need help, we are moving to Johnstown, pa. (Pittsburgh, Altoona: for sale, real estate)

[Linds09]

My husband is in the military and we just got orders to Johnstown. He will be training out of the Johnstown/Cambria airport.

We need to find a house or townhouse for rent. 3 bed 2 bath that allows dogs and with a fenced yard if possible. - also need suggestions on cities to live in near that airport. no more than an hour drive is preferred.

Do any of you know of a good place to look? I have looked online at various realty sites with no luck.

any suggestions would be appreciated.

oh, and we are moving in June this year.

[ker8]

Hopefully someone else with more experience in the area will write back, but I can give some preliminary suggestions, based on my experiences in this area. My grandparents are from this area, and I've visited many, many times.

I would suggest not moving to Johnstown itself. It's rather deserted. I personally think Ebensburg is a pretty nice town, if you're looking for a city, not something rural. Bedford's probably too far away (abt an hour exact according to google) but I loved it down there. Beautiful city.

I can't say much to the other smaller towns near Johnstown. My family's from Nicktown which I love, which is north of Ebensburg. It's just a few houses, the local Catholic church and a pizza place, but if I could find a way to telecommute to work, I would TOTALLY do it and move there!

[PA-native71]

Look on The Tribune Democrat, Johnstown, PA - Homepage and Realtor.com and try to look at the online yellow pages as well ,and maybe see if someone at his new assignment knows of any rentals nearby or see about taking a few days to go and see if you can locate anything around the area.
Good luck and tell your husband Thank You for his service.

[pcc09]

Two nice areas in Johnstown are Richland and Westmont (or Southmont). Richland is where the airport is located and Westmont is about 20 minutes away from the airport. Westmont is an older suburb of the city and probably one the most ideal and picturesque suburbs imaginable. Many of the houses are around 100 years old. Luzerne street and the area around the Inclined Plane are beautiful with huge Elm trees lining many of the streets and a large wooded park called Stackhouse Park. Richland was developed a little later than Westmont (1950's and on) and is home to the Galleria Mall and most of the other shopping in the region. You'd be able to find exactly what you are looking for in either of these areas and although they are probably the most expensive parts of town to live in, real estate is ridiculously cheap in the region compared to the rest of the U.S. Both the Westmont and the Richland school districts are excellent as well if you have kids.
As one poster mentioned, Ebensburg is nice too but there is definitely not more going on in Ebensburg than in Johnstown. Johnstown is the principal city of the Metropolitan Area which encompasses Ebensburg.
You could look on the Tribune Democrat's website or contact a local real estate company and ask them about rentals in the area.

[akvarmit]

Hi Linds!
There are a lot of different areas on the outskirts of Johnstown that would work for you............try the folks below, they are one of the few rental agents I remember, seemed to be pretty reputable. Johnstown was our hometown for many years although we don't live there now.

Patty Springer - Leasing Agent

[209person]

I also am looking to move there as well..I have tried to keep up with real estate in the area. Westmont is my first choice as the schools seem to be excellent. I don't see many rentals but see a few homes for sale. The zip code for most of that area is 15905. Trulia.com and realtor.com are great for finding homes for sale....the prices are great but you also have a transfer tax..which is 1% of the sale price. Craigslist of course is good..it is combined with Altoona so you have to weed through a few postings.....

[Linds09]

Thank all of you so much for your input. I will definately look into your suggetions.
209person- We are not looking to buy, we will only be there for 2 yrs. My husband is military and will be doing training at the Johnstown-cambria airport with the guard unit there.

Thanks again for your input= i greatly appreciate it.

[Now in Oklahoma]

You could check out Ebensburg Pa, it is a nice town with above average friendly folks and some nice housing areas. You can take highways 219 and 22 easily from there. It is the county seat, and centrally located and gives better access to Altoona, Bedford, and even the Pittsburgh area. I can't help with the house search, but I used a realtor who was very honest... Ethel Solinsky realty

[cpattana]

Don't move to Johnstown. It is a depressing, dark, ugly place with no jobs, culture, good restaurants or anything to do. The people are ignorant rednecks who hate blacks, Hispanics, etc. Basically, they hate everyone who is not white. The houses are dilapidated, rundown dumps. There is no pride in how one lives here. Most of the people here are old. The ones who are not old are welfare bums. I come to the area sometimes to visit my grandmother, and I can tell you it is depressing here.

[Honest Bob]

Just my opinion, but the animals is the killer when it comes to renting a house.

It's bad enough to try to keep people in control and keep damage to a minimum, but when you add pets to the mix, dogs and cats pee's and poops and digs holes out in the yard and barks all the time and scratches the floors and messes up the carpets.

If I rented houses for a living, the first rule I would have is no pets.

About the only houses that you might find for rent that allows pets will be dives. If I was the person looking for a place to rent, the first thing I would do is get rid of the pets. That would open up your opportunities for a better place to live.

You might be able to find a place to live up around Barnesboro - Carolltown what they now call Northern Cambria. The people up there are not as particular and you could probably get away with more - such as pets up there. Lot's of old houses where grandma died and the kids wants to rent it out to make a couple of extra dollars and lot's of empty houses because nobody wants to live in grandma's old house. All the kids now a days wants new houses, just that they cannot always afford what they want.