Relocating from Akron to Toledo (Springfield, Stow: insurance, house, neighborhood)

[lovinglife0907]

Hello.

My husband has just recently been offered a job in Toledo, Ohio. He's accepted the job and we will be moving there in the next six months. We've lived in Akron our entire lives, so we are familiar with the weather and how terrible it can be. Does anyone have any suggestions as to where to live in Toledo? We would like to live in a nice suburb, but also be within 15 to 20 minutes of the University of Toledo. Any suggestion as to where to look at buying our next home or where to avoid would be extremly helpful. Thanks.

[AnytimeAnywhere]

Ottawa Hills, Sylvania, Holland, Maumee, Temperance Mi, are going to be some of the best bets. West Toledo is an option too. Avoid Central Toledo even though it is close to UT.

[Buckeye in SC]

Perrysburg & Rossford has some nice developments as well...I'd stick to the suburbs if I were you, any of them will probably be fine.

[Hey_Hey]

Sylvania and Ottawa Hills are the closest suburbs to UT Main Campus. Maumee, Ottawa Hills, and Springfield are closest to UT Health Science Campus. The rest of the suburbs will probably be 20-30 minutes away (Perrysburg, Monclova, Oregon, Rossford, Bedford Twp in MI, Waterville, etc).

[KenH]

Really? My wife and I are moving to UT from Oklahoma. Thinking of living in Temperance. It looks pretty there and the schools are reputed to be good (Bedford HS, any thoughts, anyone??)

[canudigit]

Please don't let the negativity of the pp get to you. Toledo is what it is, but it does have many assets that people tend to take for granted. The Museum of Art is world class and offers wonderful art classes for all ages. The zoo is also wonderful for a small city like Toledo and offers many programs for kids. Many of the local school districts are highly regarded and rank high academically, Ottawa Hills being the crown jewel of the local districts (Ottawa Hills is a wealthy enclave within walking distance of the University of Toledo with its own police and school system. The cheapest homes there generally start in the mid-$200s and go up to the $millions in the estate section) but don't discount Sylvania, Perrysburg, or Anthony Wayne schools (a district that covers the area just west of Maumee-Monclova, Waterville, etc.) because they are all well-rated too.

We live in Bedford now and the quality of life here is great. We live on five acres with a pond and are close enough to everything but yet removed from it. The main benefit to living in Bedford for us has been the fact that property taxes in Michigan are considerably lower than in the Ohio suburbs. I have heard many good things about Bedford schools, but our kids have always been homeschooled or attended Christian schools, so I can't say first hand. We are about 20 minutes from the University here, so Bedford is comparable as far as proximity to things in Toledo with the other suburbs, even though we are in Michigan. The only down side to living here is that the roads are not maintained nearly as well as the roads in Ohio. Also, Michigan is a no fault state in terms of auto insurance, so rates tend to be higher here too. I think that overall it all balances out with the higher taxes in Ohio though.

We are in the process of trying to sell our home and move to Arizona for relief of our daughter's severe allergies. If it weren't for that, we would stay in this house for several more years. People are friendly, the cost of living is low, and our families are here.

Welcome to the Toledo area, and I hope you have a wonderful life here!!

[ksu sucks]

Akron's better.

*runs away*

Jk. If you're going to be taking classes or teaching at UT, you'll notice that it's exactly like UA(academically, athletically, and the type of student admitted). The only difference being the type of buildings(Akron's more modern while UT has that big gothic style architechture) and Akron's campus is a little bigger. Other than that, great school, and good luck with the move, I'm sure you'll like it. Toledo was my second choice school behind UA. Not to mention UA and UT have the best undergrad engineering programs in the state.

Good luck with the move!

[nickw252]

Look in the Old Orchard neighborhood adjacent to UT. It is a beautiful cohesive community with mature tree-lined streets and well-kept older homes. It's very clean and safe and doesn't have any McMansions or any other sprawl-like characteristics.

Old Orchard is adjacent to Ottawa Hills (another beautiful community) but more affordable.

[em4444]

Hello. We actually moved to Toledo recently. We came from florida, but prior to that we lived in Stow.

We bought in Sylvania Township maybe 10-15 minutes to UT via the expressway. We have a Toledo address but Sylvania schools which are great. Our neighborhood is pretty nice.

But...we do miss stow. There isn't as much to do here as in Akron, but we moved for family so it really wasn't an option for us.

Good Luck with your move!
em