suburbs to move to (Pittsburgh, Mount Lebanon: fit in, best neighborhoods, sales)

[cmow]

My husband and I are looking at possibly relocating to the Pittsburgh area from California. We don't know anyone in Pitt. and know very little about the area. We have heard it is a great place to raise a family. Looking for a lower cost of living (which is anywhere else), less traffic, bigger home lots, etc. I was wondering if anyone could recommend suburbs that we may want to look at. We have a 4 yr old so we would want a clean, quiet, family orientated town. Thank for your help!

[SlurmsMcKenzie]

If you look in the other threads here, I think the overwhelming consensus is that Mt. Lebanon is the best family friendly area w/ good schools, low crime, etc... A nice three bedroom house is probably going to cost you close to @200K +.

[5stones]

For south hills...Look into:
Mt Lebo
Upper St Claire
and Peters Township.

alll great schools with low crime and tons of families with kids.

[beach kat]

I grew up in North Huntingdon PA. A wonderful town to raise a family. Excellent schools. About a 40 minute commute with traffic to downtown Pittsburgh though. The yards are a bit larger in some of the neighborhoods than would be in Mt. Lebanon or any town right outside of pittsburgh.

[Hopes]

There are many clean, quiet, family oriented suburbian townships in the Pittsburgh area. The townships mentioned by trlstreet and 5stones are higher end townships where housing costs more. You dont' have to move to the best neighborhoods in Pittsburgh get what you want. You can find good schools and low crime in almost any real estate price range. Do you consider your family affluent or middle class? There's no need to answer that question. I'm just giving you an example of other things you might want to consider when picking a neighborhood.

Even if housing prices in Pittsburgh's most affluent neighborhoods are cheaper than housing in California, that doesn't mean that you'll fit into the affluent neighborhoods if you're not affluent. At a younger age, children will befriend your child; however, as they get older and into more expensive activities and trips that you can't afford, your child will be less likely to be able to retain the same friendships.

I'm just trying to warn people to not go where they can't afford to keep up with the jone's as far as their children are concerned. Consider overall lifestyle when you pick a neighborhood. Affording a house is completely different from affording a neighborhood.

Don't come all the way from California to be house poor in Pittsburgh simply because it's a deal by comparison to California. Find the right neighborhood where you can still afford vacations, music lessons, activities, sports and all the luxuries of life.

There are so many parents complaining that they can't afford for their children to get involved in a specific activity, etc, but they live in an expensive house and drive I hear too many parents complaining that they can't afford for their children to do X, but they live in expensive homes and have car payments on high end cars. That's not living.

If you're coming to Pittsburgh for a better lifestyle, make sure you include more than your home into what you consider a lifestyle. There are MANY safe neighborhoods in Pittsburgh with good schools. You don't have to live in the most affluent townships to find what you want.

[Tallysmom]

Originally Posted by Hopes

There are many clean, quiet, family oriented suburbian townships in the Pittsburgh area. The townships mentioned by trlstreet and 5stones are higher end townships where housing costs more. You dont' have to move to the best neighborhoods in Pittsburgh get what you want. You can find good schools and low crime in almost any real estate price range. Do you consider your family affluent or middle class? There's no need to answer that question. I'm just giving you an example of other things you might want to consider when picking a neighborhood.

Even if housing prices in Pittsburgh's most affluent neighborhoods are cheaper than housing in California, that doesn't mean that you'll fit into the affluent neighborhoods if you're not affluent. At a younger age, children will befriend your child; however, as they get older and into more expensive activities and trips that you can't afford, your child will be less likely to be able to retain the same friendships.

I'm just trying to warn people to not go where they can't afford to keep up with the jone's as far as their children are concerned. Consider overall lifestyle when you pick a neighborhood. Affording a house is completely different from affording a neighborhood.

Don't come all the way from California to be house poor in Pittsburgh simply because it's a deal by comparison to California. Find the right neighborhood where you can still afford vacations, music lessons, activities, sports and all the luxuries of life.

There are so many parents complaining that they can't afford for their children to get involved in a specific activity, etc, but they live in an expensive house and drive I hear too many parents complaining that they can't afford for their children to do X, but they live in expensive homes and have car payments on high end cars. That's not living.

If you're coming to Pittsburgh for a better lifestyle, make sure you include more than your home into what you consider a lifestyle. There are MANY safe neighborhoods in Pittsburgh with good schools. You don't have to live in the most affluent townships to find what you want.

Would also like to mention that the tax laws regarding homes sales money and capital gains changed a while ago, and yet people still think they have to roll the home sale money into a new home of higher value...

The new rule is if you are married, owning jointly, you will taxed on capital gains over 500K -- 500,000 dollars. So if you sell your California house for a million, and clear 600K on it, if you buy a 200K house you shouldn't get taxed at the higher capital gains rate on the remaining 400K.

I'm not a IRS agent or a tax accountant, so check with them, to be absolutely sure... but the old rule of "if you sell your house for xxx you have to buy a house for yyy or pay cap gains on the profit" is gone.

[Katarina Witt]

Originally Posted by cmow

My husband and I are looking at possibly relocating to the Pittsburgh area from California. We don't know anyone in Pitt. and know very little about the area. We have heard it is a great place to raise a family. Looking for a lower cost of living (which is anywhere else), less traffic, bigger home lots, etc. I was wondering if anyone could recommend suburbs that we may want to look at. We have a 4 yr old so we would want a clean, quiet, family orientated town. Thank for your help!

Hopes' advice is right on. I would add, do not move to Pittsburgh w/o a job or significant job leads, because the economy there is not what you would call "hot". You may find jobs there, but it could take a while, especially if you arrive unprepared. Unless you can afford to pay cash for a house, you will not be able to buy w/o a source of income. I would be a bit hesitant about Mt. Lebanon if I were moving to Pgh w/no family, friends, etc there. Many people in Mt. Lebanon have lived there for years, and while they may be friendly to you, they may not be interested in enlarging their circle of friends. I would look for areas where there is some new building going on, indicating some new residents.

[morefromcali]

Hi Pittnurse,

I'm curious about your warning about Mt. Lebanon. Several of our new neighbors have really reached out to us. They have kept up an e-mail correspondence, and invited us to dinner several times when we have been in town. Here in Los Angeles, I am very familiar with the picture you paint of people not wanting to widen their circles. My experience thus far in Mt. Lebanon has been very different. Perhaps it won't persist, but I haven't been given that impression. Also, if you look at the Allegheny County Assessment site, it seems that many people with young children have moved into the Mt. Lebanon area lately. Many of the houses near us, for example, have been purchased within the last five years. The people that we bought from said that when people's kids graduate a lot of them move because of they don't want to pay the school tax if they don't have kids in the school system. I don't know how true that is, but I do see a lot of families with young kids moving in.

[Katarina Witt]

Well, it was just a general caveat about moving into a very established place. A general rule of thumb when relocating is to go where other relocaters are going.

Median resident age: 41.8 years (Mt. Lebanon)
Pennsylvania median age: 38.0 years

67% of Mount Lebanon residents lived in the same house 5 years ago.
Out of people who lived in different houses, 67% lived in this county.
Out of people who lived in different counties, 35% lived in Pennsylvania.
Per city-data stats. In other words, out of 100 people in Mt. Lebanon, 67 lived in the same house 5 years ago. Of the 33 that lived in different homes, 22 lived in Allegheny County. Of the 11 who lived in a different county, 7 lived in another state.

Place of birth for U.S.-born residents:

This state: 23885; 72%
Northeast: 2072; 6%
Midwest: 2696; 8% (Includes Ohio)
South: 1970; 6% (Includes W. VA)
West: 680; 2% (Calif, et all)

Foreign-born residents, 4.4%

The above stats indicate a fairly stable population.
The statistics for Pine Twp. (Wexford) are quite different.

52% of Pine township residents lived in the same house 5 years ago.
Out of people who lived in different houses, 35% lived in this county.
Out of people who lived in different counties, 39% lived in Pennsylvania
Out of 100 people, 52% lived in the same house; 17 lived in Allegheny county, and 12 lived elsewhere in Pennsylvania, leaving 19 from out of state.

Not that I think stability is bad. Of course, an individual neighborhood, or even street, can be different from the "averages". If your neighbors have been welcoming, that is great.

[Katarina Witt]

I will just add another post instead of trying to edit. If you have kids from preschool to about middle school, you have a natural "in" to volunteer with school, sports, scouts, etc, and you will get into the swing of things much quicker than if you are a DINK couple or an empty nester. By high school, none of these entities need parent volunteers as much, in my experience. They just want you to sell stuff and give them the money!