# Need Info on Cleveland,Ohio



## WhiteChristmas (Dec 13, 2006)

My family and I are looking at a small house in Cleveland,Ohio and need some more info on the area. Like jobs and schools {K-12 and colleges} Mostly what areas to look out for. I've found a house on E 130th street but alittle worried about crime. white 


{husband has a offer for a really nice job and we're looking at options right now.}


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## Shenandoah (Jun 13, 2008)

The east side of Cleveland is not a good area, I would personally avoid it. I just moved out of Cleveland (W 130th) and even the west side has bad mixed in with the good. I personally don't like Cleveland and wouldn't move there if someone paid me to lol.


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## WhiteChristmas (Dec 13, 2006)

Is it worse then Washington DC? We lived in Landover,MD for two years and it was rough but not that bad.


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## lasergrl (Nov 24, 2007)

Crime is bad. I wouldnt even drive through there personally. I used to work at the border of east Cleveland and Shaker hts. My last day of work was because I almost got robbed (ketamine, vet clinic). Now I am in amish central much better


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## lasergrl (Nov 24, 2007)

oh yeah,and the schools are notoriously bad. They cant even afford testboks and desks. Colleges are pretty good though, cleveland state an the art institute are good. Most people preffer to go to Kent or OSU or the community college


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## seedspreader (Oct 18, 2004)

WhiteChristmas said:


> My family and I are looking at a small house in Cleveland,Ohio and need some more info on the area. Like jobs and schools {K-12 and colleges} Mostly what areas to look out for. I've found a house on E 130th street but alittle worried about crime. white
> 
> 
> {husband has a offer for a really nice job and we're looking at options right now.}


I you husband has a really nice job offer, you can (and should) do FAR better than East Cleveland. FAR better.

Where (city wise/location) is the job offer?


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## Highground (Jan 22, 2003)

I visited my cousin in Cleveland a few years back before he moved down here and I gotta tell ya, you couldn't *give* me a house in that city. :nono:


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## BlueHeronFarm (Feb 9, 2007)

lasergrl said:


> Crime is bad. I wouldnt even drive through there personally. I used to work at the border of east Cleveland and Shaker hts. My last day of work was because I almost got robbed (ketamine, vet clinic). Now I am in amish central much better


I used top live right on the "border" - never had any problems.

E 130th is pretty far East. That might not even be Cleveland anymore- but one of the OK burbs. I would feel fine there, personally.


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## WhiteChristmas (Dec 13, 2006)

seedspreader said:


> I you husband has a really nice job offer, you can (and should) do FAR better than East Cleveland. FAR better.
> 
> Where (city wise/location) is the job offer?



It's in Cleveland not sure actually where but it's a computer programer job and it pays $125,000. a year. So we're really looking at taking it. We currently make $15,000. a year so this is a huge handup. Downside is I can't find a job with my political science degree {bach}


Trouble is we have truly bad credit,been paying off debits as fast as we can and still not sure how we stand. So I wanted to find a fixer upper house with repairs I know we can do. 

white


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## Mike in Ohio (Oct 29, 2002)

Based on the thread so far, my first thought is that you might want to consider renting for a year to get a feel for the area. If you buy a place and decide you are unhappy with the neighborhood ....well, you will be unhappy and stuck. There is quite a bit of variation as far as neighborhoods and suburbs in the Cleveland area.

Depending on where your husband is working, you might want to look at the coventry area (kind of 60's hippie/student) or near university circle. Those would be two places I would look on the East Side. 

If his job is downtown you might want to look at Ohio City. This would be the general area of the West Side Market (w. 25th).

Mike


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## pcdreams (Sep 13, 2003)

I'd avoid cleveland like the plague. They call it "mistake by the lake" for a reason. I've never lived there but 100 miles through there on the highway.. Ick

I'd be weary of any computer job that clams to pay that much. Programmers are generally not that well paid.


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## Mike in Ohio (Oct 29, 2002)

pcdreams said:


> I'd avoid cleveland like the plague. They call it "mistake by the lake" for a reason. I've never lived there but 100 miles through there on the highway.. Ick


I'm a transplant to the Cleveland area and I actually like it. 



pcdreams said:


> I'd be weary of any computer job that clams to pay that much. Programmers are generally not that well paid.


Depends on what they program....and who they program for. Surprisingly I know quite a few cobol/telon programmers in the Cleveland area that make real good money. 

If you are a good coder, have some security experience (CISSP, PCI, GLBA or HIPPAA type experience) and work in pentesting (There is at least one PCI QSA in the Cleveland area) you can easily make that much money.

I can think of other examples as well.

Mike


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## lasergrl (Nov 24, 2007)

coventry is a great idea if you must live there. I would commute from the east side if it were me. We were in Mayfield hts for 10 years before here. Coventry is cheap, relatively safe in Cleveland hts, and kinda fun too. You will be able to resale from there, you will have a VERY hard time reselling a house in Cleveland.


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## NEOhioSmiths (Sep 28, 2007)

I'm a transplant to NE Ohio and think it's great. I agree with Mike - rent for a while and check out the area. We did that when we moved up here - I work in Brecksville and we settled in far West Akron (Bath Township). 

I can tell you that east of Cleveland there are some wonderful farms, wineries, very nice areas. 

Overall, the area surrounding Cleveland has lots of small farms, fantastic park system, and the majority of folks we've met have been very nice. Lots of "homesteading" minded people.


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## seedspreader (Oct 18, 2004)

I am sorry, I was specifically answering the post about e. 130th in Cleveland. Coventry is near East Cleveland (an actual city) and is a different place/world than e 130th in Cleveland. 

And as I said, it really makes a difference as to WHERE in Cleveland you are working as to where to look to live. Especially if you hope to keep any semblance of homesteading. I guarantee you, it won't be very prevalent on E. 130th in Cleveland.


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## sbin (Sep 11, 2007)

We live in Lakewood which is a few minutes west of downtown Cleveland and it is a lovely community that just rebuilt all of its schools and has a diverse ethnic and economic population with lots of rental property and public transportation.As others have said Cleveland heights and University Heights are similar older inner ring suburbs that would be a good place to rent while you learn what area best meets your needs.Compared to DC prices will seem ridiculously low.
I would strongly advise against renting in the E.130 area unless you spend some time there first.
The greater Cleveland area is a wonderful place to live if you can provide more detail as to what area your husband will be working, several people here could offer some good advice on where to look for a nice nieghborhhod.


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## cfabe (Feb 27, 2005)

Considering this is a homesteading forum I cannot imagine anyone with homesteading mindset living in cleveland proper. Personally, I would reccomend renting in one of the middle or outer ring suburbs for a year to get a feel for the area. I grew up on the east side suburbs, mayfield area, and can say that area is pretty nice though kind of yuppie. Unfortunately if your DH is working downtown you're going to be looking at an hour commute to get out to areas where there is farming and property prices arent high. OF course with 125k salary you will be able to afford property in one of the closer in farming areas.


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## cfabe (Feb 27, 2005)

Saw Geauga County mentioned, it's a very nice area, rolling hills with an rural/agricultural feel but in the past decade or so it's become more and more developed, mostly with McMansion type developments on 3-5 acre lots, usually with strong deed restrictions that would preclude any homesteading uses. This has driven property values up. I did a fair ammount of property searching when I was living there, there are still modest houses on acreage but you'll have to look hard & don't expect to find anything with >5 acres unless you're willing to pay developer prices. Of course with the housing market collapsing prices have fallen I imagine, there might be some good buying opportunities there. Medina county is a similar story on the west side of Cleveland regarding development.


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## cfabe (Feb 27, 2005)

If you are looking for a fixer upper one problem you're going to encounter is that many of the suburb cities have point of sale property inspection. This usually means that to buy a house with "violations" of their city building code you must post a cash bond in the ammount of the repairs and must make all the repairs withing a time frame (usually 6 months). When I was looking for fixer uppers in mayfield heights, anything that was in the condition that I would consider to be a good fix up candidate had $20-50k in repair escrow required. This makes it really hard to buy a fixer upper as a regular person. There are some cities that don't have point of sale inspection, but typically they have higher housing values and don't need a city inspection to keep property in good condition.

Feel free to PM me with any more questions you might have. I lived in the area all my life until 6 months ago.


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## Mike in Ohio (Oct 29, 2002)

cfabe said:


> Considering this is a homesteading forum I cannot imagine anyone with homesteading mindset living in cleveland proper. Personally, I would reccomend renting in one of the middle or outer ring suburbs for a year to get a feel for the area. I grew up on the east side suburbs, mayfield area, and can say that area is pretty nice though kind of yuppie. Unfortunately if your DH is working downtown you're going to be looking at an hour commute to get out to areas where there is farming and property prices arent high. OF course with 125k salary you will be able to afford property in one of the closer in farming areas.


cfabe, I know a few young energetic people who are doing urban farming in Cleveland and are otherwise very homesteaderish.

Mike


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## lasergrl (Nov 24, 2007)

we have a house for sale in Mayfield Hts, wanna buy 

It has a 3000 gallon stocked pond with butterfly garden, privacy fence. I raised ducks, rabbits, chickens, neighbors never even knew. My boyfriend is a cop there so that may have helped.


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## WhiteChristmas (Dec 13, 2006)

Right now, everything is up in the air. I don't want to commit to a house and never move there. We're currently talking to two other companies one is in Sand Diego,CA and the other is in Dallas,Texas. 

Especailly if the resale value sucks. Currently was eyeballing a rehab house/duplex that's $1000. on a very large lot. Again worried that we'll get stuck paying taxes on it and trying to rent it out. 

white


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## Deacon Mike (May 23, 2007)

WhiteChristmas said:


> It's in Cleveland not sure actually where but it's a computer programer job and it pays $125,000. a year. So we're really looking at taking it. We currently make $15,000. a year so this is a huge handup. Downside is I can't find a job with my political science degree {bach}
> 
> 
> Trouble is we have truly bad credit,been paying off debits as fast as we can and still not sure how we stand. So I wanted to find a fixer upper house with repairs I know we can do.
> ...



To not move to Cleveland proper. Suburbs (Brunswick, Medina) where is the job exactly?


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