Leaving the WILD WILD WEST....Great RURAL areas to live around Akron/Canton??? (Cleveland: crime, homes)

[Suncatchin]

Wooster/orville OHIO where they make Smuckers Jam or New philly like the others suggested. There are some great little country like areas sorrounding the akron/canton/cleveland areas plus when you need to get out you can visit the city about an hour away so much to do in cleveland! You have picked a decent area for sure! I live in southeast ohio and miss it up North great people little bit of city and country, Lake Erie and good colleges. U of Akron ! go for it

[Donna7]

Originally Posted by xwideopenskyx

Thanks! To answer your question, I was referring to Robles Junction area, about 20-25 miles southwest of Tucson near the Quinlan Mountains/Kitt Peak Observatory and Tohono O'odham Nation. Arizona is not for everyone as the OP illustrated. But I do love it here. Prior to moving from Ohio to Arizona I checked out many rural areas in Ohio. Holmes county included. Although, I liked several areas a lot, the biggest drawback was employment. I don't mind a long drive to work but commuting long distances to work during the winter season did not appeal to me at all. Here, I don't have to worry about bad road conditions and commuting into the city of Tucson is a breeze. Best of both worlds, rural living with big city conveniences within 30 minutes.

Thanks so much for responding, thanks for mentioning the area; sounds very nice, I'll look it up on the atlas. I sure agree with you regarding the employment here in NE OH, especially Holmes and the surrounding rural counties. I also agree about the weather. I've been looking into relocating for the last 5-6 years; challenge is having a larger family, kids that are still in college and in school. I'm so very happy that you're enjoying your time there in AZ. Life is too short to not live where you're happy. Wishing you and yours happy upcoming holidays!

[xwideopenskyx]

Originally Posted by Donna7

Thanks so much for responding, thanks for mentioning the area; sounds very nice, I'll look it up on the atlas. I sure agree with you regarding the employment here in NE OH, especially Holmes and the surrounding rural counties. I also agree about the weather. I've been looking into relocating for the last 5-6 years; challenge is having a larger family, kids that are still in college and in school. I'm so very happy that you're enjoying your time there in AZ. Life is too short to not live where you're happy. Wishing you and yours happy upcoming holidays!

You're welcome If you have any questions about AZ, I would be glad to help. You can email me privately at xwideopenskyx@yahoo.com if you wish. Please write "Donna7" in the subject line so that I won't delete it thinking that it's spam. Wishing you happy holidays also!

[JP Lower]

Groovymom:

Don't know if you have selected a new homestead yet, but do not discard southern Medina county as "tacky", there are many great developments to be found. If city services are your wish, this is the place to be. Many rural areas described in the above posts have only well water and LP or oil heat, not to mention septic systems. I lived near Cleveland all my life and have recently decided to build in Montville, just 4 miles SE of Medina. The communities there are safe, clean, abut rural farms or woods, have nice topography and are priced reasonable. For what you pay to live in AZ in the crappy areas, you can have a mansion here, and new to boot. Check it out, you will be pleased.

[xwideopenskyx]

Originally Posted by JP Lower

Groovymom:

Don't know if you have selected a new homestead yet, but do not discard southern Medina county as "tacky", there are many great developments to be found. If city services are your wish, this is the place to be. Many rural areas described in the above posts have only well water and LP or oil heat, not to mention septic systems. I lived near Cleveland all my life and have recently decided to build in Montville, just 4 miles SE of Medina. The communities there are safe, clean, abut rural farms or woods, have nice topography and are priced reasonable. For what you pay to live in AZ in the crappy areas, you can have a mansion here, and new to boot. Check it out, you will be pleased.

And what is the price tag of these affordable "mansions"? Just curious.

[xwideopenskyx]

Jp Lower wrote:

"For what you pay to live in AZ in the crappy areas, you can have a mansion here, and new to boot. Check it out, you will be pleased."

It is very interesting when people make general statements discounting a particular state. So, I did my own checking and found a "mansion" in Jp's town of Montville Township for $848,900 4bdr 4ba 4047sq ft 0.52A MLS1485231 37 miles to downtown Cleveland. Also I found a comparable "mansion" in Tucson $849,000 4bdr 4ba 5096 sq ft 0.8A MLS20728261 7.5 miles to downtown. Both the square footage and the lot is bigger plus you do get an inground pool in the Tucson house. A basement in the Montville house. Closer distance to a city for employment with plenty of sunshine and an excellent climate to enjoy the pool. Yearly taxes on the Tucson house are $4155, Montville house, who knows? I couldn't find the info. Basically, each state has a wide range of house pricing, so everyone can afford something. If you want to talk about crappy areas, drive through the east side of Cleveland and parts of the west. Now that is crappy as crappy gets. I personally, wouldn't live there for free. The so called "crappy" areas in the Phoenix or Tucson area are paradise in comparison to the ghettos of Cleveland. You get what you pay for!

[Donna7]

Originally Posted by xwideopenskyx

Jp Lower wrote:

"For what you pay to live in AZ in the crappy areas, you can have a mansion here, and new to boot. Check it out, you will be pleased."

It is very interesting when people make general statements discounting a particular state. So, I did my own checking and found a "mansion" in Jp's town of Montville Township for $848,900 4bdr 4ba 4047sq ft 0.52A MLS1485231 37 miles to downtown Cleveland. Also I found a comparable "mansion" in Tucson $849,000 4bdr 4ba 5096 sq ft 0.8A MLS20728261 7.5 miles to downtown. Both the square footage and the lot is bigger plus you do get an inground pool in the Tucson house. A basement in the Montville house. Closer distance to a city for employment with plenty of sunshine and an excellent climate to enjoy the pool. Yearly taxes on the Tucson house are $4155, Montville house, who knows? I couldn't find the info. Basically, each state has a wide range of house pricing, so everyone can afford something. If you want to talk about crappy areas, drive through the east side of Cleveland and parts of the west. Now that is crappy as crappy gets. I personally, wouldn't live there for free. The so called "crappy" areas in the Phoenix or Tucson area are paradise in comparison to the ghettos of Cleveland. You get what you pay for!

I don't know the exact amount of taxes, but I'd guess that they are pretty steep. You can go to Zillow - Real Estate Valuations, Homes for Sale, Free Real Estate Information and put in the exact address of a property and get the selling price as well as the yearly taxes. To give you a ball-park estimate; our house in Wayne County, Ohio is zestimated at $248,000. Our taxes are almost $4,000 per year. If the house is $800,000, you can probably triple that. Ohio property tax is not cheap (as you probably know). Good points. People have to really watch generalizations that are made on these forums and convert things to dollars and cents. Take care.

[PaulDib]

Look at Jackson township. It's west of Canton, there are parts that are semi-urban, with a mall and shopping, and then there are areas which are still very country. You will definitely find your home in Jackson. GREAT GREAT GREAT school system (just ranked in the top 1000 schools in the country), and lots of economy to keep things from getting run down. Almost zero crime. I grew up there, I'm a little biased. There are some issues with "uppity" people, but you'll have that anywhere. The majority is nice, down-home people just trying to raise a family.

[mkeller234]

I live in Canton. So naturally I would want to promote my hometown. Canton City has a population of about 80,000 so it has a mid-sized downtown and more of an urban feeling city. The city schools are not so great, but the Jackson school system is amazing. Other good systems would be Perry and North Canton. Stark County is not far N. of Amish country and still has a ton of rural landscape. One really nice childhood memory is going to sunny slope orchard with my Grandma and all of the hills and valleys. Interstates 77, 30, 22, and 62 runs right through Stark County which makes it very easy to Akron, Fairlawn, Massillon, Hartville, New Philladelphia/Dover, Alliance, Youngstown, Berlin etc all within about 25-40 minutes and about 55 minutes to Cleveland.

I also think that Hartville is very nice. It has a nice small downtown area, Congress Lake Etc.

Tallmadge (near Hartville). has a picturesque downtown with a historic church and city hall. It is rural and not far West of Akron.

Of course I think everyones advice has been pretty solid too. Good Luck

[mkeller234]

Here are some pictures of Downtown Canton. Also, Inner City Canton has some issues with drugs, gangs, not great schools. They are problems that you get with most mid to large cities. Same goes for Akron. Rural Canton / Akron is different though. Maybe Check out Green Ohio. I forgot to mention, I also like New Philadelphia and Urichsville a lot too. Urichsville is very small, but has some great old homes.