Coming Back to Ohio (Cleveland, Cincinnati: middle-class, section 8, apartment complexes)

[Mbennie]

I left Cincinnati in 1982 and I did not look back........... I always tried to come home twice a year when I could to visit family. I worked for the military for years now I am thinking of coming back home both my parents are getting older. My children both are grown and doing very well for themselves. My parents live in old Silverton area the NICE area! I wish to live in a nice CLEAN quite area no more than a 45 min car ride away from them. I need a area with good public transportation due to the fact when it snows I refuse to drive there. Moving from Northern VA this fall. I have been looking at Blue Ash, West Chester, It will only be myself prefer to rent a nice 2bedroom condo , townhouse or apt here in VA I pay a morgage for condo of 1400.00 amonth for 2 bedroom I plan to buy a year later once I am sure where to live please help!! .............Thanks

[Wilson513]

Your instincts about blue Ash are 100% correct. Forget about West Chester. You can't get anywhere from there on public transportation. Look along Plainfield Road, just north and just south of the Ronald Regan Hwy (126). Nice area, well within your budget. The number 4 bus will take you right down to your parents place.

[Mbennie]

Thank you for the info will check it out

[Mbennie]

Plainfield Road what area is this called Blue Ash ? I have traveled the Ronald Regan Hwy in the past is it a Mall off that Hwy?

[cincylifer]

I grew up in Silverton as well, and my parents still live there on one of the nicest streets in the neighborhood, heck I may know you, since I lived there in the eighties as well. Blue Ash would be a good fit, although you can also look in Kenwood, there are some condos right on and off Montgomery Rd that would get you to silverton in 5 minutes.

[Mbennie]

Thank you for the info!

[Wilson513]

Yea, just go on Google Maps Street View and start looking north and south from 126 on Plainfield and you will see a lot of nice apartments along there which will all be in your price range. I also agree with the Kenwood suggestion.

[Sunnydee]

I'd agree with the above posters. Blue Ash, Montgomery, and Kenwood would be my picks. They're close to Silverton, safe, clean, and convenient to major highways, shopping, restaurants, parks, etc. Plus there's a lot to do with the Taste of Blue Ash, Fourth of July celebrations, concerts, etc. I've lived in quite a few Cincinnati neighborhoods and it's hard to beat these neighborhoods.

[goyguy]

You should have NO problem finding an excellent place to live with a mortgage of <$1400. Moving to Cincy from the East Coast will give you sticker shock in a good way, just watch out for the tax rate when you're looking.
There's been a total bias toward suburbia so far in this thread, so as one of the city kids in the group I'd like to recommend the Cincinnati communities of Pleasant Ridge, Oakley, Hyde Park, and Mt Lookout as well as East Walnut Hills and O'Bryonville. Kennedy Hts, right next to Silverton, could be workable as well. But I hear some negative reports about a crime increase in what for a long time had been a part of town where you never heard about anything happening.
All of which is to say, not much has changed over the last 27 years and longer in the east-side neighborhoods mentioned. The most major transitions have been in Oakley - which is going crazy trendy all along Madison Rd as people priced out of Hyde Park have been "discovering" it and bringing their tastes along - and in Pleasant Ridge, which is drawing folks who want a comparable house to one in Hyde Park or Mt Lookout but at a lower price at the same time as middle-class AA families are bringing diversity to its western sectors to the alarm of a few but not many. Now that that run-on sentence is out of the way...
If, unlike me, you don't go on wide-ranging tours of the area when on return visits, you should know that one part of Cincinnati which is worse for wear is the one surrounding Reading Rd from Seymour Ave into Reading itself. Although there are still quite a few side streets in Roselawn, especially south of Section Rd, which came through the demographic transition pretty well and remain appealing to live on the neighborhood overall has suffered from the changes. Outside of two "ethnic" (South Indian, and Vietnamese) restaurants which have a large fan base and are doing well, the dining-out options around there are now limited to fast food. So many businesses have left that it was cause for hoopla when a new retailer opened at Reading and Summit - an auto-parts store. The principal drag on Roselawn, as well as Golf Manor, is the apartment complexes around Seymour and Summit that went up in the '50s and '60s to complement the dozens of brick-box 4-unit buildings from earlier eras. Swifton Village, fondly and much remembered in other threads, bit the dust a few years back but not until long after it'd skidded into "slum" status. A resident of Glenmeadow was murdered under sketchy circumstances during the spring. During the past year alone the "Sparkle Apartments" just north of Summit Rd have sparkled with blood after two drug-related homicides. For every brick box that's stayed relatively well-kept and safe there's another begging for tenants - "Section 8 OK! Free DVD player!"
Reading isn't so much plagued by crime and the fear of same as it's just looking rundown and tired. The apartment buildings there aren't getting any younger or more fashionable either. The Lakeshore complex, renowned for being targeted by three tornadoes, is at present less of a place to wait for a vacancy than one to move into when you're at the end of your rope.
Since the plan is to get settled for a year before buying, why not also look into a rental on/near Plainfield right in Silverton or Deer Park?

[aquila]

Originally Posted by Mbennie

I left Cincinnati in 1982 and I did not look back........... I always tried to come home twice a year when I could to visit family. I worked for the military for years now I am thinking of coming back home both my parents are getting older. My children both are grown and doing very well for themselves. My parents live in old Silverton area the NICE area! I wish to live in a nice CLEAN quite area no more than a 45 min car ride away from them. I need a area with good public transportation due to the fact when it snows I refuse to drive there. Moving from Northern VA this fall. I have been looking at Blue Ash, West Chester, It will only be myself prefer to rent a nice 2bedroom condo , townhouse or apt here in VA I pay a morgage for condo of 1400.00 amonth for 2 bedroom I plan to buy a year later once I am sure where to live please help!! .............Thanks

How often are you going to be visiting your parents....every day? Once/twice a week? I'm just asking because I really don't think you should concern yourself with being on a public transit line (the only one in the Cincinnati area is a bus system anyhow) simple for the sake of avoiding a car trip in the snow. If this was Cleveland, I'd maybe understand. But for as relatively seldom as it snows signficantly in Cincinnati to impact the roads, is it really justified to allow that to be the determining factor in where you will live?

Unless you're wanting to rely on the bus for all your transportation needs (which I doubt, since you indicated you are willing to drive 45 minutes to see your parents), then don't allow that to disqualify an otherwise wonderful community you might really like.

I think West Chester would be a really great option for you. I truly do. And finding a condo out here for less than $1400 a month would be a cinch.