Moving to Pittsburgh, need rental advice (neighborhoods, homeowner, suburbs)

[Pitt Chick]

Originally Posted by SorryIMovedBack

Rental homes in the Pittsburgh, Canonsburg, and Washington areas are rentals because they have characteristics that make the owners not want to live there. Like, too small, no parking, bad neighborhood, old and rundown house, etc.

Other reasons include:
- they inherited the house and don't need to live there.
- the house is too big for them, but they are not ready to sell yet.
- income property
- temporary transfer out of the area.

I am sure there are many more...

[SorryIMovedBack]

Still, if it's nicer, it's either owner-occupied, or it's sold. (Excepting the top-dollar rentals that are seeking only the corporate transfers and other very high income clientele.)

[Hopes]

Our region has older houses. Walkable and newer houses don't exist, except for in certain suburban subdivisions with sidewalks, but there is no business district to walk to in those subdivisions. You can walk around the neighborhood, that's about it.

Walkable suburbs with business districts include Aspinwall, Oakmont, Mt. Lebanon, Sewickley. Middle class and working class walkable suburbs are everywhere, such as Etna, Sharpsburg, Millvale, Springdale. There are other walkable suburbs on the southern side of town such a Dormont.

[Little Chef]

Originally Posted by Bong477

The answer largely depends on what your budget is (most important factor by far), where you are working ("the city" could mean a lot of places), how you plan to get to work (drive vs mass transit, if driving do you have parking with your job), what you mean by walkable (a place you can walk around for exercise or a place you can walk to the grocery store), and what you mean by safe.

My budget is around $2500/mo for a place. The walkable thing is mostly for taking the baby for a stroll with the dog. We would be driving since we have two cars (one leased that expires next year and could just simply keep one car since mass transit there seems to exist unlike where we live now).

[Little Chef]

Originally Posted by eschaton

Cranberry: Really far out from the city (in the next county). Very sub-divisiony. Not walkable.

Canonsburg: Semi-dead mill town pretty far out from the city, but with highway access. Walkable, but I'm not sure what you'd walk to. It's surrounded by recent exurbia however.

Trafford: Tiny borough which straddles the county line. Near North Huntington, which is another sprawly exurb like Cranberry.

McKeesport: Dangerous, crime-ridden satellite city of Pittsburgh. Under no circumstances move there.

If you want to consider living in the city, and you're worried about good neighborhood schools for your child, look at Squirrel Hill, Shadyside, and Point Breeze. Some other areas may work as well.

What is your price range?

Thanks for the info. My price range is $2500/mo. I think that is reasonable to get something desirable, just need to find where. We are leaning towards the city and keep hearing Lawrenceville is up and coming but I guess it depends where in Lawrenceville too.

[Hopes]

You don't need to stick with up and coming areas. Your budget can get you a place in the nicest neighborhoods.

[steindle]

Originally Posted by Hopes

You don't need to stick with up and coming areas.

Sure, but you're probably going to get the best value in those areas. I'd pay $1,200 for a nice place in Lawrenceville before I would twice that in Shadyside.

That said, I wouldn't pay more than $600 to live anywhere .

[SteelCityRising]

Originally Posted by steindle

Sure, but you're probably going to get the best value in those areas. I'd pay $1,200 for a nice place in Lawrenceville before I would twice that in Shadyside.

That said, I wouldn't pay more than $600 to live anywhere .

We're more alike than you'd probably want to admit. We're paying $700/month in rent for our 1-bedroom and feel like we're not getting enough "bang for our buck", which is why we're now house-hunting.

[ex-burgher]

If I had a new baby and a good budget, I would look in Squirrel Hill, Point Breeze or Shadyside for sure. Lawrenceville is still gritty and many of the walking routes would involve a massive hill. In fact, Shadyside is the best for level walks with a stroller. Point Breeze and Squirrel Hill are nice especially if you are near Frick Park.

[robrobrob]

Originally Posted by ex-burgher

If I had a new baby and a good budget, I would look in Squirrel Hill, Point Breeze or Shadyside for sure. Lawrenceville is still gritty and many of the walking routes would involve a massive hill. In fact, Shadyside is the best for level walks with a stroller. Point Breeze and Squirrel Hill are nice especially if you are near Frick Park.

Those are the city neighborhoods that I would pick from. I would also consider Regent Square or Aspinwall both have a city feel.

A comment about the burbs. You may not be able to walk to business district but you certainly can walk with a stroller in the burbs. The speed limit in our housing plan is 15 MPH and plenty of people walk with kids or dogs around the neighborhood. It might even be eaiser to walk here as opposed to the "city" due to the fact that some sidewalks are in such poor shape.