Pittsburgh to Seattle to Pittsburgh (Washington, Dormont: best neighborhood, apartment, rental)

[iheartinsanity]

I can't believe I have to ask this question here, since I lived in Pittsburgh for 29 years of my life. However, I was a suburbanite at the time and did not live in the city. I have lived in the Seattle area since 2012, but because of an ugly custody battle, we've decided to move back to Pittsburgh, and do what is best for the children.

I have a pre-teen step-daughter, husband, and 3 sons (whom I share custody with in the Pittsburgh area with my ex). Currently, we live in Washington state. I've lived here since 2012 (husband was active duty at the time), but like I said spent 29 years in Pittsburgh suburbs in my own little bubble. Since I moved west, I really got cultured and grew to appreciate city living. My question is....what urban town would be best to raise a family? We want to be close to Childrens Hospital and University of Pittsburgh (husband most likely will be going back to school so we'd like to be close to the universities). I know that Pittsburghers hate driving from town to town (in general, not all) but it doesn't bother us that much...we just would prefer not to be in the suburbs. Are the public schools really THAT bad? I've heard first hand on the news when I lived in Pittsburgh how much they suck, but will our child really suffer that bad? My 3 sons right now will remain with their father in the suburbs (in that school district), but for now we're settled with 50/50 with them going to school in their dads district. My daughter will be going into 6th grade, so right now she's my only concern since she'll be the only child attending and living with us fulltime. She's one of the smartest in her class, so keeping her level of being challenged...is well, a challenge (Washington state is terrible, IMO for challenging children).

Any info is appreciate. I'd appreciate ANY and all feedback. Wether be good or bad.

[ferraris]

Welcome back. What's your budget? Are you looking to buy or rent?

[eschaton]

How much room will your sons be needing when they stay with you? I ask because while you can assuredly move into a walkable neighborhood with good schools in either the city or a few of the suburbs, once you get in the four bedroom range it's going to get much, much harder to swing money wise.

[iheartinsanity]

Originally Posted by ferraris

Welcome back. What's your budget? Are you looking to buy or rent?

Right now just renting, and and we're really hoping to avoid living in an apartment is possible. We're hoping to stay under 1000 for rent. And, Thanks!

[iheartinsanity]

Originally Posted by eschaton

How much room will your sons be needing when they stay with you? I ask because while you can assuredly move into a walkable neighborhood with good schools in either the city or a few of the suburbs, once you get in the four bedroom range it's going to get much, much harder to swing money wise.

They are 8, 7, and 5 years old right now. The 5 year old has always had his own bedroom. Though they often end up having "sleepovers" in one anothers room so if it was a big 3BR I'm sure we could make it work as a transitionary place till we were ready to buy. I'm going to have weekends with them for now (Friday from 5pm to Sunday at 7pm), and extended periods of time during summer/holiday breaks, unless I move into the SD Dad lives in (which I'm hoping to avoid) and then we'd alternate weeks if that were the case.

We really want a 4BR right now, but we know our income is going to take a hit moving back to Pittsburgh. It's definitely going to be cheaper than flying them cross country on a regular basis though.

[iheartinsanity]

Originally Posted by eschaton

How much room will your sons be needing when they stay with you? I ask because while you can assuredly move into a walkable neighborhood with good schools in either the city or a few of the suburbs, once you get in the four bedroom range it's going to get much, much harder to swing money wise.

Just looked at your location. Lawrenceville was one of the neighborhoods I was interested in. Do you think we should just scratch it off since our budget is around 1k?

[eschaton]

That's a really tough price point for a larger apartment/house within the city itself. Most of the most desirable city neighborhoods in the East End are out of your range, before even taking into account the issue of schools.

If I were to suggest where to rent for now on a budget, I'd say Greenfield. There's definitely a couple of rental houses in your price range on the market now there, and the local school is considered above average, and feeds into the best neighborhood high school. There's not a real walkable business district, but there is a local grocery store, along with two small "main streets" with some essentials. And you're only a 5-10 minute drive from Squirrel Hill, which has a much better business district.

You also might want to consider Brookline, in the southern part of the city. Dormont is just outside the city limits, but overall very "urban" feeling, and has access to light rail into Downtown.

[doo dah]

What neighborhood do you live in, in Seattle?

[robrobrob]

Where is the Dad living? Would you want to at least live on that side of town?

How walkable do you want your neighborhood? Some city neighborhoods are very walkable and others are not.

Does a "town" mean part of the City of Pittsburgh? The reason I ask is that some suburbs are just as walkable as city neighborhoods? It certainly seems like you are open to a lot areas so you may be better off picking the best house with schools that you can tolerate.

[iheartinsanity]

Originally Posted by eschaton

That's a really tough price point for a larger apartment/house within the city itself. Most of the most desirable city neighborhoods in the East End are out of your range, before even taking into account the issue of schools.

If I were to suggest where to rent for now on a budget, I'd say Greenfield. There's definitely a couple of rental houses in your price range on the market now there, and the local school is considered above average, and feeds into the best neighborhood high school. There's not a real walkable business district, but there is a local grocery store, along with two small "main streets" with some essentials. And you're only a 5-10 minute drive from Squirrel Hill, which has a much better business district.

You also might want to consider Brookline, in the southern part of the city. Dormont is just outside the city limits, but overall very "urban" feeling, and has access to light rail into Downtown.

I kinda though so.

I'll definitely give Dormont a go. Most places I see online for rent (right now) are only 2br, but that can easily change. I'm making a few trips back between now and the time we move but trying to really limit them so we can put them into the moving costs. I never considered Brookline but I'm definitely open to it.