West Side of Cleveland, Where to Buy? Walkable, Safe, Affordable? (Lorain: for sale, rent)

[WhaddaYouKnow]

I'm getting set to move to Cleveland, working on the West Side near Fairview Hospital. Could rent but thinking I'd like to buy instead. I've checked out Kamm's Corners which has cute houses, looked in Lakewood, saw Fairview Park and Rocky River. I want to find a place that I can walk out to restaurants, meet friends for happy hour, maybe go to the grocery, and such. I want a safe neighborhood where I can come and go with no worries and a place that crime isn't an issue. (Schools aren't an issue for me except I'd like to make sure it is a house that resale wouldn' be a problem due to the schools.) So, friendly, well-maintained and not the suburbs.

In my drive around loved Kamm's Corner's houses and the cute, small low-maintenance yards and all the folks out walking around. Can anyone speak about safety? I heard to stay North of Lorain Ave. Any other thoughts about Kamm's or West Park? Lakewood seemed not as nice and one street good and the next a bit sketchy. Is Lakewood good? Parameters of where to look that is best? Rocky River is very walkable and so cute but very little available in the 150K range. I looked at one and the living room would allow about one other person to visit at a time. What about Fairview? Are there things you can walk to?

I'd love to hear where you'd live or buy? Recomendations? Specifics of where to look and avoid. Any and all information will be welcome.

Thanks to anyone who can help me! I'm in the dark and although I have a great realtor her job is to sell not so much to share the view of "regular" folks like us and folks like you that know these places.

[RShotl]

The western side of Lakewood especially the northern section (North of Clifton) is nice. The w117 area of LW isn't very nice. If you have the money and don't mind the price premium, go with Rocky River!

[Peregrine]

Originally Posted by WhaddaYouKnow

In my drive around loved Kamm's Corner's houses and the cute, small low-maintenance yards and all the folks out walking around. Can anyone speak about safety? I heard to stay North of Lorain Ave. Any other thoughts about Kamm's or West Park?

I'm sorry, but this is like the 3rd time I have heard this. "Stay north of Lorain". That toally offends me as some one that lives SOUTH of Lorain.
Y'know who says that? PEOPLE THAT LIVE IN THE SUBURBS! It's pure BS.
The entire area is very safe both north and south of lorain. I don't even lock my doors most of the time. Seriously.
I also have a few friends that live south of Lorain, much farther south then I live. THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH THAT AREA all the way down to Puritas Avenue. Hell, I even have one friend that has lived south of Puritas for 15 years and never, not once, had even a minor issue.


*Paid for by the campaign to end the "North of Lorain is safer" myth.

[tribecavsbrowns]

Originally Posted by Peregrine

I'm sorry, but this is like the 3rd time I have heard this. "Stay north of Lorain". That toally offends me as some one that lives SOUTH of Lorain.
Y'know who says that? PEOPLE THAT LIVE IN THE SUBURBS! It's pure BS.
The entire area is very safe both north and south of lorain. I don't even lock my doors most of the time. Seriously.
I also have a few friends that live south of Lorain, much farther south then I live. THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH THAT AREA all the way down to Puritas Avenue. Hell, I even have one friend that has lived south of Puritas for 15 years and never, not once, had even a minor issue.


*Paid for by the campaign to end the "North of Lorain is safer" myth.

I agree 100 percent, Peregrine. All of West Park west of the Red Line is safe, except for the Riverside Park projects, which aren't even that bad. I think the North of Lorain stuff comes not from the people in the suburbs, but from the folks at OLA and St. Mark parishes who strongly prefer their neighborhood to the one to the south.

If you actually look at crime maps, the only problems in western West Park are in the projects and around Kamms Corners itself (Rocky River Drive and Lorain). That's because Kamms is a busy area, lots of stores, lots of people walking around. The rate is still really low.

To the OP, Lakewood is not unsafe, I'd say Lakewood as a whole is roughly as safe as western West Park. That includes a handful of blocks, mostly on the east end of town, that do have some problems, but 95 percent of the city is ridiculously safe.

[KMHFoster]

Live in Kamm's, bought a house in your price range, LOVE this neighborhood! Check out Bradford Dr. (?) which is just south of Lorain off Rocky River Dr. There was an AWESOME house for sale when we were looking.

Our budget was similar to yours and there was a lot in Lakewood and Kamm's/West Park in the price range. I'm a snob and would've wanted to live north of Detroit if I lived in Rocky River, so those homes were about 100,000 above our price range. I think we got the best possible deal tax rate and home price wise for our money in West Park.

Peregrine, your campaign notice cracks me up. I apologize for the insult as I was one of the many "north of Lorain" folks. My reasoning has nothing to do with safety, it has to do with liking the houses to the north more than those to the south. There are exceptions, but that was my preference for the most part.

[KMHFoster]

Street I was referring to is Bradgate. The house I was thinking of has sold. It was super cute! There are a ton of great options available now (I just checked out Realtor.com)

[WhaddaYouKnow]

Wow, this is all great and so very helpful!

I have to say the North of Lorain came from a Rocky River realtor. I know that everyone is entitled to their opinion which is why I really wanted to talk to people who live and own in these areaa. I liked Kamm's and West Park and it helps me to get info from your real life experience.

All this feedback makes me begin to get excited about house shopping. I'm going to sit down now with your info this weekend and review the houses that I've found. I may be back for some more input but for now thank you all for taking your time to help me out. If you think of any info that would be helpful for me I'll keep checking back over these next few weeks!

Thanks everyone and have a good weekend!

[ECBeastor]

My 2 cents. If you like the walking around to shop and dine and patronize local small businesses, Lakewood is #1 for that. West park and Lakewood are very comparable for safety aspect. I preffered Lakewood vs West Park for the proximaty to the Lake, Public Schools (have kids in jr high) ease of shopping at non-big box retailers and the overall larger (sq ft) more unique homes than many of the post WWII bungalows of West Park. None of the Lakewood streets are sketchy just some are very narrow, all have homes pushing 100 years. The sketch appearance is that one street may be all single homes then next to a street with 75% duplexes. Lakewood is small enough that you could easily drive up and down the streets and get a good feel for where you'd want to live in a short time period. For resale value - Basically stay out of Birdtown (SE corner - streets named after birds), stay north of Madison and the further west and north the more desireable. But their are several streets east and south (Parkway, Lewis, Aurthor, Grace, Clarence etc) that have beautiful, well maintained classical homes with over 3000 sq ft.

I know I saw a beautiful home on W. Clifton (1488 W. CLifton to be exact) that was listed for under $140K. Very lively area, 10 mins walk to Metroparks and walkable to good local restaraunts, local grocery catering to the organic crowd, beck center theatre, a great breadsmith on the corner and great neighborhood bars with good food.

Also 1077 Rosalie (between Lake Ave and Edgewater) is at $159K and in a wonderful Lakewood neighborhood. Literally probably 500 feet from Lake Erie, 5 mins from lakewood park and a great neighborhood feel with tons of young families always out walking.

[Peregrine]

/Sidenote: Co-worker... an attorney who could have bought anywhere... bought a house 7 houses down from me.
She didn't even know it was my street until she told one of our co-workers she was moving to my street. "Oh... that's where Peregrine lives!"

44111 > best zip code in the CLE.

[Peregrine]

Originally Posted by WhaddaYouKnow

I have to say the North of Lorain came from a Rocky River realtor.

May be a realtor but I was still totally correct: came from someone that lives in a suburb. Probably never hangs out at Kamms. Never been to our Sunday Farmer's Market or walked down to the Cone Zone for a Hot Fudge Sundae.