I Need Reasons why I should buy a home in Cleveland (Green: buying a home, neighborhoods)

[mikemeatball]

No reason to buy house in Cleveland. Go look for suburban area.

[Chef Boyardee]

They say the real estate market here is fairly stable. But, we've had entire neighborhoods (in your area) collapse in the past. Of course, it's just White Flight (or Black Invasion). I guess now it's Mexo-Negro Invasion (remember, negro is the Spanish word for Black, so it isn't a "bad" word).

I think people on that side of town are crazy. The line between suburb and extreme ghetto is usually nothing more than a 4 lane boulevard or bridge. On one side, your house is worth 150k, while the same house on the other side is worth 15k. On one side rowdy kids get drunk after the football game and drive to fast. On the other side, they get drunk after ghetto ball and go on a shooting spree. I couldn't sleep at night

RENT!!!

[jam40jeff]

There are plenty of stable neighborhoods in Cleveland Heights and Shaker Heights, and especially in the areas nearest where these two meet and near University Circle (south side of CH and north side of SH). I would suggest renting until you get to know the area better and see if you find something you like in a neighborhood you like, rather than have to rush into choosing something.

By the way, I live on the eastside. Never ask for (or listen to) opinions of the eastside from a westsider. They don't seem to know much about actually living over here. They watch the news and every time they see a crime has occurred on "the East side" (they never mention which neighborhood it was in on the news, the East side and inner ring suburbs cover about 60 square miles) they just reinforce their opinion that there is nowhere safe on the eastside. Methinks they are actually just jealous that the best inner ring suburbs (nothing matches CH and SH on the west side), cultural institutions, and educational institutions are all on the East side.

[OhioPilot]

The idea that owning a home is a purchase for investment is really a recent invention. Buy a home because it is shelter for your family and helps you put down roots. Then you use it and enjoy it. You don't use and enjoy stocks, do you? That is what you "invest" in.

That said, rent for a while. Getting downtown from Shaker might be a burden as it is not quite "you can't get there from here" but it is not as easy as jumping on a highway and exiting at your office. Rent for a year, see where you go for friends, work, entertainment. I live eastern suburbs as I grew up here, but love the Western inner ring. You'll discover different personalities for each area. Then decide where to buy when you know you want to stay. The price of homes is NOT going to shoot up in a year. Deals will be available and interest rates may not be this low. But then again, they may. Why commits to your location for the next 20 years based on what interest rates are today?

[LewLew]

Originally Posted by jam40jeff

There are plenty of stable neighborhoods in Cleveland Heights and Shaker Heights, and especially in the areas nearest where these two meet and near University Circle (south side of CH and north side of SH). I would suggest renting until you get to know the area better and see if you find something you like in a neighborhood you like, rather than have to rush into choosing something.

By the way, I live on the eastside. Never ask for (or listen to) opinions of the eastside from a westsider. They don't seem to know much about actually living over here. They watch the news and every time they see a crime has occurred on "the East side" (they never mention which neighborhood it was in on the news, the East side and inner ring suburbs cover about 60 square miles) they just reinforce their opinion that there is nowhere safe on the eastside. Methinks they are actually just jealous that the best inner ring suburbs (nothing matches CH and SH on the west side), cultural institutions, and educational institutions are all on the East side.

I agree wholeheartedly with you. Cleveland is really one of those areas that the west and east side are so divided that one rarely describes the other with much truth. Unless you've lived in nice burbs on both sides, there is not much substance to ones description. The burbs that are most highly spoken of outside of the Cleveland area, and in other parts of the country are actually those on the east side.

[jam40jeff]

Originally Posted by OhioPilot

Getting downtown from Shaker might be a burden as it is not quite "you can't get there from here" but it is not as easy as jumping on a highway and exiting at your office.

I agree with most of what you saidl, but I feel you're completely off base here. The greatest thing about Shaker Heights is just how easy it is to get downtown. You are never far from a rapid transit line in Shaker Heights, which will get you downtown in 15 minutes and you won't have to worry about where to park (and how much you'll have to pay to do so). Even if you do drive downtown, it's only a 15 minute drive, which is less time than most people that live in the outer suburbs take to get downtown, even if they're right off the freeway. The best part about not having to take the freeway everywhere is that your 15 minute drive will become about 20 in the snow, whereas the suburbanite's 20 minute freeway drive into town becomes an hour in the snow. Slowing from 35 to 25 doesn't hurt your drive as much as slowing from 70 to 25. And when you need the freeways, you can get to I-90, I-71, I-480, or I-271 in a reasonably short amount of time.

[Chef Boyardee]

A whole lot of Westsiders, used to be Eastsiders. Many of them came from, what used to be, "East Cleveland," known today as, "Crack-Hood."

As far as commuting Downtown is concerned, coming in through town, from wherever on The East Side, Westside or Southside will force you to drive through a whole lot of bad neighborhoods

[jam40jeff]

If you are coming from the eastside and pass through University Circle, it's really not bad. Euclid, Checter, Carnegie are heavily travelled and Midtown is definitely a lot nicer than it used to be. Also, the Clinic keeps expanding west. If you are coming up Kinsman, Woodland, etc. (more from the south), then it is pretty bad. Anything south or north of there you'd be coming in on 480 to 77 or 90.

[Chef Boyardee]

There's a reason why Cleveland Clinic pays more than all other hospitals in Cleveland, yet always has lots of full-time positions available

[jam40jeff]

Yep, it's because they are expanding.