Affordable for retirees?? (Kent, Ashtabula: sale, rent, living)

[WRnative]

Originally Posted by Unicorn hunter

I just moved from Mansfield, as there was not enough there for me, but it, or some of those other towns mentioned, might work well for you.

Did I miss it? Where do you live now? Are you happier?

[retiredtxn]

Originally Posted by Transplant99

No offense to OP but this is comical. Is Cleveland affordable for retirees?! If you can't afford Cleveland, then you should consider a third world country. Data can be found online, but, yes, Cleveland is extremely affordable.

Have you read my response to Cleveland? Obviously not. We don't want Cleveland or any other metro city.

[Unicorn hunter]

Originally Posted by WRnative

Did I miss it? Where do you live now? Are you happier?

Yes, moved in May. Now live on the border of Cuyahoga and Lake County.....loving it so far! Proximity to Cleveland, Lake Erie and our old pals in Shaker Square can't be beat! Mansfield was just a bit dull for us, as well as too isolated and too politically conservative. So glad to be back in civilization!

[WRnative]

Originally Posted by Unicorn hunter

Yes, moved in May. Now live on the border of Cuyahoga and Lake County.....loving it so far! Proximity to Cleveland, Lake Erie and our old pals in Shaker Square can't be beat! Mansfield was just a bit dull for us, as well as too isolated and too politically conservative. So glad to be back in civilization!

Sounds very convenient! Hope you continue to enjoy it!!!

[hapaleeretired]

My brother would often tell me "the retirees are gonna find Youngstown". He'd go on and on about how inexpensive it is. I'd laugh and explain to him that retirees are very concerned about GOOD healthcare. He'd respond with there is GREAT healthcare in Pittsburgh or Cleveland and I'd explain to him that retirees didn't jump in their sports cars and drive those distances like he did. He'd explain to me about how many people working at Pittsburgh Airport especially pilots lived in Youngstown because it was SO much cheaper to do so. Sadly he passed away six years ago and he never got to say "I told you so" when I read an article touting Youngstown as an area of interest to retirees.

[WRnative]

Originally Posted by hapaleeretired

My brother would often tell me "the retirees are gonna find Youngstown". He'd go on and on about how inexpensive it is. I'd laugh and explain to him that retirees are very concerned about GOOD healthcare. He'd respond with there is GREAT healthcare in Pittsburgh or Cleveland and I'd explain to him that retirees didn't jump in their sports cars and drive those distances like he did. He'd explain to me about how many people working at Pittsburgh Airport especially pilots lived in Youngstown because it was SO much cheaper to do so. Sadly he passed away six years ago and he never got to say "I told you so" when I read an article touting Youngstown as an area of interest to retirees.

The Youngstown area apparently has some highly rated hospitals compared to most cities.

https://www.medicare.gov/care-compar...5&sort=closest

And it's less than hour from the Cleveland Clinic's Akron General Hospital, and only 80 minutes to the CC's main campus, one of the very top medical centers in the world.

Youngstown also is home to the Butler Institute of Art, an excellent art museum, and to the very good Mill Creek metro parks. Again, it's only 80 minutes from Cleveland pro sports and its cultural attractions, among the best in the country, as well as the same distance to the pro sports and cultural attractions, including the National Aviary and one of the nation's best natural history museums, in Pittsburgh.

Youngstown definitely is not a bad place to retire, especially if someone enjoys four seasons of weather, and winters there are now very mild compared to in the past.

[on3]

Youngstown? No
Mansfield? No

WR hit the nail on the head, get yourself some property in Conneaut or Andover and have a nice retirement. It’s quiet, relaxing, and you’ll have a nice lake.

If you want to be closer to things like Aldis and Marc’s while being on an even bigger lake, get a house on lake erie on lakeshore blvd somewhere between Mentor and Willowick although that’s a tall order because those homes on lakeshore don’t go for sale very often.

[WRnative]

Originally Posted by on3

If you want to be closer to things like Aldis and Marc’s while being on an even bigger lake, get a house on lake erie on lakeshore blvd somewhere between Mentor and Willowick although that’s a tall order because those homes on lakeshore don’t go for sale very often.

How is Lake Erie in Lake County bigger than in Conneaut? I suspect you were referring to Andover's proximity to Pymatuning Lake, which certainly is smaller than Lake Erie.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pymatu...ate_Park_(Ohio)

[retiredtxn]

Originally Posted by mshultz

Ohio is probably cheaper than Pennsylvania. It is certainly cheaper if you will be leaving a large estate, as Pennsylvania has an inheritance tax. Ohio has neither an estate tax nor an inheritance tax. In Ohio, unlike Pennsylvania, all property tax increases require a vote. School districts do not set property tax rates; voters must approve any increases. Many school districts now have income taxes, based on either total income or just earned income. Voters must approve any school district income tax, along with any municipal income tax increase beyond the base rate of 1%.

There are no mandatory vehicle inspections in Ohio. Cuyahoga, Geauga, Lake, Lorain, Medina, Portage, and Summit counties require E-Check every 2 years; the other 81 counties do not. Like Pennsylvania, there is no personal property tax, so license & registration are cheap. You can register your vehicles for up to 5 years at a time. I have synchronized my license & registration so that they are both due every 4 years. Before bringing an out-of-state vehicle into Ohio, triple-check to make sure the VIN on the title matches the VIN on the vehicle.

Like Pennsylvania, Vanguard offers a tax-exempt municipal bond fund for Ohio. In Ohio, Ohio municipal bonds are free from federal, state, city, & school income taxes. This is especially desirable in school districts with total income taxes. I own Ohio municipal bonds, both through the Vanguard fund and as individual bonds.

Ohio libraries tend to belong to consortiums. My Wayne county library card allow me access to all 47 CLEVNET libraries.

All good information...thank you. This is what I've been asking for

[Kerby W-R]

Originally Posted by WRnative

There are three Aldis in Erie and one in Ashtabula. There are none in Conneaut. If you visit northeast Ohio or northwestern PA, checking out an Aldi is a good idea if you have no familiarity with them. Some Aldi stores have been modernized and are larger.

There is no Marc's east of Madison, OH.

If you visit Lorain, check out the Meijer in Avon. Meijer stores are large stores like Super Wal-Marts. They are very price competitive, cheaper than Wal-Mart and grocery chains like Giant Eagle and even Marc's and Aldi for certain products, especially with sales and "Mperks" electronic coupons.

Lake County in Ohio (I provided a link in my first post) offers a unique advantage for seniors. It has door-to-door mass transit vans, equipped with wheel chair lifts, with discounted rates for seniors and veterans.

https://laketran.com/dial-a-ride/

The Cleveland Clinic is building a new hospital in Mentor and University Hospitals is taking over the modern, conveniently located TriPoint Medical Center at the intersection of I-90 and Route 44. Lake County has great beaches and several marinas and boat launches. There are fishing piers in Fairport and perhaps other locations. Mentor has a Meijer store. Fairport Harbor has several condo complexes on Lake Erie and on the Grand River.

Senior centers and libraries generally are very good in Ohio.

There are many semi-rural areas in Lake County, but likely more expensive than in Erie. Painesville, just south of Fairport Harbor, likely offers the cheapest housing options, but stick to areas south of Mentor Ave. and Main Street; the exception to this rule are the quaint streets running between Mentor Ave. and Jackson St. near the excellent YMCA/Painesville Senior Center (it's a mammoth Y with a couple pools). Painesville owns all of its utilities apart from natural gas, and rates are very low. While it's in Greater Cleveland, Painesville is a city of comparable age to Cleveland, with an historic town square. It's the county seat. Painesville utilities also extend into Painesville Township and Concord Township, which has more modern housing on larger lots.

Just east of Painesville on Mentor Ave. are several grocery stores -- Giant Eagle, Marc's, Sav-a-Lot, and Aldi, with more stores including a Target, Wal-Mart, Lowe's and Meijer even before reaching the Great Lakes Mall and additional strip shopping centers. Mentor has one of the largest retail complexes in Ohio. Home Depot, Sam's Club and Menard's (a very large home supply warehouse store) located off Heisley Road just south of its intersection with Route 2.

Lake County is an extraordinarily convenient place to live, with little of the congestion found in many metro areas such as in California. This is partially because, even though it is the smallest county in Ohio in area, it has three freeways serving the county (I-90, Route 2 and Route 44) along with Route 20 and several state roads.

One annoyance in northeast Ohio is that Ohio has boosted natural gas payments to the natural gas companies to aid in the rebuilding of Ohio's aged natural gas infrastructure. The base monthly fee for East Ohio Gas, not including the cost of natural gas, now is $36/month. Rebuilding the natural gas infrastructure will be an issue in Erie and other older communities.

We have Marc's in Boardman's Tiffany Plaza.