Accepted job offer in Cincy. Looking to buy a house - where should I look?

[TeacherinTN]

Most of the suggestions you are getting are good for commute times and are nice desireable areas with great schools. Ft. Thomas and Oakley are some of my favorite neighborhoods. If I didnt have four young children and required a 4 bedroom home under 300K, I would have moved there. With that said, they are not suburban. Young children playing in the front yard and riding bikes in the street won't happen in those neighborhoods. They are safe for crime but not safe for young children (traffic). Sure, there are no outlet streets that are quite but those homes are few and come at a premium price above 350K. Blue Ash/Sycamore schools was a top choice for my wife but all I could afford was a 1950's cracker box ranch that needed a lot of work which was located on a busy street. The nice inner 275 burbs are highly desireable but are unaffordable for a 3bedroom in your price range IMO.

We moved last summer to Cincinnati from Tennessee and we chose Miami Township. It is between Loveland and Milford. A downtown commute is 30 min commute (no traffic) but probably a lot more at rush hour. We have a 1/2 acre lot with lots of trees. Lots of neighborhood kids and the neighbor's are great (kids and community pool are a great way to build adult friendships BTW). The houses are well built, mid 80's construction. I would wager you get the best home for your money around here. Just don't get the short commute 😞.

I love the old Cincinnati neighborhoods like Oakley, Hyde Park and OTR but just isn't going to happen at this stage of our lives with 4 kids and needing 3-4 bedrooms.

[GratefulDawg]

Originally Posted by TeacherinTN

Most of the suggestions you are getting are good for commute times and are nice desireable areas with great schools. Ft. Thomas and Oakley are some of my favorite neighborhoods. If I didnt have four young children and required a 4 bedroom home under 300K, I would have moved there. With that said, they are not suburban. Young children playing in the front yard and riding bikes in the street won't happen in those neighborhoods. They are safe for crime but not safe for young children (traffic). Sure, there are no outlet streets that are quite but those homes are few and come at a premium price above 350K. Blue Ash/Sycamore schools was a top choice for my wife but all I could afford was a 1950's cracker box ranch that needed a lot of work which was located on a busy street. The nice inner 275 burbs are highly desireable but are unaffordable for a 3bedroom in your price range IMO.

We moved last summer to Cincinnati from Tennessee and we chose Miami Township. It is between Loveland and Milford. A downtown commute is 30 min commute (no traffic) but probably a lot more at rush hour. We have a 1/2 acre lot with lots of trees. Lots of neighborhood kids and the neighbor's are great (kids and community pool are a great way to build adult friendships BTW). The houses are well built, mid 80's construction. I would wager you get the best home for your money around here. Just don't get the short commute 😞.

I love the old Cincinnati neighborhoods like Oakley, Hyde Park and OTR but just isn't going to happen at this stage of our lives with 4 kids and needing 3-4 bedrooms.

Thanks for the input. So we've scheduled our house hunting trip for this weekend. As I'm going through the listings from the agent more than half are in Miami Township. (Though this apparently overlaps with Milford / Loveland / Cleves / North Bend??) At least the Realtor's web site lists them all as Miami Twp, but Zillow has these other town names.


Anyway, as I'm trying to narrow down which houses to look at one criteria I'm using is the school ratings from GreatSchools.org. I know they're probably not the end-all-be-all, but Taylor HS which apparently serves the North Bend and Cleves areas of what my realtor calls Miami Twp has only a 5 out of 10 rating. Is this consistent with what you (or others) understand? Should we really look for places in "Miami Township" that are in the Milford High School or Loveland High School areas?


Also, another random question about Miami Twp. Do you guys have sidewalks? We do a lot of dog walking and baby strolling.

Thanks again.

[GratefulDawg]

Jeez. Thanks to the user who pointed out via private message that Cleves and North Bend are in a DIFFERENT Miami than the one near Milford. Whoops!

Luckily there are like 8 towns called Miami in Ohio, which is helpful.

[TeacherinTN]

Originally Posted by GratefulDawg

Jeez. Thanks to the user who pointed out via private message that Cleves and North Bend are in a DIFFERENT Miami than the one near Milford. Whoops!

Luckily there are like 8 towns called Miami in Ohio, which is helpful.

Loveland and Milford are both good school systems and are the only public schools that serve Miami Twp. Milford School District is quite a bit bigger and has a traditional school structure of K-5,6-8,9-12. Loveland is smaller and is K-2,3-4,5-6,7-8,9-12 and historically edges Milford in ratings/scores. With that's said, Milford had better test scores last year. My kids are in Milford and we are pleased with the school system and teachers overall.

Some neighborhoods have sidewalks but many of them do not. Our neighborhood is Paxton South and homes are $260-$330K range. we do not have sidewalks. However, walkers and joggers rule the streets. I've been told that runners love it because all the subdivisions are interconnected and provide enough miles for a marathon.

Here is a 250K listing to give you an idea of home value http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/68331635_zpid

[GratefulDawg]

Originally Posted by GratefulDawg

Thanks again for the great replies all. I'm intrigued by all the votes for Ft. Thomas. How is Ft. Thomas safety-wise? It's pretty close to downtown, which in my Cleveland-heavy frame of reference raises a big question mark.

We got a bunch of listings from a realtor, 80% of which were probably West Chester. We're going to all but rule out West Chester based on what sounds like a too-long commute. We got a couple listings for Blue Ash that we like. It's sounding like that could be the sweet spot for us in terms of the schools/commute/affordability/house-and-lot-size matrix. Maybe Sharonville also.

Also didn't get a lot of feedback on Milford. What are your thoughts? The commute may be a bit longer than I'd want, but I feel like if I'm commuting out to a more rural area like Milford it would be more worth it, vs. a long commute up a busy highway then into a super busy congested suburb/exurb.

Thanks again!

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Where are they now edition...
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I had to dig this up and re-read now that I've been living in the area for 2 years. I also wanted to quote my above post, since we ended up buying a house in West Chester. :-)

After 2+ months of living in a hotel with a cat and an old dog and a 1 year old we finally settled on West Chester. We realized we were going to have to give up on at least 1 of our "must-haves". So instead of compromising on the yard and size house we wanted, we compromised on my commute. ;-)

We love our house and neighborhood, but now that my wife has gone back to work, and we're both commuting downtown, we're thinking it might be time to think about relocating closer to the city.

I like a lot of the suggestions upthread, such as:
- Blue Ash, Oakley / Hyde Park / Mt. Lookout, Montgomery, Mariemont, Anderson

What do you all think about Northside? I've heard good things and it's obviously very close to the city.

[cincydave8]

Northside is rapidly gentrifying. It still has a rough-around-the-edges feel along some streets but overall it's a neighborhood on the rise and many streets are perfectly safe. It might be hard to find a house with much of a yard though.

[wrightflyer]

I agree with CincyDave's assessment. Northside is already well on its way to a level of gentrification that is sustainable and likely won't peter out. Of course, market and development trends can change rapidly and could stall as a result of a number of correlating factors, for example, a recession.

Your biggest downside to Northside is some blocks or streets may be more kept or gentrified than others. And your likelihood of getting a decent sized yard is much smaller. The same could be said for Mariemont for yard sizes. Mariemont I have also heard can feel isolated despite its location, which can be a good or bad thing depending on what you are looking for.

Depending on your budget, Mt. Lookout and Hyde Park may break that. I think most places there are north of 500K? I may be wrong on that but it seems most listings command a premium more so now than ever. Oakley would be a good compromise with that but again, yard size may be an issue, but you are more likely to get a decent yard here than Northside.

Montgomery is experiencing the budget constraints that Mt. Lookout and Hyde Park have. It is also much more suburban than the others, so yards are less of a concern as almost all homes will have .25-.33 acre or more. Blue Ash may be a good alternative, but the home is likely to be older unless you buy a tear down or can get into one of the few new build communities there (M/I Homes is building there now, however I have heard the neighborhood wait list is extensive). I'd expect the lots are not as big in the new community builds since builders will be maximizing on space. So a tear down is likely to have a better yard and updated amenities. Doesn't mean you won't find an original ranch or colonial with lots of interior updates, as that is common too. The tear down or remodel point is the exclusive option for Montgomery as any new builds have been patio homes or town homes.

Anderson may also be a good compromise similar to the Hyde Park vs. Oakley. Instead it is Montgomery vs. Anderson. Anderson Township has great schools, with lots of suburban homes on generous lots. The middle section of the township (think along Beechmont Ave. commercial corridor) is more older ranches and colonials, especially the closer you are to Mt. Washington (a Cincinnati Schools neighborhood that is hit or miss for some people). Anderson's commute downtown likely will take you I-275 to I-471 via Kentucky. This is probably one of the better routes into downtown, as you avoid the I-75 south and I-71 South congestion coming from the northern suburbs. Not saying 471 or 275 don't have problems, but the times seem less than any other approach, especially the Kentucky side across the Brent Spence Bridge.

The compromise with Anderson may be the more suburban feel, similar to West Chester, with some older parts seeing age. Schools should keep home values up but the biggest concern would be anything closer to older apartment complexes. Not much subsidized rental options out here I would imagine, but the age of complexes may weigh down values. The commercial corridor on Beechmont can be more shoddy and aged in certain areas than other corridors in similar suburbs. Areas around Anderson Town Center and west of I-275 along Beechmont are fine. Your closest mall is Eastgate, which is a downward trajectory center, IMO. Though there are plenty of decent big box options you would find similar to VOA or Mason-Montgomery. Kentucky could be your closer bet for higher end retail depending on where in Anderson you are located. Crestview Hills may be more reachable than Kenwood or even Rookwood.

I do expect traffic to be heavier on I-471 once the Brent Spence Bridge replacement commences, but that likely won't be for another 3-5 years at the very earliest. Also, I would not be surprised if Kentucky institutes tolls, at least on the new Brent Spence (but maybe 471 as well?) once the construction gets underway or wraps. I certainly hope the Big Mac and local bridges are kept free as that is (and would become the sole) primary way into Ohio for me, but I won't hold my breath.

I think Northside has something very special going for it. But depending on your wants and needs and budget, I would also look at Blue Ash (tear down or remodel if you want something new) due to yard concerns, or Anderson if you want something new-ish with a yard but cannot afford Blue Ash. And don't want Cincinnati Public Schools. Hopefully this information helps.

[joyeaux]

https://www.sibcycline.com/Listing/C...ming-OH-45215b
https://www.sibcycline.com/Listing/C...oming-OH-45215
https://www.sibcycline.com/Listing/C...oming-OH-45215
Why not Wyoming?
Winton Road hill to join I75 down at Spring grove makes it quick.
Winton Woods & Glenwood Gardens are beautiful places to stroll. Winton Lake offers a great paddle, too.