Looking for area in cincy. (Cincinnati, Springfield: middle-class, condo, crime)

[werehere1802]

My job has granted me the opportunity to transfer either to Louisville or Cincy. I was leaning towards the heart of St. Matthews area in Louisville, but my $120k budget doesn't get much. Are there comparable areas in Cincy. Walkable suburbs would be great, I would like to use my car as little as possible. I'm picturing something like Mariemont, I've been there, but larger and with more restaurants. I would also like to stay around 110K if thats at all possible. I was also wondering how is Cheviot, because I'd work right around that area.

Thanks

[Ohiogirl81]

You don't have to live in Mariemont to take advantage of it -- there are affordable houses just west of Mariemont in Fairfax, or north of Mariemont in Madison Place. Both are within easy walking distance of the square.

You also could easily find affordable housing in Cheviot, or in the part of Westwood that abuts Cheviot. Slightly more blue-collar than Mariemont, that's for sure! But that's not a bad thing.

[jlrosen]

you can get a nice condo in prospect hill for about that price

[Mike Dunn]

You may want to consider some Northern Kentucky areas like Covington, Newport and Bellevue.

[franke01]

Originally Posted by Mike Dunn

You may want to consider some Northern Kentucky areas like Covington, Newport and Bellevue.

Or Erlanger, Alexandria, Florence, Burlington and many others.

120K will buy you a pretty nice place in today's market!

[goyguy]

Originally Posted by Ohiogirl81

You don't have to live in Mariemont to take advantage of it -- there are affordable houses just west of Mariemont in Fairfax, or north of Mariemont in Madison Place. Both are within easy walking distance of the square.

You also could easily find affordable housing in Cheviot, or in the part of Westwood that abuts Cheviot. Slightly more blue-collar than Mariemont, that's for sure! But that's not a bad thing.

What she said. Took the words right out of my fingers!

I also like Oakley, Northside, Pleasant Ridge, and Clifton. (In Clifton, south of Ludlow and west of Clifton Ave makes for the happiest combo of comparatively low costs and UC-student noise levels. This holds true all the more the farther west on - say - Probasco St or Riddle Rd you go. The southwest corner of the neighborhood, around Fairview Ave and Ravine St south of West McMillan and sometimes known as Fairview Hts, is a viable option as well.)

Corryville is off my reco list until the crime problem's cleaned up. Knowing Cincinnati, this will happen in time and maybe before long. There'll be a police "saturation" of the area like what's been happening in OTR, so White people and their money won't be scared to visit much less move in.

"East" Walnut Hills between Madison Rd and Victory Pkwy and Woodburn Ave is the latest but not greatest of Cincy's gentrifying communities. Give it a look-see too. OTOH I'm not in the Prospect Hill fan club. It and "North" Avondale abut neighborhoods that are in serious trouble.

Louisville has a lot to like about it, but the "happening" part of town seems to lie entirely along a 2-to-3-mile stretch of Bardstown Rd. That thoroughfare reminds me a great deal of Ludlow Ave in Clifton. Some of the side streets are decidedly more upscale than others. I'm sure you could find scads of potential dwellings your money could buy. From what I observed during an April '08 visit, it's "act now" time along and near Broadway where it forks from Bardstown Rd to head downtown. Late-1800's row houses are getting refurbished and "flipped" at a breakneck pace. At the other end of the "endless" shopping/dining/entertainment stretch of Bardstown Rd, turn due east at the big McDonald's and check out what's within the enclaves bisected by Taylorsville Rd. These areas with their sylvan streets and 1920's-50's houses of all sorts call to mind Cincinnati's Roselawn and Westwood, only without the "flight" problems dogging those Queen City sections. Past I-264 and beyond Hurstbourne Parkway, "J Town" (Jeffersontown) is a peacefully "integrated" and solidly middle-class burg. The homes are straight out of Colerain and Springfield Townships, predominantly brick Capes and split-levels and ranches, with small but nice yards. Remnant woodlands afford lucky J-Towners with plenty of breezes and an abundance of songbirds.

So...which paddlewheeler will win the loyalty of this thread's originator? The Delta Queen, or The Belle of Louisville? :-)

[jlrosen]

Corryville's crime stats are lower than oakley and northsides

[DrZero]

In my humble opinion, it depends partly on where you're coming from. Where are you coming from, by the way?
The cities are similar in many ways. I've lived in both. Each has a high Catholic German population. In each place p[eople will ask "Where did you go to school?" and they will mean "which Catholic high school."
But if you are from the north, Cincinnati might suit you better. Native Cincinnatians are more like northerners or maybe midwesterners, but they are not southerners at all, unless we are talking about urban Appalachians, but that is a whole other thread.
If you are from a southern area, Louisville might be better. In many respects it is a southern city. To me, it is much more laid-back. But then, I am a southerner myself.

[globack]

If you want to live in an area that has more of the heart of Cincinnati, then you need to live in one of the communities that are within 5 miles of downtown. E. Walnut Hills has a lot of beauty when you take a look at it. Eden Park is close by with it's great overlook. I love to take my kids to Eden Park for the beauty and the multi-culture they can be a part of.

Some may argue that E. Walnut Hills is too close to the hood, however the same is said about Hyde Park, Mariemont or any other community in the heart of Cincinnati. If you move to the outer belt, you really aren't a part of the city and will be missing what makes the town great.

[globack]

Originally Posted by DrZero

In my humble opinion, it depends partly on where you're coming from. Where are you coming from, by the way?
The cities are similar in many ways. I've lived in both. Each has a high Catholic German population. In each place p[eople will ask "Where did you go to school?" and they will mean "which Catholic high school."
But if you are from the north, Cincinnati might suit you better. Native Cincinnatians are more like northerners or maybe midwesterners, but they are not southerners at all, unless we are talking about urban Appalachians, but that is a whole other thread.
If you are from a southern area, Louisville might be better. In many respects it is a southern city. To me, it is much more laid-back. But then, I am a southerner myself.

Cincinnati has Doris Day as a part of our German Catholic population!