Advice for a quick move

[hinsey86]

3) I've only heard rave reviews about moving to Pittsburgh so I hope it doesn't take too long to make this all a reality for our family.

I think you will like it. I have lived in Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina and Washington State. It is second behind Seattle but I really enjoy it. And yeah for another Ravens fan in the land of the Steelers. (We are quite hated here but I wear my love for my Ravens proudly.)

[greg42]

Traffic will never be as bad as Baltimore around here, even with the tunnels, I suspect, although the tunnels certainly try my patience. To avoid tunnels you live either close in or where I live, to the north and west.

McCandless, which you mentioned, is not too far and is along an easy commute. For north and west areas with the best school districts and easy commutes to downtown I would suggest either North Allegheny which you already have (McCandless, Franklin Park, Marshall Township, hm, is that it for NA?) which would likely be a commute down I-279 aka the Parkway North. Or Quaker Valley which is the Sewickley area with a commute on PA 65 aka Ohio River Blvd. The backups on these commutes, even at the worst times (say, around 7:30-8:30) are entirely tolerable and likely would look minimal to someone who has commuted in Baltimore. Either of these would be 45-min commutes on BAD day and under 30 otherwise, though they are not within 10 miles, probably closer to 15. Sewickley has a real town there which is lacking in the north hills areas, which isn't to say some of the north hills areas aren't appealing in other ways.

Although Fox Chapel is another good school district, the PA 28 commute is only going to get worse as more and more construction happens. It's not as breezy as the other two places.

Your house budget is plenty. Although Sewickley is known for being a high-end area of town, there will be houses well within that range. There will be many more in your range in the north hills, though, perhaps. Even new construction is still out there depending upon your wishes. (In the Sewickley area, there aren't too many spaces left for new construction, and it's not typically used for larger, more expensive houses.)

Should be places to rent in these areas too if you wanted to go that route right away. Might be simpler than trying to work around which city neighborhood for which half-decent elementary, although that would negate the idea of trying out the urban living.

[jenniferprestia]

To add to previous post - Bradford Woods is also in North Allegheny.

I'm in McCandless and NA is an OK district. Much depends on your children: one of mine it was OK for (not great, it can be a bit cliquey but aren't they all) but the other it was awful for. By all standard measurements, though, it is fine. I did find it middle class, white and republican, if that's an issue: not much ethnic variety, but that could be said for many Pittsburgh suburbs.

Lots of green though - we can walk to North Park.

[greg42]

Oh yes, mustn't forget Bradford Woods, the tiniest boro with the largest average income in all of Allegheny County....

I think just about every suburban district around here is going to be predominantly white and possibly republican (well, the parents, dunno about the kids) or at least socially conservative which is the norm of the area. Class/snob factor/cliques/whatever is going to vary a little by areas. NA is a really huge high school; I have a friend who was purposely avoiding that district for that reason. Quaker Valley is a somewhat more manageable size, I think.

Pine-Richland and Hampton are other good north school districts, but only some parts of Pine (around the Rt 19 Wexford area and to the west towards I-79) have what could be the easy commute; Richland and Hampton do not. Well, at least, I don't consider Rt 8 to Rt 28 to be an easy commute, heh.

Actually, I remember thinking about this later, even Avonworth seems to be a decent and improving district and would get you closer to town. The boros of Ben Avon, Ben Avon Heights, Emsworth (I used to live there), and Ohio and Kilbuck Townships are in the district. Commute would be either a shorter drive on PA 65 or a drive from the Camp Horne Road exit of the Parkway North I-279. Downtown is less than 10 miles from a number of those spots.

[aveojohn]

I live in New Ken and worked in town 30 yrs, 20 mi one way, commute time-45 mins.

[greg42]

My house is 22 miles from downtown, and I'd swear New Ken was significantly farther! Ah, well. My drive is usually a bit shorter than that, about 35 minutes, when shooting for arriving downtown about 8am. The big issue with 28 is what they will be doing in the 40th St/31st St/Heinz area. Once done, that should be great, but there are years of work.