Sell me on returning to Ohio ! (Columbus, Cleveland: rent, house, employment)

[Storekeeper]

Background:

I joined the Navy at the age of 17 in 1979 and left Ohio. Since I left I've lived 11 years in WA state, 11 years in Japan, 3 in Hawaii, 3 in Guam and 3 years in Thailand. Now after all these years I have the bug to return to OH.

If I go back then I would want to live in Holmes County or maybe Wayne County. It's going to be either OH or WA for me.

I spent 28 years in the Navy, have a Masters degree and a Thai wife and step-daughter. I've got lots of family back in OH. And I have 2 sons and 2 brothers and my mother who live in WA now.

Not worried about a job. I'll find one. Not worried about politics ... I vote for the person not the party. Don't want to be in a place dominated by either political party. Don't want to be surrounded by liberal elitist know it alls or far right wing religous know it alls either.

Is there somebody in this forum who can sell me on the idea of OH ?

[OhioIstheBest]

I spent a few years at Ft Lewis in Tacoma. Now live in Columbus.

I love Washington. If I ever leave Ohio it would be on the top of my list.

I'm guessing you were somewhere near Seattle?

My impression is Washington, Seattle area anyway, is very liberal. And people think you are odd if you do not agree with them. Ohio is much more evenly split. I would say even the liberals here are more conservative than liberals in Washington. I never got the impression that Ohio is dominated by religious people though. I don't make a habit of going to church and nobody has ever said anything to me about it.

Washington=Liberal
Ohio= slightly conservative.

Ohio is much, much cheaper also. I dont even think it is close. Again, assuming you would be in western Washington. The cost of a house is probably half of that in Washington.

As far as employment goes Ohio is as good as anywhere for the most part.

And you proably remember what the weather is like. Much less rain here.

Like I said I really liked Washington and am glad I got the chance to live there. But I don't regret coming back to Ohio. Not at all.

I do miss Mt Ranier, British Columbia and all the outdoorsy stuff. I'm gonna have to plan a vacation out there.

[Storekeeper]

Hey ... thanks for the reply. Yes, I spent all of my time in Western Washington. 3 years in Oak Harbor and the rest in Bremerton. And you're right about WA being mostly liberal. Bremerton is OK because of the large retired military population and bases there. Bremerton is also great because it's only an hour ferry ride across Puget Sound to Seahawks and Mariners games.

But you don't get anything but major brands when it comes to things like syrup for the pancakes, potato chips ... food period is better back east. I need some trail bologna ! There are hardly any decent Mom & Pop type restaurants in WA. Just the chain operations.

And county fairs suck compared to OH. And the village fairs in OH can't be beat as well.

You're right about house and land prices. I figure I can get an acre for about $4000 where I want to go in OH and at this point in life a really nice manufactured home would be good to go. Land where I'm currently at is a heck of a lot more expensive for an acre than $4K.

Thanks for the reply mate.

[RememberMee]

Holmes county, $4000/acre? If you'll find that, let me know.

[Cherron]

Family is most important to me. So if I were you, I would ask myself which relatives I enjoy being around the most and choose my location accordingly. I can't speak for WA but the area you are talking about in OH is wonderful. Wooster is a big enough town to find most services and there's nothing quite like the food in Amish Country. If you haven't been back here for awhile, come visit. It's grown a lot!

[carmella32]

I spent a couple years in MO and a couple years in SC... and I just moved back to Ohio a couple months ago. The ONLY reason I moved back was because of my family. I'm getting married and settling down, so we knew we wanted to be back where both our families are from. However, I hate snow! That was the reason I moved in the first place. I'm kind of miserable right now, considering we got about 20 inches Saturday and I spent 3 hours shoveling my driveway. But, all in all, the weather in the summer is PERFECT, family is the most important thing, and I can live with the snow for a few months a year (I suppose).

Another benefit of living in Ohio, if the government does go crazy in the next few years (which I wouldn't doubt), it's a quick flee to Canada

As for the cost of living, I have never lived that far west, but WA seems like its a lot pricier than here. And in Ohio, you won't get washed into the ocean (just kidding... kind of..)

Good luck!

[Storekeeper]

Well, thanks for the replies. But, the story of my life is every time I thik it's time to plant roots another door opens ... I've taken a job that will have me in Japan for the next 3-5 years. I just can't turn it down ... but it sure would be nice to go back home to OH ! I miss it !

[Peregrine]

Originally Posted by carmella32

I'm kind of miserable right now, considering we got about 20 inches Saturday and I spent 3 hours shoveling my driveway.

Two words for you: SNOW BLOWER.
My driveway shovel time went from 3 hours to 20 minutes. I actually enjoy clearing the driveway now!

[csl7733]

Storekeeper, I share your views. I live in Kirkland, WA, and I'm originally from Ohio. I want to move back, too, and this was the perfect conversation. I miss Ohio a lot! I've lived in New Hampshire, Michigan, Minnesota, California and Washington (not in that order). I've lived in WA for ten years. You're absolutely right about the food; for the first time in my life I'd rather eat at home than go out. All chains; no family-owned restaurants because no one can afford the rent to have their own business. This brings me to the next topic: the cost of living is ridiculous. Our home is decent but we paid a lot for it, and my husband and I have to work constantly to pay all of our bills, especially now that we have two young kids. I would love to buy a house in Cleveland for under $150,000.

Thanks to "OHIO IS THE BEST" for saying that you have no regrets for having moved back. This is encouraging to me. Since I haven't lived in Ohio since 1990, I'm a little afraid that I'm not remembering it accurately. But it sounds like you're happy there. The thing is that I am liberal and Ohio is generally very politically conservative. But I'm hoping that I'll find my niche in whatever city I live.

So will you please address the cost of living issue? People in WA seem to think that one makes a lot less money in Ohio. I think that the cost of living in Ohio is less than half of what it is in Washington, but I reject the idea that people in Ohio get paid less than half of what Washingtonians do. Please fill in the blanks. I remember Ohio as being affordable enough so that you had leftover money to have fun and go shopping and eat out and have parties...all of which I don't feel that I can do here in suburban Seattle. We scrimp a lot.

Regarding weather, I'm okay with winter. I like winter. But I must admit that milder winters are easier to handle. This winter in WA it's been mostly in the upper 40s and sometimes mid-50s which is nice. I can't complain. In Ohio how long are the winters? November to March? What are the daily highs and lows? 20s? 30s?

Politically, is it a pretty tolerant place? I'm Asian and politically liberal. Will my children and I be ridiculed or will we be okay? I remember Ohians as being the nicest people, and I've only appreciated it more as I've gotten older since people on the west coast are NOT as kind or generous.

Thank you so much for this conversation. It's been helpful. I'd love to hear more of your views on living in Ohio and what you like and don't like about it.

[Peregrine]

Good post CSL. I like the questions that you asked.

Re: Cost of living. Yea, it is much cheaper here. And no, the same guy doing my job in WA is NOT making two times what I make. Maybe 25% more. That's it. So figure similar positions here in Cleveland pay 25% less. At best. But when your house costs 3 times less???
I paid 175,000 for an amazingly nice house in Cleveland proper. Without fail everyone who sees my house is amazed at how nice my house is.
A friend of mine that has lived in Denver, Austin, New Orleans and Atlanta just about keeled over when I told her what I paid. "This would be a $350,000 house in Austin" she tells me. Austin! Where the cost of living isn't much higher then it is here.... except for housing.
So yes we might make less then what WA people make... but it is nowhere near HALF of what they make. The avg salary in CLE PROPER is $27,000. That is low because most of the poorest people are concentrated IN Cleveland which brings the average down.
The average salary in the County is almost $50. I sincerely doubt WA is two and three times that much, on average.
Even the restaurants are cheaper here. My friend from DC spent a week with me and wanted to go out to eat every night. Why? She couldn't get enough of MEALS COSTING UNDER $7.00! I was floored by that comment. She also enjoyed our $5.50 cigarette packs (which are almost $8.00 in DC).

Re: Winters: I won't sugarcoat it. They are long, miserable, and cold. Until this recent warm spell I don't think we broke 40 degrees for 3-4 weeks straight. That's slightly unusual. 3 or 4 times per year we get BAD snowstorms. Which again proved true this year. Other then those it isn't bad at all, really.
The past few years have seen some mild winters as far as length goes, but snow and cold has not diminished. A few years ago we could bet that there would be snow in April. Not so the last 3 years. It has warmed in March and not snowed until December for the past 3 years. GO GLOBAL WARMING!! We actually had a pretty warm NOVEMBER for the last two years. It has been nice. Spring is some times slow to get started here. April is usually rainy and more like fall temps then spring temps. It's a crap shoot, though. Some Aprils are just the opposite.

Re: Politics. Ohio in general is VERY tolerant on just about everything. Cleveland especially. Cleveland is almost an exact opposite politically of the rest of this podunk state. lol

Lastly, what do I like about Ohio? To be 100% honest, I hate Ohio.... but I like Cleveland. I wouldn't live in Columbus, Cincy, Toledo (maybe Toledo... only because of Lake Erie proximity)... anywhere else in this state. We are more open minded, we are less rural, we are better looking (lol) and we have this big huge lake to play on. We have everything the major cities have, just not as much. Quality over quantity. As I often tell my New York friend, you may have 1,500 Italian restaurants (of which only 50 are really good), but we have 30 that are out of this world. And they don't take an hour to get to. I like diversity and we have it in spades. We have a Chinatown, a little Italy, Slovak Village, and even a "little Middle East" complete with a "Hookah House". lol
The only thing really missing is good German food. Sadly we have like TWO German restaurants in the entire city.... and I am being generous. I only know of ONE. I like museums and no city our size has better ones then we do. Our zoo is awesome. "Rush Hour" here is a joke compared to most cities. We have a pretty good (but not amazing) transit system which makes getting downtown SO easy.
The only drawbacks to Cleveland, IMO, is:
1 - Winter (with the right tools i.e. a good car and a snowblower it is manageable)
2 - Corrupt leaders (show me a city that doesn't, although Cleveland is the poster child for poorly run cities... but that is changing we hope)
3 - Poor self esteem. Far to many Clevelanders think "Cleveland sucks". These are the same suburbanites that never leave thier dinky little suburbs to actually go out and enjoy this great little town of ours.