The city of Erie is a major port on Lake Erie, which borders the US and Canada. Erie is located at the northwest tip of Pennsylvania, approximately 100 miles from the cities of Buffalo, New York and Cleveland, Ohio. Houses in Erie are popular despite its northerly latitude and long and cold winters. During the summer, the region enjoys a hot and humid continental climate, but that quickly changes come winter when the snow starts to fall due to the lake-effect. Another thing you need to consider before you begin looking for a house to buy in Erie, PA is the neighborhood. If you are looking for a quiet, residential space to raise a family, Erie has it. On the other hand, if you are looking for a bit more buzz in an urban area close to downtown, Erie has that too. There are a number of different neighborhoods in Erie, all which have something different to offer. Erie Neighborhoods Behrend Behrend is a college neighborhood, with nearly a third of the residents attending university. This makes this neighborhood very quiet in the summers. Median home prices in this region rarely go beyond the $220,000 mark, making it an appealing neighborhood for home buyers and investors looking to take advantage of the rental market. Belleview Heights Belleview Heights is a rural neighborhood inside the city, offering plenty of outdoor and green space. Most of the residences in this neighborhood were built before 1970, although some are newer. If you are buying a house in Erie, you’ll enjoy the amount of space you can find in Belleview Heights. As another moderately priced neighborhood, the median price of real estate there was $219,876 at last estimate. Brookside Brookside is a quiet suburban neighborhood with a wide array of dwelling types. If you are looking to buy a house in Erie, PA, the neighborhood of Brookside might be just what you are looking for. Housing prices are in the upper 55% of Pennsylvania neighborhoods, and in the upper 41% of the country as a whole. Brookside experiences low vacancy rates relative to the rest of the city, but that is also because approximately 30% of its residents are university students. The neighborhood also has a small Russian-speaking community. Chestnut Hill The Chestnut Hill neighborhood is a great place to look at Erie, PA houses for sale. The neighborhood has a mix of single-family homes, high-rises, manufactured home parks or mobile homes, and a few smaller apartment buildings. Most of the dwellings were built 20 to 50 years ago, but a few date as far back as the 1940s. This neighborhood is very popular with retirees, and housing prices are slightly above the average, with median home values at around $223,000. Peninsula Drive Some of the best houses in Erie, PA can be found in the neighborhood of Peninsula Drive. With a median home value of just under $220,000, prices are quite reasonable. As an investment, buying a house in the Peninsula Drive neighborhood and renting it out to university students may be a smart financial move. Peninsula Drive is a suburban neighborhood, with a nice mix of single-family homes, apartment complexes and the occasional manufactured home park or mobile home park.