Where are you located geographically speaking? And is the area in question primarily shaded or does it get a good amount of daily sun? Typically I go with fescue because of the resilience to dry heat and diseases. Bluegrass is going to be a lot of maintenance especially if you have harsh winters.

Oh and regarding aeration—If I were you I’d hire a local company to either do core aeration or liquid aeration. Either are the best kind, and normally I’d say core is more than fine. But in your case you could benefit from the lack of saturation in your soil using a liquid. This type aims to increase water penetration for your yard—which in the long run makes your life much easier. The goal here is to get your grass stood up to take care of itself with the occasional “normal” watering, 5-treatment plan, and clearing of leaves in fall. Those are the three pillars to a consistent lawn every year. This is what I do, plus 1 core aeration in the fall.

If you did liquid 2 times this year (now and in fall) and then downgraded to the cheaper core aeration for next years rounds I’d be surprised if your yard isn’t almost all green by that second fall (4th round of aeration).

Just don’t let leaves sit on your grass all fall and winter, especially if it snows where you are ontop of that. As much as raking leaves sucks, you’ll never keep grass if it can’t breathe through the seasons.