Moving from Houston to Cleveland (Euclid, Shaker Heights: lease, how much, house)

[braytx723]

My wife is most likely going to be promoted to the Cleveland area within the next month. Her regional office is in Highland Hills and she would like to have a commute of 20 minutes or less. We currently live in a suburb of Houston and are happy with that, so we are fine with the suburbs. We can spend around $250,000 on a home, and would prefer if we were in a safe area. We will probably only be here for a couple of years and our daughter is only 9 months, so schooling is not a major issue at this point. Does anyone have any recommendations of neighborhoods to look into.

Also, we would love to find a great church. We are evangelical christians and currently attend a bible based church, but have attended Baptist churches in the past and appreciated it as well.

Thanks,

braytx723

[Steve36]

First of all, if you are pretty sure you will only be in the area for a couple of years, I'd suggest you think about renting/leasing rather than buying. The local market is *slow*, you may have a hard time selling when you have to move next. If you do buy, you'll have to be very picky to make sure that when the time comes to sell you have a chance of coming out OK on the deal. There are some great opportunities right now for those looking to buy into the area long-term but short-term would be risky. Alot of people who are having trouble selling for a reasonable price are renting their places out until the market improves.

Also, if you do buy, I'd still heavily factor in the public schools even if you don't think you will use them just to ease selling the house. There are some really good public schools in the area and some really bad ones and the private schools are expensive so the quality of the public schools around here can play a large part in selling the house.

For safe areas within 20 minutes of Highland Hills look to parts of Shaker Heights, Beachwood, the southern part of Lyndhurst, Pepper Pike, Orange, Moreland Hills, Chagrin Falls, and Solon.

There will be homes available in your range in all of those communites but the pickings will be slim in some areas. Since you are not worried about schools, the southern part of Lyndhurst near the border with Beachwood might hold some bargains for you but I'd think a $250K house in Lyndhurst will take longer to dump when the time comes than a $250K house in Chagrin.

I lived in Pearland south of Houston for a very short while. You may find that you get less square footage for your money here but the homes are generally much better built (especially the older homes) and the architecture on average is better. My place in Texas looked really nice on the inside but the 'bones' of the house were terrible. Our place here in Shaker Heights is 80 years old and looks like new; I doubt if my old house in Pearland lasts 20 years ;^p. Keep that in mind when looking at older homes in the Cleveland area.

[Steve36]

Originally Posted by sphynx

move to safe wonderful Oberlin Ohio, go to Welcome to Oberlin, Ohio. Oberlin Ohio is an easy commute to where your wife will be working.

Great suggestion. A guy from out of state asks for a place to live within 20 minutes of Highland Hills and you suggest a town 50 miles away and then try to entice him with proximity to a toll road. Awesome! Take some of the worst things about living in Houston (long commutes and toll roads) and suggest the guy and his wife put up with these things in Cleveland. Two of the better things about Cleveland are that you don't have to spend all day in your car nor pay tolls to use the roads.

[tribecavsbrowns]

Agreed, this spamming has got to stop. Oberlin ranks about, oh, I don't know, #427 on the list of places I'd recommend to an evangelical Christian working in Highland Hills. Not to mention you flat out lie in your post; that commute is at least 40 miles and would take roughly an hour in rush hour traffic on 480. Get lost.

[BelieveInCleve]

Oberlin? thats way more than 25 minutes away from Highland Hills. Oberlin is like 45 miles away from Highland Hills and is on the completely other side of Cleveland. My suggestions are South Euclid, Seven Hills, Pepper Pike, Shaker Heights. Basically any nice community in the southern or eastern suburbs of Cleveland.

[Vintheland]

Beachwood, Pepper Pike, Lyndhurst, Twinsburg all come to mind

[ryanek9freak]

You won't find to many Evangelical churches in Cleveland. You'd be much happier in Colorado springs.

[Traveler87]

Originally Posted by ryanek9freak

You won't find to many Evangelical churches in Cleveland. You'd be much happier in Colorado springs.

I think the OP is focused on Cleveland, not Colorado Springs. Just because you might not find too many evangelical churches, doesn't mean something will not suite their interests here.

[HoustonNative]

I moved to Cleveland from the Cy-Fair area in July. My wife and I rented a house in Bainbridge and are really glad we did. We found Bainbridge was too far from work (30 minutes - I know, but 30 minutes here is not like 30 minutes in Houston) so we are looking for something else when the lease is up in a few months. Some areas we have found that are nice are:

Chagrin Falls (maybe more than 20 minutes though)
Parts of Shaker Heights
Parts of University Heights
South Euclid/Lyndhurst
Beachwood

Also, I grew up at First Baptist Houston and don't think there is anything like that here. We have been going to Fellowship Bible Church in Bainbridge and really like the worship and bible study.

Finally, don't believe all the people who say you are nuts for moving to Cleveland. Cleveland gets a bad rap - winter was fine and the other three seasons are incredible. The parks are great and the arts here are first class. Just make sure you teach your daughter Texas history at home!

[Traveler87]

Originally Posted by HoustonNative

I moved to Cleveland from the Cy-Fair area in July. My wife and I rented a house in Bainbridge and are really glad we did. We found Bainbridge was too far from work (30 minutes - I know, but 30 minutes here is not like 30 minutes in Houston) so we are looking for something else when the lease is up in a few months. Some areas we have found that are nice are:

Chagrin Falls (maybe more than 20 minutes though)
Parts of Shaker Heights
Parts of University Heights
South Euclid/Lyndhurst
Beachwood

Also, I grew up at First Baptist Houston and don't think there is anything like that here. We have been going to Fellowship Bible Church in Bainbridge and really like the worship and bible study.

Finally, don't believe all the people who say you are nuts for moving to Cleveland. Cleveland gets a bad rap - winter was fine and the other three seasons are incredible. The parks are great and the arts here are first class. Just make sure you teach your daughter Texas history at home!

Glad you like Cleveland. Many see how much this city has to offer when they move here or even visit here. Many have never even been to this city before, but just judge it on its past. WELCOME TO AMERICA'S NEW CITY!