Neighborhood recs to buy - Single early 30s male

[Briolat21]

KID -- I don't disagree that Mariemont meets many of the OPs requirements (as do many other neighborhoods, I'm sure).. just that urbanity thing.

If your definition is sidewalks and a walkable "downtown" collection of businesses, then Lebanon is urban hands down.

And I'm pretty sure no one in their right mind would call Lebanon "urban".

Again - many of the original suburbs, as well as any small towns that existed independently before being sucked into Cinci's orbit will have a small business district, usually walkable.

Funny about your comment of Hyde Park. I don't consider Hyde Park particularly urban. In fact one of my issues with everyone's like of Hyde Park, is that Hyde Park is essentially a yuppy-suburb, that happens to exist within the city proper with a close commute to downtown.

Also the OP talked about "relative economic diversity". That would probably not be particularly well served by either Mariemont, or Hyde Park.

[thatswanlady]

I think it's admirable that you're trying to plan for 10 years ahead -- so many people now just live for the moment and let the future work itself out. Which also has some redeeming qualities, but can cause a lot of problems, too. Though life does take you places you can't even imagine in the present.

That was a lot more philosophical than intended for a location help request. Whoops.

Anyway! Also coming from the South, and moving here a little over a year ago after my husband's relo, I agree with your ideas of the suburbs -- coming here was surprising because suburbs here generally look a lot different. Houses are different in general. We're renting in Anderson, and we really like it, though it's definitely not urban.

We're early 30s, no kids, but we do have a dog -- so a fenced yard was extremely important to us and it was much harder to find than I anticipated since I grew up in a place where everyone has fences, and usually tall privacy ones. We picked Anderson because it is safe, it's halfway between my job and my husband's, and we were able to find a great house to rent in a quiet neighborhood. My husband travels a lot for work, so safety was paramount for me. We're also used to homes with two car garages, which this house has but a lot of others didn't.

I like Anderson -- or more specifically, where I'm living in Anderson. I have a bar in relatively quick walking distance (half a mile, which isn't terrible), there's an enormous and nice Kroger, and it's pretty easy access to almost anywhere you want to go on the east side. People give Anderson a bad rap because of all the chains, but there are some good local places too, if you just look closely. I can get to Mt Lookout Square in 10 minutes and Hyde Park shortly after that. Your price range will get you a pretty nice house in Anderson that more than meets your criteria.

If Anderson is too suburban for your present life, I think Mt Lookout or Oakley might be a good place to start. I don't know much about neighborhoods/streets in either place aside from the squares, but I like this house in Oakley...

3867 Isabella Ave, Oakley, OH 45209 Listing Details: Sibcy Cline Realtors® Cincinnati Real Estate

Best of luck to you!