Possibly Moving to Cincinnati Area Wondering about Schools/Good Suburbs (Cleveland: appointed, for sale)

[ourkidzrmylife]

Our family is possibly moving to the Cincinnati area. I am needing good advice on the school systems (what schools districts are great/what school districts to avoid). I also need advice on suburbs/neighborhoods that are great for a family with young children (8 years and 4 years old). Thank you in advance for your help.

[Pathwalker]

Need more info.

Are you looking to buy or rent? What price range? What style and age of home? Predominantly newer subdivision or older tree-lined streets?

What other amenities do you want close-by?

Give us more to go on. Basing it on school district alone wouldn't be the greatest idea, as important as that is.

[ourkidzrmylife]

The school district is our primary concern but we would like to couple that with a nice community. We currently live in a new subdivison. We would prefer a new subdivison with a community pool. However, an older home is not out of our consideration. Safe area, low(er) crime, area with other young families. We are looking to buy a home...prices $200,000-$250,000 range.

[Pathwalker]

People are going to think I sound like a broken record by saying this, but....

West Chester or Liberty Township - northern suburbs of Cincinnati in Butler County. (Lower taxes, too. ) The Lakota School District is consistently excellent.

Other best bets would be Sycamore and Mason school districts. Mason is in Southwestern Warren county, which is northeast of Cincinnati. Sycamore is northeastern Hamilton County, covering the community of Montgomery.

West Chester, Liberty, Mason, Montgomery are ALL great places where you will find exactly what you are looking for - and more!

Hope that helps.

[ourkidzrmylife]

Thank you so much. This helps immensely. We are in Houston now and know nothing about the Cincinnati area....how severe are the winters in Cincinnati? We are a little concerned about cold temps although I will not miss the humidity of Houston.

[Pathwalker]

Well, first of all - believe me, it can get humid here in Cincinnati. It is the thing I hate the most about Summer around SW Ohio. Out of all the places in this part of the country, Cincinnati is probably the most humid because it sits in a valley next to the river, and with all the trees, hills and general topography of the region, the humidity seems to hang here. Sorry - I hope that doesn't scare you away!

As for the Winters, they really aren't as severe as people in the south and west would have you believe. Cleveland gets a LOT more snow than we do. In fact, it's more rain around here in the Winter than anything. We DO get snow, of course - but it only seems to come in 2"-4" snowfalls mostly, and we only get about 3 or 4 per season. It's HONESTLY no big deal, and it usually melts off within a few days. The streets are generally clean within a few hours after it snows. That's not to say we don't get larger snowfalls from time to time, but it's rare. The Winters are mostly weak. We may see spells when it drops into the teens and 20s, but most of the time it's in the 40s. Heck, recent Winters have been so mild, you would not think of them as Winters. They've been in the mid-to-upper 60s! So while it will be colder and snowier here than in Houston, it HONESTLY is nothing to get worked up about.

If you have any other questions about the area, feel free to let me know.

[beejaba]

I moved from Mason to West Chester and actually I like it better. There is still some property for sale in a wonderful neighborhood that is the best kept secret in West Chester. I can't believe the property hasn't been snatched up and the price of the property is very low compared to some other areas. Plus it so close to everything.

[ourkidzrmylife]

Thank you so much for the information. What do you like better about West Chester? In my research of the area, West Chester and Mason have been mentioned as great places to live....do you have any experience with the schools in West Chester? I will check out the web site and again thanks for the information.

[beejaba]

I live on the East side of I-75. So I am in the middle of Streets of West Chester, Voice of America and Deefield Towne Centre. I don't have to deal with the Mason Montgomery/Fields Ertle traffic. My kids graduated from Mason. Wonderful school. My kids hung out with kids from both Mason and Lakota. I have friends kids that are heavily involved with Lakota and love it. I guess I just like West Chester better where I am now rather than where I use to live because it's a more quaint. I use to live off a main road that led into a major shopping area. Plus we built this house so it's totally our personality. The one thing I am disappointed with and other West Chester residents are disappointed also that I've talked to, is the township seems to neglect Olde West Chester. Mason is revitalizing it's Downtown area. Sharonvile is proud and says so, of it's historical downtown area. Everyone knows where Loveland's downtown area is and it is beautiful. West Chester has a downtown area too. The historical area where West Chester began. I read recently that the township was going to build a new downtown area?!?! I was told last winter that the Christmas walk was canceled because they were going to "finally" put some decent sidewalks in Olde West Chester. Basically they put a sidewalk in the area they tore up for some work on a water main. I wonder how many of the people that work for the township actually live in West Chester. I just don't understand why they don't glorify Olde West Chester more. People love old quaint towns. It's as if they are proud of their new "Streets of West Chester" and "Voice of America" but they would like to do away with Olde West Chester. And if I'm wrong, I'm only going by the picture we see as residents living here. Pictures speak louder than words. I think if you happen to find an area you would like in either Mason or West Chester, you will be happy with either school district. I would stay west of Mason Montgomery just because of traffic.

[homeschool513]

Hello,

I notice everyone telling you to try Mason and Lakota schools. These are great schools, but people tend to forget Kings School district. Kings has been rated excellent for the past seven years. It is a smaller school district with new elementary school.

The Landen area which is in Kings district is fabulous. You are close to Mason for shopping without the Mason taxes. Landen has a system of walking trails which go around a beautiful lake (when it is not drained as it is right now). Each sudivision has a pool in it or nearby. There are homes for sale in that price range.

As for a comute, there is a park and ride stop for the bus that goes straight down I-71 into the downtown. You are about 25-35 minutes away from the sports, theater, museums and more. You are five minutes from King's Island and the Beach Water park. And you don't have the traffic of some of these other areas.

Consider Landen. We have lived here for 9 years and wouldn't try anywhere else in Cincinnati.