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Old 12-04-2006, 11:30 PM
 
7 posts, read 25,874 times
Reputation: 10

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So i've been reading a lot of comments from so many awesome people on this site and have formed my own opinions about certain areas of Pittsburgh. I have never been to Pittsburgh, but would like to move my parents and siblings to the area.
So i know that Mt. Lebanon and Upper st. clair have the best school systems (blue ribbon and what not), but the prices for houses for Upper st. clair seem to be a little bit pricey.
I am looking to buy a house for them in the 80k-150k range, which is not a lot considering i am living in california, and with that price range, you'd get nothing. I have found some decent houses online, but i won't be able to come to pittsburgh until christmas vacation to take a look at the houses personally.

My parents, 8-year-old sister, and my brother are living in North of Philadelphia currently in a bad neighborhood (the hood as my brother called it) and i need to get them out of there ASAP. I am going to be in with them during christmas break for 2 weeks, and so i kinda want to get all this done within that time frame. I want to be able to return to california knowing that my parents and especially my little sister are living in a nice neighborhod.

I am working with lenders right now and have contacted several realtors, so that i could narrow the list down to like 6-10 houses which i will see in person when i am there.

My dad is currently unemployed and he's 50 years old. I don't know if he is going to be able to get a job. My brother and I will help my parents out financially, i just need him to get a 24k/year job and we're good to go.

I am looking for NICE NEIGHBORHOODS WITH GOOD SCHOOL SYSTEMS IN THAT PRICE RANGE. 80k-120k, because my sister is so small and she has so many years to come in the school district, so good school district is EXTREMELY IMPORTANT.

Last thing, my mom was saying that we could find some decent neighborhood in pittsburgh with good schools for around 40-75k range. COULD THIS BE TRUE? Like a lot of people have said, you get what you pay for, I can't imagine pittsburgh has an area that has great schools, low crime rate (very safe) and cheap houses. DOES ANYONE KNOW, SO I CAN TELL MY REALTORS TO LOOK AT THOSE AREAS?

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR READING THIS LONG POST.
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Old 12-05-2006, 06:54 AM
 
44 posts, read 150,639 times
Reputation: 39
They do exist. I don't know if you can achieve it over xmas holiday. It will take some leg work. Obviously Shadyside and Squirrel Hill has the most potential but probably out of your price range.
You might want to check out the Catholic Schools in the city.
The neighborhoods that might be off the radar as far as popularity but are coming into their own are;

Bloomfield
currently considered Little Italy
-very tight community
-small homes and narrow streets
-busy commercial district
-great restaurants and markets
-5 minutes to downtown
-the new Childrens Hospital is there now. Huge employer and convenient
-just outside Oakland (universities and hospitals) and Shadyside

Greenfield/Glenwood/Hazelwood
-old established areas long forgotten, but safe and becoming popular
-tucked in the valleys along the Mon
-Just across the River from Homestead and the Waterfront (huge developemnt>Target, Lowes Macys etc...
-easy access to downtown
-just outside of Squirrel Hill

Mount Washington/Duquesne Heigts
-Just across the river from Downtown on the cliff overlooking the city
-commute to downtown would be a ride on the incline!
-neighborhood on backslope from Downtown are old established areas becoming popular

Checkout areas along the "T" line in the South Hills. The "T" is a great form of transportation, quick unique trip to town and South Hills Village Mall.
Bethal Park, Overbrook, Castle Shannon, Brightwood. They are all near Mount Lebanon but don't have the price tag.
Anything around South Park.

Greentree, Brentwood and Baldwin are worth a look in the South Hills.

Brighton Heights on the North Side is worth a look. Great old large homes still underpriced

Edgewood and Swissvale are also up and coming. Large beautiful homes
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Old 12-05-2006, 07:47 AM
 
57 posts, read 172,401 times
Reputation: 25
Quote:
Originally Posted by JacksPgh View Post
The neighborhoods that might be off the radar as far as popularity but are coming into their own are;

Bloomfield

Greenfield/Glenwood/Hazelwood

Mount Washington/Duquesne Heigts
If you are looking for "great schools, low crime rate (very safe)" these are about the last places you'd want to live. Bloomfield - I've lived right next to it in lawrenceville, at 37th and penn. I've listed to gun shots and police sirens all day and night. It is probably in the top 5 worst places you'd want to live in pgh. Also, the schools are terrible. They are run down city schools - one of my best friends taught in the schools there, and indicated it was as poor as you could get. Hazelwood - another of the top worst areas, and more bad pgh schools. Look at last weeks post-gazette, you can read about the man dragged 1 mile from Hazelwood into Greenfield. And i've lived in Greenfield too, on Bigelow St. I could hear the gunshots at that house too, watch the police race by, and even hear them arresting people from my house. There are some areas of Greenfield that are alright and it does feed into Alderdice HS (which is the only acceptable Pgh Public HS) - so if you're careful, and live as far away from hazelwood as possible - and not in the area called "the run" right down by hazlewood either. Mt Washington/Duquesne Heights - more high crime, terrible school areas.

Quote:
Originally Posted by JacksPgh View Post
Checkout areas along the "T" line in the South Hills. The "T" is a great form of transportation, quick unique trip to town and South Hills Village Mall.
Bethal Park, Overbrook, Castle Shannon, Brightwood. They are all near Mount Lebanon but don't have the price tag.
Anything around South Park.

Greentree, Brentwood and Baldwin are worth a look in the South Hills.
These areas are not so bad, and have better schools. Definitely agree here. We thought of living in Baldwin before we bought out current house.

Quote:
Originally Posted by JacksPgh View Post
Brighton Heights on the North Side is worth a look. Great old large homes still underpriced

Edgewood and Swissvale are also up and coming. Large beautiful homes
I wouldn't recommend any of these areas either, especially the North Side. Another high crime area. Edgewood and Swissvale are hit and miss, you have to know exact streets to choose from. Some are just terrible, some have mansions and are very nice.

One other area I would recommend are Monroeville (south of Rt Business 22) which feeds into Gateway schools. North of 22 can have some not so good areas. Before we bought the house we lived in, we searched every area on the east side of the city, and had to keep looking further and further out to find a safe neighborhood, good schools, etc. We ended up in Monroeville with a 3bd, 1.5 bath, 2 car internal garage, flat driveway, large front and back yards, 1200 sqft, on a quiet local traffic only street, for less than $125k. The school district isn't as good as Fox Chapel, but for the price it is a good school system.

Other areas maybe: Forest Hills, Churchill, Dormont?, West Mifflin/Pleasant Hills?, Whitehall, and anything that feeds into Fox Chapel Schools (Aspinwall, Blawnox, Fox Chapel, Indiana, O’Hara, and Sharpsburg) - that is the best school district in the metro area. You may be able to find something reasonably priced in Aspinwall or Blawnox. If education is paramount to all else, that's what i'd go with.

Stuart
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Old 12-05-2006, 11:55 AM
 
7 posts, read 25,874 times
Reputation: 10
So basically, i should stay on the southside like brentwood and surrounding areas. I've been hearing a lot of bad things about the north side of pittsburgh, except for fox chapel, but it's kinda out of my price range.
Any other advice and suggestions would be greatly appreciated, guys.
Thanks
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Old 12-05-2006, 05:30 PM
 
57 posts, read 172,401 times
Reputation: 25
Quote:
Originally Posted by colhy78 View Post
So basically, i should stay on the southside like brentwood and surrounding areas. I've been hearing a lot of bad things about the north side of pittsburgh, except for fox chapel, but it's kinda out of my price range.
Any other advice and suggestions would be greatly appreciated, guys.
Thanks
The south or east areas, but nothing immediately close to the city center, you need to get at least 4-8 miles away from the center to get to desirable areas. And there is a difference between the "north side" (bad) and the "north hills" (good) or pittsburgh. There are plenty of areas north of the city, if you get away 6+ miles from the city center. Even 6+ miles west are some good areas. I just can't in good conscience recomend anything in the city besides squirrel hill, you need to find a suburb ("borough") not in the city. BTW, the "southside" is considered the first mile immediately south of the Mon river, the "south hills" are out just past brentwood. Your idea of searching brentwood and around there (but not closer) is fine. Or any of the 10 areas i listed in my last post.

Stuart
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Old 12-05-2006, 10:11 PM
 
75 posts, read 374,332 times
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I would recomend the Pleasant Hills/Jefferson Hills area. Safe middle/upper middle class area with great schools (West Jefferson Hills ranked 8th in the county if I can remember right). Good (but not great) access to the city via route 51.
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Old 12-06-2006, 09:54 AM
 
7 posts, read 25,874 times
Reputation: 10
Default Moving to murrysville!

Well, the southwest side of pittsburgh is generally pretty nice and safe and has good school districts, but the property taxes are so so high. I don't know if i am doing the math right, but it's like 4 percent in some places (in every house listing, it has a tax section, and sometimes it's like 3k for a 100k house).

So i am thinking of moving to the Murrysville area because Franklin Regional is a good school district, it's safe and low taxes.

Is there something i should know about Murrysville area? And what are some of the border towns between allegheny and butler county, or allegheny and washington county that give me those criterias?
Good school, safe neighborhoods, low taxes
Thanks a bunch guys.
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Old 12-06-2006, 04:20 PM
 
57 posts, read 172,401 times
Reputation: 25
Quote:
Originally Posted by colhy78 View Post
Well, the southwest side of pittsburgh is generally pretty nice and safe and has good school districts, but the property taxes are so so high. I don't know if i am doing the math right, but it's like 4 percent in some places (in every house listing, it has a tax section, and sometimes it's like 3k for a 100k house).

So i am thinking of moving to the Murrysville area because Franklin Regional is a good school district, it's safe and low taxes.

Is there something i should know about Murrysville area? And what are some of the border towns between allegheny and butler county, or allegheny and washington county that give me those criterias?
Good school, safe neighborhoods, low taxes
Thanks a bunch guys.
Moving outside of allegheny county is a good idea for RE taxes, they are insane in the county. However, most don't want to move that far out. If you are comfortable living that far from the city, Murrysville is a very good choice. Much lower taxes, good schools, very safe.

Also all the way down in Washington county, near washinton pa (mcmurray/canonsburg i think?), have some good schools/very safe.

Cranberry right by the Butler/Allegheny border meets those criteria too.

Stuart
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Old 12-08-2006, 10:52 AM
 
24 posts, read 94,299 times
Reputation: 16
I grew up in the Carrick/Brentwood area. Not bad, but i now live in the pleasant hills area. We bought a house for around 65,000 six years ago. It's a great neighborhood. I feel completely safe walking at night. Some of the houses on our same street have gone for 135,000. People have been buying these old houses and fixing them up. The schools are ok. The mall is only 5 minutes away, so shopping is easy to get to. The hospital is also 5 minutes away. The airport takes 45 minutes on a good day, and downtown at rush hour is about 30 minutes or so.
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Old 12-08-2006, 02:52 PM
 
17 posts, read 61,956 times
Reputation: 17
Pittsburgh was laid out in the 1700's and the traffic can be burdensome. You need to consider where you need to be.

Where will you be working? What area? This is important to narrow your search. Driving from one end of Pittsburgh to the other can take hours.
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