Completely OT -- help me decide where to live

[Mickey'snewestfan]

I'm a single mom, and DS and I live in Washington D.C. where things, especially housing, can be really expensive. I'm thinking about leaving my current job at the end of next year, and finding something new. I'm also wondering if I should move to a new place altogether, someplace more affordable.

I'm a special educator -- a field that's in pretty high demand, so I figure jobwise I could probably move anywhere in the country. I can also work in rural, urban, suburban areas -- I'd like to live close to where I work so that I can spend as much time with DS as possible.

Basically what I want is someplace:

1) Racially diverse -- DS is African American and I'm white. It's important to him and to me that he live in a neighborhood and attend school where we both feel like we fit in, and there are at least a few other interracial families.

2) Great public schools -- since I'm a teacher I'm pretty picky about where I send my child to school, since I'll be working for the school system I'd like them to have good special ed. as well. Alternatively I'd consider working in a not-so great school system (more of an opportunity to make a difference) if there was a great reasonably priced private school that I could send DS to.

3) Nice neighborhood -- I'd like to live in a neighborhood that's safe, where there are other children and amenities relatively close by (grocery stores, library, soccer fields, swimming pools etc . . . ). I love living in the city now with all the amenities, but DS loves anything outdoors, so the country might be wonderful too, as long as we weren't TOO far from a city if I felt like we needed it.

4) Affordable housing. I figure that based on the "no more than 30% of your income on housing" strategy I'd be able to afford about $1400 a month in rent. In my current neighborhood that will get you an efficiency apartment. I could also move a nice neighborhood in the suburbs and get a one bedroom for that, maybe a 2 if I really try. But I know that there are other places in the country where I could use that money and get a small house with a backyard to play in and a sidewalk out front for him to ride his bike and scooter up and down, or better yet get a mortgage and use that money to build up equity.

5) Not too far from D.C. -- I'd like to live somewhere where if DS misses Grandma we could drive back and visit for the weekend. I'm thinking 6 hours or less?? If that's not possible someplace served by a discount airline might work as well.

So, is this a pipe dream? Does anyone live in a community like this? If so, please tell me!

Thank you!

 

[kellyg403]

I am from the DC area. Moved to NC for the military and ending up staying after my divorce because of the high cost of living in the DC area. We are about 5 hours from home (Fred. VA) and the cost of living is great here. I rent a 5 bedroom 2 story home for 650.00 a month. I am about 5 minutes from the mall, the ocean etc. The downside is that we are pretty far away from the "cultural" things you would find in DC such as museums and the mall here is nothing at considering we are used to Potomac Mills and Springfield Mall. I decided to rent when I was single because I didn't want the extra burden of having to upkeep a home on a fixed income. Since I wasn't real sure if I would get child support every month, I did everything based on my income and the CS was gravy. Very different from DC but good all the same! Believe it or not, my kids used to moan when I said lets go to the zoo in DC, now that we have moved away they are excited to go everytime we visit relatives!

Kelly

 

[Yensid_MD]

Look into the outer banks. The school systems are supposed to be very good because they get a disproportionate amount of funding due to high tourism. Housing is affordable as long as you dont want to live on the beach. The down side is there is no big city near by.

 

[CleveRocks]

It's not near DC, but in terms of peaceful and wonderful racial diversity, affordability, and superb quality of life, let me suggest Cleveland Heights, OH, a suburb of Cleveland. Cleveland Heights is the best of all worlds. It's a small city of 50,000, nestled in between Cleveland's east side and other "inner ring" suburbs such as the very upscale (and also racially diverse, but different) Shaker Heights, OH.

When you think of cultural and academic resourcesin a big city, you usually think of them being in the downtown area. In Cleveland, almost all of them are on the east side, in the area adjacent to Cleveland Heights. There's Case Western Reserve University and its hospital system, University Hospitals of Cleveland. There's also the huge healthcare megaplex called Cleveland Clinic, a world-class medical center. There's also Cleveland's art museum, science museum, art institute, symphony orchestra, botanical gardens, etc. This all leads to a very multi-cultural, "crunchy" population in much of Cleveland Heights. When I lived there (for three years), I was walking distance from 2 Indian restaurants, 2 Thai restaurants, 2 Middle Eastern restaurants, a Greek restaurant, vegetarian soul food restaurant, a few rib joints, and a Kosher supermarket.

My street itself was totally racially mixed. it's like someone took equal numbers of whites, blacks and Asians and sprinkled them liberally throughout the city. Shaker Heights also has racial diversity by numbers, but street by street it's not mixed. The city of Cleveland itself is also non-integrated. Cleveland Heights is a wonderful little oasis. I think between the academics, the artsy crowd and the medical people, the town became this nice little melting pot while everything around it remains segregated.

The housing stock is mostly old but incredibly charming. There are no new housing developments. There are no "inner city" type areas but there are large areas with estate-like homes. The town shares a beautiful park system with the city of East Cleveland, the most economically depressed town in Cuyahoga County.

No place is perfect, but I LOVED LOVED LOVED Cleveland Heights. We were there for three years while my wife did some medical training. We could've lived our whole lives there, but we wanted our future children to be closer to family (all are in Philadelphia), so we moved to the Atlantic City, NJ area. My particular little beach town is also very racially diverse (I live next to one of the ballfields, and a few times a week there is a pick-up game of CRICKET, and it's kids of all ethnic groups, not just the ones of Indian descent). BUT, the real estate prices have skyrocketed. My home's value has tripled since I bought it 6 years ago.

Anyway, I know Cleveland Heights is a hike from DC, but I thought I'd share, anyway. And by the way, Southwest flies non-stops between CLE and BWI.

 

[juligrl]

I'll bite, why not, I'm hometown proud!

Come a little north to Pittsburgh, PA!

The town I'm from is Monroeville (monroeville.pa.us), a nice, racially diverse, suburb about an easy 15 minute drive into downtown Pittsburgh. Gateway schools have been Blue Ribbon Schools for Excellence (if that means anything to you).

Job opportunities would probably be abundant in your field in the area due to the fact that there are so many school districts nearby. Monroeville truly defines the term suburb.

As far as the town itself, Monroeville Mall is a draw for a lot of the surrounding communities. Of course there is a Target, KMart (no WalMart though), tons of chain Restaurants and just about any store you could imagine.
The municipality is currently constructing a new, bigger and better municipal park. When completed it will boast multiple athletic fields, new indoor and outdoor pools (at last I heard) along with picnic shelters and play areas. Mind you they already have numerous facilities like these in just about every neighborhood in the town, they're just building one huge one!

As far as affordable housing goes, the Pittsburgh region has not really seen some of the outrageous housing prices a lot of other metropolitan areas have experienced. DH and I just built a brand new 2550 sq ft house for under 250k last year. I know in DC it's hard to find apartments for less than our mortgage payments.
When we lived in Monroeville area, we owned our house and our mortgage payment was maybe $700/mo. Lots of reasonably priced, but older (mid 1960's) homes can be found at very reasonable prices. $1400/mo could easily get you a nice 4 bedroom home with a good sized backyard in a "newer" neighborhood (late 1970's).

We're an easy drive to D.C. -- only about 4 hours by car, basically 2 major roadways, the PA Turpike and I-70. DH and I do that roadtrip frequently!

Other bonuses to the Pittsburgh region -- we have the Steelers to be proud of! Okay not a reason to relocate, but fun none the less. Our airport is really nice. There are all different types of communities around here and if one doesn't suit you, another just might.

And oh yeah, we had Mr. Rogers too, so at the risk of sounding cheesy "Won't you be my neighbor?"

Good luck on your home search!

 

[Mickey'snewestfan]

I had to laugh when someone posted Cleveland Heights. My best friend and her family live there and everytime I visit I think "This is where we should live". My goal in posting this was to find a "Cleveland Heights" type place a little closer to my mom -- but Southwest is a good point.

Monroeville sounds great too -- what are the schools like there?

Also, what part of North Carolina? Any suggestions on a nice, racially integrated town or city?

 

[kellyg403]

I had to laugh when someone posted Cleveland Heights. My best friend and her family live there and everytime I visit I think "This is where we should live". My goal in posting this was to find a "Cleveland Heights" type place a little closer to my mom -- but Southwest is a good point.

Monroeville sounds great too -- what are the schools like there?

Also, what part of North Carolina? Any suggestions on a nice, racially integrated town or city?

We live in the Wilmington area. I would say that we are very multiracial community. My daughter is white and her husband is African American. We have never encountered any sorts of bias. Being in the South I was afraid for her that there would be a great deal and had many conversations re: the ideals of such here in the south. However, even when I take my grandson out I have never felt anything negative. We are a military town so I would say that contributes a great deal to the diversity.

As for the schools here. I am partial to the schools my children attend. Magnet schools. But overral I felt the school system for my area is great. Again, they get a lot of extra funding for supporting the military community.

HTH...Be glad to answer anything else you might need to know!

Kelly

 

[samano]

Raleigh, North Carolina!!!!

I'm originally from Maryland, lived there my whole life until I move to NC to go to college. I've been here ever since.

My DD's b-day party is starting shortly, so I don't have a lot of time to go in to all the details, but I couldn't resist jumping in here to tell you what a great community I live in! I too, am a single mom, so I can appreciate those challenges.

Raleigh is a racially diverse community, excellent school system (nationally recognized for it's racial diversity - article in the New York Times recently, sorry I don't have time to search for it now). I was just thinking about my DS's kindergarten class this year, there were 3 bi-racial students in just his class alone.

I live 5 minutes from a great mall, 3 minutes from Super Target, 2 minutes from a park with a huge lake.

Not sure if you are intersted in buying a house, but for the money you are willing to spend on rent, you could buy something great here. I bought my first house a year ago. It's a brand new townhouse (the HOA takes care of the yard!), and my mortgage payment is about half of what you are willing to spend on rent. Great neighborhood, very peaceful in spite of all the kids around. They play together and ride bikes on the sidewalk all summer.

Also, my mom still lives in Maryland. It is a 4 hour drive from my driveway to hers, when we need to go see grandma for the weekend!!!

I'll try to find you some links to other great things about Raleigh when we get back this evening!!

 

[hannahsmomma]

I just had to add the Hampton Roads area to the list. I am in Chesapeake and we have one of the best school systems in the country. We own a townhouse that we rent out for 1300 a month. It is 3 bedrooms 2 baths with a loft, nice backyard, and a wonderful community. I love chesapeake, because it is a suburb in the country, but you are 20 minutes from Downtown Norfolk and 20 minutes from the Ocean.Plus it is only about a 4 hour drive to DC.

BTW I saw someone post the Outerbanks. I would not live there. Have spent every summer there most of my life and have good friends who live there. There is not much to do at all in the winter. All you have is the beach. If you have any questions about our area, you can email me at foto101@aol.com.

Jaclyn

 

[juligrl]

Monroeville sounds great too -- what are the schools like there?

The school system is great! About 4,300 in the district, 5 elementary schools, 2 middle schools (5-6 & 7-8), and a high school. A good number of National Merit Scholars. Check out their website gatewayk12.org

 

[la79al]

Southern PA somewhere. 2ish hours from DC but more rural friendly towns. Hanover area has good schools and is racially diverse.

 

[emma'smom]

I had to laugh when someone posted Cleveland Heights. My best friend and her family live there and everytime I visit I think "This is where we should live". My goal in posting this was to find a "Cleveland Heights" type place a little closer to my mom -- but Southwest is a good point.

Monroeville sounds great too -- what are the schools like there?

Also, what part of North Carolina? Any suggestions on a nice, racially integrated town or city?

We live in Wooster, OH (about 45 minutes from Cleveland Heights). I wouldn't put Wooster on the suggestion list because it isn't racially diverse enough (IMO). However, I did want to say that we regularly drive to DC area to visit my best friend for week-ends and overnights. It isn't a bad drive at all.

If you already have a friend in Cleveland Heights....and you liked Cleveland Heights, than you might think more seriously about it. It is nice to have a friend (read- support system) in place and Cleveland is a great city!

We moved to Ohio from NYC and folks thought we'd never survive outside of "the big city", but we love it! We still love going back to NYC to visit...but we have found all the "culture" we need on a regular basis right in Cleveland.

 

[emma'smom]

I had to laugh when someone posted Cleveland Heights. My best friend and her family live there and everytime I visit I think "This is where we should live". My goal in posting this was to find a "Cleveland Heights" type place a little closer to my mom -- but Southwest is a good point.

Monroeville sounds great too -- what are the schools like there?

Also, what part of North Carolina? Any suggestions on a nice, racially integrated town or city?

We live in Wooster, OH (about 45 minutes from Cleveland Heights). I wouldn't put Wooster on the suggestion list because it isn't racially diverse enough (IMO). However, I did want to say that we regularly drive to DC area to visit my best friend for week-ends and overnights. It isn't a bad drive at all.

If you already have a friend in Cleveland Heights....and you liked Cleveland Heights, than you might think more seriously about it. It is nice to have a friend (read- support system) in place and Cleveland is a great city!

We moved to Ohio from NYC and folks thought we'd never survive outside of "the big city", but we love it! We still love going back to NYC to visit...but we have found all the "culture" we need on a regular basis right in Cleveland.