Celestial Circle in Liberty Township (Hamilton, Middletown: for sale, apartments, leasing)

[Ummtimo]

Hello All,

I am looking for rental homes (may consider buying) in the Mason, Loveland and Lakota school districts. I have come across several homes for sale or for rent in Celestial Circle in Liberty Township. I like a few of them but I am hesitant to rent or buy because there are so many homes listed as well as many that sold earlier this year. Is there a reason for this? Is there something in that area that I should be aware of? They are close to the highway, could that be the reason? Also I know it has been asked a million times but is Mason equal to Lakota or is one better than the other? I have a preschooler and a Kindergartner. Thanks so much for your advice.

[kjbrill]

Maybe someone who lives in the immediate neighborhood can comment. Considering the location I am not aware of anything going on to cause a mass exodus.

Comparing Lakota and Mason schools, they both have excellent 30-year records.

Lakota covers a much larger geographical area and therefore the schools are spread out. With the two high schools, east and west, and two or more of everything else it functions more like two school districts in one. It would not surprise me if it actually splits into two separate districts as the population of Liberty Township continues to grow. The only problem Lakota has had is the turning down of a tax levy about two years ago. The Administration used this as the reason to cut busing back to the state minimum. I know some people for whom this created quite a hardship trying to get the kids to school, and I know a couple of families who moved for just this reason.

Mason covers a much smaller geographical area and elected to concentrate their schools in a central location, claiming they would achieve economies of shared resources. Only Western Row Elementary and the Early Childhood Center on the north side of Route 42 are not in the central complex along Mason Montgomery Rd. This does result in large schools, but also permits other factors to be practical. The fieldhouse for basketball and other indoor sports, and the musical theatre auditorium are still being used, although now physically part of the Middle School, originally the HS. Same goes for the adjacent football stadium, baseball fields, etc. The new HS is a stones throw up the street and shares athletic facilities, new aquatic center, physical training facilities, gym and practice basketball courts, etc. with the adjacent Municipal Community Center, a rather unique arrangement. Mason took a look at what happened to Lakota and wisely decided to not place another levy on the ballot as they could see it would go down in flames. They tightened their belts, but maintained full bus service. This past year they decided the student population had peaked and to close the oldest elementary school in the system, Mason Heights, leasing it to another organization. Just saw a press release this past week that the salaries of all employees of the Mason district have their salaries frozen this year for the 2nd consecutive year. I am sure the employees do not appreciate this, but the administration is trying to not alienate the parents the way Lakota did.

Both are great schools, but at this point I have to give the nod to Mason for managing their resources and keeping the parents happy.

[SWOH]

Sure! There are a few basic reasons.

To begin with, that street runs right by I-75 and the houses directly border a rest stop. Because of this, the developers chose to develop all of the units bordering the rest stop into duplex rentals instead of single family houses as are present in the rest of the development.

The school district is good, and the development in which the duplexes are located is nice. The issue is that those living near rest stops are more likely to be victims of crime, noise pollution is higher, and resale value is a lot lower. So if you are renting for a few months to get a feel for the area, a unit there should be fine! Not a great long-term living solution though.

[Ummtimo]

Thank you both so much for the information! I think I'll pass on the rental because they wanted a two year lease as well as the rest stop issue. I'm just not willing to risk it with 3 small children.

[SWOH]

That's a good idea. If I were you I'd look a little further north within Monroe city limits. Lots of good stuff there and a great school district. Here's a lot better rental nearby:

35 Bedrock Rd, Monroe, OH 45050 - Zillow

If I were you, I'd keep an eye out for a rental along Stillpass Way, Old Orchard Ave, Tam-O-Shanter Way, etc. Great neighborhood there. It's older and more established, but the houses are good quality and lots of young kids because it is one of the more affordable, yet nice neighborhoods within Lakota Schools.


Good luck!

[Ummtimo]

Thanks for the info! On greatschools.org it shows that Monroe Schools have poor ratings, is this incorrect? Its gives them a rating of 7 for Monroe Elementary. Am I putting too much faith in the greatschools.org rating?

[SWOH]

greatschools.org is not a good source of information. Any yahoo can post on there.

Heck, I even know some kids in my class who posted reviews of my school on there back when I was in middle school. Just to give you an idea....


A far better info source is the Ohio District Report Cards. Here is Monroe's report:

Pages - District-Report


Monroe scored a 102.6 on the index, while Lakota scored a 105.1. So a little bit of difference there, but overall I'd go with Monroe schools if I lived in the area. Better facilities, smaller classes, and an overall better environment. Lakota is financially strained right now, and is fighting some blight issues in certain sections closer to I-275 with low-income apartments, trailer courts, etc. Monroe for the most part does not have these issues, although its housing stock is not as expensive overall as what you will find in Lakota.

To be completely honest, the best students and highest achievers I knew never came from the nicest houses anyways. They all came from more modest upbringings, the older subdivisions when I was a student at Lakota way back in the day. But that's probably too much of a generalization...


Regardless, I'd go Monroe.

[kjbrill]

OHKID...

OK, we will have some disagreement here. Monroe, Trenton, and the other areas north towards Middletown cannot hold a candle to West Chester or Liberty Townships. They are much older and have rundown areas of population. Certainly there are pockets of newer subdivisions, if you can call them that. Most of them are of such cheap construction I wouldn't want to be caught dead there. So we may just argue the point here and now.

[SWOH]

Sure. Understandable why you would have this perspective - it would have been perfectly valid in 2003. Heck, in 2003, Monroe fell under Middletown City Schools! Now though times have changed for the better in Monroe.


Monroe is SW Ohio's fastest-growing city. So it's probably the newest overall of the bunch. Being the newest, it would also be inherently hard to be more "rundown". Monroe historically has been a sleaze-hole, yes, but it's a fair amount better now (or the sleaze is wealthier now... I'm not sure which. Either way, Monroe visually doesn't look too bad).

As far as construction goes, I'd agree. New-age suburbia is not my flavor either, and honestly Monroe is just as chock-filled with Ryan, Inverness, and Fischer home developments as Liberty Twp, Mason, etc. If I personally was moving to Butler County, I'd be looking for an awesome home with character in West Hamilton and the kids would go to Badin. But maybe that's just me.

However, the OP is clearly going for new-age suburban, as do many people. I estimated the OP's budget based on listing prices on Celestial Circle, and saw they would get the most value within reasonable proximity if they looked in Monroe. And honestly the services the City of Monroe offers, paired with the more community feel of Monroe, made me feel that Monroe would be a smarter pick. It also has the best highway access out of anywhere to let them further explore the area and figure out where they want to end up.


But that's just my opinion.... I always appreciate pushback though! Keeps my ideals in check haha