Moving to Pittsburgh area and terrified! (Aliquippa, Franklin Park: apartments, rentals, how much)

[South Range Family]

I have a small suggestion for you. Go to google, click on maps, bring Beaver County down close with the map. Drag the little yellow man for streeview over the area. Everything that turns blue is available in streetview. Unfortunately, Leetsdale was not included. The car turned at the redbelt from route 65.

I also like using Your web browser and the Maps site are incompatible They have a bird's eye aerial view that can be looked at from all four angles. If you find a potential address, it would be good to check out the neighbors.

The closest motels for your husband are on University blvd. in Moon Township. There are a couple that have weekly rates, but I can't remember the names.

One more thing. I grew up in Ohio, and lived on the other side of Pittsburgh for two years. I was very familiar with the airport area. When I moved from Georgia, I still rented in Hopewell for a year. I used the entire year to decide which part of Beaver County I really wanted to buy a house in. It turns out that it wasn't the part that I originally thought it would be.

[Katiana]

Originally Posted by South Range Family

The town of Beaver would be an excellent first choice. It's a straight shot down 65 to Leetsdale. I have a co-worker that lives on top of the hill from Leetsdale. I believe that is considered Leet Township, and is part of the Sewickley school system. It's another good choice. You may also want to consider the Bon-Meade plan across the river from from Leetsdale, in Moon Township. Hopewell, and Center Townships are close runnerups. There are many good choices, but I would stay in Beaver County.

I almost forgot the excellent choice of Chippewa too.........

I, too, was going to suggest Chippewa, but thought it out of the 25 min. drive. Patterson Twp and Patterson Hts, in that immediate area SW of Chippewa, have lots of old houses. Patterson Hts is a tiny borough with tons of "big old houses". I grew up in one of them. School district is Blackhawk.

Originally Posted by BrianTH

Attorneys are sort of like members of Congress: people dislike them in general, but tend to like their own.

Same with doctors.

Originally Posted by rapchef2

Okay, we've made the decision for my husband to accept the offer and we'll be moving out likely at the beginning of July. So a few more questions....

If I can't trust where the realtors direct me, where do I go for help looking for properties or determining in what location to live? Are there websites with forums about Pittsburgh neighborhoods and schools or someplace else to get input?

I disagree that you can't trust the realtors. You'll get a "vibe" just from talking to them. Yes, their job is to sell homes, but they have a lot of knowlege about the areas they work. You do have to check everything out yourself of course.

[rapchef2]

Thanks alot South Range for the info. I never knew about those sites, so they should be helpful. For anyone who knows, how far a drive would Chippewa or Patterson be? Depending on what we are able to find, we may have to expand the commute further out.

And for everyone in PA reading this that isn't happy about their taxes, be thankful you're not in NY! We live in a declining upstate area and when we were looking to buy here just 2 months ago, we were hard-pressed to find houses under $3000 in taxes (for $120,000 homes), and many were $3500 and up! In a few outlying communities (20 minutes from the "city") we could sometimes find $2,500, but that's the lowest. So when everyone talked about the high taxes in Pittsburgh, I was expecting to find $5000 taxes on $120,000 homes. While it seems to average $3500 in Alleghany county, these outer towns have taxes that would just be unheard of anywhere here in NY! We always knew NY property taxes were outrageous, but it truly is shocking to see houses with taxes under $2000.

[South Range Family]

Mapquest says 21 miles, but the center of Chippewa is closer than that. Patterson is even closer.

The spot where 60 crosses over 51 is between both Patterson, and Chippewa. It's not a bad drive.

I hope this link works to show exactly what I was looking at. Driving Directions from [2901-2999] Old Route 51, Beaver Falls, PA to Leetsdale, PA




I was just looking at the maps.live link. I see that the bird's eye view isn't available for Leetsdale. I believe the reason is because it is too close to the airport. That's a controlled commercial airspace that might be too busy to have a little plane flying around to take pictures.

[CaptainObvious]

Chippewa area to Leetsdale is probably 30-35 minutes or so. I will try and hit upon some of the questions you asked earlier that others missed:

Roads to avoid: The main roads funneling into the city are obviously busiest at rush hour. The worst is probably I-279 coming up from the south (known locally as the "Parkway South"). The 2 miles leading into the city takes about 30 minutes at rush hour. This screws up any commute from Washington County. Coming in from West Virginia, you'd most likely miss most of the real heavy stuff because you'd get off Rt. 22/30 before it runs into I-279 to get over to Leetsdale. The next worst is probably I-376, but that is on the opposite side of town than Leetsdale is on, so you won't have to worry about that. Rt. 65 is going to be your biggest concern- traffic is very heavy the closer you get to the city. At rush hour, it starts getting heavy a couple of miles toward the city from Leetsdale. If you are coming in from west of Leetsdale, like Beaver County, you will miss the real bad stuff. If you are looking at places closer to the airport, you'll most likely come over to Leetsdale via the Sewickley Bridge, and that can get pretty backed up at rush hour: about 10 minutes to get over the 1/4 mile bridge. After that, though, you'd be heading the opposite way of any traffic coming into the city in the morning, and vice-versa. It occurs to me we have a pretty late rush hour in the mornings around here- I'd say the worst is from 8:30-9:30 or so. In the afternoons, it is a little more scattered, but starts getting bad around 4:00 and starts to clear up by 6:00.

Temporary or medium-term housing: There are all kinds of it in Robinson Township (just east of the airport on Rt. 22/30). There are many apartment-like extended-stay hotels and condo-looking places there mainly for business travellers that need to stay in town for a couple of months. I have a friend that works for a contractor that puts engineers that come to work on a lengthy project up in AmeriSuites there, and it is very nice. Some of the local apartment complexes (Ventana Hills and Waterford Landing to name a few) also have short-term lease options because they are near the airport and get many of those business travellers that have to be in town over a few months. Check rent.com, many apartments say "short-term leases available". There are also a bunch of houses for rent in many of the communities you've been asking about... I am sure in the current economic climate some home owners would accept a 3 or 6 month lease if their home as been sitting empty for a year: it wouldn't hurt to ask.

[rapchef2]

Thanks so much CaptainObvious for the detailed info. That was incredibly helpful! I'll check out rent.com and and the apartment complexes you mentioned. I'm feeling a lot better since we first found out about this job offer only days ago. I'm not sure why locals offer their time checking these boards for questions from people like me, but it has been a real anxiety-reducer for me! I'm so glad I'm familiar with this site and came to it first thing!! And extra thankful that Pittsburghers do seem to be so friendly.

[CaptainObvious]

Originally Posted by rapchef2

Thanks so much CaptainObvious for the detailed info. That was incredibly helpful! I'll check out rent.com and and the apartment complexes you mentioned. I'm feeling a lot better since we first found out about this job offer only days ago. I'm not sure why locals offer their time checking these boards for questions from people like me, but it has been a real anxiety-reducer for me! I'm so glad I'm familiar with this site and came to it first thing!! And extra thankful that Pittsburghers do seem to be so friendly.

No problemo! I do it because when I moved here 10 years ago, I would have LOVED to have this kind of info before I came! It took me a couple of years moving around to different apartments to get to know the area before I finally settled down and bought a home. I work in homecare, so my job takes me into people's homes in Allegheny, Beaver, Washington, Buter, Green, Fayette, Westmoreland, Mercer, and Lawrence counties. Over the past 10 years I've been in literally every single neighborhood in every one of the those counties at least a dozen times. I've eaten at their restaurants, visited their shops, but most importantly, been IN THEIR HOMES! So, I know a lot about the communities and the housing stock in Western Pennsylvania, and have a pretty unique experience vs. people that just go to work to the same place everyday and occasionally visit surrounding places. I figure if my knowledge helps someone else out it will come back to me somehow (karma?!) LOL. Hope you're finding what you need! Ask away anytime!

[lcatchpo]

I do it because I left Pittsburgh for Sacramento and came back a year later. I'll not make a mistake like that again and I'll do my best to convince others not to leave here.

[sr1234]

Originally Posted by rapchef2

And for everyone in PA reading this that isn't happy about their taxes, be thankful you're not in NY! We live in a declining upstate area and when we were looking to buy here just 2 months ago, we were hard-pressed to find houses under $3000 in taxes (for $120,000 homes), and many were $3500 and up! In a few outlying communities (20 minutes from the "city") we could sometimes find $2,500, but that's the lowest. So when everyone talked about the high taxes in Pittsburgh, I was expecting to find $5000 taxes on $120,000 homes. While it seems to average $3500 in Alleghany county, these outer towns have taxes that would just be unheard of anywhere here in NY! We always knew NY property taxes were outrageous, but it truly is shocking to see houses with taxes under $2000.

You have to realize that PA's tax assessment policy is not statewide and not set on a certain base year. Currently there are counties that haven't done assessments in years and even decades. This policy is going to change in the near future so be careful about looking at the taxes on properties....they will go up.
One other point on property taxes...you really don't have a say in how high they go. We don't get to vote on any increases like Ohio counties.

[KmBubb]

My wife, daughter, I relocated to the Sewickley area two years ago from Florida. We have found our neighbors to be welcoming and friendly. (If you have ever been to Florida, the locals there can be quite obnoxious and unfriendly).
Crime? I read the weekly Sewickley paper and typically run across the same type offenses: DUI, moving violations, or a loose dog in a neighborhood. Nothing compared to Southwest Florida.
Pay attention to the school districts when looking for real estate. The Quaker Valley School District is not only one of the best districts in Allegheny County, but also one of the best districts in the state. I believe Moon is also a good school district, but much larger.
We live in Leet Township, we are 4 minutes from Quaker Valley High School, and purchased our meticulously maintained ranch home in a quiet neighborhood for under $125K. Very affordable.