Moving to Pittsburgh, 4 teens, big dog (Lebanon, Oakmont: appliances, new house, neighborhood)

[aveojohn]

Please explain, geocaching ???

[fleetiebelle]

I never done it, but I have friends who geocache--it's like a scavenger hunt with a GPS.

[Copanut]

Originally Posted by Hopes

Allison Park spans a significant part of Hampton, Shaler and North Allegheny -- there might even be a street or two in Pine/Richland.

Just a note to the OP, when looking for places to live in the Pgh area be aware that some are merely Zip codes. Allison Park, Gibsonia, Wexford, to name a few are not townships or boros.

Drives some people nuts. My pretentious Upper St. Clair living brother always uses USC in his mailing address instead of Pgh. Kind of like a buddy of mine that uses Nevillewood instead of Presto.

[aveojohn]

Originally Posted by fleetiebelle

I never done it, but I have friends who geocache--it's like a scavenger hunt with a GPS.

Wonder how that works?

[fleetiebelle]

Some info: Geocaching - The Official Global GPS Cache Hunt Site

[RoughCollie]

Originally Posted by COPANUT

Just a note to the OP, when looking for places to live in the Pgh area be aware that some are merely Zip codes. Allison Park, Gibsonia, Wexford, to name a few are not townships or boros.

Drives some people nuts. My pretentious Upper St. Clair living brother always uses USC in his mailing address instead of Pgh. Kind of like a buddy of mine that uses Nevillewood instead of Presto.

Thank you for the information. If someone here wasn't helping me significantly, I would be applying for a room in the loony bin.

[Luv4ThePaws]

We are hoping to visit next week (we were both laid off here in Charlotte and are hoping to start over in a better area to raise a family) and we were wondering if there were maps available to point out all of the different sections of town. We drove through Pittsburgh last year and didn't get to explore much, as it was evening, but I do remember we were confused by all the various sections of the city with different names. But, you are still in Pittsburgh... From what we are hearing, Mt. Lebanon is a nice place to live, but I am concerned with the small lots and the high taxes. Is it like that anywhere in the area? What are some areas that have the charm and quaintness of Mt. Lebanon but more house for your money? We are looking to spend much less money up there on a house than we did here. We don't want to do more than $190k as we would be able to put a lot more down that way. We have two small dogs, two big ones so are there any dog limit restrictions? We have had a hard time trying to find things like dog ordinances and stuff because of all the various boroughs.

Any info is much appreciated as we have spent many months narrowing down the list of potential places to live and now we have to decide soon! We figure if we are both unemployed without kids yet, now is the best time to try and sell our house and find employment elsewhere! The unemployment rate here is 11% now!

Thank you, thank you, thank you!

[Copanut]

190k will get you a house in just about any area in Allegheny County. You could spend 100K and still be in a decent area.

[Luv4ThePaws]

Really Copanut? I seem to have priced myself out of any decent-sized house in Mt. Lebanon, unless we're talking the ones that need serious upgrades, whenever I do searches on realty websites. Or, the ones that are in our ideal price range ($150-170K) are 3 bed, 1 bath and so close to each other that you don't have any yard plus we would have to tear down wallpaper from the 1950s! I want it semi-remodeled with not too much updating needed. We want a community feel, but not be THAT close to our neighbors! We were hoping to find a 4 bed, 2 bath with a decent yard. It is overwhelming for us to try and figure out all the different boroughs and sections of town because we have never lived in any city like that before. We do have a basic understanding from the city guide a realty office sent, but we are worried about a proper map to help us navigate once we get to the city. We heard the streets can be very confusing for a newcomer. We bought a cheap TomTom GPS a while back that I hope helps us out a little bit!

Thanks!

[Hopes]

I know you're not interested in suburbs, but this is what you can get for 150k to 200k in an unpretentious suburb:

(Shaler, North Hills, South Park, Bethel Park)

Property Search - Property Results - Coldwell Banker Real Estate Services - PittsburghMoves.com

The last two houses on the bottom of page two are rather charming.