they are close to the "T" which is the light rail system that takes you into and out of downtown Pittsburgh.

When you get to Pittsburgh my family and I would be interested to meet you. If you send me a message I'll give you our contact info.

Jon

Jon

[desibhar]

Originally Posted by quitecontrary

Another question: Do apartments there usually have a 6-month lease? Here, you usually pay a deposit, the first month's rent, and sign a 6-month lease.

I didn't have any luck getting a 6-mo lease, either through apt management companies or individual landlords. I only searched for apartments over a period of two days.

Good luck!

[Tinare]

Year leases are the most common around here. It's usually first month's rent and a deposit with a year's lease.

The South Hills areas already mentioned are good. I rented in Crafton for a long time. It's a suburb just to the west of downtown and right on the West Busway so buses are frequent. They run something like every 10 minutes during rush hour and every 20 or so off-peak. Anyway, rents in Crafton tend to be low and it's another convenient area to consider. Good luck!

[quitecontrary]

Thanks, everyone, for all the positive and helpful feedback! I'm getting really excited about this move. Pittsburgh sounds like a wonderful place to live. I've been looking at a lot of photos of the area, and I already feel like it's home.

~Carol Ann~