Buying a house between Akron and Mentor (Cleveland, Youngstown: for sale, 2015)

[matt8506]

We currently are renting in Stow and I am originally from Youngstown, so pretty new to NEO. I work in Akron and she works in Mentor. We want to buy a house that is a bit more centrally located for the both of us. I keep being attracted to the Cleveland burbs but do not know a lot about the area. First and foremost, we need something SAFE. I want her to be able to walk the dog without fear of something happening. I'm not overly concerned about being in walking distance to bars/restaurants but it would be nice. We are both in our late 20's with no kids. Ideally we'd like to keep the purchase under 200K as I know the taxes in Cuyahoga County are a bit high. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

[OhioNative]

It might be a little closer to Mentor than Akron, but I would consider Solon. Safe and great schools, but not too far out from everything.

[Clevelandsrocks]

Originally Posted by matt8506

We currently are renting in Stow and I am originally from Youngstown, so pretty new to NEO. I work in Akron and she works in Mentor. We want to buy a house that is a bit more centrally located for the both of us. I keep being attracted to the Cleveland burbs but do not know a lot about the area. First and foremost, we need something SAFE. I want her to be able to walk the dog without fear of something happening. I'm not overly concerned about being in walking distance to bars/restaurants but it would be nice. We are both in our late 20's with no kids. Ideally we'd like to keep the purchase under 200K as I know the taxes in Cuyahoga County are a bit high. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

7304 Battery Park Blvd # A-7304, Cleveland, OH 44102 is For Sale | Zillow

This area IS safe and you wouldn't pay property taxes until 2023.

[WRnative]

Solon's main artery is Route 422 and not I-271.

Even though it's closer to Mentor than Akron, consider looking closely at Mayfield Hts. Check out the North Chagrin Reservation of the Cleveland Metroparks. It has good schools, and is convenient to I-271. It's about 40 minutes from Akron and 20 minutes from Mentor.

Mayfield Heights, Ohio - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Mayfield Village and perhaps even Beachwood might be possibilities in your price range. Orange Village would be ideal if you could find something in your price range in a walkable neighborhood.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orange,_Ohio

Buy the June issue of Cleveland Magazine to get the 2015 "Rating the Suburbs" issue or check it out in a local library. Here's a summary map.

Rating the Suburbs 2015 | Article Archives | Cleveland Magazine - Your guide to the best of Cleveland

Have you considered renting for a year in order to familiarize yourself with the east side?

Macedonia and Twinsburg would be a little further north than Stow, but Macedonia is more convenient to I-271.

You might have more options if a walkable neighborhood for the dog wasn't an issue.

If you are AAA members, get a "Northeast Ohio" map.

Good luck!

[matt8506]

Thanks all for the great information. I think I'll need to just get out and drive the neighborhoods recommended here and see what will work best for me.

[kpl1228]

Originally Posted by Clevelandsrocks

7304 Battery Park Blvd # A-7304, Cleveland, OH 44102 is For Sale | Zillow

This area IS safe and you wouldn't pay property taxes until 2023.

Can't imagine driving to either Mentor or Akron on a daily basis from that location and enjoying it. Crappy commute!
And it's NOT completely safe. It's still a good place to get a window smashed and a car stereo stolen, have drunks in your street fighting at 3 AM, and Detroit Shoreway (much as I love it) is a good place for petty crime to occur. A hip new ice cream parlor and theatre and some new tax-abatement townhomes (sitting on a century-old old battery factory and toxic dump-----bet your tomatoes glow!!!!) do NOT equal a squeaky-clean living environment, it is a community of mixed income levels and certainly mixed levels of civility and respect. For all of the improvements to that terrific neighborhood, too many now naively see it as completely different, and a safe hipster haven. Instead, for all of its charm and improvements and access, it is truly block to block, and in some cases, street to street. In short, it's changed, but it has not changed THAT much. I don't get how people see living in Detroit Shoreway as now unaffected by its history, or by some of the surrounding communities down the street on all sides (which are NOT hip and certainly unsafe in parts). It's not safe. It's SAFER.

Also, for links to the EPA brownfield Superfund cleanup site that was/is Battery Park, read here:
https://www.reddit.com/r/Cleveland/c...et_rid_of_the/
In short, not surprisingly, it ain't 100%. It's safe enough to meet EPA thresholds (does THAT ease your mind? Nahhhh....) Bet they don't talk about that during the townhouse sales pitch. Too many people (esp. out of town younger professional people) have NO idea of the toxic history of the place. Too many other options in and around the neighborhood than this option. Why risk it? No lame taxbreak is worth THAT.

Anyway, back on topic:
Detroit-Shoreway IS better than ten years ago (and probably the best bicycle neighborhood in town), but it's still a tough city neighborhood, hipsters notwithstanding. But 29 and no kids? Great neighborhood if you're right for it. But that commute? Yuck. No one in their late twenties needs a 45+ minute one way commute. In GOOD weather. Going to Mentor in January from there? No way.
Just from a geographical (and not a fun urban neighborhood) standpoint, I'm seconding the Solon idea. Or maybe Orange Village. Tough call though. One of you needs to relocate your job closer to the other one! To live halfway in between definitely loses the cool city neighborhood option. And it's still a long commute, especially depending on where in Akron and where in Mentor.
Life's too short to sit in your car a big part of your day.

[matt8506]

I certainly don't want to live on an old toxic dump. I appreciate the info! Unfortunately new jobs are out of the questions at this time. We both managed to get good jobs at Fortune 500's, so we don't want to mess that up. I am right off of 76 by the 8/76/77 interchange, so it looks for me that I will have a drive no matter what. Any opinion on Shaker?

[WRnative]

Originally Posted by matt8506

I certainly don't want to live on an old toxic dump. I appreciate the info! Unfortunately new jobs are out of the questions at this time. We both managed to get good jobs at Fortune 500's, so we don't want to mess that up. I am right off of 76 by the 8/76/77 interchange, so it looks for me that I will have a drive no matter what. Any opinion on Shaker?

Use the search engine to search for the many, many threads discussing Shaker Heights.

Here is one thread. See post 8.

//www.city-data.com/forum/cleve...questions.html

The problem with SH for you is that it likely would take at least 10 minutes on local roads with stoplights, depending upon your location in SH, to get to I-271.

As you work in southwestern Akron, Macedonia and eastern Twinsburg are looking more fair for balanced commutes including Mentor.

[Clevelandsrocks]

Originally Posted by kpl1228

Can't imagine driving to either Mentor or Akron on a daily basis from that location and enjoying it. Crappy commute!
And it's NOT completely safe. It's still a good place to get a window smashed and a car stereo stolen, have drunks in your street fighting at 3 AM, and Detroit Shoreway (much as I love it) is a good place for petty crime to occur. A hip new ice cream parlor and theatre and some new tax-abatement townhomes (sitting on a century-old old battery factory and toxic dump-----bet your tomatoes glow!!!!) do NOT equal a squeaky-clean living environment, it is a community of mixed income levels and certainly mixed levels of civility and respect. For all of the improvements to that terrific neighborhood, too many now naively see it as completely different, and a safe hipster haven. Instead, for all of its charm and improvements and access, it is truly block to block, and in some cases, street to street. In short, it's changed, but it has not changed THAT much. I don't get how people see living in Detroit Shoreway as now unaffected by its history, or by some of the surrounding communities down the street on all sides (which are NOT hip and certainly unsafe in parts). It's not safe. It's SAFER.

Also, for links to the EPA brownfield Superfund cleanup site that was/is Battery Park, read here:
https://www.reddit.com/r/Cleveland/c...et_rid_of_the/
In short, not surprisingly, it ain't 100%. It's safe enough to meet EPA thresholds (does THAT ease your mind? Nahhhh....) Bet they don't talk about that during the townhouse sales pitch. Too many people (esp. out of town younger professional people) have NO idea of the toxic history of the place. Too many other options in and around the neighborhood than this option. Why risk it? No lame taxbreak is worth THAT.

Anyway, back on topic:
Detroit-Shoreway IS better than ten years ago (and probably the best bicycle neighborhood in town), but it's still a tough city neighborhood, hipsters notwithstanding. But 29 and no kids? Great neighborhood if you're right for it. But that commute? Yuck. No one in their late twenties needs a 45+ minute one way commute. In GOOD weather. Going to Mentor in January from there? No way.
Just from a geographical (and not a fun urban neighborhood) standpoint, I'm seconding the Solon idea. Or maybe Orange Village. Tough call though. One of you needs to relocate your job closer to the other one! To live halfway in between definitely loses the cool city neighborhood option. And it's still a long commute, especially depending on where in Akron and where in Mentor.
Life's too short to sit in your car a big part of your day.

So much misinformation in this post that I don't even know where to begin. Borderline ignorant. What's it like still living 1992?

And a LAME tax break? LOL what kind of an idiot wouldn't want an extra 5k in their pocket (for 15yrs)?? LAME!

You sound like a little scared suburbanite. Or are you just jealous of the fact that the near westside and Downtown are growing faster than any chain-infested burb?

BOOM.

Cleveland's inner city is growing faster than its suburbs as young adults flock downtown


http://www.cleveland.com/business/in...y_is_gorn.html
Detroit Shoreway neighborhood hottest housing market in Greater Cleveland: See the Top 10 list


http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index...ghborhood.html

To the OP, if you care at all about future property values, you should give my suggestion a second look.

[Clevelandsrocks]

Oh, and Battery Park is a 3min walk to the beach....

Cleveland Metroparks to build new Edgewater Beach House with eatery, shop and elevated walkway | cleveland.com


The views in Solon are so much better than this LOL!!