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School me on northeast Ohio.

the conservative atheist

the conservative atheist

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Joined
Jun 3, 2020
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1809
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657
Would you say it is a typical depressed rust belt state? Being from upstate NY, that doesn't really phase me.

There seems to be plentiful cheap real estate from a cursory glance. A few states have been on my radar lately. Ohio would keep me relatively close to family, the gun laws are good, and apparently it has been trending red.

I guess what I'm asking is, is it as bad as everyone says?
 
I live an hour east of Columbus but go to the Cleveland area for work. It's like all big cities, there are good and bad parts. There are a lot of nice suburbs around Cleveland though. I grew up in Indiana and told myself I'd never move East of Indiana and here I am and don't see myself moving away. Rust sucks... but being in NY you already know that.
 
Stay out of Cuyahoga County. Some aging inner belt suburbs, high taxes. "Sin" taxes on alcohol and smokes to pay for the stadiums. Okay place to visit but I wouldn't want to live there.

Geauga County is not far from downtown Cleveland. Usually votes red. Mostly rural, some affluent areas. In the snow belt and usually gets hammered by winter storms. Big Amish settlement near Middlefield.

I'm in Lake County. Some areas are...um..."diverse." Easy access via two freeways so Cleveland trash comes here to shoplift and eat at Red Lopster. Winter hasn't been too bad this year, I'm right on the lake and most of the snow has blown over and dumped in Geauga. Red or blue politically, depends on the city. County politicians are typically red. Can be in downtown CLE in a half hour.

Ashtabula County borders PA. Rural. One of the poorest counties in the state. Most of my former co-workers live there, easy access to Cleveland etc via Rt 90. No emissions check on vehicles, where Cuyahoga, Lake, and Geauga will. Cars that don't pass PA inspection get dumped in bordering Ohio counties.

Yes, cars rust. There are two salt mines in the area and that's what we use on the roads. I'm sure there's a lobbyist that makes sure it stays that way. I had a clean '99 XJ from SC, after five years it ain't so clean.

Not too familiar with the west side. Have a friend who lives in North Royalton and it's nice, between Akron and CLE, but not a lot of open land. West side is generally considered safer, at least within Cuyahoga County. I hear Medina County is nice but never looked at what real estate costs.

Car registration relatively cheap. Insurance cheap outside of the cities. Gas and electric is up but that's everywhere right now. Nice parks, Cuyahoga Valley National Park not far, county park systems well maintained. Lake Erie gets a bad rap but it's a lot better than it was.
 
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Was looking around the Youngstown area. There's a BMW dealer there I could likely get right in. Trying to avoid the major cities.
 
standard internet reply.

it's terrible don't come here.

but if you do, live in the country. I live in ashland county, I grew up in huron county.
it's your standard rust belt rural towns out this way. People are mostly good, you got your average poor drug addicts but it's pretty quiet. policies in the state are meh, certainly not as bad as the north east, but not as great as I'd like. We can set off fireworks now, yay.
I imagine coming from new york this place would seem like complete anarchy.
wouldn't buy in lorain county, or any other county that's attached to cuyahoga county. Sandusky and erie are nice, but way over priced because of what it is. Avoid richland county, they're saddled with mansfield and it just sucks up all the resources because it's a dead steel mill town. I'm 40 minutes from the lake and an hour from cleveland , akron or columbus. Wayne county is alright but more expensive. Seneca county is cheap farmland.

There's the raceway at norwalk, the road course at mid ohio and a bunch of other drag strips, but pretty much no wheeling around here.
 
the conservative atheist said:
Was looking around the Youngstown area. There's a BMW dealer there I could likely get right in. Trying to avoid the major cities.
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youngstown is a shithole.

There's a BMW dealer in akron as well. Maybe if you worked there they'd install my drive belt properly. BMW dealer in columbus, but there's also a number of high end car places down there. Auto barn and what not. So it may be worth doing the same thing everone else does. Buy a house in the country and commute to columbus.
 
Ive worked in Columbus before. Felt like a big small town. Seemed nice to me but my comparison is Atlanta that is quite the shit hole. Thats all I got.
 
I live in Boardman which is 5 minutes from Youngstown. Like others have said, insurance is cheap, the cars rust, but housing is cheap(for the most part). If you like outdoors stuff there is a really nice park right in yougstown. It's mill creek park. 2600 acres and lots of hiking and biking trails basically right in the city. If you move here, look for a place in boardman or poland. Much nicer than youngstown. There's a bmw dealer right on market st. in boardman.
 
Animalmother said:
Ive worked in Columbus before. Felt like a big small town. Seemed nice to me but my comparison is Atlanta that is quite the shit hole. Thats all I got.
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columbus is one of the few "big" cities I find tolerable, but it's real expensive to live there.

my sister in law lives in rootstown, probably a half hour from youngstown. Nice farmland. Starting to get developed. Ravenna isn't so bad either. Used to go to a flying event and club up that way.
 
I grew up in North Royalton and have lived in Geauga County for over 5 years. I'd say Royalton was great growing up in; lots of farms, open pasture, good people, great school district, ok police and politics. That is no more and it's an overcrowded suburban sprawl with taxes growing in proportion. From Parma, the heroin flowed since I was at the tail end of highschool- fucking shame. Also, Cuyahoga County is damn corrupt and the east side of Cleveland has do not go areas being only patrolled by subcontracted police forces.

Now living where I do, I wouldn't trade it for much. I'm close to family and friends, have smooth well maintained 50 mph roads with pastures galore. My neighbor is a 100 acre field. They clear the snow religiously here and I get the most in the state. Last couple years were not bad and I haven't even plowed this season (we need more snow and cold so i can ice fish). I have the grand river for some premier fishing and canoeing right up my street and numerous parks/outdoor attractions. Great people around me, can pee in my yard and shoot until my hearts content. Zoning is a non issue, though e check is an annoyance. Supposed to have the program removed but it was stalled in the house during covid. Still passed my c5z06 with no cats and tuned :smokin:- self check fawkers.

I'd say NE ohio is great, would take it any day over Dayton, Cincinnati, Columbus, Toledo and the such. No wildlife of concern, limited bugs and other annoyances, the seasons are something i couldnt live without. I'm not a city slicker so getting east of 271 was on the forefront of my home search. Geauga, trumbull, portage are great places imo. Medina was one of my favorites but those farms are being bought at alarming rates, giant cardboard cookie cutter 400k+ homes put in place where you can piss on your neighbors siding from your house. Same thing that happened to Royalton.
 
I grew up on Lake Erie in Ashtabula County. Poor as fuck there, lots of drug use and no real opportunity to better yourself. DO NOT move there if you have kids. Your daughter will be pregnant and your sons will be hooked on meth or pain pills before you unload the truck. I got the fuck out of there when I joined the Navy. It’s beautiful there in the summer but that’s about it.
 
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the conservative atheist said:
Was looking around the Youngstown area. There's a BMW dealer there I could likely get right in. Trying to avoid the major cities.
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All around Youngstown is nice and rural. BIL lives just north by yankee lake, they love it. Bought their house and 10ish acres for around 200k a couple of years ago. W PA near Youngstown is nice too. Taxes are cheap compared to CNY.
 
Will12785 said:
Any consideration for PA? Erie is decent.
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Erie is a great town. New Motors BMW is just south of I90. Real estate taxes in Erie county are approaching CNY. Gotta pay for all of the tax breaks a certain family gets for all of their development and entertainment properties.
 
I live in Stark County right on the edge of Summit county. Moved here 15 years ago from California. It's cheap AF to live here. The lack of sunshine in the winter can be oppressive and I struggle with it. Pretty strong car culture with lots of meets, events, and so on. Youngstown isn't good, but you can find plenty of good close by. Just like all places, you can find both if you look for it. There is pretty cheap small town living just outside of Youngstown in places like Warren and others. It is depressed rust belt with plenty of vacant businesses, trashed roads and the like. The upside is that they think they know what traffic is, but they don't as it doesn't really exist here. You're pretty centrally located to lots of stuff if you're a "go see and do stuff" kind of person. Ohio lacks public land so finding a place to head off into the woods is challenging, but PA has quite a bit and it's close by.

As someone who relocated to the area, post up any questions and I'll do my best to answer.
 
97xj4.0 said:
I live an hour east of Columbus but go to the Cleveland area for work. It's like all big cities, there are good and bad parts. There are a lot of nice suburbs around Cleveland though. I grew up in Indiana and told myself I'd never move East of Indiana and here I am and don't see myself moving away. Rust sucks... but being in NY you already know that.
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Hour east...Zanesville?
 
Priest said:
Ohio lacks public land so finding a place to head off into the woods is challenging.
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Wayne national forest, Egypt valley, Jockey hollow, Salt fork, and all of the MWCD properties just to name a few.

Plenty of public land around.

Find a Destination

ohiodnr.gov ohiodnr.gov

This list has 187 destinations listed.
 
87manche and I HATE PONIES yes, there is some, but compared to a lot of other areas of the country it ain't much. I was used to having access to millions and millions of acres of national forest where I could go into the woods and not see another soul for a couple of weeks. You don't find that in Ohio. Not a bad thing, just different. It's all relative.
 
Priest said:
87manche and I HATE PONIES yes, there is some, but compared to a lot of other areas of the country it ain't much. I was used to having access to millions and millions of acres of national forest where I could go into the woods and not see another soul for a couple of weeks. You don't find that in Ohio. Not a bad thing, just different. It's all relative.
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this is true.
it's a different scale than out west.
 
the conservative atheist said:
Been on the radar as well. Some day I may pull the trigger and actually move instead of contemplating where. :laughing:
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What about central PA? 4ish hours from Syracuse. BMW dealer in State College. SC has stupid high real estate but the surrounding area isnt too bad. Its near the PA wilds which is just full of state lands. Beautiful fucking country.
 
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