What do you know about Ambridge? (Aliquippa, Economy: home, transfer, safe area)

[MaryBeth2]

Originally Posted by Katiana

Off-topic but, I love them, too!

Oops!

[MaryBeth2]

I called the Ambridge Chamber of Commerce today. He suggested I check an area Economy, that was still in Beaver County but had a bit more land to the homes. I am having a hard time finding sites that will let you access the homes for sale without giving up personal information. It's not time for that yet. Hub has not talked to his boss about transferring yet. Any suggesstions?

[Katiana]

Chippewa Twp has homes on large lots, probably well within the 25 mile radius.

[MaryBeth2]

Chippewa Twp, okay, thanks for that info. I'll check it out too!

[lifepgh2op]

Originally Posted by MaryBeth2

I am having a hard time finding sites that will let you access the homes for sale without giving up personal information. It's not time for that yet. Hub has not talked to his boss about transferring yet. Any suggesstions?

I'm not sure if this is what you meant, but try Real Estate in Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Harrisburg, Akron, Canton, Erie, Youngstown, West Virginia, New York - Howard Hanna Real Estate

[MaryBeth2]

Ok, thanks for the info, lifepgh2op! I'll check them out!

[JoeLeaphorn]

Originally Posted by MaryBeth2

Do you think the Ohio River could flood?

No, I know it floods. I live on the Ohio River and there have been two floods since 1996 and there will be more.

However, unless you live on the river, and there aren't many places to do that, you won't have flooding. Ambridge doesn't flood, nor do the residential areas of Leetsdale, Baden, Conway, Rochester or Sewickley or Neville Island.

That having been said, I wouldn't live anywhere else in the County and I have learned to live with flooding by locating the furnace, water heater and laundry on the first and second floors. It is an annoyance, but were not likely to have the devastating floods like St. Patrick's Day.

[MaryBeth2]

Originally Posted by JoeLeaphorn

No, I know it floods. I live on the Ohio River and there have been two floods since 1996 and there will be more.

However, unless you live on the river, and there aren't many places to do that, you won't have flooding. Ambridge doesn't flood, nor do the residential areas of Leetsdale, Baden, Conway, Rochester or Sewickley or Neville Island.

That having been said, I wouldn't live anywhere else in the County and I have learned to live with flooding by locating the furnace, water heater and laundry on the first and second floors. It is an annoyance, but were not likely to have the devastating floods like St. Patrick's Day.

I'll tell you, I never would have believed here (tx) could flood. It wipped out a whole city (Bridge City) leaving only like 13 houses standing, and devasated my neighboring city as well. Putting your things on the second floor like that is a good idea.

[JoeLeaphorn]

Most of the towns along the river have long since stabilized so that flood is less devastating and more of a nuisance. We don't get hurricanes like Texas and tornadoes are rare, but not unheard of, but we do get high winds and twice this year we had 30,000 or more people who lost power for more than a day. It was a nuisance in the summer but during the last outage the temperatures were below freezing and that made staying warm tough. Check with your neighbors before you buy and ask them about their experiences with power outages. Most of the lines are above ground and Western PA has loads of trees which isn't always good for power lines,

There are exceptions to the flooding statement that I made, above, and these are usually towns located along creeks which empty into the rivers. The large amount of greenspace development which results from poor land use planning has significantly reduced the absorptive capability of the surrounding lands. As a result, as little as 1/4 inch of rain can cause the sewers to overflow and 2 inches in 6-8 hours can cause significant flooding.

In all of the floods that I have been through since moving here many years ago, the only fatalities were to people living along or working along creeks and streams which overflowed their banks, precipitously (excuse the pun) and the same goes for business losses (aside from marinas).

Homes along the rivers have been flooded but there has been little long term damage.

My advice to anyone moving into this area is to NOT purchase a house alongside a creek or stream unless you know the flood history.

I will also say that flooding has been much more common in the last 10 years than in the 20 years that I was here before that.

Finally, because of the water situation, I would recommend that you have any home tested for mold and make sure that your building inspector checks this. A friend of mine bought a house with a finished basement and didn't discover, until after the sale, that the reason that the basement had been finished was to hide the fact that foundation leaked. There was actually a small river that ran under the subfloor.

Worse, yet, the lumber used to create the framing for the subfloor was not treated and wicked the water up into the walls which became saturated with mold. It cost them almost half of what they paid for the house for cleanup and repair and they had planned to use the basement for a mother-in-law appartment but the contractor told them it would be prohibitively expensive to make the basement comfortable enough to live in.

And this was a relatively new home and, near the top of a hill so not in a flood plain.

Water is a fact of life here and unwanted water is way too common so make sure that you take that into effect when you look at homes.

[MaryBeth2]

Thanks Joe.. I plan on checking the flooding history in the area before we buy, but you came up with a lot more good hints.. I just want a place to call home and not move anymore. I know there are people that like moving, but I am not one of them. Growing up we never had to deal with flooding, tornadoes or hurricanes. This evacuation junk grows old real quick. I'd hate to move back and be faced with that again. What a nitemear that would be.