wordnick

Thanks, guys, it's good to know that the norm is hardwood floors. I'll poke around a bit more. It's just so hard to tell from an online listing, you know? And thanks also, Boreal, for that great link. Can't wait to get to the recreation part of moving!

Mostly with older apartments I'm concerned with old carpet, mold/dust, and cat/dog urine from the many previous pet-owning tenants. If we were able to go look at apartments, I wouldn't be so concerned about this. But since we don't have that luxury. . .I just don't want to land in Cleveland after a day of driving with a pissed off kid and come to realize that we've rented an apartment that is going to make me physically ill.

Thanks for that. We're sort of coming to terms with the fact that the rental may not be in the area in which we're looking to buy. Not sure if I mentioned this upthread, but I have really bad allergies/asthma and am nervous about renting a house/older apartment site unseen. When we begin to look at the great older houses, it'll be easy enough for me to tell if I'll have allergy problems. . .but short of being able to go check out each rental, we're thinking this could be a big (and unwelcome) issue. With that in mind, we're really focusing on newer construction apartment complexes. . .which, will undoubtedly be a ways away, like in wisteria-esque Beachwood :|. We're hoping between the rail and our cars, we can still get in some good exploring.

Thanks, PeterGriffin, we're definitely very open with regards to the rental, so it's good to have more options.

I can deal with malls and Wisteria lane temporarily (very temporarily!). . .but the rail line access is a must. Thanks, we'll check in with his employer.

Thanks, Map Boy! I'm looking at the maps, but am, admittedly, a little geographically challenged. So, Beachwood, is that really far away from Shaker Square and Shaker Heights? One of the only short-term leases I've come across is in a complex in Beachwood. I'm just anxious to square away the rental component of this move. Do you think we could get a feel for Shaker Heights and Square while we rent for 6 months in Beachwood? Any reason to avoid Beachwood?

Thanks for the description, j73. Shaker Square is sounding more and more enticing. I think I'll have to poke around and see what the housing market looks like in that area. Maybe we can have our lawn and our city, too.

Thanks for that, I've put in a request.

Yeah, even from where I'm coming from, $1400 a month is pretty scary!

Wow, reverse sticker shock, indeed. I can't imagine sneezing for $79,000 anywhere around here. Thanks for the pics, MayDay and for the comparative analysis, MyTwoSense. While I would totally love to live in a Brooklyn Heights type place, I think my husband is pretty excited about the prospect of a house and a yard and all that suburban goodness. I'm glad we'll be renting first, so we can really feel things out ourselves. Maybe I'll look for a rental in Shaker Square just to tip the scales :evil:.

3231, I can definitely appreciate where a realtor might have a myopic view of the market. Thanks for the links and recommendations, I'm off to check them out. For those of you familiar with NJ, would you consider Shaker Square to be a Hoboken of sorts where Shaker Heights might compare more to Summit and Chagrin Falls to something like Chester? I realize you might not be that familiar with NJ, but it's worth a shot.

Thanks all for the insights, especially those helping me to understand how Chagrin Falls would definitely not be a good fit for us. Although, 3231, I'm not sure how comfortable I am being the poster couple for anything! :-D I guess my question at this point is: What's the big difference between Shaker Heights and Shaker Square?

Thanks for the welcome and the quick response! We're coming from a suburban NJ town that is on the NY train line. It's got a town center that is pedestrian friendly, and is diverse in terms of politics, philosophies and race (somewhat). We'd love to make a home somewhere similar in terms of this diversity and have been told that Shaker Heights and Chagrin Falls would fit the bill. To answer some of your questions, we will have a car but will need to access public transport as my husband will be working downtown (if that's what you call it). We're not picky in terms of the apartment, two bedrooms in a clean, safe neighborhood will do us right. There is the short-term lease issue, though. Ideally, we don't want to enter into a 1-year lease since we're looking to purchase as soon as possible. In terms of activities, together we enjoy seeing live bands at laid back bars, going to the movies and heading out for dinner. We also like some outdoorsy stuff, though I'm not terribly interested in very serious hiking or rock climbing or anything like that. I also enjoy theater and poetry readings, without the mister :wink:.

I'm still plodding my way through the treasure trove of information in other like-minded threads but figured I'd post in the interim. My husband and I are moving to Cleveland with our one-year-old child in mere months. From preliminary discussions with realtors, we're thinking of Shaker Heights for the obvious school system reasons. Since we won't be able to buy a house in advance of our move, we'll be looking for a rental. A cursory search of "approved shaker rentals" yielded few results and I'm wondering if we wouldn't do better in Beachwood or Shaker Square. Ideally, we want to be in the area in which we'll be looking to purchase so we can get a good sense of the day-to-day life. So, knowing nothing about the intricacies of the area, I'm hoping you guys recommend any rentals in Shaker Heights or suggest some surrounding areas where we could get a rental and still get a feel for what it would be like to live in Shaker Heights? In terms of rentals, we'd be looking for more of a condo/rental building setup rather than a house to rent. I have really bad allergies and don't feel like messing around with a potentially moldy/dusty/cat-dog-riffic house rental. Thanks in advance for any help!