Pittsburgh?

Beaners · #1 03/15/08, 09:20 AM

So my husband was offered a promotion. The catch? We would have to move...again. This time to a spot just a little bit to the west of Pittsburgh, PA. We still don't have all of our stuff unpacked from the last move, and this would be two moves almost exactly a year apart.

He will be working in the area for a few weeks so he will get a feel for the neighborhood his job is in. We will also get to spend a few days touring the area and seeing if we like it enough to move there.

My main concern right now is that the only map I can find that shows air quality says that it is terrible.

What areas have reasonably priced homes with enough land at least for a garden? Are there any areas that are being developed rapidly that we should avoid? What other "stuff" should I know that I won't be able to discern from all the statistics I have found so far? I read the thread on urban homesteading in Pittsburgh, but I am really not crazy about the idea of living in the middle of a city again.

Kayleigh

PA_MIKE · #2 03/15/08, 10:50 AM

Pittsburgh is not all that bad. I see that you miss Memphis. I have lived there also. If you found anything likable about Memphis....... Then you should love Pittsburgh. PM me your number and I can give you a call and fill you in on the area.

Mike

stef · #3 03/15/08, 12:30 PM

Beaners;
if you use the search engine here and type in Pittsburgh you'll get lots of comments about Pittsburgh. Some are quite recent.

Any map that tells you Pittsburgh air quality is terrible, is about 40 years out of date!

Pittsburgh has more sunny days than areas north of route 80. More than Erie PA. Don't know about NY. Spring time and fall in Pittsburgh and Western PA are beautiful. Winter can be harsh, and summer tends to get fairly humid.

As far as moving to Pittsburgh...take your time to get to know the area a little before you commit. If possible, find somewhere to rent for a few months. From personal experience, it's a mistake to buy a house if you're likely to move again in a couple years.

Perhaps the company he is presently working for can give you some relocation information.
Just don't make any hasty committments.
Stef

pickapeppa · #4 03/15/08, 01:19 PM

I'd move to Pittsburgh. Housing prices are 40% less than when we moved in here 10 years ago. The houses in the city, at least. I thought it looked like a great place to live. They still have a large middle class there, no housing bubble, steady growth, all from what I can tell, and have been told by others who live there.

Beaners · #5 03/15/08, 01:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stef

Any map that tells you Pittsburgh air quality is terrible, is about 40 years out of date!

The map I looked at showed information from 2007.

We aren't necessarily going to buy a house, we are considering renting a house to begin with too. But I would still like to rent in an area that isn't under constant construction and doesn't have overvalued property.

I did search for threads, and read the ones that came up. That was how I found the one on urban homesteading.

Thanks for the information everyone, hopefully a couple more people poke their heads in and share what they know!

Kayleigh

MariaAZ · #6 03/15/08, 01:40 PM

I have two favorite websites for researching areas; http://www.city-data.com and http://www.bestplaces.net If you've not visited these sites yet, they offer both vital statistics for cities as well as forums for people to discuss areas.

willow_girl · #7 03/15/08, 02:32 PM

I moved here last year! I like it a lot.

Land is expensive here, compared to where I came from! (Northern Michigan.) Very hard to find anything with acreage for under $100K! Also, it's hard to find anything FLAT! This is hill country, my friend ...

The good news is that winters here are very mild (again, compared to N. MI). Summers are a bit hotter, but if you're from the South, you'll do just fine.

People are friendly ... it's a shot-and-a-beer town. Low-paying jobs ($8-9 an hour) are plentiful; better jobs seem hard to come by. Taxes are very high and government seems more corrupt than usual, ho-hum!

If you decide to come for a visit, please look us up!

roadless · #8 03/15/08, 04:13 PM

I'm originally from a very small town 20 miles SE of Pittsburgh. I agree with all that Willow Girl had to say. I would add that the museums in Pittsburgh are fantastic. The people are very friendly , my family still lives there.

stickinthemud · #9 03/15/08, 08:52 PM

Kayleigh- welcome to Pittsburgh!
I will second Stef’s advice to rent a while and explore the region. You will need some time just to learn how to get around.
Our landscape is similar to the Ozarks: hills & hollows & winding two-lane roads. Climate is officially zone 6 but microclimate is very important. Lots of cloudy days, but lots of sunny ones too. Rainfall averages around 36 in/yr and so far this year is 2.37 in above normal.
Soils are mostly clay & don't dry out quickly. Watch drainage for building & locating gardens, etc.

Things to watch out for:
Much of the area has been undermined by coal mines or strip mined. Water may be polluted by mine acid. Get well water tested before you buy.

Allegheny County sales tax is 7%, the rest of the region is 6%. Real estate is taxed by county, township, and school district. Rates vary widely. This link is just an example and does not include school taxes which are usually higher: (http://www.south-fayette.pa.us/docum...07taxrates.pdf )
There are over 100 municipalities in Allegheny County alone.

Regional population is stagnant but sprawling: avoid Cranberry, Butler County and Murrysville, Westmoreland County and anywhere along I-79. The political powers have been trying to push development near Pittsburgh International Airport too. Avoid the major roads & you should be able to find something.
Good luck!

PA_MIKE · #10 03/15/08, 10:51 PM

There is low crime in most of the area. Avoid the city limits. Land is resonable in Northern Butler county, Eastern Westmoreland County, Washington County, and most of Beaver County. If you want a quick lesson on area politics listen to KDKA radio. They stream on www.kdkaradio.com. I live in Northern Venango county. I am 100 miles north of the city. Land is $2000 an acre and 45,000 buys you a nice house in town where I am. I grew up south of the city and you really need to research the suburbs. Tax's in Allegheny county are way out of hand.

There are some decent DVD videos on the region that were made by the PBS channel. It is WQED. I think netflix has them.

Good luck

CJ · #11 03/16/08, 12:20 PM

Well, you're coming from NY so perhaps to you the Pittsburgh area might be affordable. We were offered a job with Westinghouse last Fall in Pittsburgh, we would have need to move to the Cranberry Township, and to us the cost of any decent house on acreage was just way too expensive compared to the Ozarks. That wasn't helped by the fact that their salary was half what hubby earns here.

But Pittsburgh itself looked fantastic, and the countryside looks beautiful, I think we would have really liked living there.