Moving to Cincinnati- lower rent areas? (Kent, Norwood: apartments, to rent, appliances)

[ninabean]

My boyfriend and I are currently looking to move to Cincinnati within the next 3 weeks from the chicago area. We are looking for a decent area/neighborhood to rent an apartment between $500-$650 a month.

We are in our late twenties and looking for a quiet serene environment. As much as we love chicago for its arts and culture, we dont love the insane traffic, the outrageous prices, and though we have a beautiful lakefront, its green scenery is no match for the beauty of Cincinnati.

We will be driving out on Tuesday August 10th to see two apartments, one in Mt Auburn which the name escapes me at the moment and another named Timber Trails in anderson township/cherry grove area.....

any feedback on either of these two areas would be appreciated as well as any other suggestions. thanks, cant wait to be out there on tuesday!! :0)

[progmac]

definitely check out norwood and pleasant ridge too. you can get a decent 1BR in either place for around $600. up around french park especially it is quite beautiful and there are a lot of nice old growth tree-line streets throughout pleasant ridge. as for serenity, you might consider a place in walnut hills near eden park. you will be close to everything and have cincinnati's famous and quite large park out your back door. eden park on craigslist is advertised like a neighborhood. it isn't, but you can run a search for it. make sure to check out a couple, some advertise as being in eden park but are in more marginal area.

[jlawrence01]

For $600, you can get into a large number of neighborhoods. I would add Mt. Washington to the list.

[t45209]

If you are diligent, you can find rent in that range in ANY neighborhood in Cincinnati. I have a friend who pays $450 for a decent place in Hyde Park, one of the most upscale areas in the city. This ain't Chicago for sure. Don't sweat it.

Update: for comparison sake, my friend's place is just a little smaller than one another friend of mine was paying over $900 a month for in Ravenswood in Chicago...a somewhat comparable area to Cincy's east side but by no means as dense.

[Ivyfishbone]

Anderson is very suburbia so if you want to be close to the city not good. You can find serene, closer to stuff to do. Pleasant Ridge and Amberly Village near French park is nice but some of the apartments are not so nice. You could try Northern Kentucky, like Ft. Thomas, very nice, not diverse at all but close to the city. Also Park Hills, Kentucky. In Ohio, you could also try Hyde Park, Mt. Lookout and Oakley. Good Luck!

[ninabean]

Thanks guys, definitely been looking for hyde park area, will continue on the search... I know here in chicago its outrageous... part of the reason we are looking to leave. We love the feel of the city but the cost of living is outrageous... keep the suggestions coming as theyre all appreciated :0)

[shyspider]

Well, I'm a day late in this discussion as you're probably already on your way to the tri-state. But before I could offer a suggestion, I'm just curious about how you are defining "quiet serene environment". Do you mean "no traffic and next to woods and a park"? I wouldn't consider Mt. Auburn to be quiet and serene. A better choice would be somewhere around Mt. Washington, perhaps somewhere in the western section of Delhi, or maybe out near Mack or Dent. Of course, Mack is considered somewhat of a "rural suburb", but it's very pretty out there. Maybe Madeira or Terrace Park? Or Fort Thomas, across the river.

[ninabean]

Thanks for the input as well shyspider!! We did contact 5 places for viewing within our two day stay... when I mentioned quiet serene environment I meant woods/park areas as well as the neighborhoods themselves... traffic is easier to deal with (imo) than loud obnoxious neighborhoods... This whole thing is pretty last minute as we werent going to relocate until mid October to late november. Suddenly circumstances changed to where it was better for us to be there by September 1st. No need to tell anyone how fast time seems to fly as we are already in mid August!

We saw a place in Mt Auburn which was in a horrible rundown looking neighborhood. The building itself appeared to have new siding and was rather nice, also when taking the tour of the apartment it was all up to date, fresh paint, new appliances, new floors/carpets etc etc etc.. but the area was pretty bad. Made me wonder if the place was actually in Mt Auburn or just "close to Mt Auburn". We also saw a place in Ft Thomas which we loved but would have been on a waitlist... sadly time is not on our side. The other places were in Norwood Oh and Park Hills KY but in the end we decided on sticking to Anderson County/Cherry Grove. As mentioned it is rather suburbia but the price was right and it seemed to be very pleasant. Now all I have to worry about is getting everything together to move in less than 3 weeks!!!

Thanks again for all the advice guys, after reading these suggestions I looked at my original list of apartments and was way off base.. thank goodness I ran into this forum! I'm sure I will have more questions as we prepare for the move!

[progmac]

hahah no you probably were in mt auburn. it is definitely 'gritty' but the elements of change are there and working hard but based on your posts it probably isn't what you are looking for except for maybe a couple of streets. glad you found something; there is no anderson county so i presume you mean anderson township, which is very nice plus you are renting so you will have time to figure out where you ultimately want to be.

welcome!

[shyspider]

Hey, Ninabean, I'm so glad to hear you found something! You made a good choice with Anderson/Cherry Grove. I truly hope you enjoy your new home in the Cincinnati area.

I know how tough it can be to hurry up and pack in such a short time, so I wish you all the best with many good thoughts sent in your direction for a smooth transition.