Looking for "Portland-like" Neighborhood (Pittsburgh, Lebanon: real estate, apartments, rent)

[pdxpbg]

My husband and I are moving to Pittsburgh from Portland, Oregon, and are looking for a neighborhood that has a Portland vibe. We are in our 40s, do not have children and are fairly active and still like to get out, so a suburb is fine as long as it is not too sleepy and no more than a 15 or 20 min drive to downtown. Walkability is important, and we'd love to be near coffee shops, a neighborhood pub and places to eat - if not in walking distance, at least just a short drive.
I'd appreciate it if anyone who has moved from Portland to Pittsburgh could give us some advice.

[sparrowmint]

Probably Lawrenceville would be one of your better bets.

Also a Portland transplant, though we were trying to get away from Portland-like atmospheres.

[RogersParkTransplant]

Originally Posted by pdxpbg

My husband and I are moving to Pittsburgh from Portland, Oregon, and are looking for a neighborhood that has a Portland vibe. We are in our 40s, do not have children and are fairly active and still like to get out, so a suburb is fine as long as it is not too sleepy and no more than a 15 or 20 min drive to downtown. Walkability is important, and we'd love to be near coffee shops, a neighborhood pub and places to eat - if not in walking distance, at least just a short drive.
I'd appreciate it if anyone who has moved from Portland to Pittsburgh could give us some advice.

What is your price range, and how do you feel about old buildings? My first thought is that you might prefer city over suburb, just because we have very walkable city neighborhoods and the suburbs tend to be more like 30-40 minutes to downtown, especially in traffic.

I'm a big fan of the Northside, and my first thought is the Mexican War Streets, but there are many cool city neighborhoods -- Regent Square and Friendship also strike me as places to check out. Lawrenceville is probably the "Portlandia" neighborhood around here, but it's relatively expensive and the housing stock is cute but small for the price.

[sparrowmint]

Expensive just makes it more Portland-like.

[RogersParkTransplant]

Originally Posted by sparrowmint

Expensive just makes it more Portland-like.

Heh. Yeah, I know, but still.

[pdxpbg]

Originally Posted by RogersParkTransplant

What is your price range, and how do you feel about old buildings? My first thought is that you might prefer city over suburb, just because we have very walkable city neighborhoods and the suburbs tend to be more like 30-40 minutes to downtown, especially in traffic.

I'm a big fan of the Northside, and my first thought is the Mexican War Streets, but there are many cool city neighborhoods -- Regent Square and Friendship also strike me as places to check out. Lawrenceville is probably the "Portlandia" neighborhood around here, but it's relatively expensive and the housing stock is cute but small for the price.

We are leaving Portland because we can't afford a house here now and our rent has almost doubled over the last ten years from $895 to $1710 for a two bedroom one bath. We are sad to see so many great old houses here are being torn down and replaced by multi story apartments and condos. Houses here are waaay out of our price range now. I guess what we are hoping for is something that feels like Portland did before everyone decided to move here. We are looking for a house that is under 200k and we love older houses and neighborhoods and are not opposed to a little DIY if we end up with a bit of a fixer.
We both work from home. We will be in Pittsburgh next week and plan to look at homes in Brighton Heights, Bellevue, Perry North, Crafton and Dormont, so info on these neighborhoods would be particularly helpful, or suggestions for other areas we might like.

[MamieRose]

What about Dormont? It's a high density suburb with a small business district and also close (even walking distance, depending) to Mt. Lebanon, which is full of coffee shops and restaurants. And it's on the T, so easy travel to the city.
Or Carnegie. Their commercial area is really growing and it's also close to the city.

[eschaton]

In terms of the type of people who live there, I agree Lawrenceville might be the best fit. But visually speaking, Lawrenceville doesn't look much like Portland, since it's much older than even most inner Portland neighborhoods, comprised almost entirely of rowhouses, and doesn't have much in the way of greenery. Here's a random streetview to give you some flavor. At the price point you're looking at, you'd be priced out of anything but a small house like this.

We almost bought this house in East Liberty last year. The woodwork is/was friggin unreal, but sadly the dumb owner has since painted a good deal more of it white. It's an amazing piece of history in a great location though, and if you're handy enough to undo the sloppy repair work done, it could really shine again.

[RogersParkTransplant]

Originally Posted by pdxpbg

We are leaving Portland because we can't afford a house here now and our rent has almost doubled over the last ten years from $895 to $1710 for a two bedroom one bath. We Are sad to see so many great old houses here are being torn down and replaced by multi story apartments and condos. Houses here are waaay out of our price range now. I guess what we are hoping for is something that feels like Portland did before everyone decided to move here. We are looking for a house that is under 200k and we love older houses and neighborhoods and are not opposed to a little DIY if we end up with a bit of a fixer.

OK, sounds like Pittsburgh might be a nice fit for you. Do look around on the North side -- Mexican War Streets proper might be a stretch, though every now and then houses in your price range do pop up. East Deutschtown and Troy Hill will have some good options; you might also find stuff in the Central North Side and Allegheny West, though they are more expensive. Manchester is getting nicer all the time, and area like Brighton Heights, Observatory Hill, and Spring Hill are also worth a look -- they aren't as walkable, but have good bus connections and nice housing stock.

The East End neighborhoods like Lawrenceville, Squirrel Hill, Shadyside, Point Breeze and Regent Square might be out of your price range, but you might well find a smallish fixer-upper under 200k and it would be a good investment. Morningside and Highland Park are less walkable, but have neat old houses galore. I don't know the South side well but others on here do, and I hear good stuff about Brookline and Dormont.

One near suburb worth checking out is Millvale. Its central business district is slowly but surely reviving, and its close proximity to Lawrenceville means that the Portland effect will catch up to it soon.

You will definitely get more for your money if you buy rather than rent in Pittsburgh, partly because the large university presence drives up rent in the student-friendly areas, but mostly because real estate prices keep going up. I don't think it will necessarily skyrocket, but the prices are climbing steadily as far as I can tell.

[RogersParkTransplant]

Since you mentioned Crafton -- that's a very cute area that I like a lot. Not really walking distance to anywhere but a short, easy drive to everywhere -- at least that's my impression from driving through when we want to take the pretty route from the city out to the big box stores in Robinson township.