Moving to Cincinnati from Atlanta with 4 kids (Cleveland, Warren: sales, condo)

[stephaniezta]

We are moving in the next few months to Cincinnati for my husband's job. We have four kids (8, 6 and twin 1 year olds). The older boys are very active in sports and activities here and plan to continue, especially with the travel baseball (more details on my questions about that at the bottom). We are looking in Mason (love Chestnut Hill) and Loveland (Eagles Point at Oasis), but would love any additional suggestions. I love Anderson Twp, but am concerned the commute would take a while to Blue Ash. Any thoughts about the area around TPC?

. Where is you current location and environment? Atlanta, GA
. Are you looking for similar in Cincinnati or a change? Would love a suburb with the conveniences that I am used to here in Atlanta. I know it won't be the same and I am okay with that, but I want to be near shopping and sports for my children.

. Where will your work location be? My husband will be working in Blue Ash
Maximum commute time desired? 15 miles
What is you budget for housing? Up to 600k
Rent or buy? Buy
Type (Apt., Condo, Single Family) Single Family
Size (Approx. Sq. Ft., # Bedrooms & Baths) Prefer 5+ bedrooms and 3+ baths, but could do live with 4 bedrooms if the house has a lot of square footage
. Other specifics? Have to have a finished basement

Neighborhood environment- Suburban, low maintenance, quiet streets, soccer mom atmosphere
. Family oriented
. Lots of same age kids, activities
. Great schools
Modern, 15 yrs old or less, move-in ready
. Yard - prefer large (1/2 acre or more)
Very safe, low crime area? yes please
. Private neighborhood association, swimming & fitness facilities - would be great

. Schools -High Ranked Public schools

. Specific wants/desires? My 8 yr old plays year-round travel baseball here in Atlanta and plans to continue when we move. I would love information on the travel programs in the Cincinnati area. I have heard of the Flames, the Stix and the Riverbats, but don't know a lot about any of them.

Thank you in advance for any suggestions!

[progmac]

I'd say Blue Ash itself would be perfect for you

[kjbrill]

Originally Posted by progmac

I'd say Blue Ash itself would be perfect for you

I would also look in Blue Ash proper, adjacent Montgomery, and the portion of Symmes township which is in Sycamore schools. Symmes township has some very nice housing.

If you see something in Mason you like, the commute is not bad at all. No wonder you like Chestnut Hill, as it is definitely an upscale community. You might also want to take a look at the Carmelle community, right off of OH-741 on the eastern side of Mason. Like Chestnut it was also a Cincinnati Homerama Location. Some adjacent subdivisions also have very nice housing. And it is literally minutes from I-71 and a direct shot down to Blue Ash.

Also look around Four Bridges along the Warren-Butler Co line, running off of Butler/Warren Rd. Four Bridges is in Lakota schools.

TPC itself is surrounded with some very nice housing. But the area around it which is either South Lebanon or Maineville is not as well respected. With those 4 kids I would chose something different.

[natininja]

I agree that Blue Ash sounds like a great option. If you want something a little bit closer in towards the city, $600k is probably plenty enough to get you into Amberley Village. Wyoming is another possibility, if you want more of a "small town" feel (i.e. with a walkable town center, complete with top-notch schools).

[Montrell]

Well sports wise from a baseball standpoint Elder and Moeller are by far the two top high school programs in Cincinnati. Elder is on the west-side of Cincy though. Moeller is close to Blue Ash. The problem is both are private/catholic high schools.

[kjbrill]

Originally Posted by Montrell

Well sports wise from a baseball standpoint Elder and Moeller are by far the two top high school programs in Cincinnati. Elder is on the west-side of Cincy though. Moeller is close to Blue Ash. The problem is both are private/catholic high schools.

While I am not an expert by any means, it appears to me that Travel Baseball is an organization which has teams which obviously travel to play other teams in their class. I know Travel Baseball exists in the Cincinnati area, but I do not know how strong it is. I would roughly equate it to Select Soccer which I am more familiar with as my children played on several Select teams. They did quite well for awhile but as they got older decided to drop out and just play for their school teams. When I would inquire why they just said less BS involved dad. We feel playing for the school teams is more in proportion to our ability and less in proportion to the parent's involvement. We like the fact the school coaches would like the parents to just go and sit in the stands.

[stephaniezta]

Thanks for the info on the travel teams there. Here in Georgia, the travel teams usually trump the school teams in talent and daddy-ball stuff. We are far off from high-school, as my son playing travel ball is only 8. He just doesn't want to go back to recreational ball that is not as competetive as what he have been involved in for the last two years. Baseball is huge in the South and I am getting the feeling that it is not so much in the North, probably with the weather playing a large roll in that differential too.

As for areas to live, I am looking into Blue Ash and some of the other suggestions. They are all much appreciated. Can anyone weigh in on the inflation of list vs sales prices in the area? I have heard a lot of people say that up there people inflate their asking price. Just curious for your thoughts on this. So far our agent has only sent us stuff at the very top of our price range and I am not sure if she really thinks we can get the price down or what.

Thanks!

[Sarah Perry]

Originally Posted by stephaniezta

Thanks for the info on the travel teams there. Here in Georgia, the travel teams usually trump the school teams in talent and daddy-ball stuff. We are far off from high-school, as my son playing travel ball is only 8. He just doesn't want to go back to recreational ball that is not as competetive as what he have been involved in for the last two years. Baseball is huge in the South and I am getting the feeling that it is not so much in the North, probably with the weather playing a large roll in that differential too.

As for areas to live, I am looking into Blue Ash and some of the other suggestions. They are all much appreciated. Can anyone weigh in on the inflation of list vs sales prices in the area? I have heard a lot of people say that up there people inflate their asking price. Just curious for your thoughts on this. So far our agent has only sent us stuff at the very top of our price range and I am not sure if she really thinks we can get the price down or what.

Thanks!

Other people here are probably more qualified than I am to address the question but at the time my hubby and I bought our house you could expect to pay 5 to 10 percent under asking price.

[kjbrill]

OP...

Obviously Cincinnati weather dictates a shorter baseball season than may be available in Atlanta, particularly the ability for spring practice. But that does not mean there is a total lack of youth participation, not at all.

While researching my response to you, I ran into some confusing statistics. I remember when my brother, who will be 70 this year, played knothole baseball for a team in Madeira. We are talking 55 plus years ago. I remember what was called Little League in the rest of the country was called Knothole in Cincinnati. When my own son, who will be 50 this year, participated in youth baseball it was Knothole.

I remember being recruited to help take a group of kids to an exhibition game between the Cincinnati Reds and the Cleveland Indians. It was a reciprocal agreement, the Indians would play in Cincinnati and the Reds in Cleveland. The Reds donated the profits from the Cincinnati game to the Cincinnati Knothole Association, which is why we all went.

When I try to lookup a history for Cincinnati Knothole Baseball, I get fragments. Nothing at all which denotes an organization dating back to the 1950s or earlier when my brother played or even the 1970s when my son played. If anyone is knowledgable in what happened to the Knothole organization in Cincinnati, I would appreciate it.

[Montrell]

Originally Posted by kjbrill

While I am not an expert by any means, it appears to me that Travel Baseball is an organization which has teams which obviously travel to play other teams in their class. I know Travel Baseball exists in the Cincinnati area, but I do not know how strong it is. I would roughly equate it to Select Soccer which I am more familiar with as my children played on several Select teams. They did quite well for awhile but as they got older decided to drop out and just play for their school teams. When I would inquire why they just said less BS involved dad. We feel playing for the school teams is more in proportion to our ability and less in proportion to the parent's involvement. We like the fact the school coaches would like the parents to just go and sit in the stands.

It is still fairly strong among grade school aged kids. I agree with you though in preferring them play for their school teams. The CYO schools have very strong grade school athletics. While politics exist to some extent we found were not big fans of our kids playing for select teams where all the parents thought they had all the answers. Most of the focus in this city seems to me is on high school baseball and getting your kid prepared to play at that level. High School baseball in Cincy is a huge deal, must like high school football.