Possible Relo.... (Cincinnati, Springfield, Worthington: apartment, receptions, house prices)

[NJHw/3]

Hello, I am new to this...but....my family and I (three daughters 7, 5, and 3 and wife) are possibily relocating to the Cincy area. I will be working downtown. We would like an area that is safe with good schools and not a long commute, or possible public transportation option (bus?).

We have been doing some internet searches and have been concentrated on the Wyoming, Mariemont and Madeira areas. Thoughts on those areas?

Any other suggestions?

Thanks for any advice!

[progmac]

What is your budget? The areas you mention are all nice and meet your criteria.

[NJHw/3]

we would like to stay around $250K or less.

[NJHw/3]

Any thoughts on Worthington Ave in the Wyoming area?

[Jen35]

Worthington Ave is a great street. Right in the village part of Wyoming. I live 1 street over, so if you have any questions specifically, let me know...

[Sarah Perry]

Originally Posted by NJHw/3

Hello, I am new to this...but....my family and I (three daughters 7, 5, and 3 and wife) are possibily relocating to the Cincy area. I will be working downtown. We would like an area that is safe with good schools and not a long commute, or possible public transportation option (bus?).

We have been doing some internet searches and have been concentrated on the Wyoming, Mariemont and Madeira areas. Thoughts on those areas?

Any other suggestions?

Thanks for any advice!

As others have said, all three are nice and quite desirable neighborhoods with good public schools districts. Off the top of my head, I think the commute from downtown to Mariemont would probably be the easiest. Public transportation here isn't anything to write home about, but I'm guessing there's an express bus from Mariemont, too. Possibly the others, but seems a little less likely. Of the three I personally prefer Wyoming--the density of the housing is a bit less--but house prices there carry a premium, so you might get more for your $$ in the other two areas.

[t45209]

What you can buy with $250k in Wyoming or Mariemont will be small for a family of 5, but it can be done. You might have a slightly better chance in Madeira, but not much, and not with nearly as much character as the other two neighborhoods.

[progmac]

If you are interested in a Montessori school for your kids, the new public school in Pleasant Ridge is just that. Several families on my street have kids your age and are happy with the school. Or magnets would be an option. There is an express bus to downtown (2x) and very good housing options in the $150 - $250 range. Food for thought anyways. It isn't like the other places you mention, so it is hard to say if it will work for you without understanding your expectations and priorities better.

[goyguy]

Worthington Ave is nice from end to end, phasing gradually downscale the closer to the railroad tracks you get. Like every street in the "village" it's wonderfully well shaded in the summer thanks to plenty of old trees along the curbs and in yards. St James of the Valley Catholic Church, with its K-8 school, sits opposite the west terminus. At the southeast corner of "the (Springfield) Pike" is the Wyoming Civic Center, site of innumerable class reunions + wedding receptions + stage shows in its spacious ballroom. (goyguy took ballroom-dance classes there at figurative gunpoint during middle school. ) Just beyond the vintage brick apartment building at the northeast corner of the Pike and Worthington is the vast playground of the middle (former high) school. The upscale sector of the street launches from there, where the quantity of rooms in the houses is in the double digits and every dwelling is unique. As Worthington approaches Burns Ave - where Church of the Ascension and Holy Trinity (Episcopal) and its manse anchor the southeast corner - the residences are more "large" than "big." From there to the tracks you'll find both good-sized houses and smaller bungalows, decidedly less "rich" looking but proudly maintained nonetheless.

Worthington Ave once had a grade crossing and continued into Lockland (about which much negative is said but is pleasant although less affluent in this vicinity.) Ostensibly to combat "drug trafficking" (3 guesses who bought and who supplied), Lockland and Wyoming have been collaborating on improving the streetscape along the tracks. The Worthington crossing was eliminated as part of this effort, so the street now dead-ends just beyond Crescent.

The trains, yes, the trains...You won't hear the clanging of warning signals and the creak of lowering gates on Worthington Ave now, but the locomotive whistles and clacking cars still resound. With this being a trunk line, trains travel through at just about all hours of the day and night. But I'm sure it all becomes "sonic wallpaper" quickly to those who dwell nearby. (I lived a half-block from a trunk line in Massachusetts for two years and can attest to this. Railroad noise is actually conducive to sleep, at least the rhythmic sounds of the cars on the tracks are.)

Schools at all grade levels are easily reached from Worthington Ave by foot: Elm Ave (K-4), obviously the middle school (5-8) and St James, and the high school are all no more than a ten-minute stroll away. Most of Wyoming's "faith communities" are also clustered nearby, with the Presbyterian Church on Burns Ave a block north of Worthington and the Baptist Church (MOST cool window in front) not far south along Burns. The Valley Temple (Reform Jewish) lies along the Pike three blocks towards Hartwell, and there's even a Christian Science congregation also on the Pike a couple of blocks north. Southern Baptist, Nazarene, and AME churches are well established not far away in Lockland.

Wyoming's shopping district (a block north of, and parallel to, Worthington) doesn't include a candlestick maker - maybe something could be arranged at Williams Jewelers. But you can find a butcher and a baker. A shoe and leather-goods repair shop, and a tailor, stay busy tending to the clothes and accessories of thrifty Wyomingites. The city's lone attempt at a neighborhood hangout, Gabby's, took over a defunct drugstore. And there's the "Everything Wyoming" store, thanks to which I can now "rep" my high school on rainy days in Boston with a WHS umbrella. ("Be true to your school...") Outside of that, however, you have to climb into the car to get any shopping done. Supermarkets are "snob zoned" out, but a large Kroger store is not far distant in Hartwell.

Mariemont and Madeira are also very nice communities. Train noise wouldn't be an issue in either, though traffic congestion around the Kenwood mall sprawl can make traveling around Madeira problematic at times. Mariemont probably has the best "village feel" of all Cincinnati suburbs (excepting perhaps Glendale), with its replica English Tudor buildings in Mariemont Square. Your odds of finding a great house at or under a quarter-mil would be best in Madeira and worst in Mariemont.