I'm New and I need Help With Where to Buy A House (Cleveland: for sale, real estate)

[bballluvr216]

Hi everyone!

I read these forums all the time but I just signed because my family needs some help. Here's Our Story:

We are a bi-racial family(black and white) with one child. We both have decent jobs and are looking to by a house, possibly in the mid 100's. We currently rent in Shaker and love it, however the taxes are killing our ability to find something in price range we are looking at. My job takes me all over Cleveland so any suburb with freeway access works for me, but my wife works in Lorain County, so we would prefer to move closer to the west side, but there doesn't seem to be much diversity in the cities with the nice school districts (not trying to brag but our son is a little advanced for his age, so we would like a good school district to challenge him and keep him focused).

Does anyone, especially black or mixed families have any experience with the west suburbs? Is there an area like Shaker on the west side that would fit our range? any input would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

[KMHFoster]

We looked in Shaker FOREVER and at the end of it all, the taxes were so high that we just couldn't stomach buying in that area.

Of all the houses we looked at around the area (east and west), we liked what we found in West Park/Kamm's Corners. We just bought a house and will be moving there next week. There are a number of older houses with character like Shaker, but the taxes are excellent (in the neighborhood of $2300 for a $159,000 house). One other area you might check out is Lakewood.

For schools, West Park is in the Cleveland School District...so not great. BUT! There are a number of private schools in the area that may be an option for you. The area is very safe as a ton of police/fire fighters were required to live in the city of Cleveland as part of their jobs and many chose West Park.

When we initially moved here, we fell in love with Rocky River in the area north of Detroit Ave. Most of those houses are over our price range though, so the next option was Lakewood. After not finding exactly what we were looking for there either, our realtor mentioned West Park and the rest is history!

Hope this helps! Feel free to PM me with any other questions. Good luck!

[bballluvr216]

Thanks KMH. Did you look at North Olmsted? It seems nice, but we were worried about the diversity.

[KMHFoster]

Was not a big fan of the houses in N.O. that were in our price point (we were looking under $200,000). Not sure of the diversity, but I can't imagine it would be especially diverse.

If you like the houses in Shaker, have you seen the following?

16923 Bradgate Ave Cleveland OH - Home For Sale and Real Estate Listing - MLS #3140852 - Realtor.com®

16600 Lucille Ave Cleveland OH - Home For Sale and Real Estate Listing - MLS #3230740 - Realtor.com®

From what we were told when looking, it was suggested to be North of Lorain and West of 140th (I would actually say you'd want to be west of Warren). The first house on Bradgate is a couple streets south of Lorain but it is really something to behold - TONS of curb appeal! Haven't seen the inside, but it was cute from the curb.

Good luck!

[Peregrine]

North Olmsted isn't very diverse at all.
I graduated from NOHS and there was ONE black kid in our school.
Now this was YEARS ago but things have only marginally improved since then.
Diversity is not easy to find on the westside. Lakewood is probably the most diverse but still pales in comparison to the eastern suburbs. Not to mention taxes there might even be higher then in Shaker.
Second would probably be Parma. I consider that SOUTH though, not west. lol
This is not to say these communites on the west side are closed minded or racist. Not at all. But I don't think anyone can argue that they are simply not as diverse.
Good luck!

[andremclippers]

Diversity shouldn't matter... we're all the same. Live where it makes you happy.

On the West side you tend to have a large white population with asians, Indians, and Middle Easterns.... So yes ITS very diverse, if all you consider diverse is blacks then maybe the west side isn't for you.

Sorry I just had to chime in, i'm tired of everyone saying the west side isn't diverse. Blacks don't bring diversity there are other races in this world besides blacks.

So in other words, the west side is very diverse but not with a large black population. The west side is a great place live and I hope you find somewhere that makes you, your wife and your kid happy. Good Luck!

[Peregrine]

Really Clippers?
I agree that it shouldn't matter but: the westside diverse? What suburb are you thinking of?

Certainly not Bay Village:

You can't mean any of these:




Maybe you are thinking of the 3 with the lowest % of people that identify as "white only":

Lakewood: 89.3%


Berea 88.3%:



Westlake 89.3%:



Maybe you are thinking of the suburbs farther out???



I give up. Which cities are you refering to???

[andremclippers]

Whites are the majority of the population in the United States of course there's going to be a ton of more white people.

Those areas are more "diverse" than you think...I was simply stating that the west side doesn't have a large black population, it doesn't mean it's not diverse there are other ethnicities. The West side is filled with Irish, Russians, Albanions, Greeks, middle eastern etc..... that's what I mean by diversity. I probably didn't make that clear.

If the original poster is looking for only black people to live by chances are they won't find it on the west side. If they want to live by "diverse" (I.E different cultures) the west side is probably a better fit.

I apologize for the mis understanding.

[KMHFoster]

OoOh! PIE GRAPHS! I love visual aids! I think you get an extra couple of 'points' for that, Peregrine

[Clevelander17]

So I guess all of the whites living on the east side are all from the same background, right?

It's not just African-Americans that the westside lacks. There are almost no Jews there, either. I don't know how anyone can sit there and type with a straight face that the westside, in any capacity, is more diverse than the eastside. That's simply not true. The westside may have other advantages over the eastside, but generally speaking, diversity is not one of them.

And yes, I have no problem saying that there are communities on the westside that still (to this day) may not be the best place for African-Americans or mixed families. Like before, to avoid turning this into a huge debate, I will refrain from calling those communities out by name, but if the OP is interested, they can send me a personal message.

Anyways, to the OP, I'd check out Elyria. It's got a decent school system and is as diverse of a community as you're going to find on the westside.