moving to Cleveland (Parma, Lorain, Lakewood: sales, real estate, houses)

[triciaharrington]

HI I am going to be moving to Cleveland at the end of February and wanted some info on the city....such as the sales tax, do you have car inspections, nice areas with good schools. Particular areas to stay out of

[ottomobeale]

Used to live in Cleveland
1) West side is flat, gets less snow, and often less traffic.
2) East side gets hilly in spots (often geographically prettier), can get LOTS more snow (It can literally be sunny on the west side and get 2' of snow on the east side), and has more traffic, especially along I271.
West Side try North Olmsted for a 160K house or Westlake, Rocky River, or Olmsted Falls for a 200K house. All had good to superior schools and medium taxes.
I am less framiliar with the East side. Cleveland heights schools are (were?) excellent but the property taxes were relatively quite high. Solon is good if pricey.
New money and the pro athletes tend to live in the mini-mansion neighborhoods in Westlake. The old money tends to live on the far east side. Gates Mills, Moreland Hills etc.

Its a buyers market in Cleveland real estate right now. The economy overall is sluggish.

Sales Tax is 7%.

There are emission inspections but not overall inspections. Registration is 50ish bucks a year and every other year you pay 20 bucks for an emission test.

Worst suburb is East Cleveland. Badly run. poor. Horrid schools. Lakewood is OK but taxes are high. Parma houses are also often difficult to get rid of.

Best area in City of Cleveland if you have residency requirement is West park followed by Old Brooklyn. I would stay out of the city if you have kids. Cleveland schools are not good on average with a few exceptions. Even houses in West Park can take a while to sell. Though some streets are downright incredible and full of 1920s to 1950s Tudors. Riverside Dr, Greenwood, Norway, and Normandy Drives. come to mind. There are others in the area bound by E of Rocky River (the river). North of Lorain Ave. W of W140th st an South of I90.

DONT MISS THE METROPARKS! (valley parkway) The ones on the West side are downright VAST. All that green stuff on the maps along rocky river on the west side is a VAST park system consisting of thousands of acres. Cuyahoga valley National Recreation area is also incredible. The zoo is free for residents with ID one day a week ?mondays?

Here is the guy who sold our impossible to sell house. (west side) http://www.scott2sellit.com/ Disclaimer. Yes I do know him but he plays less games, works harder, and will present all offers unlike some I have heard. No he is NOT me. No I do not get anything for this.

[paintballer1708]

Cuyahoga Nat'l Park is one of my favorite urban getways in the nation. Its hard to believe that it is only about 30 minutes away from downtown Cleveland. Have you ever been to Bradywine Falls? Great area.

[mountains]

I grew up on the west side of Cleveland & know that the cities mentioned above are good. Also Lorain county is growing & has nice communities - NOrth Ridgeville, Avon, Avon Lake & so on. I prefer to say east or west of downtown instead of south of the city. You're closer to the lake shore that way! Plus the further west you are the closer you are to Ceder Point!!

[MABCle]

I cosign with everything ottomobeale said.


Also I think there may be changes coming for the emissions test, as in its requirement may be abolished.

The city of Cleveland's property taxes aren't that bad and as mentioned Shaker Heights and Cleveland Heights have notoriously high taxes, but in their defense have beautiful parks, and streetscapes thorughout the cities and well maintained school buildings. The school report cards in Cleveland Heights have seen better days though.