Rent in Yellow springs for $650/mo? (Cincinnati, Dayton: fit in, apartment complexes, rental)

[Hubcap_halo]

I'm hearing wonderful things about this small town.

I'm relocating from NYC and am considering a complete shift to small town life.

Any jobs there? I'd do anything to just live simply and cheaply in a beautiful small town.

Any way to get by without a car?

[wrightflyer]

While I know there are no major apartment complexes, there are numerous small homes and some small apartments scattered throughout Yellow Springs. I'd check places like Craigslist and the local classifieds for openings. Rental housing might be easier to find as the local liberal arts college, Antioch, recently closed for financial reasons.

Speaking of Antioch, that probably would have been the best place to find an in town job and hopefully it will be that way again if the college reopens. There's also Antioch McGregor, which is the local graduate school. It is separate from Antioch and still open. I've also heard of a company called YS Inc which I believe does work in Yellow Springs, but what type of work, I do not know.

As far as a car, it's best to have one since a job would most likely be centered around Wright-Patt AFB, a suburb, or in Dayton all of which are no more than 30 minutes away by car. It's possible to get by without a car in Yellow Springs and only use it to commute to work.

[HuskerDu]

You can probably get an apartment for next to nothing around there... as the above poster mentioned, Antioch College is now closed and was pretty much the only reason Yellow Springs developed a reputation for being liberal and artsy. It is located in a depressed area of the state with Dayton and Springfield being within close proximity and niether of those cities are a good place to be IMO (high crime/no jobs etc...) I would definitely pay a visit to Yellow Springs before making any decisions.

[wrightflyer]

Originally Posted by HuskerDu

You can probably get an apartment for next to nothing around there... as the above poster mentioned, Antioch College is now closed and was pretty much the only reason Yellow Springs developed a reputation for being liberal and artsy. It is located in a depressed area of the state with Dayton and Springfield being within close proximity and niether of those cities are a good place to be IMO (high crime/no jobs etc...) I would definitely pay a visit to Yellow Springs before making any decisions.

First, I would not say the city of Dayton itself is thriving, not one bit, but to paint the whole southwest corner of Ohio as depressed is like painting all of Southern Cal as the best place on Earth to live. There are good areas doing well and bad areas I would avoid in both. Yes, the best way to figure out those areas is to visit, but you are basically stating Yellow Springs and the rest of southwest Ohio have high crime/no jobs just because Dayton and Springfield are located in that section of the state. That is simply a misleading thing to do and not true. I might as well tell you not to move to Westchester County New York cause New York City (which has high crime in many parts of its borders) is located in the tri-state.

As for being liberal, Yellow Springs is not one of those college towns where its liberal only 9 months of the year. Yellow Springs has a reputation of being liberal because of its residents. Was the univeristy a big part? Sure it was. But to say it was the only part is again, misleading.

If you are interested in Yellow Springs, I'd say come and visit. Many people take weekend trips out there to enjoy the shops and restaurants (it was in Budget Travel recently). But to paint all of Southwestern Ohio as dying is just plain silly.

[HuskerDu]

Why would I paint the entire southwestern portion of Ohio that way? I live in Cincinnati and we are doing just fine. I am saying that Dayton and Springfield are not good places to live and/or find a job right now or anytime in recent memory. Yellow Springs is directly between and very close to those two cities and since the thread starter is asking about jobs and whether or not a car matters I think it is very good information for this person to consider.

[aquila]

Originally Posted by Hubcap_halo

I'm hearing wonderful things about this small town.

I'm relocating from NYC and am considering a complete shift to small town life.

Any jobs there? I'd do anything to just live simply and cheaply in a beautiful small town.

Any way to get by without a car?

I still think maybe you should check out Athens instead.

Or how about Oxford, which is a quirky college town...although it's a tad pricey. But very pretty particularly up around Hueston Woods and around the campus, as well as some nature preserves nearby. And it's extremely walkable, with plenty of apartments - both in the way of complexes and private homes, and it's kinda funky if you ask me. It has a very active "uptown" area (they don't call it "downtown") with music in the park every Thursday, and quaint artsy shops. It may not be the most liberal town in Ohio, but you'd definitely fit in regardless of how liberal you are, because it just has that vibe to it. I'm sure you'd be able to get your artsy fix there.

[lemonlauren]

Jobs are a little hard to come by around the whole Yellow Springs/Dayton/Springfield area, or good jobs anyways. But Yellow Springs is a really neat unique town - have a go at it if you want. It'll be an interesting experience, and you just might get lucky with a job - who knows? Rent's cheap now, so that should help a bit anyhow. Good luck! :-)

Lauren Wickline

[jafabrit]

Originally Posted by HuskerDu

You can probably get an apartment for next to nothing around there... as the above poster mentioned, Antioch College is now closed and was pretty much the only reason Yellow Springs developed a reputation for being liberal and artsy. It is located in a depressed area of the state with Dayton and Springfield being within close proximity and niether of those cities are a good place to be IMO (high crime/no jobs etc...) I would definitely pay a visit to Yellow Springs before making any decisions.

Yellow Springs was just recently named by Budget Travel as one of the top ten coolest small towns in America.
http://ysarts.blogspot.com/search?q=10+coolest+towns
It was included partly because of our art scene (knit graffiti) which is thriving regardless of Antioch college. We are a town full of artists, writers, poets, screenwriters, musicians etc. It is a mistake to assume the cultural/arts of YS is no longer thriving just because Antioch closed.

Unfortunately I do have to agree with others in stating geting a local job is not easy. YS does not have a bus service so one is dependent on a car. It is almost impossible to find a job IN Yellow Springs, so a person would have to commute to a job oustide of town.(Beavercreek is about 20 mins, Dayton 30 mins).

[ellyagnes]

I hope further questions count as a reply - I'm new to this whole forum thing.
You appear to be a resident; may I interrogate you about YS?
We have to move (with total reluctance) to Dayton from rural England, for a job at Wright Patterson (which I'm hoping will be temporary - 3-4 years max ). From internet researches so far, YS looks and sounds like what we might need - as gardeners, nature lovers, art & music lovers - and loathers of concrete, suburbs and subdivisions. 'Hip' and 'cool' aren't on our radar, but tolerance, friendliness and liberal values are.
Can you estimate the commute to the base? (Area B is the destination, apparently, if this means anything.) I'd be hoping for 15 mins or less to allow trip home at lunchtime.
We wont want to buy for a short stay- we're keeping our house in England, and wouldn't want to be saddled with a property in the US that we couldn't sell when the time comes to leave.
We'd need a house for the balm of a garden, and wonder if you're aware of the renters' market locally. Can one rent a pretty house with a garden? Do people garden or just have 'yards'?
Are there nurseries (for plants)?
And the landscape - is it flat/brown/hilly/green?
Can one buy organic? Do supermarkets stock this produce and/or are there farmers' markets?
Thanks in anticipation, and humble apologies if forum rules have been breached in posting a questionnaire via a reply.

[CrowsMatter]

yellow springs is a lovely town. i lived there for two years, and was on the board for the YSTC - yellow springs tree committee. i also did private gardening [one acre of perennials]. tom's market is downtown, and sells organic foods, there is also a local farmer's market just outside of town, which is really nice.

the land is fairly flat, but green. yes to the gardens- houses to rent with gardening allowed, and lots of open minds to be found.

the little art theatre is great. if you like to walk, there's magnificent clifton gorge, a natural lanmark/preserve, john bryan state park, and also a bike trail.

i hope this helps-

best,
cm
comma happy