Lived in FL, & MN - looking for a nice neighborhood in Cincinnati

[porsche_boxster]

My spouse works in west Norwood so Ft. Thomas may be too far but I do like the houses there. I am also big on making sure my home has good resale. I'm not sure how good the resale is in KY? We really liked the Park Hills area by Covington but that bridge seems to be backed up all the time and we do not want a 20+ minute commute each way every day. Newport houses near the Levy may be close enough - we just haven't found a house there with a big enough yard. BTW, I walk to Northside's eateries from Clifton Gaslight area. The eateries are nice and the walk is mostly safe. When you get to the Northside shops area it gets a little sketchy but everyone has left me alone.

[porsche_boxster]

BTW, when I look at property taxes, it looks like Kentucky property taxes are about half that of Ohio's. When considering a $500k home that could be around $5k/yr. Is that right? If so, why such a big difference? Doesn't seem like Cincinnati is using their money wisely if they need double the property taxes and still have such high crime and subpar schools in most areas. We paid high taxes in Minneapolis (actually less in property taxes) but actually had good schools in most areas, low crime except in certain pockets, and lots of public transportation options including light rail. Seems here, based on responses and what I've witnessed, crime is everywhere in Cinci just safer in some areas.

[Ohiogirl81]

Originally Posted by porsche_boxster

BTW, when I look at property taxes, it looks like Kentucky property taxes are about half that of Ohio's. When considering a $500k home that could be around $5k/yr. Is that right? If so, why such a big difference?

It's a different state .. erm, commonwealth. They do things differently over yonder.

Ohio school districts are heavily dependent upon the property tax; when I lived in the city, more than 2/3 of my annual property tax went to the school district. My guess is that Kentucky uses a different funding formula.

[porsche_boxster]

Wow. That makes sense. Still seems like Ohio is not getting a big bang for their buck if their public schools are not much better than Kentucky's.

[Sarah Perry]

Because my husband's pension is exempt from Kentucky state tax, when we moved to this area from Lexington we had an incentive to try hard to compare the tax effects on our particular financial circumstances of living in Ohio vs. living in Kentucky. We found it too difficult and gave up. We did form the overall impression that for us the obvious and substantial saving on property tax of owning a home in Kentucky was going to be offset by some other taxes, including the income tax rate and the intangible tax. I'm not sure if they still have that latter tax, though.

I'l comment that although generalizations can be made about school systems on a state level, especially the extent to which state laws come into play, I don't think doing that is particularly helpful if you're thinking about your individual family's children and the quality of education they get. What happens in the local district is a lot more important. Beechwood and Ft. Thomas in Kentucky are generally considered to be excellent districts. There may be others I'm not recalling right now, too.

[porsche_boxster]

That's a good point, Sarah. Some school districts are certainly better than others on both sides of the river but taxes are generally about 1% in KY and 2% in OH regardless of the area although I have found some anomalies. For example, Evendale's taxes are about 1.3%. Is Evendale (Sycamore schools area) an area I should consider?

[Sarah Perry]

Originally Posted by porsche_boxster

That's a good point, Sarah. Some school districts are certainly better than others on both sides of the river but taxes are generally about 1% in KY and 2% in OH regardless of the area although I have found some anomalies. For example, Evendale's taxes are about 1.3%. Is Evendale (Sycamore schools area) an area I should consider?

Good research! I recall reading about Evendale's very low tax rate a couple years ago when the newspaper did an analysis. Evendale has some nice residential neighborhoods, nearby to a lot of industry which broadens their tax base. I didn't know any parts of it were in the Sycamore district. If they are, that might be a good deal tax-burden wise. I know much of it is in the Princeton schools, a very large district which has its good and bad points. I see the point made here fairly often that a serious student has the opportunity to get a perfectly good education there, even though the district overall isn't rated as highly as some others.

I forgot what you were asking for location-wise. Evendale is pretty far out in the 'burbs, although a lot closer to the urban core than places like West Chester or Mason.

[veetzvino]

Have you looked at Madeira? I'm from Minneapolis and just bought in Madeira. I couldn't be happier with the decision. Close to downtown but completely safe. Everyone says it's like Mayberry, and they are spot on. Very walkable, has its own Main St area. There is a boom going on here with the housing market. Very similar to what was happening in South Minneapolis. A lot of tear downs and rebuilds. Great schools, so you don't have to worry about private school. My wife and I keep saying to each other, I can't believe how great this area is. Two thumbs up from me.

[Marathon28]

Check out Hartwell. Nice little community, great value for the area/housing costs, close to everything, etc.