Re: Eastern Ohio (Columbus, Springfield, Fairfield: mortgage approval, houses, safe area)

[sorryduck]

I am originally from Florida, moved to West Virginia and now want to relocate to the northern panhandle or close by in eastern Ohio. I want to be close to Pittsburgh without paying outrageous taxes. When I took a leave from college some 30 years ago, I lived in both Wellsville and East Liverpool. I have read that these areas have deterioated quite a bit. Can anyone please recommend a place with at least 5 acres and house or two in this area. I have been searching Salem, Lisbon, Palestine and coming up blanks. Any help will be greatly appreciated. Also any pros or cons regarding these areas.

[South Range Family]

Calcutta or the rest of St. Claire Township.

Post more of your requirements, and I will try to help after I get out of bed Sunday evening.
Price range?

Kids in school?
Work requirements?
Activities?
Hate the city, love the country?

Details, details, details..........

[beenaround]

The St. Clairsville area is very nice. There is a huge mall in the area as well. Also there is more land on the OH side of the river...more land to spread out. But one thing is still true: The Wheeling/Steubenville/E. Liverpool/Western PA area has seen better days. But the people in the panhandle region are good, hardworking folks. Alot of the people from the region (meaning WV, OH, PA), especially those aged 25 to 34, headed west to Columbus for better opportunties, as I did in the early 90's.

[sorryduck]

Thanks for the suggestions. I actually prefer a more rural setting than in a town neighborhood. No kids, no need for a job. I will however, be moving my 82 yr old mother so health care is must be within 20 miles or so.
I want to stay at or under $129K and only need 3 acres or so.
Thanks for everyones help.

[South Range Family]

Ok, let's start off with West Virginia. The area around Chester might be worth checking out. I have a buddy that lives out in the country there. The prices still seem reasonable. The nearest hospital would be across the river in East Liverpool. That's all I know about that area.

Let's move on to Pennsylvania now. Forget about it. Taxes will kill you.

Ok, time for Ohio. Lots of choices here. I'll start off with the stay away froms.
Stay away from everything you mentioned above. They all have a city wage tax that you must pay on top of State and Federal income tax. The town of Columbiana also has this wage tax. I will tell you about the townships that are in between these towns and are probably what you are looking for.

Mahoning County is a little more expensive than Columbiana County, but is very convenient to everything you are after. Pittsburgh is about an hour away. Boardman is right next door and has numerous medical facilities. The little townships of New Middltown and Springfield are on the State line. They share a school district known as Springfield Local. I know that schools are not a factor to you, but directions around here are given by school district instead of towns. It will help in your search.
Columbiana County. Petersburg and Unity township are between Springfield Local schools and East Palestine. They are worth checking out. Between East Palestine and the town of Columbiana, you will find the Crestview School district. The townships are New Waterford and I believe East Fairfield. That's a nice rural area with good prices and close to everything. I would live there if I lived in Columbiana County. Directly South of Crestview is the Beaver Local school district. It consists of Rogers (A great flea market), and St. Claire Township (which I mentioned in my first post.), and possibly Negley. The center of Rogers is just a red light. It's a real hole in the wall place. Land here is cheap. Out in the township is great. St Claire is just above East Liverpool and has the Beaver Creek State Park as its claim to fame. It's also where they killed Pretty Boy Floyd.
The names of the above townships and school districts should give you a better idea of what to search for. Go to your local convenience store and pick up a copy of the Farm and Dairy paper. There are listings (with pictures) of the up coming house auctions in these areas. I know that you can find a couple of acres with a nice little 2/3 bedroom house in your price range in these areas. Any other questions just let me know.

[wheelingman]

Lisbon is very nice. Calcutta is too. I don't like East Liverpool.

[Cosmic]

Originally Posted by sorryduck

Thanks for the suggestions. I actually prefer a more rural setting than in a town neighborhood. No kids, no need for a job. I will however, be moving my 82 yr old mother so health care is must be within 20 miles or so.
I want to stay at or under $129K and only need 3 acres or so.
Thanks for everyones help.

There are some more rural areas out from Wellsville in Jefferson county that might be exactly what you are looking for. Those are areas with baby farms and houses with more land.

You are reasonably close to shopping and health care. Hospitals in East Liverpool and Salem. Should be able to find something in your price range. Can be some nice country. Should be pretty good living situations. You should be somewhere within your 20 mile limits.

Go out on route 39 from Wellsville, turn down toward New Salisbury and check out that area.

Also go south of Wellsville and go out on Route 213 toward Hammondsville. Lots of nooks and cranny's in there. Many lil back roads to explore for places. You can go up toward the campgrounds just a few miles into 213. (Would be a left hand turn in the outbound direction, should be a sign). Or can continue out to Hammondsville and follow route 213 up toward Knoxville or take the branch off route 213 at Hammondsville toward Bergholz which will take you into a large flat topped sort of foothills of the mountains known as Pine Grove Ridge.

Or you can go into the town of Irondale and go out from there into rural outlying areas. Couple ways to go, ask some of the locals.

You are not that far in driving distance from Wellsville / East Liverpool but in a different sort of Universe. Depending on where you are exactly there are short ways into Steubenville via back door type routes. You aren't that far from Pittsburgh. The locals from those areas used to go to Pittsburgh a lot for shopping but now I hear it has gone down hill pretty badly.

I would stay away from the Salinesville area. I hear it has been used as a dumping grounds for people from the Katrina disaster to find them housing. Apparently not with good results.

In those areas I mentioned lots of very small roads / lanes that can get you well into remote areas. Be sure to keep the idea of flooding in mind. Be wary of low lying areas close to creeks or whatever. You can get houses that have flooded, locals might not be totally honest. Yellow Creek has a history of bad floods about every 22 years. Better houses are up higher in elevation for weather too.

That St. Clairsville area might be nice too as mentioned before. Again you have a pretty easy shot up into Pittsburgh via I-70 as an easy freeware drive. I go shopping up in the St. Clairsville area as I live about 50 miles from there. Good health care available, my doctor is up there. Good clean, safe area, if you get out of town a bit, rolling type countryside, housing is not super expensive, can find houses with acres of land. Excellent location for many reasons. Good four season climate too, winters are pretty mild compared to the rest of Ohio.

The areas around Rogers, Negley etc should be good but it will probably be more expensive that the areas of Jefferson county I mentioned. You do get more severe weather in Columbiana county than Jefferson or Belmont.

Jefferson and Belmont counties will probably be cheaper in taxes and general living costs. Less general regulations too.

[sorryduck]

Posters have been quite helpful in narrowing down my search. I have a couple of properties in Columbiana in which I have an interest. I still want to look into Jefferson county and others areas I can get a small amount of acreage.
Especially thanks for the heads up on looking by school districts. This has proven INVALUABLE!
I picked up the farm and dairy news at Tractor Supply and liked what I saw. Now I have to take a road trip to venture into these areas.
Any additional input will be appreciated. It is an odd position for me to be in to have mortgage approval and not sure of where to buy.
If you guys are any indication, the folks seem to be very nice and knowledgable.
Sorry for the long post.

--The duck

[granny-nanny48]

We are planning a trip down to St Clairsville, Ohio, my mom wants to relocate to a city closer to Wheeling Island on the Ohio side, is St Clairsville a safe place for her. What about organic food, like a Trader Joe's or whole foods are any close by? What is the mileage to the casino? Any info would be great, and I am sure she would appreciate it. Thanks for giving us some ideas to pass onto her.....