DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Everything Else... Moving to Cleveland

So as many others on here, I'm a lurker.. don't post too often. But feel this is a great forum to ask fellow Clevelanders. What areas should we be looking for a house and raising a family? Job that I am moving for is near Independence. If I were to summarize our wants:

1. Great school district (prefer midsize.. so grad class of 200-400)
2. Safe neighborhood.. can accidentally forget to close garage at night without knowing the bikes, grill, etc are gone.
3. Local services available... ie. groceries, dr. offices, dentist office, youth sports, library, etc
4. Affordable housing that is either new construction or move in ready (already done the fixer upper, not again)... around 200-230k for a 4 bedroom house
5. No longer than a 35-40 min commute to Independence
6. Not too busy of an environment... access to highways are somewhat close and arent overly congested to where it takes 30 minutes to get in the driveway. When only a few miles away
7. Probably don't want to live in city limits... more of a suburbanite to ruralite.
8. No longer than 45-50 min trip to Cleveland Browns Stadium... just kidding

I will say... from the internet (haven't visited there yet). Hudson, seems like a great place to live?

Hudson is a really nice community. Not sure what housing prices there are, though.

Hudson is seriously upscale with pretty high taxes!
Cuyahoga Falls, Stow, Woodridge are all in the same area and are all nice communities! I live in the Falls and there is alot to do there for a family! Nice parks all around and fesivals galore! 30-35 min from Indepence with a myriad of ways to get there.

Actually, Independence is a GREAT choice for places to live.

The taxes are crazy low on real estate because the city makes a killing off of all of the businesses there. On top of that, their services are second to none. I mean, if you're having a party, the city will drop off and pick up tables and chairs. If you are remodeling, you can get a dumpster from them. They pay people to snowblow the sidewalks.

As for living environment, you get the suburban/near rural feel with large, deep yards on wider than normal lots and you're minutes from where you'd be working.
In fact, you're minutes from the junction of I-480 & I-77... which means that from there, you are no more than 25 minutes to pretty much anything in the Greater Cleveland Area.

The school system is absolutely top notch as well.

I agree with Prp. If you're looking for a place near Independence where you are still semi-suburban, want to get around, and want to have a big yard, just stay right there.

i'll add in that if you want a bit more of a rural feel Copley is just 20 or so minutes down 77. 2 of my sisters live there and they love it (and the cheap housing). plus, they have Fairlawn just a couple exits away for all the standard shops and such and Canton/Akron is right there too. and they say they have good schools.

We were thinking about that area... But the housing options seem limited. Not a huge housing area... and there's only a few 4 bedroom homes that appear to be in the Independence school district. The others nearby -- I can't tell if they are in Seven Hills (Parma) school district or not. We'll be getting a realtor to help us with the search soon. I'm almost leaning towards new construction (because I'm so sick of the fixer upper)... I know thats not an option in Hudson or Independence. Which I would say are the top 2 right now. How's North Royalton?

I don't know too much about North Royalton

If you need a Realtor, I can point you to one - my sister manages the Macedonia Howard-Hannah branch and lives in Seven Hills (and used to live in Independence) and is very familiar with that whole area/market.

Wow.. jackpot. lol. I'll pm you maybe in a week or two when things really start moving along. We're going to need somebody.

North Royalton is very nice. As is Strongsville. My dad grew up in Royalton and now lives a few streets away in Stongsville. Very nice area, safe and good schools. Prices are pretty reasonable as well. All the shopping you could want and it's close to the 71 freeway which can get you anywhere you need. Taxes are not too outrageous. If you wanted a little more rural, Brunswick Hills is just around the corner there and is in Medina County. Very nice areas there as well.

I've also got some friends up there that are Realtors if you need a hand. Just to give full disclosure, I am a Realtor in Florida.

I opened a certain pizza restaurant in Aurora many, many, many moons ago ...... and it always amazed me how many of the really nice homes in Aurora at the time had sheets in the windows for drapes, and no furniture in the formal living room. lol There were a lot of house poor people living there at that time.

*Edited because old timers made me type the wrong city name ...... twice.

The pizza shop I opened was on Old Hudson drive. lol

Taking into consideration all the criteria you laid out, these are the cities I'd look at.. not necessarily in this order, I'm writing them as I think about them.

Hudson (you won't find a 4 bedroom NONfixer upper there very easily in your price range) but a great little city.. expensive tax rate, but outstanding city services

Twinsburg: You'll get the house you want and the price you want with decent schools and strong city services

Aurora: My first choice. You will find the house you want, lower taxes than Hudson, OUTSTANDING city services, safe, outstanding school system and a short highway hop to Independence.

Solon: You will find the house you want at the price you want, but you'll be putting money in it for repairs at that price range. Tax base isn't out of line. lots of industry there so it does keep taxes lower. Schools are outstanding and city services are also OUTSTANDING.

Bainbridge: A little more country than you may want, but good shopping. there is a development there called Tanglewood. It's older but most of the homes are very well maintained.. you can find your house there. Kenston schools are pretty good from what I've heard. Not sure about taxes but the drive to Independence is easy.

Independence: As purp says,, he's pretty much spot on with his thoughts.

Brecksville: Pricey, taxes are a little on the higher side, not sure of the schools there and housing might be out of your range.

Seven Hills: Very close to work, taxes are a bit high, housing won't be a problem, schools are good (check that, my info is rather old), great services

There are more...

I found this website as the easiest to use realty site to get some ideas

http://www.cutlerhomes.com/

It's not that I am recommending Cutler,,, I actually know nothing about them, but the site is easy to use and seems to be accurate and it contains listings from all other real estate companies.. and the info about taxes etc is pretty accurate.

If you don't mind, I'm gonna pimp Aurora a little. I love this little town.. Big enough to offer a family a wonderful experience with all it's nature preserves and green space, great shopping including Aurora Farms Outlet Mall. Groceries are within a couple of miles no matter where you live in Aurora. Schools are among the best Ohio has to offer. City Services are outstanding in that we can get 2 ft of snow and within hours, the roads are cleared.

And small enough to feel like you are connected to everyone and everything... In NE Ohio, I'd call it paradise.. But that's just me.

Taxes are good also and again, it's because of our industrial base..

A commute to Independence won't take more than 25 to 30 minutes. and it's a safe city.. it's one of those little towns that you can leave your doors unlocked or your garage door up and all will be fine.

If you want a home, we have them in your price range.

Pretty much, it's the best kept secret around from my standpoint.

Oh and did I mention, you can be in downtown cleveland in front of CBS in under 40 minutes...


But,, if you are looking for a central location to all parts of NE Ohio, then Independence is pretty much it. Aurora is on the eastern edge of the greater metro area. Including downtown and both major airports.

On Hudson, I notice the houses are a bit pricier. But not to the extreme many of you are mentioning. Maybe the pricers are really down (as are many) due to the housing market right now. Taxes seem to be around 4k a year for a 200k house. Which is high.. but I pay 3.5k right now where I live and the area doesn't offer half of what Hudson seems to. But.. can't say I can bang the table too hard on Hudson... as again. I haven't even visited there yet.

Todays one of the first days I've really looked around at the Cleveland suburbs. And I'm blown away at how many areas seem to fit the criteria we are looking for.

So, let me ask this... are there any Cleveland burbs you'd never think of living in?

Mentor's a great place to live.

Quote:

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are there any Cleveland burbs you'd never think of living in?

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Not too many, no.... I'd just stay out of Cleveland Proper, is all.

If you think of the suburbs around Cleveland in terms of rings, like a dartboard... once you hit that second ring of cities surrounding Cleveland you're pretty much doing just fine.... and many of that first ring are still pretty nice, too.

Most preferences in the area seem to fall into the East Side vs. West Side argument... neither side understands why the others like their side. Kinda like Plain-Bellied vs. Star-Bellied Sneetches, lol! Beyond that, it's just a trade off of amenities, tax rates, school districts, etc...

Daman.. are you the mayor of Aurora?

It sounds like just what we're looking for. And after a quick look on the interweb... I'm kind of excited you told me about it. Will look into it closer.

Thanks for the detailed response..

I'd look into Seven Hills or on the Seven Hills/Parma border. The schools are nice, very affordable housing, and in the middle of all of northeast Ohio.

I live in Streetsboro, right between Aurora and Hudson. Nice community. Taxes are not high. My daughter is starting Kindergarten next year and I am going through the enrollment and screening process now and I was completley amazed at Streetsboro's approach. Truly top notch IMO.

My daughter goes to Preschool in Twinsburg and her teacher told us we were the only ones to have a questionnaire on where she is in her learning process. In a few weeks I will be taking her to the school for screening. As far as I can see the reason they do this it because there is 7 kindergarten classes and they want to group the kids based on their development level. They didn't tell me that but I think that is why they are doing this process.

Also they have a great grouping with the schools.

K & 1st grades are in Wait Primary
2nd & 3rd grades are in Campus Elementary
4th & 5th grades are in Defer Intermediate
6th - 8th grades are in the Middle School
9th - 12th are in the High School.

Twinsburg has a similar grouping as well with Bissel, Wilcox, Dodge, RB Chamberlin and the High School.

2011 Streetsboro School District Report Card

Many of the Urban schools will have multiple elementary schools that will group K-5th/6th, not that big of a deal but sometimes the older kids can cause problems with younger kids.

I'm pretty sure Aurora schools are part of the international baccalaureate and I would personally stay away from that. My boss had issues with that in the Stow-Monroe Falls School District and the parents are fighting to get rid of it from the school system.

I should also mention that Streetboro has I480 (or RT14) going right through it so you have easy access to the highway and the Turnpike has an exit there as well (Exit 187).

East Cleveland

Buy a house for the price of a VCR

lol!

You sure about that.. http://www.amazon.com/Sony-SLV-N51-4-Hea...030&sr=1-20

VCR's are starting to go up in price...

Somehow missed your post... Will look into Streetsboro as well. I did notice some of the districts have a grades segmented out into a seperate school. It seems like a good idea. Have never seen that before.

Looks like I have more options than I thought... Thanks everyone for their recommendations. Will help alot

I lived in Streetsboro once upon a time ....... back in 86 or so.

I went through there several years ago, one of the last few times I went to Cleveland. I didn't recognize the place. It was totally different .... everything was built up ....... the last operating Red Barn that I know of was gone ......

Just wanted to add if your working off Rockside Rd your going to be sitting in some traffic add time.
The main Freeways you want access to are going to be 480 (dont jump off the bridge when the browns do bad) 271 77 or Rt 82. All areas mentioned are within a stones though of those.

Canal Rd will also serve you well if you get into some other southern areas. If you really have some money to toss around and dont mind a longer drive look into Mayfield and Moreland( heck you could live next to arts old house lol).

You can't get a "Big Barney" anymore???



Not that I have had one in maybe 35 years....but still

Big Barn used to rule not sure what happened to them.

I worked for them when I was a kid ...... my first job I ever had. I made a whopping $2.85/hour, IIRC.

They had the best fried chicken in the world. It killed KFC. The pieces were bigger, and the breading was far, far better.

Of course, they also used real lard in the fryers instead of vegetable oil ....... and I'm sure that was another part of the better flavor. Gawd was that stuff a pain in the butt to use. You'd have to chop it out of the 50# box using a heavy metal spatlua, and fill up the fryer as best you could, then chop some more out and melt it in a pan in the grill. If you didn't have enough melted stuff in the fryer to cover the coils, you could set the whole damn thing on fire.

As far as what happened to Red Barn, they were bought by a company called Servomation, which was a distribution company. Then Motel 6 decided that they would like to have a distribution company, so they bought Servomation ....... but unfortunately, they also decided that they did not also want a restaurant chain.

They closed down all of the company owned stores, and waited for their franchise agreements to run out as the brand died. The Red Barn in Streetsboro was the last one I knew of in the entire NE Ohio area.

I will not stay at a Motel 6 to this day.

I wasn't sure about the chicken,, hell, it was 1970 after all LOL

I was at school up there, we'd go there in droves to have thier food a lunch breaks.. I thought for sure they had chicken and I seemed to remember gobbling it up like crazy.. Never went to the one in Streetsboro, but I remember it being there

A buddy of mine and I used to walk about a mile or so to and from the Red Barn, and we'd polish off a bucket of chicken with fries, onion rings (they had the BEST onion rings) and cole slaw. lol Man we pigged out. Then we'd walk about a mile home.

I started working for them on my 16th birthday. I actually cut the grass there prior to that. My mom worked there too. I stopped in to grab some lunch the one day and saw the whole restaurant boarded up. No warning, no nothing ..... just "we're closing you up". Luckily, by that point, I had started working elsewhere.

To the original poster ...... Sorry about hijacking your thread.

Rocky River 2nd best school system in the state of Ohio