Why are so many people selling in Cleveland Heights? (Shaker Heights: neighborhoods, movies)

[Rodeno]

crime is on the rise and the schools are getting worse. I know a number of CH teachers and former, and soon to ne former residents that cant get out fast enough.

[TAC1977]

Originally Posted by countrymum

I was told that taxes are 2.2% of the home's value. How can a house that sold for 15K have yearly taxes of 3K??

The home's taxes aren't based solely on the price it was sold at. Conditions such as # of bedrooms, # of bathrooms, lot size, upgrades made (or not made) location, etc are factored into the value of the home.

If you disagree with the tax amount of the house you can get a hearing with the county auditor. Bring information comparing your taxes with similar homes in the area to see if you can get them lowered. It's all public information so with a little bit of digging it shouldn't be to hard to find. Or, you might want to see if your realtor can help you with this.

[L2DB]

Originally Posted by TAC1977

If you disagree with the tax amount of the house you can get a hearing with the county auditor. Bring information comparing your taxes with similar homes in the area to see if you can get them lowered. It's all public information so with a little bit of digging it shouldn't be to hard to find. Or, you might want to see if your realtor can help you with this.

I've done this twice. One when we bought the house. They had it's value listed at whatever and we boguht it for less. It's a pretty easy argument to say the value of the house is X because we just bought it at X. The other time was when we had an appraisal done for a refi. Also a pretty simple process. I didn't have to go anywhere or do a hearing. I just submitted the paperwork and they processed it. The only issue is that you can only submit during a certain part of the year and if you miss it, the decision or whatever gets pushed back to the following year.

[Clevelander17]

Originally Posted by Rodeno

crime is on the rise and the schools are getting worse. I know a number of CH teachers and former, and soon to ne former residents that cant get out fast enough.

Again, as a suburb of several distinct neighborhoods, CH can't be painted with a broad brush. Crime isn't much worse than it was a decade ago, though the CHPD's reporting methods have changed. The schools have a high percentage of impoverished students enrolled in them, which of course leads to lower test scores, but the quality of education offered by the schools themselves is and always has been pretty decent. And if you're child is a high-achiever, the Heights Schools offer just as many programs and opportunities as most other area districts, in an environment that is competitive and supportive.

[Marty711]

I think CH has lost some of its appeal because it's not looked at as a trendy place anymore. It's really stagnated. At one time, people from across NEO flocked to Coventry. Today, those people are just as likely to go downtown or to Ohio City instead. That competition didn't really exist 10-15 years ago. Of course Coventry is still doing ok, I just see it as being surpassed by other areas in the region. The same can be said for Cedar Lee, etc. Even on the east side, you have the emergence of Waterloo and a more lively UC to compete with. A little reinvigoration would do wonders for the city and would do a lot for its image problems. Right now, it seems to be losing to other areas especially as the regions population continues to struggle.

[WRnative]

Higher energy prices would do wonders for CH, given its proximity to UC and downtown and its access to mass transit.

Of course, the cost of energy is falling currently.

If we ever have energy costs similar to those in other countries, and higher energy taxes likely will be needed to maintain or improve our transportation infrastructure, CH should benefit significantly.

[Min-Chi-Cbus]

I'll say one thing about CH (or UH, for that matter): if the public schooling were great or even around average, the area would see an incredible resurgence. That's the main reason families like our own don't consider living there (crime is another), and I can only imagine how much demand there would be for housing in a suburb like CH/UH that's moderately urban and walkable, and highly accessible to the best parts of the metro area's east side (University Circle, Little Italy, Cleveland Clinic, and downtown)!

[Clevelander17]

Originally Posted by Min-Chi-Cbus

I'll say one thing about CH (or UH, for that matter): if the public schooling were great or even around average, the area would see an incredible resurgence. That's the main reason families like our own don't consider living there (crime is another), and I can only imagine how much demand there would be for housing in a suburb like CH/UH that's moderately urban and walkable, and highly accessible to the best parts of the metro area's east side (University Circle, Little Italy, Cleveland Clinic, and downtown)!

No disrespect, but it becomes tiring when people repeat this tired old line of thinking. Once again, the schools themselves are fine. The issue is the demographic makeup of the students/families that use the schools. It's not secret that Ohio's school ratings formula correlates very closely with the enrollment makeup of a district's enrollment. In other words, the higher percentage of poor students using the schools, the lower the test scores.

[maxmodder]

People wonder why the parents of a good student won't send their kids to a school that has worse test scores than say another school with better test scores that has "less walkable places"

Why won't CH boosters just accept that these parents know what's best for their kids and that their priorities are certainly NOT "let's move to CH and make it a better place!"

[SquareBetterThanAll]

Having maneuvered city/urban public schools, on one hand, I don't think scores tell the whole story. On the other hand, though, they do tell some of the story, and I will say that there is a tipping point where once a certain percentage of students are disinterested in being at school it really begins to negatively impact the students that want to be there. There may be some exceptions, but my experience bears out that the lower the test scores and rating of the school the more disinterested and disruptive students there are.

As someone who is casually familiar with Cleveland Heights and their schools and, if I were moving to the East Side, as someone who would greatly entertain living in Cleveland Heights precisely because of the walkable neighborhoods and aesthetic, I would pass on Cleveland Heights because of the schools. And this is as someone who lives in an urban neighborhood with a diverse socioeconomic makeup. Shaker, on the other hand, even though test scores and school ratings could be better, I feel isn't to the point of it being detrimental, and were I looking to move to that area, I would hands down be looking there instead.

Of course, then there's Shaker's taxes...