I am close to moving to a house over in South Euclid and want to know thoughts on the neighborhood.  I have been here 8 months and think most anything is fine on the eastside.  I look at crimreports.com and it is nice to see the low crime in the eastside.  We looked at some houses in the Fernway area in Shaker Heights, but know someone who was mugged a few months ago in the backyard at gunpoint and the crime is only 0.3 miles away.  In South Euclid it looks like it is nearly 6 miles away.  So, thoughts on the area?  Crime, entertainment, neighbors, etc.  Thanks:)

South Euclid has many fine neighborhoods (my favorite would be Belvoir Blvd between Cedar and Mayfield) and a city government that seems to be very responsive and agressive in improving the city.  My sister lived there about 6 years ago for about 5 years and (at least at that time...things are different now) saw a far amount of appreciation on the house when sold (they did make a number of improvements)

 

Personally, however, if somebody gave me $300,000 cash and said I had to buy a house in South Euclid or in the Fernway area of Shaker it would be Fernway hands down.

I am not sure that South Euclid is going to have lower crime overall than the Fernway area.  There are a few areas of South Euclid which would be worse IMO (in terms of crime rate)... that being the small strip which borders Cleveland on the north end of Green Road.  Shaker schools are also better than SE-L.  However, you will almost certainly get more bang for your buck buying a house in SE.

 

Where exactly are you looking?  The area which borders Lyndhurst near Brush HS is a good place to buy... just keep in mind that the deer from the Metroparks are rampant in that neighborhood.  I also like the areas around Notre Dame College east of Belvoir.  I'm not so big of a fan of the area of S Euclid west of Belvoir and south of Mayfield, abutting University Heights.  The park is very nice, but too much of the post-war starter home style for my taste.  It is also just so big of a residential area between Mayfield/Cedar and Warrensville/Belvoir that if you land too deep in the middle of it, you will have absolutely no walkability.

We are renting, not buying since we still have a house in Atlanta.  When you look at crimereports.com it is SCARY how bad it is over in Shaker especially around Van Aken.  We looked up reports from 6 months back.  When we look at rentals in Shaker they look horrible.  Very old and paint slapped up and no air conditioning.  We don't have children so we don't care about schools.  We would love to live in Highland Heights, but renting there is ridiculous in terms of prices.  So, basically there are not a lot of rentals out there:(  This rental we are looking up is close to Anderson (I think that is the name) near a war memorial.  Adrian elementry school is around the corner.  What do you think of that area?

Welcome, Codomirok.  A note of caution when using Crimereports.com: as far as I can tell, most of the eastern suburbs, including Shaker Heights, are not part of the crimereports.com network, so you're not actually seeing any of the crimes being committed in these suburbs.  FYI, the areas south of Chagrin Blvd and west of Van Aken where you see all those crime aren't Shaker Heights, they are in the City of Cleveland.  Similarly, I don't think that web site is showing you the crime in South Euclid and in nearby Cleveland Heights, though I doubt it's very high.  In case it's useful, you can read the police blotter for Shaker Heights (and a few other suburbs) on this on line site for the local community paper, the Sun Press: http://blog.cleveland.com/sunpress/police_blotter/index.html.  I am not familiar with South Euclid so can't compare, but personal safety would not really cross my mind as a concern in the Fernway Neighborhood (i.e., East of Lee, north of Van Aken).  Then again, I never knew anyone who was held up in their back yard there, so I understand your concern.

 

Shaker Heights generally contains older homes, most of which lack central air.  Of course you won't need it nearly as much as you did in Atlanta (I've never lived with it in Cleveland or in the Northeastern US cities I've since lived in, so I don't miss it), but if it's something important to you, you'll probably have better luck in some of the suburbs with post-war houses, like Beachwood.  Good luck!

 

 

Yes, I have been researching and found out that they don't report the crime in those areas.  I am sure it has something to do with property values, etc.  Thanks for the information.  I am getting a huge wakeup call with cost of living here!  We would pay as much as $1800 for a rental, but I am finding that even at that cost you find few decent ones.

We are renting, not buying since we still have a house in Atlanta. When you look at crimereports.com it is SCARY how bad it is over in Shaker especially around Van Aken. We looked up reports from 6 months back. When we look at rentals in Shaker they look horrible. Very old and paint slapped up and no air conditioning. We don't have children so we don't care about schools. We would love to live in Highland Heights, but renting there is ridiculous in terms of prices. So, basically there are not a lot of rentals out there:( This rental we are looking up is close to Anderson (I think that is the name) near a war memorial. Adrian elementry school is around the corner. What do you think of that area?

 

That area is decent.  Close to the entrance of Euclid Creek Reservation, which is a nice park area.  Sort of bordering the area that Hts121 mentioned above near Brush High School.

Forgot to mention this, but have you considered Mayfield Heights?  Same neck of the woods as Highland Heights, but probably more affordable rentals and just about as safe (a bit safer than South Euclid or Shaker Heights).

Yes, I have been researching and found out that they don't report the crime in those areas. I am sure it has something to do with property values, etc. Thanks for the information. I am getting a huge wakeup call with cost of living here! We would pay as much as $1800 for a rental, but I am finding that even at that cost you find few decent ones.

 

Wow, $1800 should get you most any rental in greater Cleveland.  You're expectation of "decent" must be higher than most people's expectation of "luxurious".

We don't want to pay $1800 but we are more willing.  I guess I am just used to a lot cheaper houses.

We are renting, not buying since we still have a house in Atlanta.  When you look at crimereports.com it is SCARY how bad it is over in Shaker especially around Van Aken.  We looked up reports from 6 months back.  When we look at rentals in Shaker they look horrible.  Very old and paint slapped up and no air conditioning.  We don't have children so we don't care about schools.  We would love to live in Highland Heights, but renting there is ridiculous in terms of prices.  So, basically there are not a lot of rentals out there:(  This rental we are looking up is close to Anderson (I think that is the name) near a war memorial.  Adrian elementry school is around the corner.  What do you think of that area?

 

I live very close to that area.  The park is a major plus.  Everything you could need is very close also.  Two large groceries within a mile, several pharmacies, Legacy Village/Beachwood Mall and Richmond Mall are within 5 minutes or so.  Mayfield Rd. will have about any business/service you are looking for.  Warehouse Beverage is a neighborhood favorite of mine  :drunk:  UC is probably about 10-15 drive and downtown is 20-25 minutes, but can only take 15-20 mins depending on your willingness to drive through some sketchier areas to get to the highway.  The airport is a solid 35 minutes.

 

I assume you are looking on the west side of Green Road?  It's a nice area.  I have to say though that, 10 years ago when I looked for a rental, I found S Euclid to be a bit on the pricey side.  Like Clevelander17 said, you might be surprised what you can find in Mayfield Heights.  We ended up renting a house on Eastwood in MH for 3 years at $850/mo.  Most of the single houses in SE were above $1,000.  Of course, our house in MH was nothing more than size of an apartment with no basement and 3 very small bedrooms.

Yes, I have been researching and found out that they don't report the crime in those areas.  I am sure it has something to do with property values, etc.  Thanks for the information.  I am getting a huge wakeup call with cost of living here!  We would pay as much as $1800 for a rental, but I am finding that even at that cost you find few decent ones.

 

Wow, $1800 should get you most any rental in greater Cleveland.  You're expectation of "decent" must be higher than most people's expectation of "luxurious".

 

That was my initial reaction too, but I think the rents for sf homes in good shape located in nice suburbs are a lot higher than the two-family and mf listings I'm accustomed to seeing.  I'm so used to thinking about our cost of living as a selling point, it's very strange to hear otherwise!

 

Codomirok, the City of Shaker Heights has a landlord certification program and some free listings on its web site: http://www.shakeronline.com/relocation/Listings.asp  It looks like they are only listing two sf homes right now, one right around and one a  bit above your budget (you need to sort by property type).  I'm not pushing Shaker, but remembered they maintained this web site.

 

Are you only looking at single family homes?  If you're willing to look at condos or apartments, at that price range, you'll probably find some excellent options in nice neighborhoods.  Especially since you don't need to worry about the local schools, you might look for some newer construction in Cleveland Heights  or University Heights too.

 

EDIT: link should work now; thanks X.

Ahh, I guess a large well maintained sf house in a good suburb could eat that $1800 pretty quickly, yes.  I was thinking more apts, but I misinterpreted what the OP was looking for.  I thought you were looking to buy the house in SE, codomirok, and were mentioning the rental prices to point out that buying was a better option.

 

Straphanger, you're link didn't work for me.

Thanks for all your responses.  We have 2 dogs so that knocks a lot of properties out quickly!  They are really clean and well behaved, but nobody wants dogs.  We wanted to find something nice that has updates and a fenced in backyard.  Cleveland is really a lot safer than Atlanta.  You have bad areas, but where you can't find anything near the city that is safe in Atlanta.  The Cleveland eastside is 10 miles away and most parts are fine!  I guess there is crime everywhere really if you look.  We were shocked at how much we found when we searched our old house back home which is in a very safe area in the Atlanta suburbs - Alpharetta.  I just want to be able to go run and not worry. 

Similarly, I don't think that web site is showing you the crime in South Euclid and in nearby Cleveland Heights, though I doubt it's very high. In case it's useful, you can read the police blotter for Shaker Heights (and a few other suburbs) on this on line site for the local community paper, the Sun Press: http://blog.cleveland.com/sunpress/police_blotter/index.html.

 

 

As a former writer of the Sun police blotters, and worked at desks next others who wrote them for other communities, don't judge any community by what's in the police blotter. Most of what's in the raw copy from the police never makes it into the paper -- it's boring stuff like car break-ins, stolen newspapers, minor vandalism, etc. We want people to read the police blotters so we looked for unusual stuff, and lots of funny or bizarre items. We often looked for "moronic criminal news" which is always a big hit.

 

We would love to live in Highland Heights, but renting there is ridiculous in terms of prices.

 

I lived in Highland Heights a long time ago, and as far as I know it hasn't changed. We moved because it completely lacked any diversity (unless you consider white Catholics and white Jews diversity). It's also not a walkable community at all considering its absence of mixed use. But I realize that's not important to everybody.