Canton Area basic info? (Akron, Massillon: for sale, real estate, new house)

[jt2112]

Hi,
I am considering relocating to the Canton area with my family and was hoping to get some advice on areas to look to live. We have two younger children and would like to find a great public school district or some relatively affordable private schools. We'd be looking for a good sized family home with a big yard, in a relatively safe area - but not anything fancy or too expensive (probably an upper limit of 375K for a new house). Any advice anyone could provide would be very very appreciated. I have never lived anywhere in the midwest, so virtually any information you could provide would be terrific. Thank you.

[JR_C]

I grew up in Perry Heights, a suburb between Canton and Massillon. I think it has everything you're looking for at half the price. But, it certainly isn't your only choice, just the one I know about.

[Franch1se]

Downtown Canton is run down. I live directly between Akron and Canton (about 10 mins to each) and almost never go into Canton. Im not saying its a crappy town, because it has some great suburbs (jackson, perry, North Canton, glenoak, green) are all close and very nice. depends how close you want to be to downtown.

The highlight of the area is "beldon village" where everyone goes to shop and eat.

Since you're new to the midwest, get ready for football, a lot of football. High School football is HUGE in Canton and Stark country, its a lot of fun though and shows how close the communities are down there. Also the football hall of fame is right there which is a major tourist attraction.

[Buckeye in SC]

375K will give you a fantastic house in any area of Stark County.

The school districts with the best reputations are North Canton & Jackson, close behind I'd say are Lake & Louisville and maybe even Plain Twp.

Jackson Township is by far the wealthiest area of the county though, so that is where you will find the most homes in the price range you are desiring.

As Franch1se said, football is huge in the area with the Pro Football Hall of Fame being in Canton. The area has been kind of stagnant for pretty much my whole life (I'm in my late 20s), similar to many midwest industrial cities, it's hey-day was in early 1900s through the 60s & 70s. Not sure what your job situation is, but they can be tough to come by if you need one. I'm assuming you either have one or are self-employed since you already know what the price range is for a house.

Good luck to you, the area is really not that bad - I may be a little bias since I lived the first 25 years of my life there - but we probably would never have moved had we not needed to for both of us to get jobs.

[jt2112]

Thanks for the responses, I appreciate all the input (and obviously I'd continue to welcome even more). Luckily I'm originally from the midwest, so the focus on football is nothing new, and a welcome "return" to normalcy. Thanks also for a couple ideas I wasn't aware of at all re: communities, that will help with my searches right now at least.

[SquareBetterThanAll]

Originally Posted by jt2112

Thanks for the responses, I appreciate all the input (and obviously I'd continue to welcome even more). Luckily I'm originally from the midwest, so the focus on football is nothing new, and a welcome "return" to normalcy. Thanks also for a couple ideas I wasn't aware of at all re: communities, that will help with my searches right now at least.

Not that there is anything wrong with Perry, but it doesn't sound like 100k ranch houses are what you're looking for.

If it were me, I'd go for Fairlawn Heights or Northwest Akron and pick up a Tudor mini-mansion for $375k. Local elementary schools are good, or if you are a private school sort of person you've got St Vincent-St Mary going one direction, St Hilary going the other direction, etc etc. If you're more the McMansion type I'd go Bath, Hudson, Jackson Township et cetera.

[PhillytoCincy]

Originally Posted by SquareBetterThanAll

Not that there is anything wrong with Perry, but it doesn't sound like 100k ranch houses are what you're looking for.

If it were me, I'd go for Fairlawn Heights or Northwest Akron and pick up a Tudor mini-mansion for $375k. Local elementary schools are good, or if you are a private school sort of person you've got St Vincent-St Mary going one direction, St Hilary going the other direction, etc etc. If you're more the McMansion type I'd go Bath, Hudson, Jackson Township et cetera.

Isn't St. Vincent where LeBron went to?

[Rodeno]

Great public schools, cross the City of Canton off your list. Terrible school system... Jackson has a really good school system.

[JR_C]

Originally Posted by SquareBetterThanAll

Not that there is anything wrong with Perry, but it doesn't sound like 100k ranch houses are what you're looking for.

If it were me, I'd go for Fairlawn Heights or Northwest Akron and pick up a Tudor mini-mansion for $375k. Local elementary schools are good, or if you are a private school sort of person you've got St Vincent-St Mary going one direction, St Hilary going the other direction, etc etc. If you're more the McMansion type I'd go Bath, Hudson, Jackson Township et cetera.

The OP did ask for:
"Canton area," not Akron/Canton area. Maybe it makes no difference to the OP?

"a great public school district or some relatively affordable private schools" Last I checked, Perry was only rated "excellent," not "excellent with distinction," so there may be a couple public school districts that are ranked higher, but not many. (unless Perry declined significantly over the last year or so)

"a good sized family home with a big yard, in a relatively safe area - but not anything fancy or too expensive" this is why I replied in the first place, and made the suggestion of Perry.

Here are some examples: (my tastes lie in different directions, but this sounded--to me--like what the OP might have been looking for. And, only the first one is a ranch.)
2040 Augusta Dr Southeast, Massillon, OH 44646 - MLS ID 3205652 - Single Family Home For Sale | Cutler Real Estate (at just over a half acre, the yard may be too small)

2302 Twin Oaks St Northwest, Massillon, OH 44646 - MLS ID 3183195 - Single Family Home For Sale | Cutler Real Estate (the house is a little older, but sits on over 4 acres)

841 27th St Northeast, Massillon, OH 44646 - MLS ID 3182194 - Single Family Home For Sale | Cutler Real Estate (again, at just under a half-acre, the lot may be too small, but the trees are nice)

[SquareBetterThanAll]

Originally Posted by JR_C

"a good sized family home with a big yard, in a relatively safe area - but not anything fancy or too expensive" this is why I replied in the first place, and made the suggestion of Perry.

OP said they were coming in from a non-Midwest location with a cap at $375k. On the coasts $375k, depending on location, would be considered "not too expensive" and could possibly get you, say, a ranch, four square, etc.

So I went more off of the price range they came up with. But true, they could go for the region's definition of "not too expensive" and save themselves. $200,000.