Economic first home (Cincinnati, Green, Forest Park: real estate, foreclosures, rent)

[Westy101]

We will be moving to Cincinnati from NE this fall. We have a toddler and 3-day-old infant, so we are looking for a quiet neighborhood with a back yard. My husband will be working in downtown Cincinnati. We're looking for a suburb (perhaps off of I275?) with a good school district and a first home under $120,000.

The job transfer happened unexpectedly, so we are pretty desperate to quickly find something. Any info about possible areas for us would be much appreciated!

[unusualfire]

Try Green Hills for a start. Google sibcy cline if you can.

[SWOH]

^Agreed. Schools are bad, and the community looks rough, but for nice walkable natural spaces with city conveniences it is hard to beat!

I'd start by looking in Ft. Mitchell and surrounding areas in KY, and also try places on the west side within the Oak Hills and Three Rivers school districts. These districts will probably be categorized as Delhi.

I'd also try Anderson Twp. Milford and Deer Park.

[mimi in cinci]

A few additional suggestions due to price point; Reading, Fairfax, Deer Park and Silverton. Good luck!

[mlkmnsgrl]

We've just moved to Reading (3 kids ages 5, 4, and 2) and although we're renting, so I know nothing of the real estate prices, the schools are good (and small, which I like), the yards are big compared to Deer Park/Silverton, and it's a very convenient location to all the freeways as well as straight shot main-drags to downtown that would save you the freeway commute. We liked the idea of being inside 275 for the short commute, but being out enough that it doesn't feel urban at all. Plus, the house we rented was on the low side of our budget--hurray! Good luck on your search and many congratulations on your new baby!

[Sarah Perry]

The combo of inexpensive housing, good school district, and reasonable commute to downtown is a little bit tough--there are neighborhoods that meet your criteria other than they are in Cincinnati Public, which is not the best place to be unless you navigate getting into one of the magnet schools. Deer Park is probably one of the best suggestions on the thread so far. Monfort Heights is very close to the I-74/I-75 interchange and would get you downtown quickly. I'd probably be okay with its local elementary school (in the Northwest SD), although the high schools have gotten pretty rough. You might also look into something in the Oak Hills School District that's close to I-74--that could put you onto the interstate and downtown relatively quickly.

[SalamanderSmile]

Why not rent first to get a lay of the land? when you really need schools in a couple of years you may be able to afford a smidge more(raise, savings, etc?) and buy in Anderson Twp. which has the best schools + cheap housing combo. You can still buy in Anderson for $120 now but it will be on a busy road. If you can get closer to $175 you can get a 4br in Anderson or a 3BR cape by Kenwood Mall and the kids go to one of the best performing school districts (Indian Hill) in the state.

Cincinnati still has alot of repo'd foreclosures hitting the market and you can nab something under $100 if you are flexible.

[Zen_master]

Originally Posted by mimi in cinci

A few additional suggestions due to price point; Reading, Fairfax, Deer Park and Silverton. Good luck!

Took the words right out of my mouth. Several 20-something friends with families just starting out got their start in those neighborhoods. You may also be able to locate a smaller home in Blue Ash and buy into the much coveted Sycamore School District. A smaller home in Kenwood may be another option.

[goyguy]

All of the recommendations so far are ones I would've made had I not been beaten to the punch.
To them I'll add Forest Park as well as Springdale. Their main "negatives" at face value are the style and age of most of the homes. In the case of Springdale, the "old" section consists mainly of small old (pre-WWII) dwellings with "notta lotta" room. Its newer area is adjacent to not only 275 but also lies smack-dab against the Tri-County mall sprawl, which guarantees near-perpetual traffic tie-ups not to mention never-endng traffic noise from the expressway. Forest Park, OTOH, started out as a "planned community" soon after WWII. The streets in every enclave start with the same letter of the alphabet, the higher the letter the more recent the home construction. (When somebody from Forest Park says they live in the "C section," they in fact do. And you thought "C section" meant a form of childbirth. How silly of you. ) No matter which section you're in, though, you know instantly that a given house was built during the early '60s or late '70s. In each city, however, this is far from necessarily a bad thing. Split-levels such as what you'll find aplenty in that same C section are in fact quite roomy, as are the ubiquitous "Ryan Homes" Colonials which went up by the tens of thousands at the turn of the '70s.

What prevents more people from mentioning those two places (which lie adjacent to each other, with Springdale to the east)? It just may have to do with the substantial African-American population in each (~40% in Springdale, ~75% in Forest Park.) Part of the planning for FP called for it to be an "intentionally 'integrated'" city. The people plotting it were progressive-minded folks who were all about leveling the playing field in racial terms, though the absence of low-income or upscale housing betrays that they weren't out to address class divisions. What this did down the line is abet "steering," the practice of realtors that entails showing potential homeowners of a certain skin tone places ONLY in specific areas. ["I realize you and your husband meet the necessary income criteria to easily afford the mortgage of that house in Greenhills. But I don't think you'd be comfortable there. Let's continue to focus on Forest Park." ] Springdale, however, has evolved from "lily White" into the "mixed" community that it is today.

The school systems serving Forest Park and Springdale are also not in the stratosphere of the top tier of those subjective data sets which people treat as the Holy Grail when they have kids and are looking for the best place for them to be educated. Springdale, however, decisively holds the upper hand as it's part of the 5-town Princeton district. The Princeton schools do what they do quite well - educate a diverse population with plenty of chances to get into the very best colleges thanks to plenty of AP classes. Many rating systems place them in the top 20. Of my personal acquaintance are the 3 sons of a fellow P & G'er of my dad's, both parents Italian-American, who grew up in Glendale. After graduating from Princeton High School, the eldest and youngest guys attended MIT and the middle kid went on to RPI.
My mom did something which was socially acceptable, if not even expected, at the time - when I was growing up - having a Black woman take care of ironing and housekeeping for her once a week. That woman and her husband, a foundry worker, were able to push all four of their children way way up the economic ladder thanks to the Princeton schools. (These folks lived in Lincoln Heights.) Their three sons all obtained sports scholarships and went on to earn Bachelors degrees from HBCU's. But the crowning success story is that of their daughter, who graduated third in her class of some 1,800 people and earned a heavily-subsidized career at Smith College followed by her MD back home at UC. (Upon hearing that this woman was now a doctor, my dad remarked, "From maid to physician in a single generation. That's what I love about this country, the chance for that to happen.") Princeton schools are exactly like those of large cities. Know how to work the system, have a motivated child, and the sky's the limit. But "bad influences" are all too easily found. And that causes many a household in Glendale (in particular) to send their offspring to private and parochial schools rather than "risk Princeton."

Meanwhile, Forest Park started out with its own, "solidly average and sometimes better" school system. Due to social engineering, real estate "steering," and other factors, the city grew more and more heavily Black while at the same time - no accident - neighboring (to the south) Greenhills remained nearly entirely Caucasian in its makeup. Based on this it was decided by who-knows-who at the state level to engineer diversity by combining the independent school districts of each community, forming the Winton Woods school system. Now the quality of education has slipped to "solidly average but rarely better and sometimes worse." And the children of Greenhills are kept out of Winton Woods High (formerly Forest Park High) in droves - the school is 1/6 White, and holding, at most. With such a decided AA majority there's oddly very little tension, but (as much as I hate to say it) all too many non-Black parents avow, "Winton Woods for my kid? NO WAY!"

With low crime, un-fashionable but well-built houses, and high diversity, Springdale & Forest Park deserve the close look they're all too often denied.

[cincydave8]

Fort Thomas