Small town Ohio/Country living....Where to move? (Dayton, Canton: housing, jobs)

[inspiringmind]

Hello all! I have been coming to this site for a few days looking at small towns in Ohio to move too. I just found the forums!!

I was born in Willoughby, Ohio and lived in Mentor and then Newbury for awhile when I was growing up. Right now me and mine live in Cheyenne, Wyoming and it is a city of about 50,000.

So, in looking for a home in Ohio we decided that we definitly want to find a city/town/Township less then 50,000.

We only have two priorities with finding the right place to move. The school system is the biggest one. One of our son's is in special education, so we want to find a school that will be helpful with getting him the best education he can get with his disabilities. The second one is a good hospital...cause our family may be growing in the coming years.

A job is not on the scope. (Neither of us works) so finding a job isn't important. So we wouldn't care if moved to a place where everyone else is moving out as long as there are a bunch of houses on the market. (which means the houses are pretty inexpensive!) I read another post where someone had said that in their town a bunch of people were moving out and like 350 houses were on the market. But he didn't SAY what town it was. LOL I want to know!

We really want a house in the middle of no where. With like 1/4 to 1/2 acre and you could crank-your-raido kind of place cause your neigbor is far enough away from you that they won't even hear it.

What we don't want. We do not want to live in a E-Check County. Where we live now doesn't have E-Check and although I have a nice little mini-van that works very well, I dont know if it would pass. So as long as we dont live in a county where it is required we are A-ok.

I think this should give all you Buckeye's a good starting place to try to give us some ideas on where a good place to live is.

Thanks a bunch and sorry it was so long. Look forward to your suggestions.

[inspiringmind]

We are looking really at east Ohio....in any of these counties: Ashtabula, Trumbull, Mahoning, Stark, Wayne, Holmes, Tuscarawaras, Columbiana, Carroll, Jefferson, Harrison, Coshocton, Muskingum, Guernsey, Selmont, Morgan, Noble, Monroe and Washington. I am guessing though that any county that is slightly west of those counties would be ok too. (As long as it mets the criteria I set in the post above.)

[TerryTurtle27]

Mansfield/Ontario is just the place you are looking for. Located in Richland County, halfway between COL and CLE. http://www.mansfieldnewsjournal.com/....dll/frontpage

[Cosmic]

Originally Posted by inspiringmind

We are looking really at east Ohio....in any of these counties: Ashtabula, Trumbull, Mahoning, Stark, Wayne, Holmes, Tuscarawaras, Columbiana, Carroll, Jefferson, Harrison, Coshocton, Muskingum, Guernsey, Selmont, Morgan, Noble, Monroe and Washington. I am guessing though that any county that is slightly west of those counties would be ok too. (As long as it mets the criteria I set in the post above.)

Columbiana might be your best bet with the criterion for special needs education and hospitals. My sister lives in Columbiana and works in a special needs program as a nurse. She also says the hospital at Salem is one of the best around. It will probably be the most expensive of all the counties you mention. That probably is also the best shopping situation for most of those counties about the right size population wise. Towns like Columbiana, Leetonia, Salem.

None of those counties above should be in an E-Check area. Columbiana is not for sure, neither are any of the rural ones.

Muskingum could work if you stay near Zanesville, I don't know about their education system but it is probably more governed by what the state requires which is probably pretty uniform in Ohio.

Monroe will be the cheapest for housing, probably have the least regs and hassles of all of them but the education system is probably not the best around, hospitals and any medical care can be a bit of a distance away, usually you wind up in WV or like up to Barnsville or St. Clairsville. But the more rural counties like Jefferson, Monroe, Carroll, Noble, and Washington will give you the best chance at really getting away from it all.

Picking Caldwell or Marietta as your general location might work. You would have to investigate what is exactly there in terms of schools, medical, etc. All those counties are worth fully looking into.

Columbiana housing prices have been dropping. Lot of places being sold at auction these days. Finding a more remote house is possible if you move out a bit. In the more rural counties lots of possible choices for distance neighbors.

The other counties to include might be Athens and Adams.

[trtlflwrs]

Stark county is where I'm at now... it has the best of both worlds as far as living criteria... i don't know much about the school systems off-hand.

There is a mass shopping extravaganza area just west of Canton called Belden Village. There is literally EVERYTHING you could ever want or need (just no JCPenney's, it's further south!). But in less than a 30 minute drive you can be sitting in the middle of a cornfield.

I'm someone that loves the peace and quiet of country but needs the occassional hustle & bustle of retail! It's a great area... you might want to look at Jackson Township or Plain Township (or even Lake Township, Hartville City). All are close to or border the area known as North Canton(44720) and would probably fit what you're looking for.

Feel free to message me for more information!

[HAS]

Judging from the criteria you listed, I think Chardon would be wonderful for you. Here's a link for you to check out. I know everyone says Wikipedia is unreliable, but I read over everything and it's accurate...see what you think. It sounds perfect for you!



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chardon%2C_OH



Oh, and I read in another one of your posts saying that you miss Lake Effect Snow. Well, if you lived in Chardon, you certainly would have enough to keep you happy...it's considered to be one of the "snow capitals" of Ohio, receiving about 100" annually!!!

[inspiringmind]

Originally Posted by HAS

Judging from the criteria you listed, I think Chardon would be wonderful for you. Here's a link for you to check out. I know everyone says Wikipedia is unreliable, but I read over everything and it's accurate...see what you think. It sounds perfect for you!



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chardon%2C_OH



Oh, and I read in another one of your posts saying that you miss Lake Effect Snow. Well, if you lived in Chardon, you certainly would have enough to keep you happy...it's considered to be one of the "snow capitals" of Ohio, receiving about 100" annually!!!

When we lived in Newbury we used to go to Chardon all the time. I rememeber the (what probably is the old) library in the town square. When I got older I lived in Mentor and worked in Chardon (Used to be the Chardon Nursing home on Water Street.) Ahhh the remenissing. And oh yes, I miss the snow.

[infoplease]

I echo the Columbiana County comments above.

NORTHERN (*important distinction) Columbiana County is located in on the eastern edge of the state about midway (slightly southern) has some great rural areas that still offer excellent schools (and too often rural and good schools don't go together unfortunately) and proximity to shopping, recreation, etc. nearby. VERY affordable although jobs are not plentiful. It's still considered part of the Appalachians, but proximity to PA and northern Ohio offers great area to live/raise families very affordably and still work for those willing to accept a bit of a commute.

Fairfield Township offers access to two excellent school districts, proximity to Columbiana, Ohio and SR 7, 11, and 14 connections for quick commutes.

Excellent shopping 20 or so minutes north in Boardman Ohio or just over the PA line.

As for lots, I had to laugh because in rural Ohio 1/4 to a 1/2 acre is called "a patch of grass."

Most of these areas are going to offer ACRES - as in 2-10.

[4sarad]

If you're looking in western Ohio (which from what I can tell, has never been mentioned on this forum!), you should check out Auglaize County. I grew up in Minster, Ohio and it is a great place to live. The schools are excellent and receive the highest honors constantly. I knew a lot of kids in special ed. and other such programs, and they are always as fully integrated into normal classes as possible so that we could all get to know each other. There is absolutely no crime there and the most you'll ever see in the police section of the newspaper is that they found a stray dog. Really the only drawback of the area is that it's some distance to shopping. There is a walmart 20 minutes away in Sidney, and a small mall 30 minutes away in Piqua... but if you want a big mall with higher end stores (such as Dillards or Macys), you'd probably have to go to Lima, Dayton, or Fort Wayne. If you're interested, check into Minster, New Bremen, and Fort Loramie. There are usually quite a few houses for sale and they vary in price A LOT. There are also 2 large lakes nearby (Lake Loramie and Grand Lake Saint Mary's) so there are a lot of activities and lake front property if you're interested in such things.

[Donna7]

If you want small town, country living, may I suggest Wayne or Holmes County? We live in Wayne County. If you're looking for "Little Prairie and Laura Ingalls", come here. The Amish/Mennonite are also here. There is plenty of farm land, farm reports in the morning, Pancake Breakfasts at the Firehouse, and barnyard jamborees - good fun for all.