Between Shadyside and Fox Chapel (Pittsburgh, Indiana: real estate, loans, houses)

[Dragondream]

Hi! If you've seen a post on here like this before, I apologize. City-data.com is awesome, right? But hard to navigate through all of the questions. So, I'm just going to post my own. Sorry for any repeats.

My husband and I are moving to Pittsburgh from Chicago. He'll be working in Fox Chapel; I'll be working in Shadyside. At least we're working in nice neighborhoods, right? But in between I know there are some less desireable areas, and we have a little girl, so location is our #1 priority. That being said, we don't have to live (and can't afford to live) in Fox Chapel to feel good about ourselves; we live in Humboldt Park now, so our standards aren't crazy high. But we don't necessarily want to move to Pittbsburgh's equivalent of Humboldt Park. We kinda wanna do our own "movin' on up to the Eastside". So, I'm looking at Highland Park, Morningside, and Point Breeze. Any other places I should add to the list? Are these one's ok? And we'd like to stay within city limits. Aspinwall seems nice, but is this still the city?

Thanks sooooo much for your input!

[Scientist Mom]

Of Highland Park, Morningside and Point Breeze, Point Breeze is the nicest and would be my first choice. Morningside is okay (some streets are wider and have houses on larger lots than others). There is some debate currently whether Morningside is on its way up or down but we seriously considered buying there and it is more reasonably priced than Point Breeze. Although, the streets by the park are suppose to be decent, I don't recommend Highland Park. We looked at a number of houses there and it just didn't feel right for a family.

Why is staying within the city limits important to you? Aspinwall has a nice little downtown area, is just across the bridge and is in Fox Chapel schools (a good district). I think prices are probably comparable to Point Breeze. With you working in Shadyside and your husband in Fox Chapel, I would definitely consider it, especially if you are both responsible for child care.

[robrobrob]

Let us know your budget and we could probably be more of a help. For example, if you can only spend 125,000-150,000. Then Mourningside would give you the most options and even at that price you probably won't find your dream house. For an insider's opinion about Mourningside get you hair cut by the barber there. He will give you the lay of the land. Highland Park is sort of a mixed bag with some areas being awful and some areas being very nice. Point Breeze is the most expensive of the city neighborhoods that you mentioned. In my opinion you probably have to spend about 350,000 to get a decent house in South Point Breeze that you won't want/or need to move from as time goes by. There are some cheaper houses on S. Lang, Carnegie Place, Hastings and a few other streets. If you are open to the burbs, then here is my opinion of the Fox Chapel Area. Most houses in Fox Chapel start about 400,000 although there are some expceptions (ranches, etc.) but more likely you will have to spend about $500,000 to get a nice house in Fox Chapel. O'Hara Township is in the Fox Chapel School District and is much cheaper than Fox Chapel and there are a lot of homes that are smaller and priced under $200,000. If your budget is up to $300,000 then you have a lot of some nice options in O'Hara although you still can't afford the nicest areas of O'Hara. Aspinwall is a great neighborhood and isn't that expensive in comparison to Fox Chapel. You can get a pretty nice house in Aspinwall for under 200,000. However, it will probably be a starter house for you as it was for me and most of my friends who have lived there. The bigger houses in Aspinwall are pricey. From experience most of my friends have moved from there when they realized that to get a big enough house they would have to drop close to $400,000 and when they are spending that kind of money they would rather live in O'Hara. I would have loved to live in Point Breeze but when we added it all up (private schools, higher income tax, a houses with two baths on the second floor) it was too expensive in comparison to the burbs.

[BrianTH]

Just as an aside, but I personally consider the nice parts of Highland Park pretty family friendly, and for what it is worth, according to Census data it has a relatively high number of children (the City overall was 19.9% children under 18, and Highland Park was 21.6%), and a relatively high number of households with their own children under 18 (24.8%, to 21.9% for the City overall).

Edit: Oh, and if you are looking for some more neighborhoods to consider, personally I would add Friendship to your list.

[csyoung]

When we were house shopping we looked all around the area. We looked in Fox Chapel, O'Hara, Indiana and Treesdale. What we ended up with was moving to O'hara. We really like it a lot. There are houses from the sub $80k mark up to well over $500k. The school district is great here and in close proximity to both Shadyside and Fox Chapel. As to commuting beteen the two, there really aren't any bad parts of town you have to worry about.

If you haven't found one yet, I would take a look at O'Hara.

[alleghenyangel]

Well if you are a city person, I'd recommend Highland Park out of all the neighborhoods you mentioned. It is a gorgeous area, with lots of grand old homes (and mansions), tree lined streets, etc. It would be my first choice. Point Breeze and Morningside are nice, too.

[Dragondream]

Thank you everyone! O'Hara... that's a suburb, right? We're interested in staying within the city because my husband would eventually like to apply to become a firefighter, and that's a requirement. As far as our spending range is concerned, robrobrob, it's lower than what you were talking about, probably 100-120K, really, because my school loans are quite high and we want to pay those down so that our second home is more of our "dream home". This is all very useful info (even though some of it contradicts each other, I get it).

[robrobrob]

As far as our spending range is concerned, robrobrob, it's lower than what you were talking about, probably 100-120K, really, because my school loans are quite high and we want to pay those down so that our second home is more of our "dream home".

Frankly there are not a lot of houses in Highland Park for 100,000 and some of those are in the bad area. A few years ago I looked at one on Jackson by the park. They were asking 100,000 for it. If one pops up in that area that would be a good buy. Try to stay as far away from Stanton as you can. Also, Mournignside has gotten pricey recently so a lot of houses are going to be out of your price range. You can always look at Stanton Heights. It is right next to Mourningside and is cheaper. Considering your budget, you will have more options there. I am sorry but I don't know that much about the area. On occassion I run through it and have always felt safe. Most of the homes look like they are kept up. I also think that it is a diverse neighborhood.

[Morningsider]

Originally Posted by robrobrob

Mourningside

Are you saying we're a sad neighborhood?

To the OP: You can find a home in Morningside for your budget, just be mindful that it will likely be a smaller rowhouse, or need updating. Considering the recent rise in prices in the neighborhood, buying and updating a home will probably be a good return on investment in a few years. May I suggest trying a few of the on-line real estate sites and searching for what's available.

Best of luck to your search!

[Geeo]

Let me throw another nice neighborhood into the mix: Regent Square, parts of which are within the city limits. I don't know if there would be homes in you price range, but you never know. Morningside has attracted more young families in recent years, Highland Park and Point Breeze are well-established neighborhoods with an ecelectic mix of families, singles, races, ethnicities, gay and lesbian singles and families.