Submitted by A-Fry-Guy t3_1273ogj in pittsburgh
Looking at purchasing a home in pgh and Swissvale caught my attention. I know north of 376 is fine but want to know if south of 376 is still an okay area. Seems like some are prejudiced towards it while others think it's perfectly fine. Thoughts?
Swissvale is the only neighborhood I’ve ever had a neighbor threaten to shoot me for letting my dog step on their property. Threatened to kill my mother in law too (sure, a victimless crime).
Holy cow!
Why was your dog on their property?
Because people think they own the sidewalk and curb.
I own a house in Swissvale. My neighbors are great, my house is beautiful and i am close to just about everything. I love it.
Swissvale is great, so long as it isn’t on/near Woodstock Ave. It’s very community oriented and close to the city, and just as safe as any other city neighborhood. I’m shopping around in Swissvale as well, I can tell you anything near Swisshelm Park, bordering Edgewood, or within the confines of Regent Square are where you want to be. Go too far down Monongahela Ave and resale value decreases.
ideally - wouldn't go farther down monongahela than church. past that can still be nice but is more block by block
some parts of it are rundown and suck, but there's little reason to actually go there. other parts are nice. my immediate neighborhood is nice and sleepy, but close to amenities.
It definitely has its perks. Biggest downside is the school district but if you don't care about school district you are close to the city and right on the bus way.
I find the name to be very misleading
Honestly some of the most beautiful homes I've seen in all of Pittsburgh.
Well, a murder just happened in the apartment building I rented at for 3 years. I moved out because there were drug deals going down in the parking lot from people that didn't live in my building and my car got broken into and packages constantly stolen. That was on sailor place.
I bought a house here a little over a year ago and love it. I'm on Miriam street, which is very close to 376. You can hear it outside but honestly not very much?
Echoing above commenter they said avoid the Woodstock side. Like the plague.
There are a lot of condemned houses and vacants in Swissvale, I lived there for eight years and the borough doesn’t have any budget anymore for tearing down those homes that are a blight. It’s unfortunate because it would create parcels between houses that the neighbors can buy and use as green space.
There are a fair amount of shootings in Swissvale but outside of a child getting killed in a retaliatory shooting on Columbia Ave I don’t remember any of them being random. EDIT: oops forgot about the woman and child who were killed last month. So a FEW dead kids but hey.
One big thing to note is the Commercial Street Bridge (the bridge that goes into the SH tunnel) is set to be replaced soon and Commercial Street itself will be shut for years. There will be no good cut around for avoiding the tunnels when that happens and that construction project is going to be an absolute bear.
If you live up on the slopes side, watch out for Mark the Tweaker. Keep your yard implements inside or they will absolutely go missing.
Expect to get yelled at by the school kids a lot.
Commerical street is NOT being closed for years. It will be open except for brief closures and the final bridge move/demolition. Source: PennDOT.
funny - I've always felt like the borough is too demolition happy and loses poor but salvageable buildings often.
generally, the farther you are from rankin the better. the northern portions are pretty nice.
Condemned houses are condemned for a reason. And the neglected buildings tend to have an awful tax burden so transferring them is a legal nightmare.
Each building they tear down coats the borough tens of thousands of dollars because of the work that goes into it, they are limited to a handful of properties a year because of the budget constrictions. This comes up in borough meetings all the time.
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Some areas of Swissvale are very crime ridden with drugs and gangs but other areas are fine, sorry I don’t know all the details. A family member lives there and is thinking of leaving. The wilkinsburg school district is awful. I’d you plan on or have kids, look elsewhere
I think you are confused. Swissvale is not within Wilkinsburg or it’s school district
Woodland Hills is an absolutely awful school district though so it’s not really much better on that front
In my experience it’s unfairly criticized and is in no way near the condition of Wilkinsburg SD. Wilkinsburg high school had to close due to declining enrollment and funding, Wilkinsburg taxes are astronomical. I don’t think the two are even comparable.
Uh the taxes are absolutely comparable
Woodland Hills has a millage of 26 (third highest in the county behind USC and Brentwood)
Wilkinsburg is 24.
Factor in municipality for homes of comparable value, (i.e. homes between Kelly and S Braddock or Blackridge) and the difference is visible. IMO Swissvale governance puts money to use that Wilkinsburg doesn’t.
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gcboyd1 t1_jecqs7r wrote
I’ve owned my house here for 13 years and am happy. I’m close to everything I need, the park is right here, and I never feel unsafe walking my dog. People are nice, and they do a much better job than the city of maintaining the roads in the winter.