So we just found out that we need to prep to move to Cleveland. Hubbys boss's words were "Just plan that you will be moved to Cleveland this time next year". Good for us, its a promotion. Bad part is we dont know where to move. We want a good middle class area (nothing in the city) and want a good (not Great..meaning we dont want to pay out our nose in property taxes) School district. The school district is the most important thing. We found out his new store will probably be built in either Beachwood or some other new outdoor shopping center. Which from my research looks like Legacy but I am not sure. Can anyone give us recomendations on what city to live in or what areas to stay OUT of(high crimes etc) We plan on buying a house as well. Thanks for all your input. :)
EDIT
Please keep the comments coming. I have about a year to research which I plan on diving into. Some asked about how far we want to live from work. We dont mind a communte but probably not more than 30 mins. We are also advocates of home privacy so we are looking for land....either a 1/2 acre wooded neighborhood, OR if its a cookie cutter area we want 1+ acres. Not sure what kind of place we can get but our price range will really depend on what we sell our current house at. Currently we are looking to spend about 250k and no more than 5k per year for prop taxes. PLEASE PLEASE let me know your experiences, pros and cons. I am sure excited to move to Cleveland. Everyone I have told has kind of turned their nose up to me saying "uugg, WHY Clevleland"....I say "WHY NOT???, they have one of the Great Lakes, plus winters great for snowmobiling. My hubby, daughter, myself and our 2 fat dogs LOVE camping, boating and especially fishing. Hubby is a Fargo ND Native so winter is his middle name. THanks for the replies so far, but please let me know more if you care to share your thoughts. TIA
There are many areas around Cleveland that are nice, not sure how far from the job you husband would want to be. I see people have mentioned some nice areas, Solon, Twinsburg, Beachwood, Kenston, there are also other areas like Willoughby, Mentor,Chardon! Good Luck!!!
Moving to the Cleveland area from the Chicago area 14 years ago, we were in the same boat as you. We ended up in Independence and we have never regretted our decision. It is centrally located in Cuyahoga County with easy access to highways and the airport. The schools are great and the taxes are one of the lowest in the county. We also have great city services. At the time we were buying a home there wasn't anything on the market (the homes tended to pass through families I'm told). Fortunately, a new subdivision had just opened up and we built. With the economy the way it is now there are several existing homes for sale and a couple new subdivisions have opened up in the past few years. A lot of homes are built on wooded sites. I'm not sure of the acreage, but it would be worth your time to research this area. Good luck!
Solon is a great town with an awesome school district. Taxes are a bit high, although in 1 area of town there's Nestle, Stouffer's, Petterson/King nut, etc. that pay buisness tax, which help keep residental tax stay a bit lower. I live 10 min. east of Solon, in Geauga County. The taxes are way lower & the school district is great. My daughter's school was featured on the news last year for being great. We are in the Kenston school district. A brand new H.S. was built about 4 years ago, it's nice. Good luck!
Beachwood is a great area. How far away do you want to be from his job? The Twinsburg area is great too. Wonderful schools, low crime, etc. Also the home of the Twins Days Celebration where twins from all over the world come to celebrate.
Stow/Cuyahoga Falls is great. I live in the Falls and work in Beachwood. (It's about a 40 minute commute, which most people don't like),but I absolutely love it here. There are probably a dozen city parks, free concerts every Friday night during the summer, Irish and Italian festivals every year, lots of culture, great places to eat, sidewalks everywhere, etc.
Good luck with your move!
I wasn't sure about property taxes so I searched and found this:
http://www.cleveland.com/datacentral/index.ssf/2011/01/fi...
Hmm, so a lot of the areas around Beachwood (including B-wood) have great schools but expensive housing. Some areas that might fit more what you're looking for are Solon, Twinsburg, and Independence. They always have great report cards with the state of Ohio but you'd find a better mix of housing. Solon was actually one of the areas that had a surprising number of foreclosures on brand-new houses - not to say it's falling apart as a city or anything, BUT there may still be some "bargains" out there if you're willing to go that route.
Maybe you could check out a few of these places and let us know if we're getting close to what you're looking for! :)
Mentor is a great suburb with a good school system and was rated as one of CNN's "Best Places to Live - 2010". His commute would be a little over 20 minutes to Beachwood/Legacy Village. There's plenty to do in Mentor and because there's enough industry, taxes are not ridiculously high. Mentor is right on Lake Erie so you're close enough to do the things that you love to do during the summer. We love Mentor. Based on my experience, stay out of Eastlake and Euclid. I have lived in both of these areas and they're deteriorating.
We just moved here 6 or so months ago from Kansas, and landed in Twinsburg for the time being as we are building a house in Macedonia. We searched & searched for homes with more than .25 acres because we are used to a pretty big yard and space between homes where we come from. We are building with Drees Homes and found a lot that's almost a half-acre. Very secluded with a wooded park behind us. We've heard good things about the Macedonia (Nordonia Hills) schools but are just now pregnant with our first so we haven't experienced that yet! We've also been pretty pleased with Twinsburg, but I can't speak for the homes here because we are just in an apartment for now. From Twinsburg it takes me about 20 mins to get to my doctor in Beachwood. Beachwood is very nice but pretty pricy from what we've seen!!
Good luck to you & your family!!
I used to work at Beachwood Place Mall when I lived in Stow, and the commute was fine. Took me about half an hour. Around the Stow area are lots of opportunities to have some property. And the prices are right in there with your range. Since I went to Stow schools, I guess I can't say anything bad about them, but I don't know what they are like now. I think they're good, but my children attend a Waldorf school, so I can't say for certain.
Hudson is also a nice area, but pricier. You could probably find something between the two that would work well for you.
Good luck, and welcome to NE Ohio!
