Where's a good area in Ohio to purchase a home?

Leander

The missus and I are ready to pack up and get out of Chicago for a few years, from the research we've done Ohio seems like a nice place to consider. We're basically looking for an inexpensive area to buy a home in, (100-200k price range) suburban areas are preferrable. We both plan on taking off from fulltime for a couple of years, the first year we may not do anything outside of taking up a few classes. But afterwards we're thinking of going part time for a bit, so an area where jobs are plentiful would be a plus for us.

Finally one other thing we've been considering is trying to find the older era style homes (Victorian, Arts and Craft, etc.). I've notice that Dayton seems to have quite a few of those homes but I'm not familiar with the area or job market there.

So you guys have any recommendations for us on an area in Ohio to look into?

thanks for any suggestions

DanTheMan

You can buy a pretty decent suburban home in your price range in Columbus. Cleveland and Cincy I think tend to be a bit more expensive. Of course there are scads of smaller towns in Ohio, but the jobs tend to be in the bigger cities.

Columbus generally has a strong economy, lots of government, banking, legal, insurance & tech jobs. Ohio State University is the city's largest employer. There is literally an insane amount of shopping and restaurants here.

Cons - urban blight, traffic, "unendearing geography" as I saw one writer put it (flat as a pancake), lots of cloudy days, downright ugly winters but if you're from Chicago-land that's nothing new

Ohio also has the worst air quality of all 50 states according to the most recent EPA report

ohiocowboy

Hi there! I live in Dayton. Inner city Dayton is not really recommended, but there are areas in the 'Burbs that are really nice, and there are some areas just inside the city that aren't too bad. You can get some really great deals on homes here, as it is not a very large city as compared to Cincinnati or Columbus. We have a 3 story, 3,500 SF Victorian home with a separate 1 bedroom apartment. It is in awesome shape, with inlaid hardwood floors, all original woodwork, bevelled glass, 4 fireplaces, etc. and it only cost $90,000, which in a larger city would be significantly higher. There seem to be a lot of health care jobs here, along with teaching, and we have NCR, General motors, along with other large corporations. This area is semi-hilly, and there are a lot of attractions nearby if you want to do things in the country. There are caves nearby, archaeological pre-historic riverbeds for fossils, horseback riding, and the like. Nearby is also Caesar's creek state park, which offers lots of water activities like boating, jet-skiing, hiking, camping, etc. Dayton is very Convenient to Indy, Cincinnati, and Columbus, the latter two only being about an hour's drive. Every city here in Ohio seems to have it's fair share of crime, and bad neighborhoods, but with diligent effort, nice areas can be easily found. I have also found the traffic to be easier to deal with here, as compared to a larger metropolis.

If you have any other questions, feel freee to let me know!

By the way, below is a really good web site to go to, as it shows the demographics for cities, and is quite detailed....

http://www.areaconnect.com/

Dan-O

Toledo ain't too bad. I used to go thru there every week or two on business, and the surrounding communities seemed affordable. The other plus to Toledo vs. Dayton, Columbus, or Cincy is that if you're heading back to Chicago to see friends & family, it's just a straight shot across I-90. I would look at some of the smaller burbs & bedroom communities on the west & southwest side of Toledo ... probably Holland, Sylvania, Maumee, Waterville, or Perrysburg.

Decent city, good access to large metro areas within a couple hours drive (Detroit, Cleveland, Chicago, Cincinatti), close to Lake Erie, good educational opportunities if you're going back to school ... depends on what else you're seeking.

HappyDad

Wow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

$100-200K.............you can buy half of my town here in W PA.

HappyDad

lisavegas420

I work for a real estate agency in Springfield. They have lots of houses in your price range in Springfield and surrounding areas. PM me with your name and address and what your are looking for if you would like me to send you any information.

Lisa

Leander

Thanks for the info guys. Wow it sounds like Dayton is a rough area in some parts, that's really a shame because there are some unbelievable homes out there. Is the same true of the Akron/Canton area? I'm currently looking out there at homes as well.

MikeMusto

a house in brooklyn in a not so nice are can run around 800,000

Where's a good area in Ohio to purchase a home?

I work for a real estate agency in Springfield. They have lots of houses in your price range in Springfield and surrounding areas. PM me with your name and address and what your are looking for if you would like me to send you any information.

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