fullymooned

I second the Estates, it sounds very much like what you're looking for. There's a pool in the subdivision, and it's right next to the Westlake Rec Center Thanks for the recommendation. I am going to look into them. They are a bit pricey. But there are many similar areas in the Westlake that I found too.

thank you. I will try to contact him. I have myself lived on the Urban side in Cleveland for the past 7 years. Living in apartments right next to Legacy Village and Beachwood Place. I can walk to LA Fitness or Starbucks coffee here. But after having a baby we are looking for newer construction and suburban sprawl kind of environment. I realize I will have to use the car all the time to go anywhere and the commute will be longer to work, but that's a sacrifice I am willing to make because I feel my wife will have a better social life on the west side.

I should have clarified, we are looking for suburban sprawl. I apologize for the language, the intention was not to belittle any area or place. We are just looking for a newer construction suburban sprawl area. And if you do a Zillow search, you will find 5 homes available in Mayfield/Highland and 50 homes in Westlake/Avon.

We initially started with Highland Heights and Mayfield. They are both decent areas but I don't think you can say they are just as good as Westlake. Perhaps they are more like Avon. Highland Heights has the Aberdeen area and Mayfield has some newer construction. But we have lived on the East side for many years now and want to move to the West side. It seems livelier on the west side, you see more people walking around, running, soccer games around the Crocker park area. I would say the community seems more active there. The housing options are a lot more there too. We are looking for a house built post 2000. To each his own. Good luck. But I couldn't disagree more about the "liveliness" aspect. I have been traveling to Westlake and that general area a lot more this past year and I always wonder (outside of Crocker Park) where all the people hide during the day. Mayfield and HH are absolutely at least on par with Westlake....... and I would bet the city services are superior. Of course, Westlake has them both beat in the McMansion department. **There's a sprawly suburban development called Chagrin Falls in Solon? (double face palm) ***Given the type of house/neighborhood you are looking for, have you considered some of the south side areas? Broadview Heights and Brecksville come to mind. If I was looking for what you are eyeing, I would also consider Medina County. I'd bet you can get the most bang for your buck out there and I actually like downtown Medina. I meant Chagrin Highlands. Brecksville and Broadview Heights were options too. But they are south, the commute is the same as from Westlake and there is no social life around there for us. We don't go there much for anything. So we would still be driving over to the Westlake/Parma/north olmstead for things we like to do. But I agree they are good areas to consider.

But Rocky River doesn't have any good neighborhoods like Westlake or Avon does. Avon has Vineyard Estates, Red Tail, Highland Parks. Westlake has many such areas too. We are not just looking for a good house but also a community that has a pool, rec center, pond and so on.

There is new housing recently built and now being built overlooking the Rocky River valley on both the Lakewood and Rocky River sides of the valley. Check out these developments...... http://www.11river.com/ (in fact, these were featured at the start of the movie Draft Day) http://www.myclevelandcondo.com/clifton_pointe_luxury_ecohomes thank you for these links. But I don't see how these will work for us. We are looking for suburban sprawl large estate type neighborhoods. Good examples wood be Aberdeen in Highland Heights, Chagrin Falls in Solon, Settlers Preserve in Westlake. We are also looking for a community so our daughter can make friends. The places you included are more apartment style. In fact the east side doesn't really have that many places to consider and hence we decided on the west side.

We initially started with Highland Heights and Mayfield. They are both decent areas but I don't think you can say they are just as good as Westlake. Perhaps they are more like Avon. Highland Heights has the Aberdeen area and Mayfield has some newer construction. But we have lived on the East side for many years now and want to move to the West side. It seems livelier on the west side, you see more people walking around, running, soccer games around the Crocker park area. I would say the community seems more active there. The housing options are a lot more there too. We are looking for a house built post 2000.

We like Westlake a lot more. All our social activities are out there. Friends, religious places, groceries, restaurants. Living in Beachwood we find ourselves going too often to the West side. I was hoping the commute was more like 30 mins or so. Rocky River or Lakewood are not options because the housing there is old and out dated. Also my wife does not work, so I am looking for a community that she will enjoy living even if my commute is long.

We are a young couple with a baby and have been renting in the Beachwood area (opposite the mall) for the last 7 years. I work in Cleveland East area between Euclid & Noble Road, the Lake View Cemetery is nearby. We are looking to buy a house and move to the West Side either Westlake/Avon. Our budget is $350K max. Westlake seems much nicer and closer to what we are looking for, urban, closer to shopping, to the highway, excellent schools, restaurants but the houses are out of budget and older. Avon seems more rural, not sure about the school ratings, but the housing is newer and within our budget. The commute from Avon is longer too. Any ideas on what our housing search strategy should be. Should we stay focused on Avon? Or should we only look at Westlake. How is the school and housing resale market in Avon. I know its great in Westlake but not sure about Avon. What about the commute from the West side to the East side. Would that be a pain? Currently I have a 20 min commute from Beachwood and would be ok with 30 - 35 mins on the highway. Also we are looking for Single Family homes in a neighborhood. Thank you.

gonna put an ad on city-data as well. may be that will help.

He left town so am looking for a new one now. Thought about buying a house, but need to fix up credit history first. So am looking for a new roommate now. Any ideas of what the best places would be to advertise? Already done with craigslist, pluggedincleveland.com, roommates.com

Here is a link to the apartment complex http://www.livemillennium.com/profile.asp?AID=13437 The rent is $590/month. Heat and water are included utilities. Electricity is usually around $30/month per person. The complex has awesome amenities - state of the art gym, indoor and outdoor swimming pool, sauna, hot tub, garage parking, there are tennis courts nearby. I am looking for a roommate that can pay the rent on time (most imp!!!), does not smoke or smokes only outside, preferably a working professional and is reasonable. Age, gender is not much of an issue.

If any one here is looking for a roommate, I have a 2 bed 2 bath apartment at the hamptons in beachwood opposite the mall.

Are you sure about the numbers you ran? I did some math and it was no where even close to 5 years. Lets say you buy a house for 2K and put down 50K for down payment with a mortgage of 150K. I think it takes almost 10 years before you start building any equity.

I intend to move within 5 years or so. Is it a good idea nevertheless to buy a house in cleveland?