Thinking about moving to South Point Ohio (Green, Portsmouth: low crime, house)

[dalostman]

Hello,
My wife and I are thinking about moving to South Point Oh or the area around it and I was wondering what people have to say about it. We are both soon to be EMT-B's and will be looking for jobs with ambulance services.

Any information would be great

Thanks

[dalostman]

Doesn't anyone have ANYTHING to say out south point?? Is it trashy? Is it a good place? Are there better areas around it?

Thanks

[CortlandGirl79]

Never even heard of it, do you know what area of the state that it's in?

[dalostman]

South point is next to chesapeake and is just across the bridge from Huntington WV

[BethandTim]

I was raised in south point. been living in the area for 18 years now. It is an excellent area to raise a family. Low crime. They just built new schools a couple of years ago which are very nice. It has pretty much everything you need within a close distance, walmart, lowes, sams, small grocery stores. It is right between Huntington, wv and ashland, ky. Not many restraunts right in sp but, like I said, it is within 8 minutes of h-town and ashland. You can get a nice house in south point as low as 80k. Utilites are cheap.
I am a paramedic. I have worked at several of the local services. Lets begin....

Cabell County EMS-It is a lower paying but the benefits are absolutely amazing. They do all of the 911 for cabell county, which is the huntington, barboursville area. They get respect and have the best equipment. Their director, whom I will call Steve, seems to be the only problem with the place from everyone I have talked to. He actually fired me for not be willing to take a full time job. Anyway, it is a good place to work for and you will get excellent experience. You will not get out of doing transports here, especially as a basic. Last year they started doing them out of Cabell Huntington Hospital. You will run a full 24 hours here every shift.

SEOEMS(South Eastern Ohio Emergency Medical Service)-It is located in lawrence county (where south point is), there is actually a station located in sp. They are a strict 911 service. No transports. They are lower paying. The benefits are good but expensive. They have the best equipment. You will get excellent experience here. Depending on which station you will pull around 4-8 runs a shift with about an hour rollover.

MTS-They are primarily a transport service. They are the highest paying. Benefits are garbage. You will have to work a few months to get on 24's. They are based out of ashland, ky but you may run out of huntington. You will run moderately hard here.

Patriot Ambulance- They are the smallest outfit around. They pay about the same as MTS. Based in ironton, ohio. Do transports primarily. Unknown about benefits.

Boyd County EMS-great benefits, great pay, low turnover, all 911, they wont hire you till you are a paramedic with several years experience.

Greenup Co Ems-Low pay, 911 that also does txp's from OLBH in ashland. Benefits are bad, expensive.

KDMC Txp- Owned by kdmc. Benefits are ok, not as good as their hospital employees though. Pay is average. Based in ashland ky, portsmouth oh, and south shore ky. They have amazing equipment. You will do txp's all shift.

JanCare- Low pay. Do txps but also emergencies. Unsure about benefits. Based in huntington. Dont really know much about them.

Life Ambulance- Based in Portsmouth, ohio. Do most of the 911 for scioto, pike, and many other counties. Do all the txp's from SOMC. Well respected ems in scioto/pike county. Benefits are optionable, decent. Pay is good but not best. Decent equipment.

There are a few county squads in scioto but dont plan getting on to one of them, unless it is greene twp, the waiting lists are long.

I cant recommend which service would be best for your situation, depends on what your future in ems is, children, health problems, bills. There are different personalities at every service.

If you want to go to paramedic school you have 3 local options.
You can go two Shawnee University located in portsmouth ohio where your instructor will be Bill Turner. Excellent instructor, good class.
Pam Bradshaw instructs a class at Collins Career Center out in the boonies of chesapeake. She is an excellent instructor with a stellar pass rate.
And...then there is last...but...definately least...the laughable, disgusting Marshall.....who had a 0% pass rate a few years ago. Dont go here. Their program is a disgrace to EMS.

Hope thie helped. good luck

[Not From Here]

Well, I'll tell ya what, I'm honestly beginning to wonder about it.

I had plans to move here, but if I have to live constantly looking over my shoulder, I may just sell the house to some other idiot and go elsewhere.

It seems like it has turned into some kind of white trash speed trap, and the cops will not cut you a break if your plates are from out of state. If you try to call the number on the ticket, they won't answer the phone. If you try to email them, they take their good old time answering. When I finally did get a response, they had a very hostile, negative, unfriendly attitude.

The cop was reasonably nice, but looked extremely young, and was very hard to communicate with.

I have put a lot of work and money into this property, and the taxes here are not cheap. It's very discouraging.

Do they not worry about the impression they're giving to outsiders? I'm not saying that I should just have a free reign to do as I please, but on the other hand, if this same violation had happened in my state, I probably would have only gotten a warning.

[Janna55]

I am sorry that happened to you. Locals know that there are plenty of speed traps and most tend to slow down in those areas.

I also live in South Point. We are thinking of moving away. All of my family here in the area is gone or leaving. Parents dead, one brother is moving to Florida and other brother is in Colorado. May move there, or Utah, hubby is retiring.

On South Point, it is a nice place to live, the neighbors are for the most part friendly. We lived in a nearby town and moved here ten years ago. But knew the area quite well, had friends who used to live here.
Our "children" didn't attend SP, so I can't give info on them, there are lots of shopping places as another poster noted. People in Huntington are friendly, KY not as much, okay, but they are more standoffish, or superior, at least that is how my family see them.
The negatives are: humidity, it is high here, so be prepared to deal with that. Snow, we don't have a lot of snow, but we do have quite a bit of rain and in in the winter, sleet. If you get a house with a heat pump, be prepared to freeze. They are not made to handle the cold here. Forced air, gas or other than heat pump, you should do fine.
Taxes, they are high. Our house, valued at $158,000 with 2,300 sq feet and a good size lot is $2000 a year. Make sure if you buy that you are not in the flood zone, and any home in a low area could take on water.
It's not a bad place to raise a family. If you like sports, the villages here are big into sports, mainly football.

opps, should have checked the date. Well, it might help someone who is thinking of moving here.

[Zen_master]

Originally Posted by Janna55

I am sorry that happened to you. Locals know that there are plenty of speed traps and most tend to slow down in those areas.

I also live in South Point. We are thinking of moving away. All of my family here in the area is gone or leaving. Parents dead, one brother is moving to Florida and other brother is in Colorado. May move there, or Utah, hubby is retiring.

On South Point, it is a nice place to live, the neighbors are for the most part friendly. We lived in a nearby town and moved here ten years ago. But knew the area quite well, had friends who used to live here.
Our "children" didn't attend SP, so I can't give info on them, there are lots of shopping places as another poster noted. People in Huntington are friendly, KY not as much, okay, but they are more standoffish, or superior, at least that is how my family see them.
The negatives are: humidity, it is high here, so be prepared to deal with that. Snow, we don't have a lot of snow, but we do have quite a bit of rain and in in the winter, sleet. If you get a house with a heat pump, be prepared to freeze. They are not made to handle the cold here. Forced air, gas or other than heat pump, you should do fine.
Taxes, they are high. Our house, valued at $158,000 with 2,300 sq feet and a good size lot is $2000 a year. Make sure if you buy that you are not in the flood zone, and any home in a low area could take on water.
It's not a bad place to raise a family. If you like sports, the villages here are big into sports, mainly football.

opps, should have checked the date. Well, it might help someone who is thinking of moving here.

Market or assessed value?

Compared to Central Ohio, that is not too high. Similar house with 165k market value and assessed of $140k is seeing property tax bills close to $3,500/year.

[Janna55]

I have no idea of whether it is market or assessed.

I just know that when we received our bill last year the amount due was $1,984. I talked with my brother, and my niece in Colorado has a house worth more and pays only half of what we pay.
No high humidity, cost of living is less, and cleaner air. No family left here, so if we can swing it, we will move to CO or Utah.
Car tags/registration is a lot higher there, though.