Neighborhoods on the cusp (Cleveland, Lakewood: for sale, homeowners association, crime rate)

[LivinglargeinDC]

^Word. Your explanation makes sense as you are speaking from experience. I apologize, I'm new here.... Too many times I've heard negative mumbo jumbo from people that haven't spent a day of their lives in an urban area. I just take precautions no matter where I go anymore. Seems like everywhere has its issue. I've only been to Cleveland once but I can't see it being any worse than areas I've lived in near DC and Baltimore...

[davesantos23]

Well all of your opinions are helpful even though they may be different. A lot of us lived or live in different neighborhoods before hand and have different tolerance levels to crime. Also have take in to account if a person has kids or not.

[davesantos23]

Originally Posted by Cleverfield

I'd give this advice to people living in Ohio City and Tremont as well. Those areas are similarly surrounded by higher crime areas (Clark-Fulton, Dennison, West Blvd/Cudell), and have projects and low-income, high crime areas within their borders. I don't think it's bad to tell people to be vigilant. City living requires a different mentality than suburban living; and precisely the things that makes city living more interesting--it's diversity and density, are the things that makes it more dangerous. This is the reality. I am not telling people they shouldn't move to the city, just that they should be aware of the risks inherent to that environment, and should weigh that against their desire to move to a city.

Here's an example of what I'm talking about. I watched a show once where a guy in a posh neighborhood of San Francisco kept getting his bike stolen out of his garage. He would leave the door unlocked, and had no alarm system. That might work for you in the suburbs, but in a city, you need to take different precautions. I would never have a house without an alarm system in any urban area, but I wouldn't in most suburbs. Why? because an urban environment is not like a suburban one.

Also, I disagree with you about North Collinwood being surrounded by some of the worst neighborhoods. I don't think South Collinwood, Euclid, and Bratenahl (the 3 places surrounding NC) are that bad, South Collinwood being the worst of the 3, but still not as bad as Glenville, Kinsman, Hough, or East Cleveland.

I was reading the statistics of downtown Cleveland and the downtown actually has relatively low levels of crime compared to the rest of the city. The neighborhoods surrounding it have higher crime. I have noticed in the west coast that being downtown I felt safer then the neighborhoods around it. So density has only a small effect. Look at New York or even Manhattan in New York specifically. It has more to do with peoples mentality and financial situation. That is just a theory. (Even take a look at Tokyo's crime level!)

[Urban Peasant]

Originally Posted by Clevelander216

Whoops I forgot Shaker Square. That is a good area too.

Speaking of Shaker Square, has anyone been following the story of the Shakertown Apartments?

Shaker Square-area apartment buildings deserve scrutiny sparked by activists: Mark Naymik | cleveland.com


I'd have to say by that picture in the article, those are some truly handsome New England style apartments. That building could have fit in any day in Boston's Allston/Brighton, Jamaica Plain, or Fenway neighborhoods or in Brookline and fetch a whopping price in rent or sales. This is one of the lingering things that kept in my mind from my Cleveland visit, that stunning architecture in and around Shaker Square. I sincerely hope these buildings get preserved and renovated because that is one way of attracting new investment into a neighborhood on the cusp like Shaker Square.

[bjimmy24]

Originally Posted by Urban Peasant

Speaking of Shaker Square, has anyone been following the story of the Shakertown Apartments?

Shaker Square-area apartment buildings deserve scrutiny sparked by activists: Mark Naymik | cleveland.com


I'd have to say by that picture in the article, those are some truly handsome New England style apartments. That building could have fit in any day in Boston's Allston/Brighton, Jamaica Plain, or Fenway neighborhoods or in Brookline and fetch a whopping price in rent or sales. This is one of the lingering things that kept in my mind from my Cleveland visit, that stunning architecture in and around Shaker Square. I sincerely hope these buildings get preserved and renovated because that is one way of attracting new investment into a neighborhood on the cusp like Shaker Square.

I have thought the same thing. Shaker square is very Bostonian feeling.

[Clevelander216]

North Collinwood Vs. Slavic Village??? Where would you guys rather live and why? I'm torn between the two and have to do a bit more research. The thing that kind of bothers me about North Collinwood is that it's almost too far east for me. Slavic Village is a bit more centrally located. I didn't want to start a whole new thread, so I figured I'd post it in here.

[Cleverfield]

Originally Posted by Clevelander216

North Collinwood Vs. Slavic Village??? Where would you guys rather live and why? I'm torn between the two and have to do a bit more research. The thing that kind of bothers me about North Collinwood is that it's almost too far east for me. Slavic Village is a bit more centrally located. I didn't want to start a whole new thread, so I figured I'd post it in here.

I love Slavic Village, but I honestly feel North Collinwood is safer and more stable at the moment. Also, getting around from here is not bad at all. It takes less than 10 minutes to get downtown, 10 minutes to University Circle, 15 minutes to the Heights, 20-30 minutes to West Side suburbs. We're also very close to Lake Erie, and Euclid Beach and Villa Angela parks have been great since the metroparks took them over. SV may have more of an upside in the long run, because it seems like more people are actively working on it, there's more interesting housing stock, and they have important anchors like 3rd Federal and Central Catholic. But North Collinwood at the moment has less crime and much less blight/abandonment than Slavic Village.

In general NC has blight on the Western Edge around 140th, working class in the middle, and middle class on the Eastern edge. It also has some upper middle class areas North of Lakeshore. SV on the other hand has blight scattered throughout, working class and poor scattered throughout, and only a few small pockets of middle and upper-middle class (W 65th and the newer development East of Turney).

[WRnative]

Lots with lake frontage between Bratenahl and Wickliffe may especially have upside.

Persons are willing to buy and tear down existing structures in order to build mansions with lake views. I've seen this happen in surprising locations in Euclid. Purchasers of these lots don't seem much concerned by anything except the lake frontage.

Some of the existing residences on the lake in both North Collinwood and in Euclid are stunning and selling far below replacement cost, or at least they were a few years ago.

[Clevelander216]

Originally Posted by Urban Peasant

This article is two months old but it looks like homicides are on par with last year. That is unless you found newer news.

Cleveland crime: Number of murders have dropped, shootings increased | fox8.com

Cleveland Gun Violence, 2015 - Infogram, charts & infographics

[Clevelander216]

I'd like to bump this post. I'm currently in the market to buy a house and would like to know which neighborhoods do you guys believe are up and coming? Ohio City, Tremont, and Detroit Shoreway are obviously out of the question since housing prices have skyrocketed in those areas.