villain189

Great..thanks for the info. We'll definitely add HH & Mayfield to our list of places we're watching. Did a quick search and there seems to be a few houses that match our criteria for sale in those areas. Places from UH look nice as well. Also, thanks for the bestplaces site. I'll definitely be using that to compare the areas we're considering. Interesting to see all the stats broken down about housing stock, values, renters, buyers, vacancies, etc.

Thanks for the suggestions. Haven't looked much at University Hts, Highland Hts, Mayfield Village or South Euclid. How do each of those areas rank/compare to the areas I'm currently looking at like Shaker & Beachwood as far as safety, schools, community? Thanks

Thanks. Hadn't seen that one yet but we found a good amount of prospects in Shaker Hts. Think we have about 15 or so targeted so far and about 11 or 12 are in Shaker. Saw a few of them have open houses this weekend. We're out of town now and won't be able to make it up in person until early March so hopefully most of the houses we want to look at are still on the market then! Shaker definitely seems like it has the most options for us..just wanted to make sure I wasn't overlooking any other areas! I've got the other areas I listed about on our search criteria but there isn't much that comes up, and most of what does come up doesn't look as good as the Shaker houses we've found.

Already have a longer topic on Shaker Heights from a month or so ago. Our house hunt is going to be kicking into high gear soon though and just want to make sure we don't miss any neighborhoods. Looking for a 4 bedroom house in the 225k-325k price range. Looking for a safe, family oriented neighborhood within 10-20 minute drive of Case Western. Even at rush hour don't want to be driving much more than 20 minutes..that's about the limit. Basically, just want to make sure I'm not missing any neighborhoods. I'll list below the places we're looking at. Let me know if I missed any or if you think any that I've listed are not good options. Shaker Hts Cleveland Hts Beachwood Mayfield Hts Pepper Pike Thanks!

You are correct...we did see a few places in Malvern south of Shaker that were around 3000 sq ft. That would be our ideal range and only reason I mentioned Malvern is because a couple of those 3000 sq ft houses in Malvern south of Shaker looked decent. So really it would be Fernway, Mercer and just the smaller houses in Malvern. Appreciate the comments on renting, but we've been renting for the past 7 years and with this big move are ready to finally be settled in a more permanent way. And we'll be able to qualify for the 8k first time homebuyer credit which is a nice incentive to buy this year rather than rent for a year and buy next year. Planning on making another visit which would be our 3rd in early March and we're going to try and take a real detailed look. I'll report back then...thanks for the help.

Thanks for the insight on the house...we'll focus more on the quality of the house & maintenance rather than just the age of the house. One concern I know we did have specific to older houses was the very old wiring and galvanized steel water lines. Have gotten some warnings from people about buying a house with those...is that not as much of an issue if the house is well maintained? Great insight...pretty sure we will wind up in Shaker (or possible Cleve Hts), but right now I think we'd be focusing on Fernway, Mercer and Malvern areas. Is there much difference in the Elementary schools between those areas? Looks like the kids would be going to one of these Elementary schools depending where you lived. Fernway Onaway Bouldvard Mercer

Yeah...schools are definitely a factor as well. Sounds like Shaker has very good schools. Thanks for the notes about the incentive programs as well. Still a little way away from making our decision but I think we'll focus on Shaker and keep our eyes on places in Beachwood & Pepper Pike. Although I'm thinking we'll wind up in Shaker as long as we can find something updated & well kept within our price range. Taxes seem to be much higher in Shaker but it does seem like you get a great community in return which is more important to us than the higher taxes. One question I had. I noticed something about Shaker Violations when looking at some of the houses. How often do they review your house for violations? And once they find violations how long do you have to fix them? And any other services or things we should know about that we'd get by living in Shaker over someplace like Beachwood or PepperPike?

Great info...good to hear from someone who actually lived in the area and did the same commute we'll be doing. We were actually going to come in on a weekday when we get closer to buying and test drive some of the routes in rush hour. May get back to you then and ask you for your suggested routes. So to Case in rush hour 10 minutes from Fernway, and 15 from Mercer? And non-rush hour what are you looking at...5 minutes from Fernway? And IF we were to wind up in Beachwood or Pepper Pike. What do you think rush hour commutes from there would be to Case?

Great..thanks for the info. Good to know about crime. Where are the 'rough' areas that border shaker? West and South?

MyTwoSense..thanks for the detailed response. Don't want to start a board war in this topic..but reading through the forums at city-data.com found quite a few posters that suggested you stay away from the western border of Shaker. Boulevard I think I just read that the western part has quite a few rental properties. Anyways...we are looking more for a single family home with 4br with 2400-3000 sq ft. Don't need a huge yard but at least a patch of grass in the backyard would be a requirement. Price range would be 200's or low 300's. And we'd prefer a house that's been recently updated/upgraded so we don't have to do much work before we move in. Sounds like crime isn't much of an issue which is good. We don't necessarily need to be able to walk to restaurants/shops in 5 minutes. Just the option to be able to walk some nice streets on a summer night and enjoy the neighborhood. Ideally a safe park or place for kids to play within 15 minute walk or 5 minute bike ride. And some buffer between us and commercial area is probably good...we'll be more family oriented anyways. So that's not really an issue. We've been renters in Pittsburgh for years now and now that we're making the move to Cleveland decided to buy...so this will be our first house. A bit concerned about the maintenance on some of the 20's and 30's houses. Any idea as to how much $$ we'd have to budget for upkeep on those houses? And would a 50's house be considerably less maintenance? Love the charm of the 20's & 30's houses...just want to make sure we don't get into a money pit also. And want to make sure it's decent from an investment standpoint as an area where we can know at least our house value will stay relatively stable (as much as possible these days at least) So you were mistaken about Fernway...would be a good place to buy? Or too many renters you think? Would prefer to be in an area with single family homes and not dual family residences. Just seems like most of the places that caught are eye were in Fernway or Mercer. We saw one house we liked in Pepper Pike...but then noticed there were no sidewalks which was a big negative.

Hi, We'll be moving from Pittsburgh to Cleveland this summer. I'll be working at University Health Systems near Case Western and we're looking for a family oriented, safe community within 10-15 minute drive of work. We've been there a few times and have looked in Shaker, Beachwood, Pepper Pike, Lyndhurst, Mayfield & Solon. But we're drawn to the charm and neighborhood feel of Shaker. From searching the threads here seems like the areas to avoid would be Ludlow, Moreland & Boulevard. Outside of these areas does it really make a difference as far as crime rates which area you are in? The two areas that most of the houses we like seem to be in are Fernway and Mercer. Is there much of a difference in crime between these two? And would you consider one better than the other for starting a family? In Fernway most of the houses we looked at are right around Fernway Elementary...so any comments on this area would be appreciated. And in Mercer the houses were close to the Beachwood border. Just wanted to get a feel for which neighborhoods in Shaker we should focus on. Also...can anyone comment on estimated travel time at rush hour between Case -> Shaker at rush hour (7-9am & 4-6pm)? And also rush hour time travel to get to Pepper Pike, Beachwood or Mayfield? Proximity to work is very important to us as well so just wanted to get an idea of how much closer we would be in Shaker so we can do a proper comparison of the areas. thanks