The Housing Crisis: Widow Style
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Life in the burbs’, widow stye
So we live in a burb. Â A burb that is far away from downtown. Â A burb where women wear white jeans and are condescending bitches when I tell them my son’s name. Â A burb where I grew up. Â Where I went to high school. Â Where I met the Chef. Â
And we are over it. Â I am over it.
 The driving, the lack of friends, the lack of culture, the lack of city.  I am sick of driving by a CVS and then watching a Walgreens get built across the street.  We need to move.
But in this clusterfuck of an economy  there is not a chance in hell that we could sell our house or buy a new one.  So what do we do?  The new restaurant opens in 2 months and the Chef will start all over with 20 hour work days.  I will be working there part time as well which means a 40 minute drive downtown twice a day five days a week.  Not so appealing for this lady.  Prius or no Prius.
So we came up with a plan.  The Chef and I sat down and actually talked about our lack of options.  This is what we came up with:
We finish fixing up our house. Â Finish the floors, the cabinets. Â We put our house up for rent or for rent to own. Â Obviously we consult a lawyer and get an airtight contract drafted for this. Â If we find renters we begin to look for a house downtown for us to rent. Â We are just not sure where.
We have thought about Ohio City, Tremont, & Cleveland Heights.  I am a fan of the heights although we would have to keep both cars.  Ohio City & Tremont are great ’hoods but I am concerned about the safety factor.  I just know that my kids and I would love to see the Chef able to come home midday to say hi to us. To hang with us for an hour.  And lord knows he is absolutely unable to do that if we continue to live in the burbs. Â
Any ideas or experiences with neighborhoods in the CLE you would like to share would be more than appreciated!
November 13th, 2008 at 11:55 am
I can’t tell you how awesome it is to live close enough to my husband’s work where he can come home for lunch, often.
November 13th, 2008 at 11:56 am
Oh wait, I just did. It is really awesome when he pops in throughout the day. Really awesome.
November 13th, 2008 at 12:01 pm
I am also in the burbs. And I hate it. I cannot for the life of me remember why I wanted to move SO FAR from Cleveland when I purchased my condo. I want to be within walking (or biking) distance from the West Side Market and fun Tremont/Ohio City restaurants and bars (that includes you too, Bar Cento!), and not on the opposite side of town for work.
I feel stuck and incredibly bored out here. I’m ready to tell my bank “TAKE IT!” Good luck with the renting and moving scenario.
November 13th, 2008 at 12:08 pm
yeah that’s not exactly the ideal situation is it?
i think that all of those near west areas (tremont, OC, detriot shoreway) depend on the street and the house. there are some amazing blocks and some so so blocks. i think a lot of it is timing.
i’m currently loving some of the houses in the detroit shoreway area though. you should check them out.
November 13th, 2008 at 12:09 pm
I absolutely love my house in Tremont and back when I worked downtown, the drive was so nicely minimal, however, now I work in Solon (still not a bad drive as I’m opposite from traffic). I have to say the entertainment/culture factor is fantastic, I absolutely love all the options. The crime is a factor though - my car was broken into last Thanksgiving, my roommate’s car was stolen in early Spring and this June, my house was broken into while I was sleeping upstairs (they took everything downstairs). Yes I have an alarm, but it was not set that night. I actually think that alot of it has to do with which street you’re on. Since the attacks on Cimperman, the crime has been low and there’s lots of police coverage.
Also, there are many other families I know in the Tremont neighborhood with kids the same age as yours …
November 13th, 2008 at 12:48 pm
Won’t even go into where I live … and I know nothing about CLE neighborhoods … but I will say that you guys get kudos for sitting down to talk it out … with so much going on, you get gold stars from me for still staying united !!
November 13th, 2008 at 1:06 pm
We lived in University Heights for 7 years. We loved the area and our home, but moved to Solon for the schools and a bigger yard when we got to elementary school age. I would say that it only took about 25 minutes to get downtown from U.H and it really only takes about 25 minutes from Solon as well (as long as you aren’t driving during typical rush hour traffic). I know that gas is expensive, but maybe while it’s a little bit lower right now you could do a little driving back and forth from a few places to really see what the drives would be like. Univ. Hts./Cleve. Hts. is more diverse and has more independently owned businesses, but Solon has its peks too - great schools, big yards, lots of trees, metroparks right here and it’s close to Chagrin Falls. Good luck with whatever you deceide to do!
November 13th, 2008 at 1:45 pm
I work for a green builder based on the near west side of Cleveland (we met once, briefly at Cento) . My firm does both new construction, as well as rehabs. I would be happy to speak to you guys about your options. (both for your old house and a possible new one) We also have tons of experience with all of the available financing for living in the city of Cleveland.
Feel free to shoot me an email. Best of luck!
November 13th, 2008 at 2:07 pm
Before we lived downtown I lived in Cleveland Heights for 4 years and absolutely loved it! By far my favorite city around. We lived downtown for 2 years and I did really enjoy it. When we decided it was time to buy, we looked at Ohio City and Tremont, which was what we really wanted. But for as much time as we spent there, we realized it wouln’t be the safest option. Jamie travels a lot and our rule of thumb was, would I feel safe walking the dog at night? And anytime I answered no, we sadly looked elsewhere. I think there are parts that are safe and great, but also parts that are not so much. I wanted to go back to Clev Hts but we quicly realized we aren’t handy so buying an old house wasn’t an option. But if I had my choise, we would be living there. It’s such a great city with so much to offer and do. And close to so much. Good luck with your search.
November 13th, 2008 at 4:21 pm
I have to say Cleveland Heights all the way. If you have ever been around the coventry or cedar fairmount area, there are TONS of families living in a very vibrant and walkable community. As a lifelong eastsider I am probably biased, but Cleveland Heights has a great public school system (despite what one size fits all school judging says) and it’s not uncommon to see kids riding their bikes and running around the neighborhood. Not to mention everyone will be jealous that their name isn’t catcher!
November 13th, 2008 at 4:33 pm
Did you ever think Lakewood? It’s close to downtown, has its own school district and the YMCA is great there. They also have a great child care and after school program. Being a mom myself, I found it the most condusive area for both me and my son. Once he was old enough, he could get around quite easily on his own. The west end is the nicest, probably between Clifton and Detroit. When I worked at Bier Markt it would take me about 15 minutes to get there. Just my two cents. I hope all is well and good luck with the new place!!
V
November 13th, 2008 at 5:16 pm
Since I think that we discussed this one night at Bar Cento, you know that Julie and I would love to have you in Cleveland Heights. There are some downsides but there always are. Unfortunately there are small minded people lurking everywhere, but we do welcome diversity in the Heights. And we are a Nuclear Free Zone. If you are at Cento tonight say hello to Julie. I have a prior commitment.
November 13th, 2008 at 11:59 pm
I would vote for Ohio City! My husband and I along with our 1 year old daughter love it here! There are so many great option for young families in the OC - babysitting co-ops, library story times on Monday and Friday, a great community garden, awesome block clubs, great schools and a short walk to great restaurants and the westside market! We have lived down here for 5+ years and love it. As proud homeowners we are invested to living in this wonderful neighborhood.
And crime is an issue everywhere, even in my parents neighborhood in Westlake!!
Move to the OC!!
November 14th, 2008 at 12:01 am
we’re kind of in the same place… except we’re in cbus. the hubs was just laid off - from a job that moved us down here just under a year ago… and now he’s job searching in NEO and around here. i’m praying for a move back to neo - so maybe we’ll just rent your place.
i’m assuming it must have a great kitchen, since a great chef lives there!
November 14th, 2008 at 9:50 am
Well first let me say, I love the site Widow.. Im always checking this site out at leat twice a week.. I live in Detroit Shoreway, off 67th Street.. Love the location, close to the lake, (1 block) and its so damn easy to get on the highway to shoot downtown its not even funny.. Im not sure how long you would want to stay, and I know kids and school must be a factor.. Our Lady of Mt Carmel is a good school, most the kids in the neighborhood go there.. Im not trying to knock Ohio City, but truly not as safe as everyone puts it out to be.. I know crime is everywhere, it just seems to be a little more in your face in Ohio City. My landlord is also a realtor for Progressive Urban, and Im sure he would be happy to help you find something, either Rental Property or home. Feel free to email me and I will pass along the info. Good luck, I know its a pain in the ass to deal with, and Im not sure where you live, but 40 mins!! You could be hella toasty in your slippers in 10 mins instead!!
November 14th, 2008 at 6:38 pm
you know my thoughts on this. one house down the (quiet) street, rentable apartment upstairs, double lot currently intensively gardened. grapes and all. asking 185K. needle exchange program for the kids. just kidding. really nice place.
November 15th, 2008 at 10:59 am
we purchased a house in the detroit shoreway area about 4 years ago….we LOVE it here…and there are so many fantastic things happening which i’m sure you know about…next year the capitol theater is set to open which will be awesome!!!! we don’t have kids but there are lots of kids in the neighborhood and lots of our friends are raising kids here…i just can’t speak to the schools….anyway, there’s a real sense of community and it takes people like you all to move in and continue to make it strong…(by the way, there’s a fantastic house at 58th and franklin at an awesome price [foreclosure]) anyway, i think you should at least consider the D.S….!!! good luck with your search!!! and the green house tavern……can’t wait till it’s open, we will be there on day 1!!!!
November 15th, 2008 at 2:52 pm
Wow everyone what a fantastic response! Thank you for all your insight and emails. It is a great help to our family. Kisses.
November 16th, 2008 at 11:15 am
Since Mrs. Epicure and I purposely moved from a little city in Wisconsin to Ohio City because we wanted to live in a walkable neighborhood, in a city nearer our daughter on the east coast, in a neighborhood where there are scads of food options, in a city where it does not take two hours to get from one side to the other, in a neighborhood where the people are varied and the neighbors are engaged, and where we felt we could make a difference, I feel compelled to comment here.
While we ultimately settled on Ohio City, we looked at many neighborhoods in the area. For us, the walkable proximity to the West Side Market, the lake, and Tremont and Detroit Shoreway made Ohio City a fairly easy choice for us. And the fact that we have become active members of the neighborhood and that Mrs. Epicure works at a great school for our city (Urban Community on Lorain) make us happy with the choice we made. The fact that I have to commute to Shaker Heights is unfortunate but just a fact right now.
Certainly, various types of crime are issues in any inner city neighborhood, and let’s be honest, Ohio City, Tremont and Detroit Shoreway are such neighborhoods. Just like where my sister lives in Chicago, one street, one block away can be worlds apart. But crime will always be an issue. I can’t say that I agree with the commenter who finds crime in Ohio City more “in your face.” Personally, I would give that comment to downtown, but that is just my experience and I am sure many who live there would disagree.
I think it is really a matter of mind and gut. Think about what factors make a place make sense for you. Visit that place. Walk around. Do the same thing with a few different places. Then go with your gut. What/where feels right? You guys seem to have good intuition. Don’t overlook it.
November 17th, 2008 at 2:17 pm
Jose and I are in a similar situation — I bought a condo (pre-construction) in Aurora two years ago, thinking it would be a great investment and we could sell it once we got married. . .
If I had my choice, we would definitely be moving to Cleveland/University Hts — although, I know Jose would totally bitch about the Property taxes*
November 19th, 2008 at 12:01 am
Just my opinion, but I think the greatest gift you can give one another and your children is your time. Popping in to see each other during the day does the soul good. If you do the math on the time you spend in transit that could be face time with the people you care about the desicion will be easy. Just make sure you don’t rollover ALL those hours into work. There certainly are issues with living in the city. However there is a real sense of community if you connect with the like minded people, which is not at all hard.
November 19th, 2008 at 12:06 am
oh I should have added: here is a crazy idea- what if you can do a home swap (not necessarally sell, just trade for a while) with someone in the city who thinks you are living the dream in the burbs? You never know….