Relocating to painesville (Cleveland, Mentor, Riverside: rentals, amusement park, insurance)

[austin]

We will be relocating to painesville ohio in a few weeks.
What is the area like? Good points, Bad points?
Any info on the schools?

[paintballer1708]

Well Austin, i moved to the Cleveland metro two years ago because my job moved me here and Painesville has to be one of my favorite eastern suburbs of Cleveland.

Painesville is in the county of Lake and is not far from Lake Erie. There are some great beaches and some nice small vacation towns to go to. Like Fairport Harbor, and Painesville-on-the-Lake. Your not too far from Cleveland which has alot of entertainment. And the sporting events too.

Painesville has a population of about 17,000 people. It is a growing town, and new businesses are coming into town from all across the country. MayField Village is not too far, they are home to the Progressive Insurance Company. Overall Painesville is a growing town with a small town feel. There is alot to do. And in the summer if you dont have a pool there are some really nice beaches up on the Lake which is only about 5-10 miles away. The people are really nice and the school system is doing very well. Overall i think you will like Painesville. If you need anymore information please feel free to ask.

Information on Painesville
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Painesville%2C_Ohio

[sorin]

I lived in Mentor Oh for 30 years, which is right next to Painsville. (moved away 2 years ago, but still go back all the time) The Painesville township schools are allright; Painesville city schools, not so much. There are some not-too-nice areas of the city that you don't want to get stuck in, but for the most part it is a quaint, old city with lots of stuff nearby. You are really close to Headlands beach, which is one of the nicest around. There is also a ton of shopping next door in Mentor, really anything you want, you'll find. There is a growing hispanic and croatian population in the area as well.

[austin]

Sounds like Painesville has a small town feel with big city convience. Is it a safe area?
What parts should we stay away from. North-South-East- West? We have 2 teen daughters that will be in high school. We did a drive through the center of town just to check things out. Looked like a new england town. Where are the major retail stores and groceries, the girls wanted to know about Pennys, Kohls etc.. How are the winters there? Do they get alot of lake effect snow?We would have liked more time to scope the town out before coming, but it did not work out that way.
Thanks for the input.

[Leilani]

Hi Austin,

I was from an area not far from there (10 min) Called "Concord" and I also lived in Kirtland.It was a nice area. I lived on Hermitage so you might want to check out that area. There are a few nice areas here and there....one is Stratford Dr. (which is right after Mentor) I personally would not live in Painesville. There is another area called "Painesville Township" (same Zipcode) In that area there are good parts and bad parts also.

I will just give you my opinion straight....the 2 High Schools are Riverside and Harvey. They have been rivals for years. Unless they have done some major cleaning up, I woldn't send any kids to either school. I would l look into Lake Catholic High which is the area's private school. It's Catholic but there are plenty of kids from all faiths there and they do not push it on the kids at all. There is a college there " Lake Erie College" (on Rt 20) and there is community college about 20 minutes away called " Lakeland Community College". (off Rt. 20 on 306)

Kohl's is on Mentor Ave. (also known as Rt. 20) so it is about 5-10 minutes away.

Big Mall shopping is also stright down Mentor Ave. About 15 minutes away "Great Lakes Mall". It has Penney's, Kaufmans, Dillards, etc. That wole area around the mall has about every store you can think of. Movies, etc.
Moderator cut: linking to competitors sites is not allowed

Painesville is not far from a lot of cities so you could work in Painesville and live in a surrounding area. If you tell me about how much you are looking to spend on a home, what your interests are etc. I can give you some surrounding cities that might work for you. I mean within 15 minutes you can find places from 50K - 750K so there are lots of choices.

There are a few small parks in Painesville. It is not a crime ridden area but it's getting more interesting as time goes on.

I am sure you have seen pictures of the red brick streets and century homes...they are there....but remember they are going to make it look rosey.The area by the courthhouse is where the red bricked roads are at.

There is some shopping in the square area but I haven't been there in years. It used to be a mall and it didn't work out so it was replaced with offices.

As far as winter goes....look out. The county is Lake County and you will get major Lake effect snow. Lots of snow days out there for the kids.

Anyway, you can ask me anything you want. Feel free to send me an email or private message and I will help you anyway I can

Leilani

[austin]

Hey, thanks for the info everyone. Looks like we need to look into the other school districts. Or the Private ones. We are intrested in eventually moving onto the lake close to painesville maybe?. Any thing on the surrounding towns would really help. Our best bet would probably be rent a place until we find the right place. The girls are excited about the shopping opportunities. Are the colleges good ones? The oldest will graduate in a few years and will be looking for further education. We did not know about the snow, thought since painesville was close to the lake it might not be that bad.Warmer water and all.

[Leilani]

Hey Austin,

Well, in Painesville 2 areas come to mind....Fairport Harbor and Grandriver..they are close to Painesville and would have rentals available. Both are older towns and I don't know what the crime would be like now.

Neither of these areas are cosidered up scale....but if you go further out by the lake, it gets worse.(ashtabula, etc)

As far as the colleges...both are good. Lake Erie College is a really good school. Kind of pricey. Both of my sister's graduated from there and they loved it. It is a private school.

Like I said, the closest decent high school would be Lake Catholic. (which is in Mentor Ohio) It's an odd area...there is this big city called Painesville and then in it there are all these little areas but they all share the same zip. You really have to just get there and look around.

You could live in Mentor and only be about 20 minutes from work and then the kids would be close to Lake Catholic and the malls, etc. Mentor is nice. It too has it's good areas and it's questionable areas. Mentor on the Lake and Mentor Headlands are both beach/lake areas and they are located in Mentor (20 min from Painesville) but be careful of these areas. You can get a nice spot or you can be living in a welfare type area. You will see when you get here.

On a positive note, housing is cheap and getting cheaper. Cedar Point will be about 2 hrs from you and the kids will love it. HUGE amusement park. HUGE rollercoasters. We also have a few other ones here.

You will be close to PA. so there are some cool lakes to vist there and also some good outlet malls for the kids.

Not far from where you will be is Sea World (35 min) and also there is a pretty good sized outlet mall in Aurora .

I found a great site that you can check out this map and see where all these little area are. Since I am not allowed to list a site a am going to try to get you to it.....go to ohiobiz forward slash census forward slash lake dot pdf.....got it??? I hope so. It will allow you to see the area. On the left hand site of the page you will see the link for the lake county map.

Hope this helps you out. If you can't get it, let me know and I will try to send it another way Please don't hesitate to ask any questions

[austin]

Fairport Harbor and Grandriver sound like they need looked into further on our part.
Thanks for the scoop on painesville. Do you what the crime rate is there?
Do any of the towns you mention, have bad drug problems? I know drugs are everywhere, but some places are worse than others.
We like to live out of the big cities, more country folks. The girls like to swim and boat, so that is why we are looking to live on or really close to the lake.
May need to buy more than 1 snowshovel?

[paintballer1708]

LOL the lake effect snow can get bad, but in the summer time it is always nice to go to the beach. Painsville doesnt really have a bad crime rate. When i travel to the city it always looks very nice to me. Really no run down areas. A very nice town close to the lake. I mean its not a perfect place to live, no place is but, overall i think Painesville is a great place to live. By the way Lake Erie is a great place to go boating. Esp up by Conneaut, Ohio.

[Leilani]

Hi Austin,

The crime I would say is low. But like I said it depends on what part of Painesville. I have 2 brother in laws who are attorneys and they practice in Painesville.....they would give you a different answer, I am sure. When you get there...before you rent anything drive to each area...ask around and see what the "locals" are saying.

The local newspaper is...are you ready to figure this one out ? LOL NEWS dash Herald dot COM if you can get that and read it and check out the classifieds then you might be able to get your finger on the pulse.

There is a park/camping place close to where you are. You can even rent little cabins there. it's called Punderson. There is also a Lake called "EAst Branch where you can take boats with electric motors. Pymatuning Lake is about 1 hr from you . It is in Ohio and Pa. They a have boat rentals. Take the kids to the Causeway and bring bags of old bread to feed the carp. You have never seen anything like this. There are THOUSANDS of them. It is a fun thing to do that is free. Bring along a picnic and you can check out the lake.

You will get a small town feel of a lot of the areas in Lake Country. Geauga County isn't far (30 min.) and you will find houses cheaper and more land. Perry is out there and that is where the nuclear plant is so you might want to avoid that area. But Geauga has some really nice areas. Chesterland is really nice.

Anyway, keep asking....we're all here to give you our 2 cents