I have a good friend who worked there for a long time and it definitely seems like a good school. You can also get to the airport in like 5 minutes from there, so if you're doing any traveling that's pretty convenient.

I also see further down in the comments you're talking about Squirrel Hill- those apartments are probably more on the expensive side but most of them are in super nice old buildings and are absolutely worth it compared to those new luxury complexes.

I haven't rented for a while, but I do have answers to a few of your questions:

- Most leases I've signed in the past have been about 3ish months out from when the rental period begins. It could be more, it could be less- just depends on the situation. I once signed a lease less than a week before I moved in, but typically landlords will start showing a property approximately 3 months before their tenant moves out.

- I've never heard of anyone using an apartment realtor, but that doesn't mean it doesn't exist.

- My *biggest* tip here is to avoid the newer construction apartment/"luxury" apartment complexes. If you're moving from a high COL area (say, the Bay Area or NYC), those might seem like decent prices, but in reality they are often more than twice as expensive as a totally nice apartment in an older building. For example- I rented a fairly nice 2 bedroom apartment in Highland Park a few years ago for $975/month. I've seen those new/"luxury" apartments charge $1700+ for a studio apartment. And I keep putting "luxury" in quotes, because those places don't seem like they're very well built or particularly luxurious at all- they just look "new". I've heard rent has gone up a lot in the past couple years, but I assure you that it's not dire enough to consider a $1700 studio apartment a "great deal".

Unless things have changed, #1 Cochran prides itself on its lower prices by refusing to haggle. They claim the prices are as low as they can make them and that's something they stand by. So if you go there, yeah, there probably won't be haggling.

Can't speak for anything else though!

Carryout: A couple bucks is fine if the order isn't huge.

Pizza Delivery: If the place has its own delivery driver, 5 bucks is about right. More if it's an especially large order.

Sitting and Eating: Having tons of friends that work in the service industry, if you tip less than 20%, you will be known as a cheapskate. 20% is the new 15%. 15% has been a bad tip for well over 10 years now.

Also, I personally tip 20% for both carryout and pizza delivery. You won't be thought of as cheap if you don't do that, but I've always tipped well and have upped that even more because of people being forced to work during a pandemic.

The Thunderbird used to open at 7am and have a bunch of third shift workers drinking in the morning, but since they've remodeled it looks like they open at 5pm now.

Sidelines in Millvale. Best wings in the area- great sauces, always come out super fresh and crispy.

Bigshot Bob's is in second place for me, but suffers a bit for basically being takeout only (though a couple locations have a handful of tables)- by the time you get it home, it's not crispy anymore. I've also gotten some clearly old/frozen wings from them before (and have never had that happen at Sidelines). That said, 90% of the time BSB's is a great option and is still a firm second place in my book.

The problem with this is that so many political ads have out-of-context quotes and outright lies. If I believed them I'd assume every candidate running for everything was personally trying to murder me (even though sometimes it seems like they are indirectly).