Moving to Pittsburgh or Philly (Philadelphia, Chester: real estate, apartment, rent)

[Huff1998]

Hello all.

My fiancé & I are looking to move out of Wisconsin. If it was up to me, I’d be packing up & leaving tomorrow. My fiancé on the other hand wants to move, but is scared to take the lunge (she keeps saying she just hates the moving process)

We both spent our entire lives in Illinois. We met in high school & have been together ever since (currently 9 years) when I turned 21, I told her I wanted to leave the state. The only thing I had going for me was my job in the union but the area we lived was terrible. Crime, low pay jobs, mall was shutting down, not much to do out and about. She agreed as she only had her family, & a hospital job.

We took the leap & moved down to Florida. We really thought Florida was our forever home. Wrong. Took us 8 months to realize it was not. It was only a vacation destination for us. Low pay (HVAC Foreman, & CNA) our rent was ridiculous & ended up having the nicest apartment for the price in 3 counties we looked through


We decided to move again. She missed her family but I told her Illinois was not happening again. So we settled on a bordering state & ended up here in Wisconsin. We both now have good jobs, (Construction Estimator, & CNA but making so much more) we’ve been up here for 2 years, & we originally planned on staying here until she finished school. Well she took a break from school because she wanted to start a family. Which was successful. We just found out we are about 7 weeks along.

We have a beautiful apartment, but that’s all. No yard, no dog park, fitness center, etc. there’s also not much to do here other than go to the few stores & restaurants. We don’t really have any friends that we hangout with. Just our softball family during season.

I’m wanting to move to the NorthEast & for some reason am wanting Pennsylvania. I would love Maine, or Massachusetts but don’t think we’d be able to afford.

My question for this super long thread is: Pittsburgh or Philly?

We are extremely athletic & both love sports. Sporting events, games, tours, recreation sports, playing slow pitch softball, kickball, literally anything sports related we love.

We both don’t drink or smoke, but not opposed to going to a bar for an event (just won’t go to get drunk)

We love being outdoors. We love the water, laying on the sand, swimming, letting our dog play in the water, and all that. She loves hiking, I only enjoy it if there’s a nice view or nice end goal lol. I am a new photographer so I do love getting good views to capture on camera, we both love the cold & snow so any snow activity, we are in.

We love traveling & seeing new things & doing pretty much anything out of the house we can.

We do have a 2 year old lab, & plan on getting a golden retriever hopefully soon & also have a cat.

I love the city life. Tall skyscrapers, cool architecture, shopping, walking downtown, going to museums, etc

Fiancé loves the country life but also likes the city.

I just don’t want to have to travel 20+ minutes to the nearest gas station, grocery store, or main shopping stores.

We do both like suburbs & having a yard, & neighbors as long as they are not directionally on top of us.

We are expecting so we are starting to focus on schools & safety & all that even though school is still a few years away

I have labor construction background, which I don’t really enjoy anymore, but I am currently working in an office making $64k a year & my fiancé is a CNA making about $54k a year but hoping wages are higher in either area.

We are both exploring work from home/hybrid careers, & honestly as long as I’m trained & don’t need a college degree & fiancé will eventually go back to school for her RN unless she finds a better opportunity doing something new.

I hope I didn’t leave any key info out, but I’m Hoping this thread will allow me to gather much needed information on where we should look.

We do plan on renting for a little while to ensure we like where we chose, & then looking to buy as soon as we are able to.

Thank you for taking the time to read this bible verse & hope to see some great replies!

[thedirtypirate]

Chester County, PA would be a good fit.

[Wells5]

Philly and its suburbs are part of the northeast corridor and the vibe there is much different from Pittsburgh, which is Midwest.


You say that you like Massachusetts and Maine so I suggest that you look at the in between state of New Hampshire, which has cheaper living than MA and no state income tax on earned income. Unfortunately lots of people have discovered New Hampshire and real estate prices have shot way up.

[cpomp]

The Philadelphia area provides more across the board.

I'll run through a few points from your post...

City Life & Country Life: Philadelphia all the way. Tons of food, history, architecture, museums, unique neighborhoods, etc.
There are also many beautiful suburbs within a reasonable distance to Philadelphia that offer a nice balance of amenities, walk-able downtowns, and spacious settings. Media comes to mind. A great area with tons of amenities, recreation options, excellent schools, and ~20 minutes from Philadelphia (and direct train access).

Connectivity: Philadelphia is on the Northeast corridor. It is connected to nearby cities, NJ beaches, mountains, getaway locations, etc. Philadelphia also has a much larger airport (and Newark is not far for more options).

Fitness: Philadelphia has a big fitness community with several outlets to connect with other fitness people (running, biking, yoga, sports leagues, various fitness clubs, social networks, etc.).

The COL is higher in Philadelphia (the downside). If you have a budget in mind (rent or buy), that will help posters narrow down neighborhoods.

In the end, both are great cities, but Philadelphia is a much larger city/region with a lot more going on related to your interests.

[pman]

Pittsburgh is absolutely not midwest. based on your description the suburbs of Philly might be a better fit, time to the country from the city in Pittsburgh is much lower though. pittsburgh is warmer than wisconsin but colder than philly. both of plenty of places close to things to do. chester county and lancaster county might be good fits if you want a balance of city and rural.

[Huff1998]

I guess the big question with Philly is the crime / drugs. I know any major city will be full of crime, I’m used to Chicago downtown walking & spending a lot of my weekends there, I just always see the bad drug videos of like Kensington & what not.

I also want the cold & snow. So kinda stuck with Pittsburgh on that one it seems

I’ll definitely take a look into those counties! Thank you

[kyle19125]

I also agree regarding the Philly area but disagree with Chester County given your description of yourselves and interests. Much closer in suburban areas will have more of your demographic around in terms of age and interests plus better proximity to jobs and things to do. I would suggest towns like Conshohocken, Jenkintown and Abington in PA and just across the PA/NJ state line in Collingwood and Haddonfield. All feature their own active downtown areas and regional rail stations for easy access to Center City Philly and University City where many of your options might be located, as well as all of the social benefits.

[cpomp]

Originally Posted by Huff1998

I guess the big question with Philly is the crime / drugs. I know any major city will be full of crime, I’m used to Chicago downtown walking & spending a lot of my weekends there, I just always see the bad drug videos of like Kensington & what not.

I also want the cold & snow. So kinda stuck with Pittsburgh on that one it seems

I’ll definitely take a look into those counties! Thank you

Kensington is not near Center City (downtown) Philadelphia.

As the case with any city, street smarts are important, but you will be fine.

[YorktownGal]

Originally Posted by Huff1998

I also want the cold & snow. So kinda stuck with Pittsburgh on that one it seems

I’ll definitely take a look into those counties! Thank you

Congrats on the new baby! You will want to be within striking distance of family!

You might be taking on too much with a move now. Not to rush you, but the last trimester of pregnancy is tough. Your wife will not be able to lift heavy boxes or items. So you really have three to four months to get this done!

If your wife begins a new job a before her due date, the company will flip out if she asks for maternity leave. She might need to wait until your baby is a couple of months old before looking for employment.

You will have to find a trusted person or a daycare business without a waiting list. Your wife will have to find an obstetrician, pediatrician and a hospital in a short period of time. You'll have to buy baby stuff and furniture.

I think you are thinking about things which is great - it's the timing might be the problem. If you wish to put the move off for a while, I moved with a 14 month old baby and it was very doable.

I'm in Virginia because I hate snow, but I love Pittsburgh! I think it has a lot of potential. Real estate in reasonable. Try renting before buying. You could drive between Illinois and Pittsburgh. Amtrak has the Capitol Limited - Washington, DC Pittsburgh Cleveland Chicago. Pittsburgh Airport is pretty efficient.

If you've been in construction, try looking for a job as a commercial real estate appraiser. It's a hybrid job of working online from home and onsite inspections. If you work from home, you'll still need a babysitter or daycare. Babies suck up time.

I volunteer in an animal shelter and foster dogs - DON"T GET ANOTHER DOG BEFORE THE BABY! It's a freaking recipe for disaster. I know from shelter experiences. You are betting that your baby will not be allergic, a teething puppy won't bite, the puppy will adjust to the other dog and cat, etc. The unforeseen issues at a time of INCREDIBLE stress of a baby is beyond anything you can imagine now.

[brightdoglover]

Renting with two large dogs is very tough. I agree with the above poster- don't get another dog until the baby is a decent age and you OWN.