Another moving thread - quaint NE OH town? (Cleveland, Mentor: homes, prices)

[ashleyn25]

I live in Rocky River right now, i have lived there for close to three years! We have an amazing house on lake erie, which many of the houses in the town do. The people are super nice and friendly. They have an AMAZING school system- i believe in the top 10 of the state. They have cute little stores every where and are great location. It is a very nice place... They drop our mail off at the front door and come and pick are garbage up at the back door. All in all it is a very nice place to live... although a little expensive! It is about 15 minutes from Cleveland!

[nocondorfx]

Berea is the first city that came to mind. Neat downtown, coe lake, cool little bars-including cornerstone brewery, bike paths,small town feel,right next to the metroparks, and cheap (200k will get you something pretty nice)
Places like hudson and chagrin falls are super nice too but alot less affordable.

[TheCLE]

From what you are looking for, go east. Though the quaint town feeling is at a much higer price out there, it is closer to the Youngstown area. Chagrin Falls or Aurora may fit your needs.

[carolina-dreamin']

Hudson fits your criteria perfectly, and living there, I can tell you that you'd love it! Like others said, though, $200K is a stretch... BUT, we paid $185K for our house 3 years ago on 1.5 acres near the edge of town, and it's a nice, older but updated house that we love. It CAN be done! GL!

[pumpkin819]

Rocky River is close to downtown, nice houses, on the lake, parks.

[ebbie]

OP: Just to chime in on Hudson, it's a great town. $200K would definitely be a stretch if you wanted to be in one of the historic houses in downtown Hudson, but you could find an older house with plenty of yard space for $200K further out from the center of town.

I grew up there and, while the town has grown a lot and lost some of its charm (the iconic old soda fountain/drug store closed a few years ago, and many of the fields have turned into McMansions), the people are still incredibly nice and it still looks and feels like a small town. Downtown Hudson has, finally, some decent restaurants and shopping. . . a number of my parents' friends have actually sold their houses on the outskirts of town to move into condos so they could be in walking distances of the new central area. Away from the center of town you'll find very little except parks and housing . . . Hudson has pretty tight zoning (which is great in terms of general charm, but annoying if you want to build a new patio or put in a fence).

Hudson has music on the Green (downtown) and an art show in the summer. I haven't kept up with the school system news since my baby brother graduated from highschool about 6 years ago, but Hudson has always had one of the best school systems in the area.

[Puddy4LyF]

Why would anyone want to move from Portland to Cleveland? I'm currently contemplating the opposite move. Tell your family to get half-a-cent about them and move out west to be closer to you!

To the previous poster, I'm sorry but Hudson is easily the worst idea for a move. It's not a great town, it's probably the most laughable fecade I've seen in NE Ohio where if you're driving around in a car 5-6 years old, people look at you like you don't belong. 200K would probably buy you one of the houses people snicker at and I don't see "historic" downtown being that bicycle friendly. Unless, of course, you would want to ride in that monstrosity embarrassment of a shopping-plaza, eatery-place they recently built where everything looks extremely fake and cookie-cutter.

Two thumbs down for Hudson. Two thumbs up for Portland's gorgeous summers. If you MUST move back, I enjoy the area surrounding Sand Run Park near Summit Mall in an secluded, friendly neighborhood -- a block or two from Smith Road would be nice. The downside -- Bike riding would take longer and it's not your cliche, old-town downtown. Certainly more modern, BUT everything you could POSSIBLY need is within 2 miles. Target, Walmart, Bed Bath and Beyond, World Market, Kinkos, Barnes and Noble, Best Buy, a shopping mall, TONS of restaurants - fast food, old country, foreign, etc AND you get rustic trails as well. That's just me. I'll take that over Hudson's elegant fecade, which shades mounting debt and soccer mom's driving the latest expensive piece of junk around town as she ventures from her kitchen to pick up little Tommy from practice.

[HawgKlr]

Look at Boston Mills or Cuyahoga Falls, near Akron...Cleveland and it's suburbs...YIKES!

[larue]

Hi,

Lived in Chagrin Falls for 32 years before moving to Idaho last fall. The commute to downtown is approximately 40 to 55 minutes during peak rush hour ~ My personal record: made it in less than 30 in light rush hour. I commuted from CF to downtown for 15 years. There are several routes to access the freeway (I 480) and a beautiful route through Hunting Valley, Pepper Pike and Shaker to avoid the freeway all together (the route takes one to Carnegie Avenue which is the east side of Cleveland near the Cleveland Clinic)
In my opinion, CF is a great place to live and raise a family. New England charm. Great schools.

[andrew61]

Originally Posted by nocondorfx

Berea is the first city that came to mind. Neat downtown, coe lake, cool little bars-including cornerstone brewery, bike paths,small town feel,right next to the metroparks, and cheap (200k will get you something pretty nice)
Places like hudson and chagrin falls are super nice too but alot less affordable.

I was thinking Berea, too... Quaint little downtown area, Metroparks entrance right off downtown (the Berea Quarries are pretty cool), modestly-priced housing, mostly older, and with Baldwin-Wallace right there it's basically a college town. You really feel like you're in a small town in its own right, rather than just another suburb. It even has its own address numbering system that's not just an extension of Cleveland's. Also close to the freeways (for easy downtown access) as well as the airport.

Not sure what the schools are like, though. Don't they share a school system with Brook Park?