Potential Relocation to Cincinnati - Neighborhood between Cincy/Dayton (Findlay: home, restaurants)

[Scott SW Ohio]

Alohamonkey, good luck with your search. If Mason and Loveland are your finalists you can't go wrong. Each is charming in its own way. Don't forget us up in Lebanon, at least for the occasional visit once you are settled. You might want to ride the train, or come to BluesFest in August or the Carriage Parade the first weekend in December. You can pick up a walking tour brochure at the Warren County Museum on South Broadway which will give you a little information on our historic districts (there are four) and some of the prominent houses in town.

[alohamonkey]

Originally Posted by Scott SW Ohio

Alohamonkey, good luck with your search. If Mason and Loveland are your finalists you can't go wrong. Each is charming in its own way. Don't forget us up in Lebanon, at least for the occasional visit once you are settled. You might want to ride the train, or come to BluesFest in August or the Carriage Parade the first weekend in December. You can pick up a walking tour brochure at the Warren County Museum on South Broadway which will give you a little information on our historic districts (there are four) and some of the prominent houses in town.

Thanks! Lebanon is still in the mix too! We just need to get to Ohio and do some driving around.

[kjbrill]

Alohamonkey ...

The area I was pointing out earlier has entrance/exits off both Mason Montgomery and Western Row Rds. While not new I always found it attractive in terms of housing plan mix. It now has more mature trees and feels like a wooded environment. I find it attractive due to the fact the houses are not huge and overwhelming. To me the additional fact is the Mason Schools are concentrated off Mason Montgomery Rd to the north of Tylersville. There are also two municipal parks, athletic fields, and the Mason Community Center all off of Mason Montgomery Rd. I also mentioned Tylersville Rd has a very nice jogging/bike trail which leads to Reading Rd and the area of old downtown Mason on Reading Rd you mentioned. Mason Montgomery Rd also has a jogging/bike trail along it. So you can do a loop near the old downtown quite easily. If it is happening in Mason this is where it is. I would have no fear of taking the Tylersville jogging/bike path anywhere in the area. It is quite wide and can handle a volume of traffic.

Another area to consider are the streets north of Tylersville east of the schools and park complex. They are maybe 12-15 years old, so not antiques and offer Tylersville Rd as an access point. In my opinion you want to stay east of Reading Rd (Route 42) to have the greatest flexibility to drive or walk/bike. Only those not really familiar with Mason would consider any of the jogging/bike paths a problem, particularly from a safety position.

Not saying these properties are the best in Mason. But they are very attractive and give you close access to all of the schools, municipal parks, and everything else going on.

I personally live to the NE in one of the early subdivisions built to expand Mason at the time Kings Island and the Golf Center were built - early 1970s. So I have lived in my house for 39 years. A 5-bedroom, typical development construction, on a 1-acre lot. Our 4 kids were spread across more than 13 years, the youngest born in this house, which has been very good to us.

But see I was raised in an environment to respect your surroundings. I was raised in Madeira, went 12 years to school there (tremendous), and lived there for 13 years after marriage.Our two oldest kids went to school there and were sorely disappointed when I announced we were moving to the podunk district of Mason.

But let me interject, Madeira was a great place to grow up. But after a time, what is the great attraction? They have no ocomomic engine which drives it.

I have 5-bedroom house, actually 2 less after I installed an elevator taking up a good percentage of the 5-bedroom floor space.

[alohamonkey]

Great info on Mason kjbrill. I had no idea there were biking/jogging paths all along Tylersville and Mason Montgomery. Also, the more I look at it online, the more I realize it has grown exponentially in the 10 years I've been gone. I'm sure some view that as a good thing and some as a bad thing. For us, it's nice because a lot of modern conveniences seem to be in the area now. I was skeptical about Mason at first but it actually seems to check a lot of our boxes - commuting distance to Dayton/OTR, safe, good schools, affordable housing, walkable/bikeable, a little bit of a downtown, etc. Seems to be an almost ideal location for young families. The only downfall I see right now is that the type of housing we generally lean towards (older, lots of woodwork and character) don't seem to be so prevalent. I'll check out the areas you mentioned.

[alohamonkey]

A couple more Mason questions if you don't mind:

1) How much is membership at the Rec Center?
2) Is Kings Island golf course open to the public?
3) How long is the commute from say downtown Mason to OTR/Findlay Market and back during rush hour?
4) Is the fishing any good at Pine Hill Lakes Park?

[kjbrill]

Originally Posted by alohamonkey

A couple more Mason questions if you don't mind:

1) How much is membership at the Rec Center?
2) Is Kings Island golf course open to the public?
3) How long is the commute from say downtown Mason to OTR/Findlay Market and back during rush hour?
4) Is the fishing any good at Pine Hill Lakes Park?

1) Don't frankly know what the family menbership rates at the Rec Center are. But that is one of the reasons we love it here, the senior discounts are substantial.

2) The Golf Center is now owned by the City, It has always been a public play course from its conception. I live just to the west of the course. Quite frankly at one time it was an expensive place to play, then current owners milking it for all it was worth for business people entertaining clients. Then the government changed the tax rules. corporate writeoffs for a business outing became a NO. The then current owners of the Golf;Center realized the entire property was zoned as high density residential, apartments, condos, etc. So they began to sell off the property. The City of Mason became excited as to the effect this volume of high density housing would have on the schools and purchased the entire property which was left, Of the original 27 holes. there is still an 18-hole course. There are also 4 holes of the original 18 which are out there somewhere in limbo. They call it the Academy Course, and you can pay one fee to play those 4 holes much as you want They were part of the original 18 holes and I played them many a time. For the cost of upkeep, I am not sure how long the City of Mason can keep up with this.

At the same time, the expansion 9 holes added to the original 18 were developed as a PUD. In case you don't know that causes complications. A PUD involves not only the homes but the surroundings. My brother happens to own a home, a very nice one, in the 9 hole expansion of the original golf course. The owners then applied for a PUD grant. What does that mean? Very simply, you are granted a variance as to lot size, etc. for the size of house built. In other words you can put a large house on a small lot The obvious difference is the surrounding golf course, thus the granting of the green-space variance. Simpky stated they have a problem.

[alohamonkey]

Well, after a few weeks of being back in the area (and countless hours testing different commutes), we have decided to lay down roots in Glendale, OH. Just got an accepted offer on a nice house in the historic district. Getting through the inspection may be a challenge since the property is 100+ years old but we feel really good about the decision. Thank you all for the information you provided. In case anyone is interested, the trickiest part of our move ended up being my wife's commute down to OTR, not my commute to Dayton. Traffic in and out of Cincinnati on 71 and 75 is very unpredictable which caused us to abandon Loveland and Mason and move our search back inside 275. My drive to Dayton seems to be fairly consistent and against traffic for the most part. Here are the reasons why we decided on Glendale:

- Good location for commuting (about 30 minutes into Cincy, about 45 minutes to an hour to Dayton)
- Nice, safe neighborhood
- Historic homes with character
- Houses usually have more than 1.5 BA unlike lots of other areas closer to city in our price range (Oakley, Hyde park, etc.)
- Larger lots than other areas
- Walking distance to a few restaurants and parks

Thanks again for all your help.

[UKWildcat1981]

Mason is a great town to raise a family. My sister lives in Mason and its one if the most educated and well planned out cities in all of Ohio. Warren County is also one of the richest counties in the state of Ohio but the cost of living is still pretty reasonable compared to the rest of the country. Good Luck with your search

[SWOH]

alohamonkey, welcome to the area and I honestly think you made the best possible decision!
Very glad you decided against Loveland, the commutes would not have been fun, the housing stock did not meet your criteria, and the vibe was wrong.

Glendale checks off all the boxes well and is a wonderful community. It has a big advantage with the commutes to both Cincy and Dayton, a very nice town area, and is highly walkable. I can't imagine a much better neighborhood place to go for dinner+drinks (and dessert) then the Grand Finale. The only downside is the school district, and even then it is manageable. There are a lot of options within Princeton Schools for the best students.

Good luck and welcome to "Daytonnati"!

[alohamonkey]

We were reluctant to give up on Loveland because we really think it's a cool, little town that is on upswing. However, I realized that my commute from Loveland would take about the same amount of time as it would from points much further south. My wife's commute was much much longer going north on 71 to Loveland though. It took her an hour to get there one afternoon as opposed to 30ish minutes to Glendale.

We're pleased with this decision. The historic part of Glendale is gorgeous and at least a few places are walking distance - Grand Finale, Friendly Stop, **** and Bull.

Speaking of commutes, does anyone have any routes from Glendale down to OTR (Findlay Market area) that would help my wife avoid 75?