Help me choose a neighborhood, please! (Cincinnati, Springfield: condominiums, houses, neighborhoods)

[DrZero]

My wife and I want to buy a house. We need a three-bedroom house at $150,000 or less.
We need a good elementary school, probably public.
My wife works north of TriCounty Mall, and I work downtown, so we can live anywhere along the route, but Northern Kentucky is out of the picture.
We need something that does not require a huge amount of maintenance, because we don't have time to do it, and we are not do-it-yourselfers.
Please help! Thanks!

[jlrosen]

reading or deer park

[jw109192]

Try Paddock Hills. Check it out at Paddock Hills - A Community Working Together .

PH is a lesser-known, but charming neighborhood with older houses, some of them restored, others needing it. We have alot of kids who attend North Avondale Montessori and Walnut Hills High School (one of the best in the country). The people are diverse (about 50/50 b/w), and the neighborhood thrives with community events like our ice-cream social, neighborhood dinners, and so on. We're situated just south of the Norwood lateral, bordering Paddock and Reading Rds., north of Avon Fields golf course. In fact, you can probably score a house right on the course for your target money. The best part of the location is you can get anywhere in the city in 10 min.

[wastina]

Neighborhoods you might want to check out include Springdale, Glendale and Blue Ash. They are along the I-75 corridor near 275 (and Tri County) and offer houses and/or condos within your price range. You might want to check out Creekwood condominiums in Glendale, for lesser maintenance. Glendale and Blue Ash are pricier communities (but with housing available within your budget). Springdale is middling. Heritage Hill is in the area too, but is lower in the economic spectrum. With the exception of Blue Ash, the other three are in the Princeton City School district, which is large and diverse (and sometimes controversial), but has good eduation at the elementary level, and higher levels for stronger students.

Good luck with your search!

[Hartwell Girl]

You can get much more house and yard in Hartwell (part of the City of Cincinnati). There is a K-8 Elementary school in the neighborhood and it is slated for a huge renovation/addition beginning this fall. Our move here was the best thing we ever did.

[hillside]

Originally Posted by Hartwell Girl

You can get much more house and yard in Hartwell (part of the City of Cincinnati). There is a K-8 Elementary school in the neighborhood and it is slated for a huge renovation/addition beginning this fall. Our move here was the best thing we ever did.

three letters - CPS.

[DrZero]

Any views on Finneytown?

[jlrosen]

Originally Posted by DrZero

Any views on Finneytown?

standard suburb, nothing special, nothing bad

[Ohiogirl81]

I like Finneytown/Springfield Township. Very affordable, neighborly, family-oriented with a variety of housing. School district is small and reasonably solid.

[Hartwell Girl]

Originally Posted by hillside

three letters - CPS.

Hartwell elementary may be a CPS school but not all CPS schools are bad thank you. And the poster said "probably public schools". But there are also good Catholic schools nearby...St. James, St. Vivian, St. Peter..all with very reasonable tuition rates. And for a home in Springfield twp/finneytown area you will pay more in taxes and get a smaller house/yard in most cases. We bought a 2850sq. ft house built in 1890 for $92,000 about 7 years ago...we now have houses around us being bought between $170 & $233 in the past 2 years....you do the math. Oh, and have I mentioned Vine street goes straight up to Tri County Mall and it takes me about 15 minutes to get downtown. All the other neighborhoods mentioned are great as well but I have to speak up for Hartwell...people not familiar with the ares dont know of it or think it is part of Wyoming. I for one was one of those people before we moved here.