I am moving to Cleveland to attend law school at CSU.  I currently live in Austin, TX.  I have looked at craigslist, pluggedin, and the daily online newspaper.  It is very hard to get an idea for the city and where I should live.  Unfortunately, I am coming to Cleveland for summer classes in May and then I have to come back to sell my house and move the rest of my belongings.  I am looking for a small place that is safe for a single woman.  I am married but my husband will remain here until we move in August

 

Since we are currently paying a mortgage, I need a place in Cleveland that is reasonable but safe.  I am scared to sign a lease without knowing more about certain areas and buildings.  Does anyone have any ideas about safe apartments on the RTA line that may have short-term leases? Any other suggestions for my situation.  Thanks for all suggestions and assistance.

Ok, first of all dearie, calm down. We are here to help you!  Cleveland is a very friendly city with a generally very low crime rate.  Midwesterners in generally are very much more friendly than people you will meet a lot of other places, I travel a good amount for work and I can tell you that's the truth.

 

Congratulations on getting into Law School at CSU.  I work at a law firm with many fine attorneys who went to CSU.

 

If you are coming in for summer classes, I would see if CSU has a dorm available for summer students.  Barring that, there are some places downtown (CSU is close to downtown, you could take the bus there and back easily) that do month to month or short term leases but they can be expensive.  I am pretty sure Reserve Square offers them - you can look them up on apartmentguide.com or apartments.com has a lot of apartments as well.  There is a grocery store in reserve square as well so if you can afford it, that's an option - they have furnished units and unfurnished.  The other UO people will also be able to offer some suggestions.  Seriously, we can help you, don't worry!  Wherever you pick will just be a good place for you to stay during your summer classes.  You might also consider Lakewood, which is the first suburb west of cleveland.  I took the bus from lakewood into all parts of downtown for years and it's very easy and a lot of buses run into lakewood.  If you lived around the W 117th area there is a grocery in walking distance, a drug store, it's generally pretty safe and you are only about 10 minutes walk to the lakefront at Edgewater Park. 

 

I would suggest you will need access to a car, even if you were to live right on campus.  Cleveland's public transit system is primarily set up to service the 8-5 weekday work crowd focusing on transporting people in and out of downtown to the various suburbs. Now I say that in a very general way.  If you live downtown and need to get to CSU and back every day, that would be easy.  After 6 there are just less buses running.  But anything outside of going to school and back is going to be tough.  The grocery in reserve square that I mentioned would be an option, there are others if you stay elsewhere in downtown but getting to a lot of other places generally requires a car here, particularly when you talk about things like shopping malls or getting to restaurants.  If you won't have a car when here, it won't be tragic (or dangerous), just inconvenient, particularly if it's pouring rain and the next bus isn't for another 45 minutes.

 

If you already know where one or the other of you plans to work later this year, we can offer more pointed suggestions on neighborhoods to look at for more permanent housing.  If you tell us a little more about what you like/desire in a neighborhood (besides safety, which we all like), that may help.  Is access to public transit a high priority?  Parks nearby?  Arts and culture options?  Good schools?  Good restaurants?  Great shopping?  Etc.

 

My guess is if you are getting your law degree you will find the most job prospects downtown, followed by Beachwood, which is an east side suburb (nice but expensive, and quite congested traffic-wise). 

 

FWIW, I don't think our craigslist site is very rich.  We just aren't a big enough city to populate it property.  I told some people at my job about something I saw on there that intrigued me and NO ONE in my whole department of 7 people had ever even HEARD of craigslist.

 

 

My upstairs neighbors just bought a house and are moving. We are in the Tremont neighborhood -- an arty, urban neighborhood with a 24-hour-bus line. You can also bike downtown from where we are. It's a large (1200 sq ft)  2.5 bedroom apartment for 750ish with washer/dryer and a porch. It's in the nice part of the neighborhood, too.

 

You might be able to sublease from them since they are stuck in a contract. PM me if you're interested -- although it's probably too big of a space for a single woman. And you can definitely do cheaper with a one-bedroom.

 

The lakewood suggestion is good, too, if you can find a flexible lease. I would not worry about anywhere in Lakewood safety-wise. If you are within walking distance of Detroit Avenue, there is a 24-hour bus line that goes up through there, as well. If you're near West 117 and Madison, you'll be near a Rapid (rail).

 

I disagree that you can't get by without a car in Cleveland. I've done it as recently as a few months ago. I primarily use public transit to get around town.

 

If you see an ad that looks alluring, I imagine you can post the general area here and folks will tell you if there's anything sketchy about the neighborhood.

 

Best of luck.

Thanks so much to both of you.  Sorry if I sounded too panicky! I just have so little time to properly prepare and research adequately.  I have never been to Cleveland and know nothing about the areas or communities. I am glad I found this site the posts are very informative. 

 

I decided today to drive so I will have a car but I do want to be near the bus and train routes.  I would prefer a small hassle free commute.  You have provided some insight.

 

AMN, I would like to know more about the apartment, especially if I could sublease. I will PM you. 

 

RockandRoller (i'll call you RnR), thanks for the insight about craigslist and commute.  I really appreciate the woman's outlook.  The Reserve is currently about 1700+ which is out of my range since I am taking time from work and paying a mortgage in Texas.  Are there any other places that I could look online?  Do you know of any apartment finders? 

There's another thread on here where we gave some advice on short-term leases downtown (If I have some time, I'll find it and post.).  The only one that I know of is WT Grant Lofts, which around E. 3rd and Euclid.  It's maybe a 10 minute walk up to CSU, or a free RTA trolley ride, or an RTA bus ride away. 

 

Website is http://www.wtgrantloftapartments.com, but I would call them.

Found it.  Take a look at this thread.  It had a few good ideas for short-term housing -- both downtown and in the surrounding suburbs.

 

http://www.urbanohio.com/forum2/index.php/topic,15827

Another Texan moving to Cleveland! My wife's relatives all live in Austin and we visit every two years or so. Glad to hear that you'll be able to avoid that Texas heat this summer.

wouldn't CSU be able to provide you with a list of preferred housing partners?

 

Check with them and see what agreements they have and let us know what those and we can advise.

CSU Housing has given a couple of leads but I want more "adult" housing.  I am not the average student, I'm 40 so I don't want to live in a dorm or share with  younger students.  I'm not against it just don't want it as my only option. 

 

Based on my research so far, I am looking at places in Lakewood and Shaker Square. I am just hestitant to sign a lease without some unbiased opinons.

 

BTW, you all are wonderful.  I really appreciate you taking the time to PM, respond and think about the areas. 

SHAKER SQUARE?!  :-D 

 

Hell, you must be smart!  Search no further and move to Shaker Square!!  :laugh:

Aw, she's 40 but she's married. Too bad for a single guy like me.... But I may still be of some use to you, LOL! I'll give you some feedback from a 40-year-old's perspective. Since 1996 I'ved live in a condo in the Gold Coast section of Lakewood. That's a densely developed area of Lakewood along the Lake Erie shoreline, between Cove Avenue and West 117th Street. There are many many apartment buildings in this area, and most are quite affordable and in decent shape. However, avoid the multi-building Hidden Village Apartments complex on Clifton Boulevard, where troubled young adults have been placed for transitional housing. In other words, they aren't transitioning very well. When judging an apartment complex, the first signs of maintenance issues show up in the bathrooms. So I first judge apartments on the condition of their bathrooms. Back when I was looking for housing 12 years ago, I found that quite a few older places in Lakewood failed to meet my "bathroom test."

 

Other apartment buildings along Clifton, such as some smaller ones near Warren, are owned by a guy who doesn't take care of them. Don't be shy and knock on doors of neighbors to ask them about their experiences with the landlord and the quality of the building, maintenance issues, problem neighbors, etc. etc.

 

Clifton is a good place to live though, with lots of decent housing, be it in Lakewood or on the Cleveland side (called the Edgewater neighborhood). There's lots of shops, restaurants etc. around West 117th and Clifton/Detroit area. There's also tons of apartments in an ethnic area of Lakewood called Bird Town (gets its name from the streets named after birds -- Robin, Quail, etc) along and south of Madison Avenue. There's grocers, drug stores, restuarants etc. and it's an easy walk to the Highland Square rapid transit station at West 117th and Madison.

 

There's more places to live along Madison, farther west in Lakewood. I wouldn't live along Detroit Avenue in the east end of Lakewood or west end of Cleveland, though this area is starting to see some new investment (housing, restaurants, an expanding Virginia Marti College of Design and Fashion, etc.). Downtown Lakewood, around Detroit and Warren area, has shopping and some high-rise apartments, plus a condo building on Warren just south of Detroit Avenue. There's a large, suburban-style strip shopping area called Lakewood Town Center in downtown Lakewood.

 

There is no shortage of housing options in Lakewood. If you come across something specific you want more information about, just let me know.

 

I'll leave it to those nasty east-siders to answer questions about Shaker Square and the heights area. Those are cool areas, too, but not as cool as The 'Wood. ;)

 

 

Hi AMN, if Radicallaw is not interested in the duplex, we might be. My husband and I are planning to move to Cleveland and we don't really want a 12 month lease since we'd like to buy a home. We also have a kitty and like a porch for ourselves and her. I have found lots of apartment buildings with rentals but the duplexes (upper flats) seem to all want a 12 month lease.