Boardman, Poland, Canfield, or Austintown??? (Cleveland, Youngstown: foreclosures, rent, how much)

[lovetheheartland]

Hello all! I'm brand new to these fora, but have tons of questions. I just got a job as a professor at YSU, and my husband and I will be moving to the Youngstown area in July. I visited a few weeks ago to look at homes, and really liked some in each of the surrounding areas (Boardman, Poland, Canfield, and Austintown). I'm curious what others have to say about each of these locations.
A little bit of info about us: we don't have any children yet, but are planning on starting in a few years. We do have 2 dogs though, so we need a big yard. We really like older houses (c. 20s-40s), and have a price range of 150K to 200K. My husband is a software engineer, and we're not sure where he'll work yet. We are pretty laid back and don't need a lot of entertaining. As long as there's a good library, good internet service, a movie theater, and ethnic restaurants, we're happy peeps!
Any advice, information, or feedback would be wonderful.
Thanks so much!!!

[CortlandGirl79]

First off, congrats on the new job! As for your questions, i'll try to answer them the best i can. I actually live about 15 minutes north of Youngstown, so i don't know the southern suburbs as well, but i've spent plenty of time in Austintown, Boardman, and Poland.

Out of the areas you listed i like Canfield and Poland Village, not Poland Township, the best. I love old homes myself and really love the old homes in Poland Village. Poland reminds me of a quaint New England town and the village tries very hard to make things look authentic. You'll notice this when you see banks, etc that don't look like the modern businesses of today. I know a young couple in their early 30s that live there and they love it. They own a 1930s house on a little more than an acre of land. Their street is very quiet, wooded and their neighborhood backs up to a park.......its absolutely beautiful. Poland also has a beautiful, newer library that i'm sure you will love. Public Library of Youngstown & Mahoning County

I believe this is a pic of the library and some other areas of Poland from photobucket.......



Yellow Creek - If you listen to Bruce Springsteen's song name Youngstown you will hear that Heaton brothers discovered ore in this creek and i believe the first blast furnace in the area was started due to this discovery.






Poland Middle School

[CortlandGirl79]

Oh yes, i should also mention that if your husband is a software engineer he might want to look into some of the software companies housed in the Youngstown Business Incubator Youngstown Business Incubator. I've been looking for jobs on monster and i've noticed one of the companies, Turning Technologies, was looking for some new employees. If he doesn't have any luck in the Y-town area he might consider working towards Pittsburgh. I know that a ton of people commute from the southern suburbs to Pittsburgh everyday. Good luck choosing your new home and finding a job for your hubby!

[South Range Family]

My own personal preference would be none of the above, but that's just me. If you made me pick from those four, Canfield would be my first choice, then Poland. Austintown third, and Boardman last. Austintown, and Boardman have too many people too close together for my tastes.

I will say that Austintown has some newer houses to the West that have the bike trail running through their back yards. They are off of Turner Rd.


Old giant houses with tree lined streets can also be found in the city of Salem. Salem is like diving back to 1950. That might be too far of a drive to YSU, but it's only an hour from Pittsburgh. They have a very nice library, and one movie theater.

Hidden between Austintown, and Niles is the quiet village of McDonald. It's close to everything, yet off of the beaten path. It's probably 10 minutes from YSU. It is also like driving back to 1950. It's definitely worth checking out.

[Mike Dunn]

I'd also consider the Columbiana/Salem area.

Here's a link for school information and ratings.

Great Schools - Public and Private School Ratings, Reviews and Parent Community

Ohio Public School Rankings

Good luck!

Mike

[lovetheheartland]

Thanks guys! I guess it will all depend on where my husband gets a job. When I was out there for the interview though and looking at houses, I absolutely fell in love with one in Boardman, in the Glen. I mean, fell...in...love. I can't stop looking at it online and going through the pics! I need to not get my hopes up however, since we won't even move until July. Plus, we currently rent a 2 bedroom house, and this house is a 5 bedroom! We don't even have enough furniture to fill the house.

[CortlandGirl79]

There are also nice areas north of Youngstown, but i didn't list any of them since you said you were looking south. People that live in the northern suburbs commute to the Cleveland area a lot, so if your husband gets a job up that way i would move north rather than south.

There are some really nice areas in Boardman and Austintown, but i don't really like the congestion in the Boardman area. I also wouldn't want to send my kids to Boardman schools because they are so huge. I know SouthRange has posted something about this before, but i myself like a mid-sized school system.

Oh yeah, i'm not sure where you are moving from, but most homes in this area are heated w/natural gas. If you are looking at a large home like the five bedroom in Boardman, prepare yourself for some massive gas bills in the winter. Some older homes aren't well insulated and that can cause your gas bill to be even higher. I previously had an old large home and my gas bills in the winter ranged between $300-$500/month. When bidding on a home i would suggest you request copies of gas bills from the current owners so that you can see what you are getting into........this can be an unpleasant expense every month if you aren't prepared.

[lovetheheartland]

Thanks Cort. I'm moving from Indiana, so I'm used to higher bills in the winter, but I'll definitely reequest copies of bills. That's one thing my mom asked me, "How are you going to afford upkeep on a house that big?" It's definitely something I"ll have to keep in mind. And it's not that we necessarily want a house that big (3bdr/2ba would be fine) but I just fell in love with that one! And I've heard that Boardman schools are nice but big. I went to a teeny tiny school growing up, and I'd rather my kids go to a larger one, but not gigantice!

[CortlandGirl79]

I know what you mean about the upkeep question from mom. I bought my old house (2700 sq/ft) when i was 22 and i loved it, but it definitely required a lot of upkeep. I also lived there by myself so it was a lot for me to take care of. In six years i updated the electric, put on a new roof and gutters, and did some cosmetic work. Then there were the unexpected costs like replacing the main plumbing stack, replacing the hot water tank, replacing a fawcett, etc. When i sold i only got my downpayment back and i was lucky to get that. I probably lost a good $20k that i put into the house.

I do understand where you are coming from though. I love, love, love those cool big, old houses. Just make sure you really think it through and figure all the costs, because in the end it may not be worth it. Besides, you could get a smaller house now and then after you have a couple kids you could upgrade to the five bedroom. Hope, i didn't come off sounding preachy, i've just been through it and hope my experience can help you out. Right now is a great time to buy if you're planning on staying at least five years, otherwise i would suggest you rent until you get to know the area better. If you decide to sell in a couple years you will never get your money back........especially if you have a large home, which imo is a harder sell, especially around here w/all the job losses we've been experiencing lately.

[000000]

ysu is a jewel in the area. congrats on getting the appointment.

your husband really should look towards pittsburgh or cleveland for work unless you can also get him in at ysu. there are not many jobs in the area for anyone with advanced degrees. there are even less for those without unless they are content with minimum wage.

wherever you choose in the area, i would try to buy to live. it will be very hard to flip a house in the area because there so few people want to move in (indeed, you will be indirectly helping the young to move out). i have anecdotes of people either being stuck in their homes, or of parts of families staying back in town while the others move on.
in any event, when it comes time to negotiate your price, i would be aggressive because the realtor and the other owner both know that it is hard to move property in the mahoning valley. people simply do not choose to move here. if gm lordstown does fail, then you may have even better pickings as foreclosures occur.

of the areas you mention, i would go poland, canfield, boardman, austintown. both poland and canfield have their have and have nots and colonial airs about themselves which lend to people having older houses. boardman and austintown also has nice parts in them, but have less pretense with some parts having the ills of youngstown city seeping into them. all four of them provide homes with decent sized lawns as they are all pretty much suburbs.

salem and columbiana are the future of white flight in the area. your home will likely retains its value there more so than mahoning county. plus, as south range family said, it is like a trip back in time. if you are going to drive anyway, i'd certainly consider those two places in columbiana county if i were in your position.

there are more things going on in a mcdonald's hamburger than in mcdonald, ohio. you may or may not like how rural that would be. you would almost certainly get a big yard.

all of the public libraries in mahoning county are part of the same system. if you are looking for space, poland and austintown both have the newer look library with cafes and such. boardman's is from the 90's and shows it. canfield's is teeny-tiny; considering how much money is in canfield it is surprising that they didn't get one of fancier ones first.
if you are looking for materials, maag library on the campus of ysu has much more and you will be entitled to ohiolink which allows you to borrow from all of the other state universities.

ethnic food in the mahoning valley means a wide variety of italian. while it is true that you could get sushi from giant eagle, or inexpensive chinese, one overhyped mexican place, no gastronome would be placated unless they love italian. two swank (for the area) italian places opened up on 224 in boardman. nearby, there is the only middle eastern place. further down on 224 near canfield, but still in boardman, is the only vegan place.

there are hollywood blockbuster movie theaters in boardman and austintown (canfield and poland are much too dignified). the austintown plaza theater may still run arthouse movies, if it is still open.

change may be coming due to recent legislation aimed at providing statewide cable operator licensure. austintown, canfield, and boardman for sure and i think poland (can't remember off the top of my head) have traditionally been served by armstrong cable out of butler, pa. while their service tends to be good, they will likely charge more than what you are paying now because armstrong is a small potato operation. if those subrubs are ever opened up to competition, armstrong will not be able to survive because they are too small to provide competitive value at a competitive price.