Wanted: Country Living, Good Schools, Commute to Cranberry (Pittsburgh, Butler: for sale, houses)

[IcedCoffee]

Hi Everyone!

I have lived in the 'burgh my whole life, although in the Eastern 'burbs, and my husband and I are looking to purchase our first home. He works in Warrendale and we would like to live out in the country and have at least a decently large yard, we want good schools (don't have to be TOP, but acceptable), our budget is 150k, which I know is do-able in Pittsburgh. We were thinking Mars would be the perfect area but there isn't much for sale there currently. Evans City is also a consideration. Would love to get out of Allegheny County to save some money on taxes but would consider Pine/Richland or Hampton. I work in Monroeville currently but do not want to factor that in too much as I plan to find a new job in the Cranberry area within the next 5 months.

Any advice? Thanks so much! This forum is great!

[DaBurgh]

How far from Warrendale can you live (for commuting purposes)?

[IcedCoffee]

I'd say I could deal with up to an hour long commute (wherever we end up living -> monroeville) considering it would be short term. However my husband would like to be 30 mins max. away from Warrendale.

[greg42]

Some of the areas on the west side of I-79 in Marshall and Franklin Park are rural and not always as pricey as the area reputation. They are in N. Allegheny school district.

You can push farther north in Butler County and certainly you'll save on taxes, but that will get less and less convenient to Warrendale, of course. Going southbound on I-79 you can't get off on either of the more convenient exits (for Warrendale) that you can when going northbound. You have to exit at Rt 228 in Cranberry.

You can look in Beaver County, near where I live, except the taxes are not as low as Butler County. The closest areas are New Sewickley Township (right next to Cranberry) and Economy Boro (next to New Sewickley and next to Marshall Twp). Economy is in Ambridge Area schools, which district-wide is not improving that well, and they spent a lot of money on new buildings recently which we are now paying for (I live in Economy). Economy Elementary is okay. New Sewickley is in Freedom Area schools, which seems to be steadily improving over the last few years. You could do worse, I suspect. New Sewickley is almost completely rural and shouldn't be too expensive, yet much of it is still convenient to Cranberry and Warrendale on rural, not too heavily trafficked roads.

[sr1234]

150k north of Pittsburgh? That is going to be a tough one. I know people who have relocated to the Northern counties. For a decent school district, 150k is going to be hard to find. There is a reason they now call I-79 the Money Corridor. It ain't cheap like it once was. You might try looking in either Beaver or Lawrence counties. 150K is pretty limiting for house with land.

[DurangoJoe]

Originally Posted by sr1234

150k north of Pittsburgh? That is going to be a tough one. I know people who have relocated to the Northern counties. For a decent school district, 150k is going to be hard to find. There is a reason they now call I-79 the Money Corridor. It ain't cheap like it once was. You might try looking in either Beaver or Lawrence counties. 150K is pretty limiting for house with land.

I live in Cranberry and yes you can find a small house with some land for $150K. Not easy but it can be done.

Don't fall for the Marshall Twp/ Franklin Park crap. I lived there for 15 years before moving to Cranberry Twp 5 years ago. In Cranberry, I got a bigger house for less money and less than 1/2 the taxes in Franklin Park. Wherever you look, if the school district is North Allegheny, that should be a red flag to you. Bend over and keep your wallet handy because you're probably going to pay at least $5K a year just in school taxes.

Once my kids were grown and out of that "wonderful" school district, I got the hell out. I should have moved to Cranberry to begin with when I moved to the area 20 years ago. Could have saved $100K in property taxes in that time.

SoButCounty

[Copanut]

Originally Posted by SoButCounty

I live in Cranberry and yes you can find a small house with some land for $150K. Not easy but it can be done.

Don't fall for the Marshall Twp/ Franklin Park crap. I lived there for 15 years before moving to Cranberry Twp 5 years ago. In Cranberry, I got a bigger house for less money and less than 1/2 the taxes in Franklin Park. Wherever you look, if the school district is North Allegheny, that should be a red flag to you. Bend over and keep your wallet handy because you're probably going to pay at least $5K a year just in school taxes.

Once my kids were grown and out of that "wonderful" school district, I got the hell out. I should have moved to Cranberry to begin with when I moved to the area 20 years ago. Could have saved $100K in property taxes in that time.

SoButCounty

The more kids you have, the cheaper it gets.

[IcedCoffee]

Hi everyone! Thank you so much for your comments, they have been very helpful. Here are the communities now at the top of our list: Mars, Valencia, Adams Township, New Sewickley, Cranberry Township, Evans City. We went and looked at Evans City and Mars today and loved the small town feel. Thanks for the tip about NA...we were looking at houses in the NA district and because of the post (SoButCounty), we have since changed our minds. Low taxes are important to us. We are going to try our hardest to find a home in Butler or Beaver county. We have time to find a house, so hopefully we can wait until the perfect one comes up. Thank you all so much, we truly do appreciate it.

[greg42]

It's not a bad plan. You'll definitely save in Butler County. The school districts there (Mars and Seneca Valley) are generally rating a bit higher than Freedom Area, but you may be more likely to find a lower priced house in Beaver County. I believe the tax rates for both are online at the county web sites if you do some searching. Keep in mind Seneca Valley is pretty huge in student count (incorporating all of Cranberry, Evans City, etc). Mars Area not so big, Freedom Area, not so big.

Good luck with your search.

[marktheshark]

Mars area...99 mills as of 2009, I don't believe they had an increase this year. The Mars Area has been pretty good about keeping taxes down.

Communities in this school district are Mars Boro, Adams Township, Middlesex Township, and I believe Valencia Boro.

I can supply other information if you need it.