Opinions on Economy Area for Cranberry Commute (Pittsburgh, McCandless Township: for sale, real estate) - Pennsylvania (PA) - City-Data Forum

IcedCoffee · 10-17-2010, 04:12 PM

Hi, everyone! We are first time homebuyers, both of us have jobs in Cranberry. We really wanted to live in Cranberry but just can't find a single family detached home with at least 3 bedrooms (our basic requirements) in our budget. We also continuously search areas proximate to Cranberry, such as Zelie, Richland Twp, Pine Twp, New Sewickley Twp etc and just can't find what we are looking for.

We are considering expanding our search to the Economy area as we have found some houses on the MLS in that area that pique our interest and are much more reasonably priced.

I noticed that this falls in the Ambridge area SD. Opinions? We don't have any kids and aren't planning on it for at least 5 years. Safety of the area is important to us and we would love to be in a school district that we could feel good about putting our future kids in.

Any experiences/thoughts on the commute from Economy to Cranberry?

Thanks everyone!

greg42 · 10-17-2010, 05:22 PM

I live in Economy. AFAIK, Ambridge is not a great school district. But we do have a lot of nice shiny new buildings

that make our school property taxes among the highest in Beaver County. I don't have children so don't interact with the district. In recent looking up of things, Economy Elementary seems not too bad, and it is one of the new buildings. Not as certain when you get up to middle/high school ages. There is one middle for the whole district, and the high school is also a new building.

Economy is a wide area so your commute will vary. There are several houses for sale right now on Bock Lane, for example. This is an easy commute to Cranberry, though you should be aware of its through road status. Commute from there would be Freedom Road. This can bog down in the morning and afternoon rush a bit, turning what would be a 10 minute drive at lighter times to more like double that. But it shouldn't be much more. Now if you start pushing farther away from Cranberry (closer to Ambridge either along the 989 area or Big Sewickley Creek area) you're going to be in a lot more inconvenient spot to get to Cranberry. There aren't too many places where you wouldn't end up using Freedom Rd for your commute, but there may be a couple where another routing would make as much sense.

It's a safe area.

Feel free to DM me if you want more details on specific listings, etc. Because I live here and drive through certain areas a lot, I might be able to give you an idea of the location or other details. One of the reasons I chose the spot is because of its convenience to Cranberry and to getting to I-79 to go to downtown Pittsburgh. It could be a decent fit for you.

Retiredcoach · 10-17-2010, 06:41 PM

There is an old real estate expression, and it goes something like: Never buy the nicest house in the worst neighborhood. That expression kinda fits your situation as you look in Economy (nicest section) of a deteriorating school district (Ambridge). Economy has some very nice and reasonably homes, but the taxes are higher for Beaver County and have mostly undistinguished or poorly rated schools.

You might find more within your budget if you drive about 15-20 minutes south of Cranberry into McCandless Township. The taxes may be higher than Economy or Cranberry, but the price of the home may offset the cost of your taxes. The biggest advantage, however, is that you would be moving into one of the best, nationally acclaimed school districts in the country North Allegheny.

Good luck, on whatever path that you decide to pursue<

DurangoJoe · 10-17-2010, 07:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Retiredcoach

You might find more within your budget if you drive about 15-20 minutes south of Cranberry into McCandless Township. The taxes may be higher than Economy or Cranberry, but the price of the home may offset the cost of your taxes. The biggest advantage, however, is that you would be moving into one of the best, nationally acclaimed school districts in the country North Allegheny.

<

Be careful, I lived in Allegheny County in the North Allegheny school district for 15 years, if you think Ambridge school taxes are high, then you haven't seen anything compared to NA school taxes. They'll put you in the poor house. I moved to Butler County almost 6 years ago (in Cranberry) and it's the best thing I ever did. I have a bigger house than I had in the Wexford area (McCandless, Franklin Park, etc) and have less than half the taxes. Houses are NOT cheaper in McCandless than southern Butler county. I speak from experience. If affordability is an issue for you, look towards Evans City, Connoquenessing, etc. Far more affordable housing with low property taxes and a short commute to Cranberry.

SoButCounty

greg42 · 10-17-2010, 08:17 PM

Well, in any area there are scattered houses that could be in a lower price range, but they will all have their tradeoffs. I looked at houses in McCandless before I bought this one, and the one thing they all were was smaller, only 2BR instead of 3BR, smaller lot, etc. In my case I only care about school district for resale, but the reality is my house is still small enough that most people probably won't be looking at it with school-age children.

Anyway, in general, the places in North Allegheny schools are going to be more if the houses are otherwise comparable. So it's not straight apples to apples. It all comes down to which part is more important. What I see is someone looking who isn't going to use schools for 10 years, so I might guess that space and price would be more important at this stage. But only the OP can prioritize those things.

IcedCoffee · 10-17-2010, 09:06 PM

Hi everyone, thanks for all the great feedback. House hunting has been much more difficult than we expected, we thought our requirements (good schools (don't have to be GREAT), at least 3 BR, and a nice sized yard) would be easy to meet in our price range (150k ideal, up to 180k) but a lot of the houses we see are cheaply made Ryan or Maronda homes from 1975 with only surface updates. We saw a house we liked in McCandless but the yard was too small. I've done some hardcore research on the taxes and living in Butler County would save us about $150 a month vs. McCandless but in our experience the prices are higher in Cranberry/Evans City/Zelie so there seems to be no good solution...I just can't bring myself to spend 190k on a 3BR/ 1.5 BA split level just because it's in Cranberry, even though that is where we want to be.

RetiredCoach, your point about buying the nicest house in the worst neighborhood summed it up quite nicely...I'm not sure Economy is the right choice for us.

rhondee · 10-18-2010, 06:04 AM

Maybe Harmony or Freedom? Is Harmony still in Ambridge School District?

greg42 · 10-18-2010, 06:10 AM

Harmony, Beaver County (not to be confused with Harmony, Butler County), is in Ambridge Area school district. It's really essentially between Ambridge and Economy. Freedom is its own district, overall tends to rate better than Ambrdige district, though not really so much in elementary vs Economy elementary. New Sewickley Township, mentioned by the OP, is also in Freedom Area district.

IcedCoffee · 10-18-2010, 07:56 AM

Yeah, I think we would feel a bit better about New Sewickley vs Economy, simply because of the better school district.

Retiredcoach · 10-18-2010, 09:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SoButCounty

Be careful, I lived in Allegheny County in the North Allegheny school district for 15 years, if you think Ambridge school taxes are high, then you haven't seen anything compared to NA school taxes. They'll put you in the poor house. I moved to Butler County almost 6 years ago (in Cranberry) and it's the best thing I ever did. I have a bigger house than I had in the Wexford area (McCandless, Franklin Park, etc) and have less than half the taxes. Houses are NOT cheaper in McCandless than southern Butler county. I speak from experience. If affordability is an issue for you, look towards Evans City, Connoquenessing, etc. Far more affordable housing with low property taxes and a short commute to Cranberry.

SoButCounty

You get what you pay for. I made the choice 15 years ago of paying a little more for my taxes to provide my 3 kids with the best possible public school education out there. For $4900 per year ( a federal income tax deduction anyway), I live within the boundaries of probably the best academically ranked/ nationally acclaimed school district in Pennsylvania. I live in a 3100 square foot home on over an acre of ground. North Park, Northland Library, UPMC Passavant Hospital, 3 Shopping Malls, Devlin Park (a community park available free for community rentals) are all within 5 minutes of my home. In the particular area of McCandless that I live (Wexford), Sperling rated it as one of the best small cities in the country a few years back, until it was realized that Wexford isn't a city! In the 15 years that I have lived here, I have never felt the need to lock my car or my house.... crime is that ridiculously low.

I looked at a beautiful home in Economy years ago. We realized that the elementary schools weren't too bad, and private school tuition was in our family's future, but there were none realistically available.Sorry, but paying $4900 for the education my kids received/ are receiving is a tremendous bargain. On top of that, the quality of life in the McCandless is tough to surpass, especially for families with young children.