Recommendations for Cincy Area (Columbus, Cincinnati: renting, credit card, student loan)

[SecurityLion]

Hey all,
My wife and I are looking to relocate to Ohio and we are looking mainly at the Cincinnati area and points north. To be precise, we are trying to get some recommendations for neighborhoods that would be slightly northeast of Cincy.

To give you some background, my wife is a Dayton grad, so we want to try to be close to Dayton as well. Ideally, we would like to get somewhere that is almost perfectly triangulated with Cincinnati, Dayton and Columbus. This would allow us some flexibility with obtaining employment. If we can get to any of the three in an hour or less drive time, it would be ideal.

We looked at a map and it looks like Washington Courthouse, Wilmington or Greenfield would all be in the general area... but we know nothing about those areas.

We love Cincinnati and don't want to get too far away. We want to be able to drive in and see Reds games in an hour or less (give or take) and we also want to be able to get to Columbus to watch the BlueJackets. And also get to Dayton in a reasonable amount of time since my wife still has old college friends there...

We don't have kids, so schools aren't a factor.
We currently live in suburbia and we are tired of cookie cutter homes and cookie cutter neighborhoods... so we kind of want something that has a country feel, but with good proximity to the three cities. Good property, preferably at least partially wooded, etc...

Any advice?
If we could get some suggestions for neighborhoods that meet those criteria it would be greatly appreciated.

[Ohiogirl81]

Another UD grad here ... Go Flyers ....

What about the Lebanon area, or Waynesville? Columbus is a little more than an hour from Lebanon, if I'm remembering correctly. Are you looking to live in town, or out of town a ways? The older part of Lebanon has some pretty houses, and a lot of them are reasonably priced. Waynesville also has a mix of really old, older, sort of old, and newer homes.

Other suggestions would include Spring Valley or even Xenia, although Xenia to Cincinnati would be a bit of a haul on a daily basis.

[progmac]

Waynesville is a classic small town that is lucky to be quite close (regionally speaking) to both Dayton and Cincinnati. Not commuting distance but close enough for the occasional urban jaunt. Check it out.

I sort of reread your post. I am wondering if you are buying or renting. Cincinnati offers most of its suburban dwellers a somewhat hellish commute, so be careful and be sure to look at peak hour traffic. Comparatively, commuting in and around Columbus or Dayton (current construction on 75 by Dayton excepted) is a dream.

[SecurityLion]

Originally Posted by Ohiogirl81

Another UD grad here ... Go Flyers ....

What about the Lebanon area, or Waynesville? Columbus is a little more than an hour from Lebanon, if I'm remembering correctly.

I will add those to the list of places to research. Thanks!

Originally Posted by Ohiogirl81

Are you looking to live in town, or out of town a ways?

Well, we definitely want to be close enough to a town that we don't feel like we are in the sticks.

The town we currently live in has 2 WalMarts, several grocery stores and multiple churches... so we like that aspect of it. But it's suburbia... We don't mind being near suburbia, but we just don't want our house to be in a suburban "cookie cutter" development. We do however want to be able to go to the movies, grocery store, bank, church, etc.. without having to drive 40 minutes to get there. So I guess a city with a population of 70-90K would be ideal...

[SecurityLion]

Originally Posted by progmac

Waynesville is a classic small town that is lucky to be quite close (regionally speaking) to both Dayton and Cincinnati. Not commuting distance but close enough for the occasional urban jaunt. Check it out.

I sort of reread your post. I am wondering if you are buying or renting. Cincinnati offers most of its suburban dwellers a somewhat hellish commute, so be careful and be sure to look at peak hour traffic. Comparatively, commuting in and around Columbus or Dayton (current construction on 75 by Dayton excepted) is a dream.

We will be buying when we identify a location.

And thanks for the heads up on the commute. Good to know!

[kjbrill]

Wilmington is a very attractive but economically depressed area. Your original post indicated you wanted to decide where to locate and then hope employment would be available. If you have secured employment, partricularly from home, Wilmington would offfer a lot since property there is dirt cheap right now. But reviewing your desires, I would be looking more toward Springboro/Centerville up along the I-71 corridor or as far north as Washington Courthouse along the I-75 corridor. My frank appraisal is you should first establishment employment in the area and then select where you want to live.

[wrightflyer]

From my experience driving between these three cities, it usually works well between at least two, but not all three. The two where it does work is Dayton and Cincy. Between Columbus and Cincy, the only area with any sense of what you want would be the Jeffersonville Outlet Mall. Beyond that exit, there is little between Mason (Cincy) and Grove City (Cbus). That's almost 2 hours of flat, cornfields.

Washington C.H. is a 15-20 min drive from I-71 alone and is rather remote. People I know from there drive an hour to either to Beavercreek or Columbus to do major shopping.

The I-75 corridor is mostly developed and quickly turning into cookie-cutter suburbia. As some other posts have alluded too, the U.S. 42 corridor (how I get between Dayton/Beavercreek and downtown Cincy) is a good bet. It keeps you close to Mason on the south end and Beavercreek/Xenia on the north. Waynesville is roughly between Xenia and Mason with Cincinnati Premieum outlet in Monroe (on I-75) a quick drive away on OH-73W.

Again, as other posts have said, make sure you have a job first and then decide on your commutting distance. If you are working from home, does the place offer services you require, like high-speed internet?

To me, Xenia is the easiest place between all three, but isn't equidistant between the three. US-35E to I-71N or US.42N to I-70E puts you in Columbus in roughly on hour. Dayton is 30 minutes away by US-35W. Cincinnati is easily reached by US-42S, around Lebanon on its beltway, then I-71S. That drive to downtown Cincy would be an hour to 1 1/2 hours. If it were me, I'd look into Xenia, Waynesville, and Lebanon as potential locations to settle.

[SecurityLion]

This is exactly the kind of input I was hoping to get. Very solid information! Thank you to everyone who has added to it.

As far as employment, we do plan on setting up employment prior to the move, but I think our needs should be fairly easy to meet. I have an internet based side business that supplements my income nicely. Aside from that, I am a regional security director for an unarmed security firm and my resume usually translates nicely to just about any type of region (i.e industrial, suburban, city, etc...) Even if I have to drop back down to security officer, I would be willing to take a pay cut to make this move.

My wife works with the mentally handicapped/mentally ill population as a behavior analyst, and we are confident that she will be able to find work since that population exists everywhere. And she is also willing to take a pay cut to make this move.

Basically, we have been living a Dave Ramsey lifestyle (for lack of a better way to describe it) and have worked hard on removing all credit card debt etc... Our vehicles are paid off and basically it's just the house note and a student loan. So establishing epic employment isn't really a top concern anymore. We aren't independently wealthy by any stretch, but we have reached a point where living in a place we love is far more important than anything else.

Again, thanks for all the input. I am going to use all of this information to continue putting together a research portfolio for the general area, so every time someone mentions a new town, it opens another door for research. Thanks much.

[kjbrill]

After reading your followup comments, take a hard look at Wilmington. It is large enough to have everything you need relative to everyday shopping. It is old enough to have a real mix of housing. There are a lot of country style homes on the outskirts of town. It is economically depressed since the largest employer, DHL air freight shut down at the Wilmington Air Park, the largest privately owned airport in the country. You are not likely to find employment there, but if you can secure employment not requiring daily commute it may be a terrific deal.

[SecurityLion]

Just an update...

After researching some of the suggested areas in this thread, we have found an area that we really like. At least in regards to what we could learn on the net. We are planning a trip up to see the town in person and get a better feel for the local commerce, dining and entertainment and church life etc..

Beavercreek is the spot.

We had to give a little on the criteria I mentioned about being triangulated to all three cities (Cincinnati, Dayton & Columbus) but it does have good proximity to Dayton and Cincy, so it will do.

Looks like a great little town with some very good growth potential.
Thanks to everyone who chimed in and offered advice.