Shaker Heights (Cleveland, Beverly: middle-class, real estate, houses)

[rw2006]

I heard that Shaker Heights is a nice safe diverse suburb of Cleveland. However, when I was doing my own research, I saw that its population and economy was declining. Should I be worried?

[boardmanite]

I'm not from Cleveland, so you'll have to wait for input from others. But I do know that Shaker Heights is one of the most beautiful neighborhoods in NE Ohio. The houses are stunning and I think it would be an easy commute to either downtown or the Eastern suburbs. The schools have a great reputation as well. It is also diverse, as you mentioned. I believe that it lost quite a few jobs in the past couple years when a large company moved its headquarters from Shaker Heights. Hopefully someone else can supply details. The biggest negative that I could think of is its closeness to some pretty rough areas of Cleveland. I'm don't know how good of an investment a home there would be. But it is BEAUTIFUL!

[rbmarx]

We just moved out of Shaker Heights. I would live there if I could live anywhere because it has access to everything from great museums to great National Parks. It is a great place to live, but the economy is declining and there is no sign of reversal. Many of the people I know (myself included) who moved from Shaker did so because of a lack of opportunity. They wanted to or had to change jobs and there just wasn't anything for them in Cleveland. However, the declining economy is what makes living in Shaker very inexpensive. Another issue to consider is that real estate has not been appreciating in the region. We bought our house in 2002 and will be lucky to break even if we sell in 2007!

[LancasterNative]

Along North Park, South Park, and Shaker Boulevards in Shaker Heights, you'll find houses whose prices easily top the $3MM mark. These are monuments to old money—gated, with private swimming pools, tennis courts, and some of them sit on lots of an acre or more. These neighborhoods make Beverly Hills, CA look like a trailer park

Elsewhere in Shaker, the homes are more modest, but still historic and loaded with charm. Much of Shaker Heights was built in the 1900-1940 era.

As far as diversity goes, Shaker has a much broader mix of Blacks, Jews, and white Anglo's than would normally be expected of a suburb with its patrician pedigree.

Is Shaker the highest-income place in NE Ohio? Not by a long shot. Its population is good-sized (28,000?) and a lot of residents there don't live in the baronial mansions of the Boulevards listed above. Many Shaker folks, in fact, could be considered middle-class people who pay upper-class taxes!

I would say Shaker is about as safe as any place you'll find in the overall Heights area, unless you want to go way out east in the county—where it's very safe, quiet, and less diverse.