which school district is better in pitts. (Philadelphia, Pittsburgh: foreclosures, houses)

[anybody]

we are going to move to Pittsburgh,and we are going to buy a house there. but we don't know anything about this city.
so is there anybody can tell me about this city and tell me where is better for living and the house's price is reasonable.

please!!!! thanks for your help...

[bkje18]

Originally Posted by anybody

we are going to move to Pittsburgh,and we are going to buy a house there. but we don't know anything about this city.
so is there anybody can tell me about this city and tell me where is better for living and the house's price is reasonable.

please!!!! thanks for your help...

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
ANYBODY.....
ARE YOU SURE YOU WANT TO GO TO PITTSBURGH, PA.?! My husband and I grew up there, and made the mass EXODUS in the early 1980's in our 30's.

The jobs are NOT there as well as the growth.

Most homes are so cheap as their foreclosures were horrendous as the steel mills and coal mines went down. We had to leave with our peers not able to go back home to family as jobs and growth don't seem to go there. It seems that Harrisburg (the capital) and Philadelphia) get the politicians big money for upkeep and big busines for growth.

How sad it has made us! You could afford to buy a dozen homes for how the realtors can't hardly give houses away. WE OWN ONE THERE! It's fully furnished, on the river (never flooded) with ramp for boating, a great yard, by a nice park for kids and families to walk to and enjoy in eye's view, and TOTALLY furnished down to the towels and silverware and bed linens. We had neighbors wanting us to sell this bungalo with basement, 2 bedrooms, 1 full bath, with 1/2 bath in basement used for "dad", washer & dryer, and pool table for $10,000!!! after "dad" died this July. I said, "NO WAY!." It has expansion for the attic, too.

The schools are good ones....Elizabeth-Forward Township in Allegheny County. There is close access to Route 51 or the River Roads to downtown Pittsburgh or people drive 15-20 minutes to the above ground rail system to go to downtown. It use to be the best place of the nicest people in the country.

What an insult for neighbors to try to steal our home for under $50,000, but homes even much larger with no yard or river view or park (early morning Canadian Geese come to the park) go for that or cheaper. The places families would meet all over was Kennywood Park as each city had its day there. We kids use to go on school bus trips the last week of school.

One thing our son realized as we took him from the South up to there the last few years was how the place never changes, too many ghost towns, drugs, boarded up homes and cities, and people our age look like they are in their 70's! Some stayed as it was too late for them to leave.

The ones left there grew up there are in their 70's-90's and are nice folks who always want to feed you! It's an insult to resfuse them.

Their weddings have soooo much food you need to go REALLY starved! Down South one needs to eat well before they go to one. They do the same for funerals...except here...NO FOOD!

The mixture of people are Italian, Polish, Checkoslavakian, Russian, English-Welsh, and mostly of the Catholic faith. The people left love to brag....the mid-aged to 50's group or the 30th's for what they have and earn if in health care way up the corporate ladder.

We still follow the Pittsburgh Steelers Football team as they ARE on a roll again since their last Superbowl 2005. Even our oldest who wants to be in medicine loves them.

Downtown Pittsburgh Hospitals are the GREATEST in the country with teaching hospitals from the University of Pittsburgh where my husband went to school to get out of the area for other states for jobs. Children's Hospital is the BEST!

If you like snow country, it gets coldddddd, and would be up your alley!

I could still drive the roads, BUT we will NOT go up to the house there in the winter with those winding hills and curves and streets so VERY steep with ice and snow. Some of those roads are downtown.

Please check out the areas out of town as many commute from 30-60 minutes away from jobs utilizing busses, 4 wheel drive vehicles, trucks, and the above ground rail sytem from the 1980's about 15-20 minutes away. You will see what I mean by certain areas such as Duquesne (closer to town), or away in Monongahela, Gallatin-Sunnyside, Charleroi, Donora, Monessen, Belle Vernon. BE REALLY SURE THIS IS REALLY WHERE YOU WANT TO GO!

In the early spring, rivers flood downtown Pittsburgh in March-April from the snow melting and rain in those towns on the lower streets with closing of the Wharf and the Blvd of the Allies (fortunately not our home area in Gallatin-Sunnyside). Be ready for potholes (craters that destroy tires and wheels) from the material thrown on the roads to get motorists somewhere during a snow storm.

Schools are NOT cancelled unless they get over 10" of snow as well as businesses keep running if schools close, so you have to go to work. Families didn't let their kids wait outside for a bus!!! It can get to many nights of -10 to -25 at night. We use to have to warm up our cars (if we could start them...usually we had manual transmissions not automatic to "kick start" them), get the heavy ice off the windows and grill and headlights, and then start our trek to get to work fighting the hills going up and down hoping no one wrecked into anyone else. It's another way to sled ride and ski...EXCEPT it's in YOUR car!!!

Taxes are high. One pays wage taxes to the city they work in. Another is in the place you live in.

Cars and other vehicles have to pass inspections 1-2 times a year (hope there are no holes in the car to patch up from the road salt and coal to drive the winter roads); the car inspection garages also check for no holes in the exhaust system and see if brakes are good. Tire treads are inspected. There's a pollution inspection, also.

I feel that you need an honest response if that is where you want to go or are use to some of this would not be a shock to you. I tell the good and the bad and the ugly.

Will we ever move back to stay at retirement? NO WAY! We love growth, the sun, the South, longer sunmmers and short winters nothing like up North, seeing changes all the time as an adventure, knowing something is being developed for family to enjoy, and has no hold on us up there except to see family (what's left!) in early July.

Best Wishes to You!
bkje

[suzeeq521]

wow, that was the most asinine post I have ever read. Full of inaccuracies.

You left almost 30 years ago - if you think it is really like this, you don't have a clue.

For example - cars must be inspected once a year. That is a state inspection and it must be done my all car owners in PA, not just those in Pittsburgh - yes, the folks in Harrisburg and Philly have to too.

Schools are cancelled when conditions warrant it - not only when there is 10 inches of snow. And actually, we don't get much snow at all (between two snow belts). Also, you totally exagerated the low tempartures - there are not many nights of -10 to -25 degree weather (I don't know that I've ever seen it actually hit -25, except in the rare cold spell and that is only if they counted the wind chill)

I could go on and on, but your post is just silly.

Oh, and don't bother cheering for the Steelers if you are only doing it because they are on a roll - we don't need bandwagon fans.

[Hemingway]

Originally Posted by bkje18

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
ANYBODY.....
ARE YOU SURE YOU WANT TO GO TO PITTSBURGH, PA.?! My husband and I grew up there, and made the mass EXODUS in the early 1980's in our 30's.

The jobs are NOT there as well as the growth.

Most homes are so cheap as their foreclosures were horrendous as the steel mills and coal mines went down. We had to leave with our peers not able to go back home to family as jobs and growth don't seem to go there. It seems that Harrisburg (the capital) and Philadelphia) get the politicians big money for upkeep and big busines for growth.

How sad it has made us! You could afford to buy a dozen homes for how the realtors can't hardly give houses away. WE OWN ONE THERE! It's fully furnished, on the river (never flooded) with ramp for boating, a great yard, by a nice park for kids and families to walk to and enjoy in eye's view, and TOTALLY furnished down to the towels and silverware and bed linens. We had neighbors wanting us to sell this bungalo with basement, 2 bedrooms, 1 full bath, with 1/2 bath in basement used for "dad", washer & dryer, and pool table for $10,000!!! after "dad" died this July. I said, "NO WAY!." It has expansion for the attic, too.

The schools are good ones....Elizabeth-Forward Township in Allegheny County. There is close access to Route 51 or the River Roads to downtown Pittsburgh or people drive 15-20 minutes to the above ground rail system to go to downtown. It use to be the best place of the nicest people in the country.

What an insult for neighbors to try to steal our home for under $50,000, but homes even much larger with no yard or river view or park (early morning Canadian Geese come to the park) go for that or cheaper. The places families would meet all over was Kennywood Park as each city had its day there. We kids use to go on school bus trips the last week of school.

One thing our son realized as we took him from the South up to there the last few years was how the place never changes, too many ghost towns, drugs, boarded up homes and cities, and people our age look like they are in their 70's! Some stayed as it was too late for them to leave.

The ones left there grew up there are in their 70's-90's and are nice folks who always want to feed you! It's an insult to resfuse them.

Their weddings have soooo much food you need to go REALLY starved! Down South one needs to eat well before they go to one. They do the same for funerals...except here...NO FOOD!

The mixture of people are Italian, Polish, Checkoslavakian, Russian, English-Welsh, and mostly of the Catholic faith. The people left love to brag....the mid-aged to 50's group or the 30th's for what they have and earn if in health care way up the corporate ladder.

We still follow the Pittsburgh Steelers Football team as they ARE on a roll again since their last Superbowl 2005. Even our oldest who wants to be in medicine loves them.

Downtown Pittsburgh Hospitals are the GREATEST in the country with teaching hospitals from the University of Pittsburgh where my husband went to school to get out of the area for other states for jobs. Children's Hospital is the BEST!

If you like snow country, it gets coldddddd, and would be up your alley!

I could still drive the roads, BUT we will NOT go up to the house there in the winter with those winding hills and curves and streets so VERY steep with ice and snow. Some of those roads are downtown.

Please check out the areas out of town as many commute from 30-60 minutes away from jobs utilizing busses, 4 wheel drive vehicles, trucks, and the above ground rail sytem from the 1980's about 15-20 minutes away. You will see what I mean by certain areas such as Duquesne (closer to town), or away in Monongahela, Gallatin-Sunnyside, Charleroi, Donora, Monessen, Belle Vernon. BE REALLY SURE THIS IS REALLY WHERE YOU WANT TO GO!

In the early spring, rivers flood downtown Pittsburgh in March-April from the snow melting and rain in those towns on the lower streets with closing of the Wharf and the Blvd of the Allies (fortunately not our home area in Gallatin-Sunnyside). Be ready for potholes (craters that destroy tires and wheels) from the material thrown on the roads to get motorists somewhere during a snow storm.

Schools are NOT cancelled unless they get over 10" of snow as well as businesses keep running if schools close, so you have to go to work. Families didn't let their kids wait outside for a bus!!! It can get to many nights of -10 to -25 at night. We use to have to warm up our cars (if we could start them...usually we had manual transmissions not automatic to "kick start" them), get the heavy ice off the windows and grill and headlights, and then start our trek to get to work fighting the hills going up and down hoping no one wrecked into anyone else. It's another way to sled ride and ski...EXCEPT it's in YOUR car!!!

Taxes are high. One pays wage taxes to the city they work in. Another is in the place you live in.

Cars and other vehicles have to pass inspections 1-2 times a year (hope there are no holes in the car to patch up from the road salt and coal to drive the winter roads); the car inspection garages also check for no holes in the exhaust system and see if brakes are good. Tire treads are inspected. There's a pollution inspection, also.

I feel that you need an honest response if that is where you want to go or are use to some of this would not be a shock to you. I tell the good and the bad and the ugly.

Will we ever move back to stay at retirement? NO WAY! We love growth, the sun, the South, longer sunmmers and short winters nothing like up North, seeing changes all the time as an adventure, knowing something is being developed for family to enjoy, and has no hold on us up there except to see family (what's left!) in early July.

Best Wishes to You!
bkje

Not a whole lotta truth there.

OP, you say Pittsburgh, could you be more specific? Is the move job related? That would matter. Also, how close or far from the city you want to be? How about a price range and size of home? People can direct you here very well, but more information is necessary.

[barneyg]

Originally Posted by bkje18

Schools are NOT cancelled unless they get over 10" of snow as well as businesses keep running if schools close, so you have to go to work. Families didn't let their kids wait outside for a bus!!! It can get to many nights of -10 to -25 at night. We use to have to warm up our cars (if we could start them...usually we had manual transmissions not automatic to "kick start" them), get the heavy ice off the windows and grill and headlights, and then start our trek to get to work fighting the hills going up and down hoping no one wrecked into anyone else. It's another way to sled ride and ski...EXCEPT it's in YOUR car!!!

That's absolutely false. At least my impression is the complete opposite: schools are always closed around here. Whenever any kind of snow is announced (sometimes not even 1"), school is delayed the next morning for at least 2-3 hours. My impression is that this happens at least once a week from December to early March. I have no stats but I'm pretty sure schools were closed for at least 5 full days last year, in addition to these morning delays. There was all this fuss on the nightly news because it was too cold and the buses wouldn't start, and so they had to cancel school.

Besides, your way to determine whether it's cold or not in the winter is whether or not you had to warm up your car 30 years ago?

Last question: how many nights per year does the minimum dip between -10 and -25? Are you talking about some Pittsburgh, AK that I don't know about?

[Katiana]

Originally Posted by anybody

we are going to move to Pittsburgh,and we are going to buy a house there. but we don't know anything about this city.
so is there anybody can tell me about this city and tell me where is better for living and the house's price is reasonable.

please!!!! thanks for your help...

Where will you and/or spouse be working? That will determine in large part where you buy. Also nothing anyone says on this forum will replace coming out and looking for yourself.

[Seaharbour]

Good lord..talk bout dramatics and sour grapes~!

[tyrell]

pittsburgh is a nice place ,i dont care what anybody says.I have a lot of friends in pittsburgh they love it there.One thing love about pittsburgh there are so many nice neighbourhoods.There are not so many hispanics too,i love hispanics they are hardworkers go to langley park md,you will know what i am talking about.hispanics will tear up good neighbourhoods.I live in dc people have discouraged me about going to pittsburgh ,i dont listen to them.I think there jobs in pittsburgh depending on what you want,actually i will be in pittsburgh this weekend,I love it there!

[LadyOfTheLake]

Originally Posted by barneyg

That's absolutely false. At least my impression is the complete opposite: schools are always closed around here. Whenever any kind of snow is announced (sometimes not even 1"), school is delayed the next morning for at least 2-3 hours. My impression is that this happens at least once a week from December to early March. I have no stats but I'm pretty sure schools were closed for at least 5 full days last year, in addition to these morning delays. There was all this fuss on the nightly news because it was too cold and the buses wouldn't start, and so they had to cancel school.

Besides, your way to determine whether it's cold or not in the winter is whether or not you had to warm up your car 30 years ago?

Last question: how many nights per year does the minimum dip between -10 and -25? Are you talking about some Pittsburgh, AK that I don't know about?

Actually, when the other woman lived here, it was absolutely true. Winters were horrendous. And yes, we had to go to school in snow up to your knees and when it was freezing butt cold (as in -10 or lower). The only time I remember school being cancelled is when it hit minus 35 or something--we were off for a week, it was so cold. And that wasn't so long ago. When I was in college, a merely 10 years ago, Pitt cancelled classes because of the cold. So give the woman a break, will ya? You don't know how good you have it compared to back then. Everyone had chains on their tires because you couldn't get around if you didn't.

My kids go to Quaker Valley and they almost never have school off. They might have 2 hour delays because a lot of the district is rural and the roads aren't always cleared, but school isn't usually cancelled. Surely you remember the winter of 2003 when it snowed constantly through January and then we had a huge snowstorm at the end of February? Imagine that from before Thanksgiving through March, year in and year out.

[simetime]

One simple question, do you want to live IN the city or on the outskirts? How old are your children? The areas in Pittsburgh are broken up by mainly income. this is the reason that you will get different responses depending on race and class. Most whites tout pittsburgh as the most livable city while a study from the University of Pgh did a report stating that blacks are doing terrible in Pittsburgh. It is a perspective issue