Greenville Area? (Pittsburgh, Erie, Sharon: real estate, to rent, violent crime)

[PA_Bound]

My husband is interviewing for a job in Greenville. I have been researching the area and would love some opinions. I'm torn between Greenville, because it would be near his job, or Hermitage, because it looks like a better community. We have three kids who are preschool, elementary, and middle school aged, so being in a place with good schools and safe environment is extremely important to us.

We like the outdoors, trees, parks, etc. We live in Texas now (not native Texans) and we look forward to green, hills, trees, and water!

Thanks for any help you may have!

[CortlandGirl79]

Have you considered looking into NE Ohio? I live in Cortland, Ohio and over the years i have worked w/a lot of people from the Greenville, Sharon, Hermitage, PA area. I've heard a lot of good things about Hermitage and Hickory schools. I'm not sure how far your husband is willing to commute, but i looked it up on mapquest and Cortland is 20 Miles away (30 min.) and Hermitage is 10 miles away (20 min.). So, i guess there isn't that much of a difference. I believe the communities are similar, middle to upper-middle class and great schools. I don't know everything western pa has to offer, but i know what is on my side of the ohio/pa line. Cortland is a small town (app. 6800 residents) that borders Mosquito Lake and Mosquito Lake State Park. There is a lot of boating as well as fishing there and i believe you can rent jet skis. Also, we have a couple of parks in town. There is Willow Park which features basketball and tennis courts, a roller hockey rink which can be frozen in the winter for ice hockey, a baseball field and i just saw the other day that they are building a brand new playground. There is also Bazetta Park right on the lake in neighboring bazetta township. BTW, Bazetta has a Cortland mailing address and Bazetta and Cortland make up the Lakeview School District. The Cortland area is also very close to shopping (Walmart is 5 minutes away) and about 15 minutes from the Eastwood Mall. I know many people from western pa come over the border to shop here. It's not the greatest mall on earth, but it blows the Shanango (sp?) Valley Mall out of the water (Sharon/Hermitage). Oh yeah, i also forgot to mention that our area has a minor league baseball team (short season for the cleveland indians) at our mall complex. It's always nice to go there to see a game or concert. Also, no matter where you choose to live you may want to visit the Southern Park Mall in Boardman, ohio (near youngstown). I would consider this the best mall in the western pa/ne ohio area. Youngstown also just built a new convention center and there is always something going there. I know there have Arena 2 football there and minor league hockey. So there is always something to do w/the kids. Mill creek park in youngstown is also very beautiful. Alright, this reply is getting pretty long. I'll insert some links........good luck w/your search!

http://www.cityofcortland.org/

http://www.dnr.state.oh.us/parks/parks/mosquito.htm (broken link) Mosquito Lake State Park

http://www.eastwoodmall.com/home/index.ch2

Here are some real estate listings in the Cortand/Bazetta area.
http://neohio.c21prestigerealty.com/...p?category=res

[PA_Bound]

Thank you for your suggestions! We hadn't thought of looking into things on the Ohio side, but that is a good idea.

[Icy Tea]

I go to Greenville Pa every year to visit relatives so I have some idea idea what the area is like. The Good: Wide open spaces and farms, trees, flatlands, fields, lakes and marshes. Cheap housing. Not much violent crime but drinking( and driving) is the main recreational activity besides fishing swimming and boating. I read that the Greenville elementary school system is very good.
The bad: Lack of jobs, long depressing winters, not much to do culturally but you can drive to Pittsburgh. It strikes me as very boring but I do like the lack of sprawl and development. Hermitage is growing and has most of the only shopping areas. Sharon has some crime as does Youngstown(alot) Grove City( an outlet store mecca) is probably the best community nearby IMO. Commuting is easy despite longer distances as traffic is not heavy at least not on major highways.

[mams1559]

My sister-in-law lives right on Shenango Lake. Her mailing address is Transfer, PA, but she's definitely not anywhere near the town. It's only 10 mi. south of Greenville and about 10 mi. north of Sharon/Hermitage. She loves it there. Both her kids (now graduated) loved their school. The school was very good academically and had smaller class sizes. Her area is very nice, very low on crime and lots of scenic beauty. There are shopping centers, malls, movies, restaurants in Hermitage/Sharon. If you wanted something more, Pittsburgh is about 1 1/2 hrs south on I-79 or Erie is 1 1/2 hours north. I visit Transfer/Clark area to see her and I like the area and she only has good things to say about it.

[CortlandGirl79]

PA_Bound, how is your search going? Do you have anymore questions?

[PA_Bound]

My husband is actually on his way home from his interview now and he thinks it went well. Hopefully we'll have a better idea by the end of the week if we'll be going. I'm a little nervous about it. I've been researching the area more, although I hate to put too much effort into it until we are sure we are going. I'm glad to know about the Cortland area for shopping, etc., but I'm not sure we'd want to live quite that far away. The Transfer area is appealing, but I didn't see much as far as housing that would be appropriate for us. I'm still kind of leaning toward Hermitage. I wish someone could say something good about Greenville! I'd love for that to be a neat place to live.

Thank you!

[CortlandGirl79]

Just so you know, the shopping isn't really in Cortland. Cortland is more of a bedroom community. All shopping is in Niles, about 10-15 minutes away. I think Hermitage is a good idea if you want to be closer. I really don't know that much about Greenville. I've been through there, but never stopped. It does look like a cute little town though. I worked w/some people who lived there and they seemed to like it. Don't know enough to have a good opinion. If your hubby gets the job, maybe he could ask some people there what they think is good. Either way, good luck!

[Mary Lynne Reimold]

I live in Greenville and my children attend St. Michael Parochial School. It is a wonderful school and church community. Even if you are not catholic the tuition is very affordable. Please let me know if you want more information. I am on the school board and would be happy to help you out.

[PA_Bound]

My husband has accepted the job and we will be moving. I'm a little nervous, though, because we still need to sell our house here (in Texas). We're finishing up the last few things and it should be on the market soon. I wanted to rent something before we buy so we can become more familiar with the area, but the real estate agent I spoke to insists that renting will be nearly impossible because we have 2 cats. There are other reasons why I'm not thrilled with her so I'll be talking to another realtor next week.

It's hard to really get a feel for the different school districts just by looking at websites. I'm really liking what I read about Hermitage. Greenville schools seem to emphasize testing more and the curriculum didn't seem as good. Do you have any feel for the school districts' reputations? Also, the realtor I spoke to suggested Sharpsville, but there aren't as many homes available there.