Thoughts on living on the North Side?

large garlic
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Thoughts on living on the North Side?

Postby large garlic » Fri Apr 03, 2015 11:02 am

My wife is moving to Pittsburgh in the summer to start her residency at Allegheny General, and we've started looking at houses in the past week or so. Obviously, the North Side is appealing, since it would be basically no commute for her, there are some nice houses there, and it's had this label of "up and coming neighborhood" for a while. I'm still unsure about living there, though--there's not much there in terms of bars, restaurants, shops, etc.; there are still plenty of really run-down homes/lots; the nice houses there aren't that much cheaper than comparable houses in Lawrenceville, where there's clearly more to do and the redevelopment process is further along.

Does anybody have reasons that I should be more favorably disposed towards the North Side?

LITT
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Thoughts on living on the North Side?

Postby LITT » Fri Apr 03, 2015 11:24 am

if the choices are north side or lawrenceville, i would vote lawrenceville 15 times out of 10

llipgh2
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Thoughts on living on the North Side?

Postby llipgh2 » Fri Apr 03, 2015 11:27 am

There are some nice homes on the North Side, but in the bigger picture it isn't the safest place to live.

large garlic
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Thoughts on living on the North Side?

Postby large garlic » Fri Apr 03, 2015 11:33 am

if the choices are north side or lawrenceville, i would vote lawrenceville 15 times out of 10
Hah. I'm kind of moving in that direction too, especially since a couple places I looked at in Lawrenceville were walking distance to the 3-4 microbreweries that have popped there in the past couple years. I'm just seeing if there's any reason to keep more of an open mind about the North Side.

LITT
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Thoughts on living on the North Side?

Postby LITT » Fri Apr 03, 2015 11:40 am

Truthfully, I can't think of any. The only time I ever go to the north side is when I am trying to get somewhere else.

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Thoughts on living on the North Side?

Postby Silentom » Fri Apr 03, 2015 11:59 am

North side sucks, and Lawrenceville is all hipsters. But it does seem like Lawrenceville is rebounding. I'd go there, lol.

Troy Loney
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Thoughts on living on the North Side?

Postby Troy Loney » Fri Apr 03, 2015 12:09 pm

Bunch of new condo places going up in the strip district. If your looking for something on the allegheny river, that's where I'd live.

Northside has some cool brownstone type houses, but there's nothing else there. Lawrenceville is still in its little bubble period with housing, so I don't think id want to buy there...renting would be fine though. There are still lots of businesses flocking to butler street.

PFiDC
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Thoughts on living on the North Side?

Postby PFiDC » Fri Apr 03, 2015 12:19 pm

Lawrenceville is a spot we are considering renting in. I don't think the "hipsterness" will bother me too much if it's just for a year.

LITT
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Thoughts on living on the North Side?

Postby LITT » Fri Apr 03, 2015 12:20 pm

it not THAT bad

large garlic
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Thoughts on living on the North Side?

Postby large garlic » Fri Apr 03, 2015 12:33 pm

Bunch of new condo places going up in the strip district. If your looking for something on the allegheny river, that's where I'd live.

Northside has some cool brownstone type houses, but there's nothing else there. Lawrenceville is still in its little bubble period with housing, so I don't think id want to buy there...renting would be fine though. There are still lots of businesses flocking to butler street.
Yeah, the Strip District would be cool and a very short commute for my wife (my commute will suck regardless of where we end up). From what I've seen, though, I think the only things that would be in our price range would be 1-bedroom condos.

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Thoughts on living on the North Side?

Postby Avyran » Fri Apr 03, 2015 12:44 pm

It has to be one of those two neighborhoods?

LITT
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Thoughts on living on the North Side?

Postby LITT » Fri Apr 03, 2015 12:46 pm

there can be only one

large garlic
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Thoughts on living on the North Side?

Postby large garlic » Fri Apr 03, 2015 12:53 pm

It has to be one of those two neighborhoods?
No, it doesn't, but my wife is set on either a condo or a townhouse in an urban setting (no whiff of suburbia) and a max commute of 10-15 minutes. I figure that gives us the options of the North Side, Downtown, the Strip District, or Lawrenceville. Anything else would seem to push past that commute limit. If there's an area I'm missing, I'd appreciate hearing about it.

slappybrown
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Thoughts on living on the North Side?

Postby slappybrown » Fri Apr 03, 2015 12:55 pm

it not THAT bad
It's really not, and the only people that have a true gripe are the natives

Freddy Rumsen
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Thoughts on living on the North Side?

Postby Freddy Rumsen » Fri Apr 03, 2015 12:56 pm

When the wife and I first moved to Pittsburgh in 2004 we looked at an apartment on the Northside that had a dead rat in the middle of the living room. The realtor/slumlord said, "I'll have that moved before you move in."

Thanks.

/csb

Troy Loney
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Thoughts on living on the North Side?

Postby Troy Loney » Fri Apr 03, 2015 1:06 pm

it not THAT bad
It's really not, and the only people that have a true gripe are the natives
And it's light years better than it was there 15 years ago.

Troy Loney
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Thoughts on living on the North Side?

Postby Troy Loney » Fri Apr 03, 2015 1:07 pm

It has to be one of those two neighborhoods?
No, it doesn't, but my wife is set on either a condo or a townhouse in an urban setting (no whiff of suburbia) and a max commute of 10-15 minutes. I figure that gives us the options of the North Side, Downtown, the Strip District, or Lawrenceville. Anything else would seem to push past that commute limit. If there's an area I'm missing, I'd appreciate hearing about it.
Buying or renting?

large garlic
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Thoughts on living on the North Side?

Postby large garlic » Fri Apr 03, 2015 1:26 pm

Buying, so yeah, worries about bubbles come into play.

eddy
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Thoughts on living on the North Side?

Postby eddy » Fri Apr 03, 2015 1:31 pm

another vote for lawrenceville, it is a very nice place.

the errey i breathe
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Thoughts on living on the North Side?

Postby the errey i breathe » Fri Apr 03, 2015 1:39 pm

I grew up on the North Side so I'm partial to that but it really depends on which part you'd move to. Lawrenceville seems to be on the upswing so I'd probably vote that but I have some friends with really nice places right around AGH and also over on the Mexican War Streets

Freddy Rumsen
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Thoughts on living on the North Side?

Postby Freddy Rumsen » Fri Apr 03, 2015 1:40 pm

Lawrenceville is not really the "northside" is it?

tifosi77
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Thoughts on living on the North Side?

Postby tifosi77 » Fri Apr 03, 2015 1:41 pm

What's the old joke? How long does it take to drive from the North Side to the South Side? No one knows for sure, because no one's ever done that.

MrKennethTKangaroo
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Thoughts on living on the North Side?

Postby MrKennethTKangaroo » Sat Apr 04, 2015 11:31 am

There are some streets on the norf side that have some really awesome old homes that you really can't find anywhere else in the city. Those brownstones that the loney mentioned really are unique to the northside. This gentleman thinks that the western ave corridor is probably being umderestimated in this thread. Obvisously there are more bars and whatever on butler street but that does not mean that the norfside blows.

Have you considered living dahtahn at all?

llipgh2
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Thoughts on living on the North Side?

Postby llipgh2 » Sat Apr 04, 2015 12:26 pm

It has to be one of those two neighborhoods?
No, it doesn't, but my wife is set on either a condo or a townhouse in an urban setting (no whiff of suburbia) and a max commute of 10-15 minutes. I figure that gives us the options of the North Side, Downtown, the Strip District, or Lawrenceville. Anything else would seem to push past that commute limit. If there's an area I'm missing, I'd appreciate hearing about it.
Have you considered Shadyside?

large garlic
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Thoughts on living on the North Side?

Postby large garlic » Sat Apr 04, 2015 12:55 pm

There are some streets on the norf side that have some really awesome old homes that you really can't find anywhere else in the city. Those brownstones that the loney mentioned really are unique to the northside. This gentleman thinks that the western ave corridor is probably being umderestimated in this thread. Obvisously there are more bars and whatever on butler street but that does not mean that the norfside blows.

Have you considered living dahtahn at all?
Yeah, but the condos downtown are pretty expensive. The only ones in our price range are 1-bedroom. And, for the one building with lots of places in our price range, the condo fees are $500/month, and then it's an additional ~$200/month per car to have a parking spot. So, with two cars, that's an extra $900/month on top of the mortgage.

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