Author Topic: Husband got job offer in Pittsburgh - bad form to leave my job after 6 months?  (Read 10472 times)

labrat

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My husband got a job offer in Pittsburgh - we are trying to decide whether to stay in Southern Ohio or move.

The new job is a ~20% pay raise for hubs, and I would need to find a new job.  My salary would be approximately the same at a comparable job in Pittsburgh, maybe slightly less - but growth potential is good.  We both like Pittsburgh, and think it has a lot of character.  The transit options eclipse any offerings here, and would likely be heavily utilized by me year-round.

My issue is that I recently started in a new position this summer, which I am just starting to get comfortable in.  If we move, it would probably be after the 1st of the year.  By then, I will have been working in my current job ~6 months.  Is it bad form to leave after such a short amount of time?  Have any of you been in a similar situation?

Exflyboy

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you have a good reason.. Don't worry about it.

MKinVA

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+1 your reason for leaving is solid....make the move, sounds like a great opportunity

lizzzi

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They really can't argue with your reason for leaving. I don't think any employer (former or future) would hold that against you. Housing in Pittsburgh is really expensive and going up all the time. Many Pittsburgh workers live in eastern Ohio (Poland, for one example--on 224 southeast of Youngstown)...and commute back and forth to the 'Burgh. Eastern Ohio is extremely LCOL, as you probably know. It may be worth more of a commute to avoid HCOL in Pittsburgh.

labrat

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COL is comparable to Cincy metro but still a concern as we are considering neighborhoods in south hills near hub's job (Mt. Lebo, Bethel Park, USC - priority is good school for kiddo in a couple of years).  I actually have relatives in NE OH near Y-town - very cheap but I would HATE commuting upwards of 1.5h each way.  It's just not worth the time.  Would probably rent for a year and then look into purchasing if it makes sense financially.  NE OH for FIRE on the other hand - definitely an option...

Kaikou

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I mean is staying even a option, lol?

acroy

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Don't worry about it. Be professional but leave.
I guarantee - if the company you work for decided it was in their best interest to let you go, you'd be gone. No 'well she's just been here 6mo and starting to get comfy'. Out the door. It's a business decision.

Winter's Tale

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Small world - I live in South Hills area of Pgh.  DM me if you have any questions you would like to ask about living here!

Matt_D

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Yeah I don't see this as an issue. As a manager, my biggest thing is making sure people give me a decent heads-up if they're leaving so I can start working on replacing them. If someone had worked for me for 6 months and then jumped to another company just to try to get a raise or something, that would leave a bit of a sour taste in my mouth... but if you're moving to a different location it's not something I think most people would blame you for. And if they did... well, do you want to continue working for those people??

My advice: do it, give your current company more than 2 weeks notice out of courtesy, and explain that it's a location thing. Doesn't have to be 2 months... but 3-4 weeks would probably be appreciated. If you have a good relationship with your boss, a verbal heads-up in advance of the written resignation would be a good idea too. Something like, "my husband just got a great opportunity to work in Pittsburgh, we don't know yet if that's what we're going to do, but if we do then we'll be moving there sometime in early January." You could even ask for advice on finding positions in Pittsburgh... I don't know what industry you're in, but there's a chance someone in your current company has an industry contact there.

csprof

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Concur with the others - be professional, give more than 2 weeks notice.

Re Pittsburgh being HCOL:  Wow.  That's the first time I've *ever* heard that, but mostly I hear comparisons against the bay area and Boston/NYC.  There are only a few gotchas to COL in Pittsburgh that you should be aware of:  (a)  The property tax rate is a fairly brutal 3%.  Just because you can afford a $400k, 3500sf house -- consider carefully what you're locking yourself into with respect to property taxes (that'd be $1k per month!).  That's more advice I give to people moving from places with inflated property values who suddenly find themselves selling a $1.5m 2br house in the bay area, though.

(b)  There's a city income tax of 3% in Pittsburgh itself.

(c)  Whole Foods is as expensive in Pittsburgh as it is everywhere else.  Costco is as reasonable in Pittsburgh as it is everywhere else. :)

Living in the city is great, though - you can engineer a great commute.  Going through the tunnels or across the bridges to some of the suburbs (lower property taxes) easily adds 20 minutes each way to your commute.  Bleah.  There are housing bargains to be found if you look around and aren't obsessed with living in the highest-income zipcode in the city with the doctor and lawyer crowd.

frugaliknowit

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Doan worryboudit!!  If they were unhappy with you, you'd a been booted out with no notice!

lizzzi

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I would study up on the 'Burgh, and talk to people who actually live there. The lower-cost housing areas may not be where you want to raise your kids. Traffic in Pittsburgh proper can be very heavy, and parking downtown is difficult. The hills don't help in winter. My s-i-l has a house in Highland Park (I know...that's north, and you'll be south. Just saying.) He drives down to the U.S. Steel Bldg. for work, and has really been complaining about the traffic and the difficulty parking...my DD says that you would want to probably live in a suburb with better schools than in the city of Pittsburgh proper...but that commuting across bridges into town can add at least a half hour depending on traffic and where you're coming from. (She was researching the North Hills areas.) I see that your husband will be working in the southern suburbs...if you could put together housing close to where he works...and if he doesn't have to go downtown too often if at all...that could work. My Ohio friends are insisting that to live in eastern OH as close to the state line as you can find a good, cheap house is the way to go. I am more like you...hate commuting...think being able to walk to work would be the gold standard if possible...and the Turnpike in winter is no fun. (But you know that.) Anyway, DD and s-i-l like the 'Burgh--see it as a good place to live and raise a family, and as a town definitely on the upswing. Their house is Pittsburgh proper...next to a city tennis court...one block from a park...and around a couple corners from the zoo. You have to be careful of the buses on their street--drivers go too fast and are maniacs. I don't know if that would be an issue where you're looking or not.

Just re-iterating that if you are leaving your job because your husband is re-locating, and if you let them know as soon as possible (i.e. be professional)...It shouldn't affect your future employability. Life happens.

AZDude

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Remember, this is at will employment(I assume), not a contract. You owe them nothing other than trying to do a good job while you are there. 6 months from now, if they merged with another company or reorganized, you could easily get laid off.

Jack

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Many Pittsburgh workers live in eastern Ohio (Poland, for one example--on 224 southeast of Youngstown)...and commute back and forth to the 'Burgh. Eastern Ohio is extremely LCOL, as you probably know. It may be worth more of a commute to avoid HCOL in Pittsburgh.

I think that if you're going to commute that far, you should move to West Virginia (just 'cause it's funnier that way)!

lizzzi

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Oh yeah, Take Me Home, Country Roads!

Matt_D

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They really can't argue with your reason for leaving. I don't think any employer (former or future) would hold that against you. Housing in Pittsburgh is really expensive and going up all the time. Many Pittsburgh workers live in eastern Ohio (Poland, for one example--on 224 southeast of Youngstown)...and commute back and forth to the 'Burgh. Eastern Ohio is extremely LCOL, as you probably know. It may be worth more of a commute to avoid HCOL in Pittsburgh.

Really??

http://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/mustachianism-around-the-web/every-mile-closer-to-work-is-worth-$15-900-true-cost-of-commuting/
http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2011/10/06/the-true-cost-of-commuting/

mm1970

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They really can't argue with your reason for leaving. I don't think any employer (former or future) would hold that against you. Housing in Pittsburgh is really expensive and going up all the time. Many Pittsburgh workers live in eastern Ohio (Poland, for one example--on 224 southeast of Youngstown)...and commute back and forth to the 'Burgh. Eastern Ohio is extremely LCOL, as you probably know. It may be worth more of a commute to avoid HCOL in Pittsburgh.

Whaaa??

Aside from areas that I see from a quick Zillow search (say, near Schenley) at several hundred thou to a million ... most of the houses in the 'burgh seem to be cheap!  I mean the median is around $160k.  Of course, that depends on location, like anything.

Poland OH is 68 miles away!  Might as well live in Cranberry or Kittanning.

I mean, I know it's all relative.  I grew up in Clarion County, PA, went to college in Pittsburgh, lived in NoVa for 4.5 years, lived south of Pittsburgh for six months of school after college (Jefferson Hills), and now live in California.

Pittsburgh is cheap.  More expensive than Clarion, but then there aren't many jobs in Clarion.

boy_bye

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Pittsburgh is super cheap. My BFF just bought a super cute recently renovated house with stained glass in a nice South Hills neighborhood for like $160,000. I lived in a super nice 1250 square foot apartment with heat and AC included for $1200/month. It's super cheap. I can't imagine anyone calling it a HCOL area.
« Last Edit: October 14, 2015, 03:30:02 PM by miss madge »

neo von retorch

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Just saw this the other day:

http://money.usnews.com/money/retirement/articles/2015/10/13/10-best-places-to-retire-on-100-a-day
Quote
Pittsburgh. Sports fans have many professional teams to choose from, including the Pirates, Steelers and Penguins. The UPMC-University of Pittsburgh Medical Center is ranked 11th in the country in geriatrics. But this city full of noteworthy museums and colleges continues to have affordable housing prices. The median monthly housing cost is $1,227 with a mortgage, $453 without a mortgage and $642 if you rent.

slamuel

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Fellow Pittsburgher here. Welcome!

You can live in the heart of the city for extremely cheap as long as you're not too picky about new shiny things and places. PM me if you want any advice. I've lived here for over 25 years.

labrat

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Wow everyone, thanks for the great advice!  Logically I know it would be a good move.  I'm only hesitant because I really do enjoy my new job and have a great boss - it just makes it harder to leave (never thought I'd say those words!).  We have a couple of weeks to make the decision, so if I do leave I would probably give my boss a heads-up straight away so that they have time to hire.  HR is notoriously slow at my company.  Preferably the new hire would overlap with me for at least a couple of weeks so that I can show them the ropes and leave my boss in as good of a situation as possible.

@slamuel & @Winter's Tale - I'll definitely take you up on that!

@csprof - does the 3% income tax apply only if you live within the city proper, or would it also apply if you work in Pittsburgh but live outside of the city limits?  Cincinnati has a local income tax that applies if you work in the city regardless of where you live.  I have some co-workers that make the commute from Dayton and still have to pay Cincy income tax.

Since hubs would be working in the south hills, and I'd likely be working at one of the universities we hope to live near the T.  I could then ride downtown and take a bus over to Oakland.  I'll put up with a longer commute if it means I can read/zone out instead of wearing out my brakes & sanity on all of those hills!  From what I've read a perk of working at UPMC is that I'd ride free on buses and the T within Allegheny county - kind of hard to pass up zero commuting cost if employed there.

lizzzi

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Just re-iterating in response to a couple of the posters upthread...I myself would not commute from eastern Ohio...the OP sounds very much like me in her thoughts about commuting. But honestly, two days ago I was with a large group in the Eat 'n' Park in Austintown and they were just adamant about what a great idea it is to do a long commute from OH to the 'Burgh to take advantage of eastern OH's cheap houses. And several of my DD's co-workers in Youngstown have spouses who also do just that. I have researched living in Pittsburgh, used to rent there, and have relatives there... and I do caution the OP to be careful about neighborhoods. I am just a normal working person (not a doctor or lawyer type), and I know that the safety of the neighborhood can literally change from block to block. OP and her husband may end up paying more money to get into a neighborhood they would be comfortable raising their kids in. Just throwing my two cents in...I know this is all relative.

csprof

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@csprof - does the 3% income tax apply only if you live within the city proper, or would it also apply if you work in Pittsburgh but live outside of the city limits?  Cincinnati has a local income tax that applies if you work in the city regardless of where you live.  I have some co-workers that make the commute from Dayton and still have to pay Cincy income tax.

Since hubs would be working in the south hills, and I'd likely be working at one of the universities we hope to live near the T.  I could then ride downtown and take a bus over to Oakland.  I'll put up with a longer commute if it means I can read/zone out instead of wearing out my brakes & sanity on all of those hills!  From what I've read a perk of working at UPMC is that I'd ride free on buses and the T within Allegheny county - kind of hard to pass up zero commuting cost if employed there.

Ugh - this is slightly tricky, and I haven't paid a lot of attention to it since I live in the city itself.  The rule is "Under state law, residents owe wage taxes where they live. But if their community doesn't assess the tax and they are employed in a municipality that does, they pay where they work."  Pittsburgh has a 1% non-resident wage tax they apply to people from other cities, and then they have to pay their home-place amount;  I'm not sure how that works out for all of the surrounding communities.

I *believe* from this that for Mt. Lebanon (you said south hills):  http://www.mtlebanon.org/index.aspx?NID=254

that you'd probably pay the 1% pittsburgh non-resident tax + the 1.3% mt lebanon tax for work done in Pittsburgh proper.  Work outside might only pay 1.3%.

The public transit commute from downtown (excuse me - dahntahn) to UPMC isn't bad at all.  I'm not sure how the T adds to that, but you should be able to get a good idea of it from google maps transit directions.  The only caveat is that during peak times, some of the buses fill up if you're getting on them at a "late" stop.  This shouldn't be a problem from downtown to oakland, but I'm not sure.

lizzzi

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Yeah, and don't forget to warsh your hands before you get on the bus to go dahntahn, youins.

YTProphet

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They really can't argue with your reason for leaving. I don't think any employer (former or future) would hold that against you. Housing in Pittsburgh is really expensive and going up all the time. Many Pittsburgh workers live in eastern Ohio (Poland, for one example--on 224 southeast of Youngstown)...and commute back and forth to the 'Burgh. Eastern Ohio is extremely LCOL, as you probably know. It may be worth more of a commute to avoid HCOL in Pittsburgh.

Uhh...Pittsburgh is ridiculously cheap. I live in another area of the Midwest and I would kill for Pittsburgh housing prices.

lizzzi

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It used to be cheap--some neighborhoods still are--but prices are going up very quickly. Also, as stated above, all this is relative.

wtjbatman

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Be careful with the "give a long notice" advice. A friend of mine, working as a manager for a large company, gave a two month notice. His reasoning was he wanted to be fair, and he knows it takes 6 weeks to train a replacement. They fired him after one month. And because he had already given his notice, he didn't qualify for unemployment or any sort of severance pay.

Watch out for yourself first, a company isn't going to.

Daleth

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Housing in Pittsburgh is really expensive

Are you... ON CRACK????

:)

Sure, compared to dead rust-belt towns with no economy, it's expensive. In Detroit I'm sure you could find much cheaper places to live. But compared to other functioning cities, Pittsburgh's COL is fantastic.

lizzzi

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Just relaying what people who live there or who are commuting to work there daily have mentioned to me in conversations this week. Again, it's all relative, and people need to research it for themselves, of course.

labrat

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Be careful with the "give a long notice" advice. A friend of mine, working as a manager for a large company, gave a two month notice. His reasoning was he wanted to be fair, and he knows it takes 6 weeks to train a replacement. They fired him after one month. And because he had already given his notice, he didn't qualify for unemployment or any sort of severance pay.

Watch out for yourself first, a company isn't going to.

Yeah, after thinking a bit I'm leaning toward 1 month.  I found out about available backups/temps that can be utilized so it wouldn't be too much of an inconvenience.  It will be around the holidays so I figured I might be alone in the office my last week anyways...

labrat

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@csprof - does the 3% income tax apply only if you live within the city proper, or would it also apply if you work in Pittsburgh but live outside of the city limits?  Cincinnati has a local income tax that applies if you work in the city regardless of where you live.  I have some co-workers that make the commute from Dayton and still have to pay Cincy income tax.

Since hubs would be working in the south hills, and I'd likely be working at one of the universities we hope to live near the T.  I could then ride downtown and take a bus over to Oakland.  I'll put up with a longer commute if it means I can read/zone out instead of wearing out my brakes & sanity on all of those hills!  From what I've read a perk of working at UPMC is that I'd ride free on buses and the T within Allegheny county - kind of hard to pass up zero commuting cost if employed there.

Ugh - this is slightly tricky, and I haven't paid a lot of attention to it since I live in the city itself.  The rule is "Under state law, residents owe wage taxes where they live. But if their community doesn't assess the tax and they are employed in a municipality that does, they pay where they work."  Pittsburgh has a 1% non-resident wage tax they apply to people from other cities, and then they have to pay their home-place amount;  I'm not sure how that works out for all of the surrounding communities.

I *believe* from this that for Mt. Lebanon (you said south hills):  http://www.mtlebanon.org/index.aspx?NID=254

that you'd probably pay the 1% pittsburgh non-resident tax + the 1.3% mt lebanon tax for work done in Pittsburgh proper.  Work outside might only pay 1.3%.

The public transit commute from downtown (excuse me - dahntahn) to UPMC isn't bad at all.  I'm not sure how the T adds to that, but you should be able to get a good idea of it from google maps transit directions.  The only caveat is that during peak times, some of the buses fill up if you're getting on them at a "late" stop.  This shouldn't be a problem from downtown to oakland, but I'm not sure.

Thanks for the tax info - I was reading through the tax laws and scratching my head!  I'd probably be catching the bus near the Steel St. T station - not sure if that's a late stop or not. 

labrat

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Just re-iterating in response to a couple of the posters upthread...I myself would not commute from eastern Ohio...the OP sounds very much like me in her thoughts about commuting. But honestly, two days ago I was with a large group in the Eat 'n' Park in Austintown and they were just adamant about what a great idea it is to do a long commute from OH to the 'Burgh to take advantage of eastern OH's cheap houses. And several of my DD's co-workers in Youngstown have spouses who also do just that. I have researched living in Pittsburgh, used to rent there, and have relatives there... and I do caution the OP to be careful about neighborhoods. I am just a normal working person (not a doctor or lawyer type), and I know that the safety of the neighborhood can literally change from block to block. OP and her husband may end up paying more money to get into a neighborhood they would be comfortable raising their kids in. Just throwing my two cents in...I know this is all relative.

Definitely willing to invest money into living in a good neighborhood rather than commuting.  With a LO at home I simply cannot spend that much time away.  If we have another kid, forget about it.  Time is just too precious. I'd rather be looking at my hubs' & LO's happy faces than staring at pavement and having road rage!

brandino29

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Just re-iterating in response to a couple of the posters upthread...I myself would not commute from eastern Ohio...the OP sounds very much like me in her thoughts about commuting. But honestly, two days ago I was with a large group in the Eat 'n' Park in Austintown and they were just adamant about what a great idea it is to do a long commute from OH to the 'Burgh to take advantage of eastern OH's cheap houses. And several of my DD's co-workers in Youngstown have spouses who also do just that. I have researched living in Pittsburgh, used to rent there, and have relatives there... and I do caution the OP to be careful about neighborhoods. I am just a normal working person (not a doctor or lawyer type), and I know that the safety of the neighborhood can literally change from block to block. OP and her husband may end up paying more money to get into a neighborhood they would be comfortable raising their kids in. Just throwing my two cents in...I know this is all relative.

Definitely willing to invest money into living in a good neighborhood rather than commuting.  With a LO at home I simply cannot spend that much time away.  If we have another kid, forget about it.  Time is just too precious. I'd rather be looking at my hubs' & LO's happy faces than staring at pavement and having road rage!

Good for you, I wish more people recognized this trade-off (fortunately most on this forum do as well).  My biggest piece of advice though is not to buy until you've lived there at least a year or two and have gotten to know the city yourselves. I find many people to be fear mongerers (Oh no! Never ever go there, you'll get shot!) only to discover they are speaking entirely based off third or fourth or fifth hand hearsay. We would never live in the neighborhood we do today if we listened to those fear mongerers yet we love it and are surrounded by good folks.

Matt_D

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Good for you, I wish more people recognized this trade-off (fortunately most on this forum do as well).  My biggest piece of advice though is not to buy until you've lived there at least a year or two and have gotten to know the city yourselves. I find many people to be fear mongerers (Oh no! Never ever go there, you'll get shot!) only to discover they are speaking entirely based off third or fourth or fifth hand hearsay. We would never live in the neighborhood we do today if we listened to those fear mongerers yet we love it and are surrounded by good folks.

Yes, definitely - either hearsay or information from many years ago. The town we live in has at various times been cast as less desirable from a safety perspective on the various "where should I live?" internet boards, but we've found it a great place to live. Like almost anywhere, there are a couple areas I might not want to frequent late at night, but I generally have no reason to go to those places, and don't tend to go anywhere late at night, so it's sorta an irrelevant detail! Our neighborhood and all the places we usually walk/bike are quite friendly and safe, at any time of day.

csprof

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Good for you, I wish more people recognized this trade-off (fortunately most on this forum do as well).  My biggest piece of advice though is not to buy until you've lived there at least a year or two and have gotten to know the city yourselves. I find many people to be fear mongerers (Oh no! Never ever go there, you'll get shot!) only to discover they are speaking entirely based off third or fourth or fifth hand hearsay. We would never live in the neighborhood we do today if we listened to those fear mongerers yet we love it and are surrounded by good folks.

Yes, definitely - either hearsay or information from many years ago. The town we live in has at various times been cast as less desirable from a safety perspective on the various "where should I live?" internet boards, but we've found it a great place to live. Like almost anywhere, there are a couple areas I might not want to frequent late at night, but I generally have no reason to go to those places, and don't tend to go anywhere late at night, so it's sorta an irrelevant detail! Our neighborhood and all the places we usually walk/bike are quite friendly and safe, at any time of day.

+this.  There are very few truly dangerous neighborhoods in Pittsburgh by the standards of "really scary" places.

http://www.trulia.com/real_estate/Pittsburgh-Pennsylvania/crime/

(Hint:  Those red areas on the south side are mostly centered on carson street, where people go to drink and be silly.)

But when it comes to real risk, I'd spend more time looking at:

http://newsinteractive.post-gazette.com/homicide/

There's a stretch of the south hills near Knoxville-Mt Oliver that has a lot of crime.  I'd avoid for housing, personally, because there is a higher robbery risk, but I do go cycling through it somewhat regularly and it's not "scary", it's just higher-crime.  I've run or biked through almost all of the supposedly dangerous areas of Pittsburgh, and it's a bit overblown.

labrat

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We are definitely open to checking out any neighborhood, as long as it is reasonably safe and has as many wish list items as possible: walkability, easy access to transit, close to one of our workplaces, parks/recreation, cool people, and solid K-12 schools.  We both were raised in a "unsafe" city (my childhood home was randomly shot at on more than one occasion), so we know how to handle ourselves and know what to look out for. 

We'd be pretty hesitant to buy until we have a better feel for the city and a bigger savings cushion.  We have enough saved for 20% down in our target price range, a 2K emergency fund, but little else.  Ideally, we'd like another year or two to build up more savings - enough for 1 year of mortgage payments, property tax, and bare bones living expenses, as well as a house maintenance fund.  Then we'll be super-comfortable taking the leap into home ownership.

There's also no rush - our LO is 1yo so we have plenty of time to find the right place for us.  That said, if anyone knows of a good rental house/duplex/townhouse near Mt. Lebo, Bethel Park, or USC - PM me :)

Daleth

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We are definitely open to checking out any neighborhood, as long as it is reasonably safe and has as many wish list items as possible: walkability, easy access to transit, close to one of our workplaces, parks/recreation, cool people, and solid K-12 schools.  ... if anyone knows of a good rental house/duplex/townhouse near Mt. Lebo, Bethel Park, or USC - PM me :)

I don't know where you guys work, but Squirrel Hill fits the bill on everything else you've listed. Greenfield (next to Squirrel Hill) does too, if you make sure that the part of GF you're in feeds to the Squirrel Hill elementary school rather than the Greenfield one (they both feed to the Squirrel Hill high school, so no worries there).

 

Wow, a phone plan for fifteen bucks!