Western suburbs relocation? (Cleveland, Lakewood, Strongsville: sales, crimes, new home)

[EggMaker]

BKShoreman, I'm interested in what you say about Rocky River having a "closed culture." Can you please tell me more?

Also - I've read a lot in older threads, but I am interested in current assessments of Lakewood. Please just give it to me straight! My impression (again, based solely on internet research) is that it is a cool older/historic town/city that has undergone a lot of demographic change over the past 10-15 years, and now is perhaps a little block-by-block in terms of desirability. Valid? Invalid? I know the schools are a bit uneven. Perhaps it would work for us, but if not - we are Catholic, and my kids are Catholic school veterans. I like some of the housing stock a lot, the housing prices are attractive, and it sounds as if there are great local amenities like YMCA, library, etc.

Again - I really appreciate your advice here!

[Jen35]

Originally Posted by citymama

yes, this is generally true. Even 500,000 may sit for a bit (a couple of months rather than a few weeks)

Just about to list my house in Rocky River (next week). According to our realtor, anything under 600k will have 20+ showings in the first week. They generally sell immediately, unless there's fundamentally something wrong with it...busy street, strange floorplan, etc.

We ran into the same issue when we looked in Rocky River. We have 3 kids as well. We bought the only house that was over 3000 sq ft and under 1MM north of Lake (Beachcliff 1). Was crazy market then (almost 2 years ago) and appears to have even less inventory now. When we did our real estate market summaries with multiple agents (requirement of relocation company), we were told nothing is for sale between 600k-1.4MM in Beachcliff 1 or 2. Crazy low inventory for some reason.

Our realtor says over 600k or so, can take a few months to sell just because there is a smaller pool of buyers that can afford.

If you have any more Rocky River questions I can help as well. Go Math is what they use here. Not sure if you got your answer.

-Jen

[EggMaker]

Jen - thanks for the info! Sounds as if we could make a real estate deal if the timing were a bit different. Thanks for affirming what I've noticed over the past few months. Maybe things will loosen up a bit as spring approaches.

I also appreciate the math curriculum info - thanks for weighing in.

[BKShoreman]

Eggmaker, sorry for late reply. I have just returned from vacationing down South. RR is a fine place but there is somewhat of a closed culture there. In other words, the locals are often not that welcoming of the move-ins from out of town. Sort of a small town snootiness that is fed by the homogeneous makeup of the residents. In extreme circumstances if you were not born there, had not grown up there, or your spouse was not not from there, you will always be an outsider. There are other good westside communities which have a more diverse makeup and will be more welcoming.

My opinion based on living in the area for 35 years and working with a number of RR residents. I'm sure you will get an alternative opinion especially from some of the real estate agents that check in on this site,

[citymama]

Originally Posted by BKShoreman

Eggmaker, sorry for late reply. I have just returned from vacationing down South. RR is a fine place but there is somewhat of a closed culture there. In other words, the locals are often not that welcoming of the move-ins from out of town. Sort of a small town snootiness that is fed by the homogeneous makeup of the residents. In extreme circumstances if you were not born there, had not grown up there, or your spouse was not not from there, you will always be an outsider. There are other good westside communities which have a more diverse makeup and will be more welcoming.

My opinion based on living in the area for 35 years and working with a number of RR residents. I'm sure you will get an alternative opinion especially from some of the real estate agents that check in on this site,

I can agree with this to some extent. There are more transplants moving in all the time, which is greatly refreshing.

The property values are skyrocketing here (up +10% from last year) so for us, the move was a smart one. We bought the smallest, cheapest house in the best location we could afford. So far, my kids have found others to connect with. Everyone is friendly, but there is a constant sense of "networking" mentality which is a bit bizarre and can seem disingenuous, but overall there seems to be something for everyone here in Rocky River.

[EggMaker]

BKShoreman, I hope you enjoyed your Southern vacation!

Thanks to you and citymama for weighing in. What you describe sounds a lot like my own current town, which also has changed over the past 10 or so years to be more welcoming.

The joke here is that when you move in, people will say you live in "So-and-So's house," meaning the past owner; and then when you move out and new people move in, people will say the new people live in "Your House."

I know exactly what you mean about the friendly/networking vibe. Again, we've got it here. I'm pretty immune to it by this point (more than 10 years in), but it drives my husband crazy. He feels that many people aren't "real," for lack of a better word. My experience is that nearly everyone in my town is nice and well-meaning when you get to know them.

I think at this point it's going to come down to finding the right house in the right neighborhood. From what I've seen, RR looks terrific, but I'm not sure the supply of houses is there for us. Which in turn drives up prices.

[OHdanIO]

Originally Posted by EggMaker

BKShoreman, I hope you enjoyed your Southern vacation!

Thanks to you and citymama for weighing in. What you describe sounds a lot like my own current town, which also has changed over the past 10 or so years to be more welcoming.

The joke here is that when you move in, people will say you live in "So-and-So's house," meaning the past owner; and then when you move out and new people move in, people will say the new people live in "Your House."

I know exactly what you mean about the friendly/networking vibe. Again, we've got it here. I'm pretty immune to it by this point (more than 10 years in), but it drives my husband crazy. He feels that many people aren't "real," for lack of a better word. My experience is that nearly everyone in my town is nice and well-meaning when you get to know them.

I think at this point it's going to come down to finding the right house in the right neighborhood. From what I've seen, RR looks terrific, but I'm not sure the supply of houses is there for us. Which in turn drives up prices.

Right now there are 44 homes active on the market in RR. Not sure what your price range is, so here's a little breakdown:

$100-$150k- 3 Homes

$151-$200k- 9 Homes

$201k-$250k- 3 Homes

$251k-$300k- 11 Homes

$300k-$350k- 3 Homes

$351k-$400k- 4 Homes

$401k-$450k- 2 Homes

$451k-$500k- 0 Homes

$501k-$550k- 1 Home

$551k-$600k- 0 Home

$601k- $999k- 3 Homes

1 million + - 4 Homes

The "Average Days on Market" for Rocky River within the last 6 months is 70 days. But like someone else mentioned- if the home is priced right and in good condition, you're lucky if it lasts 2 weeks on the market. Hope this helps!

[EggMaker]

Thanks, OHdanIO!

The main issue we have with RR right now is that most of the houses are too small for our large family. Note the relative paucity of homes between $400-$600K. That's where we'd want to be, I think. We are flexible on price -- but we prefer to be mortgage-free, and also are leery of buying into a market with such tight supply (at the size of house we need) because that can easily lead to overpaying.

[OHdanIO]

My pleasure! I wouldn't say it necessarily leads to overpaying. If you're buying cash, you could have your agent put together a Comparable Market Analysis for that particular area or you could even hire an appraiser to come out and appraise the property. You are right though, definitely scarcity in the $400-$600 price range!

[citymama]

Originally Posted by EggMaker

Thanks, OHdanIO!

The main issue we have with RR right now is that most of the houses are too small for our large family. Note the relative paucity of homes between $400-$600K. That's where we'd want to be, I think. We are flexible on price -- but we prefer to be mortgage-free, and also are leery of buying into a market with such tight supply (at the size of house we need) because that can easily lead to overpaying.

Get a realtor, ASAP and you most likely will make a deal before it hits the market if you have some flexibility on when you can purchase.