Best City for Young Professional Couple with one Child (Cleveland: neighborhood, schools)

[jlawrence01]

Originally Posted by LewLew

Thanks. I tried looking at some of the city websites, but found little info. I'll have to give them a call.

I figure that it's a wash with taxes and insurance. Our lump of everything here will be 6-7K per year, so I figure Shaker taxes are near enough that on a modest home, so we'll do pretty well in other burbs.

Not to get off the subject, but anyone know approx insurance costs in the area for a 250-300K home?

I had a 2200 sq ft house in Lakewood close to the lake worth about $150k. The taxes were about $4200 and the insurance was south of $400 with a $100k liability and a $1000 deductible (I do not make small claims on homeowners insurance.).

[AndyF667]

Originally Posted by LewLew

Thanks. I tried looking at some of the city websites, but found little info. I'll have to give them a call.

I figure that it's a wash with taxes and insurance. Our lump of everything here will be 6-7K per year, so I figure Shaker taxes are near enough that on a modest home, so we'll do pretty well in other burbs.

Not to get off the subject, but anyone know approx insurance costs in the area for a 250-300K home?

I live in Shaker, home 'value' is $275K (although in the current market, it would prob sell for under $250K); our taxes are 6K and insurance is about $900.

Also, I've never heard of a limit of pets in Shaker. We have a dog and two cats and THE MAN has not come after us yet.

[LewLew]

Originally Posted by AndyF667

I live in Shaker, home 'value' is $275K (although in the current market, it would prob sell for under $250K); our taxes are 6K and insurance is about $900.

Also, I've never heard of a limit of pets in Shaker. We have a dog and two cats and THE MAN has not come after us yet.

Thanks; that is good to know. We are meeting with a realtor, so we'll see what he knows about the restrictions. I am just getting over that taxes are paid out twice, as we only pay them out annually here. I am assuming insurance premium is paid one time per year though.

You say your home is worth 275K, but would probably sell for under 250K...have the values dropped that much?

[airics]

a drop of approx 9% is not bad compared to other parts of the country

[Clevelander17]

I'd say you shouldn't worry too much about the property taxes in Shaker Heights. Think of it like this, you can find some great homes in SH that aren't as pricier as some similar sized homes in further east suburbs. Therefore, though you're paying a higher tax rate, your the actual tax that you pay isn't that bad, and in some cases could be less. Houses in the outer-ring suburbs are still overinflated, especially considering a lot of those homes aren't as nice as ones found in parts of Shaker Heights.

As for Shaker Heights changing, I think you'd be surprised, it hasn't changed as much as you might have been lead to believe. The southwestern border near Cleveland isn't that great, but the rest of the city is doing well and hasn't changed that much. If you're considering the public schools, Shaker Heights is still one of the best in the Cleveland area. They just recently were approved to offer the prestigious International Baccalaureate program and will be the only district in Ohio to offer it from kindergarten through 12th grade. If you're planning to send your kids to private schools, Shaker Heights is at the heart of a concentration of the best private schools in the Cleveland area (University School, Laurel, Hathaway Brown, Gesu, Beaumont, Ruffing Montesorri, etc.).

Beachwood is also nice and very similar to Shaker Heights in many ways, except the taxes are much lower and the housing stock isn't as good. But the schools in Beachwood are also excellent.

Yes I'm biased because I live in the Heights area and I love it. But I also think the positives far outweigh the negatives. Do you have any other questions?

[LewLew]

Originally Posted by Clevelander17

I'd say you shouldn't worry too much about the property taxes in Shaker Heights. Think of it like this, you can find some great homes in SH that aren't as pricier as some similar sized homes in further east suburbs. Therefore, though you're paying a higher tax rate, your the actual tax that you pay isn't that bad, and in some cases could be less. Houses in the outer-ring suburbs are still overinflated, especially considering a lot of those homes aren't as nice as ones found in parts of Shaker Heights.

As for Shaker Heights changing, I think you'd be surprised, it hasn't changed as much as you might have been lead to believe. The southwestern border near Cleveland isn't that great, but the rest of the city is doing well and hasn't changed that much. If you're considering the public schools, Shaker Heights is still one of the best in the Cleveland area. They just recently were approved to offer the prestigious International Baccalaureate program and will be the only district in Ohio to offer it from kindergarten through 12th grade. If you're planning to send your kids to private schools, Shaker Heights is at the heart of a concentration of the best private schools in the Cleveland area (University School, Laurel, Hathaway Brown, Gesu, Beaumont, Ruffing Montesorri, etc.).

Beachwood is also nice and very similar to Shaker Heights in many ways, except the taxes are much lower and the housing stock isn't as good. But the schools in Beachwood are also excellent.

Yes I'm biased because I live in the Heights area and I love it. But I also think the positives far outweigh the negatives. Do you have any other questions?

Thank you for that. I kind of thought that the outer ring burbs and Geauga County were kind of overinflated, but I grew up in Shaker, so I'm not that familiar. Some friends were insisting the schools have changed, and there is a lot of racial tension these days. The schools were always diverse when I went there, but there was very little segregative tension. Have you heard that?

The only downfall I see to Shaker right now is that we have 3 dogs, and there is an ordinance only allowing 2. One of our dogs is 14, so who knows if she'll make the trip, but I would hate for that to kill our chances for living in Shaker. The lots are smalll in comparison, but I am much more of an urban/suburban girl than a country girl. However, I married a country boy...so it's a hard sell for sure. LOL

The houses we loved were actually in the Sussex area (where they now attend Lomond with the southeast area residents), and we also liked a couple homes near Mercer. However, the architecture near Mercer is much more like Beachwood than the Shaker I remember.

It's a tough call, as we just returned from looking around. My heart is pulling towards Shaker, but I have to be smart that we choose wisely.

If we are buying a home under current appraised value, do you think we could get the taxes lowered and the value reappraised?

Thanks for the great input about Shaker..I'll show it to the DH.

[exit18b]

I would recommend the Fernway Neighborhood in Shaker. Fernway is right smack in the middle of the city. We moved here roughly 1 year ago. We looked at all areas of Shaker. Lovely tree-lined streets with Fernway Elementary right smack in the middle of the neighborhood. I am temp. working from home and I enjoy watching the kids walk to and from school. Fernway has lot's of young families and the housing size and price vary. The houses in Mercer are newer (40's -60's), larger and have larger kitckens. We wanted the "Shaker" charm. We fell in love with a Mercer house but decided on a Fernway house.

[LewLew]

Originally Posted by exit18b

I would recommend the Fernway Neighborhood in Shaker. Fernway is right smack in the middle of the city. We moved here roughly 1 year ago. We looked at all areas of Shaker. Lovely tree-lined streets with Fernway Elementary right smack in the middle of the neighborhood. I am temp. working from home and I enjoy watching the kids walk to and from school. Fernway has lot's of young families and the housing size and price vary. The houses in Mercer are newer (40's -60's), larger and have larger kitckens. We wanted the "Shaker" charm. We fell in love with a Mercer house but decided on a Fernway house.

We looked at 2 Fernway homes. I went to Fernway. However, they were much smaller, but the lots were larger than the two in the Sussex area. We are a young couple with a 9 month old, and want that neighborhood feel where neighbors talk to one another, and kids play. Granted, he's young now, but time flies. We'll keep checking the Fernway area. There was a home we fell in love with, but it sold a couple days ago. Since we aren't moving tomorrow, we'll keep our eyes on that area. I want to be west of Lee, and closer to the school. Grenway had some cuties for sale, but we'll play it by ear. I work from home too, so it would be nice to see the neighborhood bustle to school.
Thanks for the info.

[Clevelander17]

Originally Posted by LewLew

Thank you for that. I kind of thought that the outer ring burbs and Geauga County were kind of overinflated, but I grew up in Shaker, so I'm not that familiar. Some friends were insisting the schools have changed, and there is a lot of racial tension these days. The schools were always diverse when I went there, but there was very little segregative tension. Have you heard that?

I don't know as I don't spend time in Shaker schools. I can't think of any specific stories that would lead me to believe that race is big problem in the schools, though. It's something that maybe you should consider looking into yourself though, as I'm sure the people that run the schools wouldn't mind letting you come in and check things out.

Originally Posted by LewLew

The only downfall I see to Shaker right now is that we have 3 dogs, and there is an ordinance only allowing 2. One of our dogs is 14, so who knows if she'll make the trip, but I would hate for that to kill our chances for living in Shaker. The lots are smalll in comparison, but I am much more of an urban/suburban girl than a country girl. However, I married a country boy...so it's a hard sell for sure. LOLhttp://www.shakeronline.com/about/maps/map.asp

I've never heard of that ordinance and I don't know how they go about enforcing it. I would guess that you could get away with having three dogs without anyone noticing, but I don't know what the punishment would be and what would happen if you were caught, so I understand your concern. It seems silly to me and I think that there has to be a way around it.

Originally Posted by LewLew

The houses we loved were actually in the Sussex area (where they now attend Lomond with the southeast area residents), and we also liked a couple homes near Mercer. However, the architecture near Mercer is much more like Beachwood than the Shaker I remember.The City of Shaker Heights - City Map

I don't know if you fully explored that map (it's a great resource, by the way), but if you look at the elementary school district borders, you'll see that while residents of Sussex send their kids to Lomond, the kids in the southwestern part of the city actually attend nearby Boulevard or are bussed over to Mercer. It's kind of weird, but that's in order to try to keep a certain level of racial balance. Lomond still has a majority minority enrollment, but it still gets an "Excellent" rating from the State of Ohio DOE.

http://www.ode.state.oh.us/reportcar...ILD/021279.PDF

As for the Mercer area, you're exactly right in your observation. The eastern part of Shaker Heights (east of Warrensville Center Road and south of Shaker Boulevard) is almost indistinguishable from the area of Beachwood that it borders. That's not to say to that those homes are not nice, they're just a little bit newer and don't seem to have the same character that homes in other parts of Shaker have.

Originally Posted by LewLew

If we are buying a home under current appraised value, do you think we could get the taxes lowered and the value reappraised?

I'd say there's a great chance of that happening regardless of where you live in (or near) Cleveland, as a large percentage of the homes in Cuyahoga County are overappraised and many people have success in winning re-assessment challenges. I think a lot of people are just uninformed or too lazy to challenge their home's assess value.

Regardless of what you decide to do and where you choose to live, I would suggest looking around the city and schools to see what you like and don't like. Also, since your husband might be interested in areas more "rural" in character, Pepper Pike/Orange/Solon may be an option. Larger lots, nice homes, and great schools, without being too far from Cleveland or the freeway. But once you start venturing east beyond that, you start to lose easy accessibility to University Circle, downtown, and other areas of the region.

[Clevelander17]

Originally Posted by exit18b

I would recommend the Fernway Neighborhood in Shaker. Fernway is right smack in the middle of the city. We moved here roughly 1 year ago. We looked at all areas of Shaker. Lovely tree-lined streets with Fernway Elementary right smack in the middle of the neighborhood. I am temp. working from home and I enjoy watching the kids walk to and from school. Fernway has lot's of young families and the housing size and price vary. The houses in Mercer are newer (40's -60's), larger and have larger kitckens. We wanted the "Shaker" charm. We fell in love with a Mercer house but decided on a Fernway house.

Fernway might be one of my favorite parts of Shaker Heights. I don't have kids, but if I did I would love how easy it would be for them to get to school without really having to deal with major roads or intersections. Lomond kind of offers the same situation.