How is life in OH, MI and PA?

[wctriumph]

I have been contacted by a recruiter about employment with a territory that covers OH, MI and PA. The chance of getting the position is slim but my experience at the job type may out weigh my lack of knowledge with the overall territory.

Question:

Where would be the best place to live with my family in those three states?

I will not be looking at the larger cities, as long as I am within a three to four hour drive of a major airport I will be good to go on location.

Thanks for the feedback.

[HoneyBadger]

Avoid Ohio and Eastern Michigan like the plague... not kidding. West Michigan is nice, but it's not really a central location for the three states. If you have to live in Ohio, find a small town within about 50 miles of Lake Erie. All three states get lots of wet, heavy snow in the winter and have lots of cloudy days... not like sunny Colorado at all!

[Great-Kazoo]

PA is the most firearm friendly of the bunch.

[kidicarus13]

If I had to chose, NE OH isn't too bad or western PA but stay out of Cleveland and Akron = lots of crime. Detroit and most of its suburbs is an armpit ranking #1 on my list of places I will not live under any circustance. Columbus has a lot of nice suburbs if you're into that kind of thing. Upper Penisula is nice in the summer but probably not practical for your job. Westerrn OH is as flat as a board while eastern OH is quite hilly. The weather in the region is cold and very cloudy in the winter, hot and muggy in the summer with lots of bugs. You will so miss Colorado, I wouldn't even bother buying a house there ...although they are pretty cheap. Plenty of places to shoot and hunt though.

[wctriumph]

All bits of info good to know.

Anybody else have an opinion?

[sniper7]

I've got plenty of family in OH. Towns like Mansfield, Akron-Canton, and Youngstown.

Lots of Union workers supporting the american brand car factories.

Stay away from Cleveland if you can. Not as bad as Detroit, but not much better IMO.

You will find a much more diverse population in those states.

My Dads side all grew up out there, went to school there. All of them became teachers. All excelled in sports. Sports are BIG out there. My uncle who just turned 70 still goes to every high school football game.

My Dads best friend watches almost every high school game all year long for baseball, basketball and football. He watched Lebron James since he was in 8th grade. They love their sports.

I'm guessing you would range from Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Akron, Toledo and Detroit?

Pretty easy driving between all those, plenty of direct flights out of DTW, AKO, PIT all back home here to CO. CVG isn't too terribly far either, not sure if you would be down that way or not.

Winters do suck. Lots of Trees = lots of bugs.
If you are into hunting, PA has some great hunting. Michigan has some great fishing, plenty of good hunting, great bird hunting.
Housing is cheap in a lot of those areas, much cheaper that around here. And you can get a ton of trees on your property, plenty of privacy.

Lake Erie and Michigan can create some pretty wicked weather. There are plenty of times where I remember flying in and snow was piled 40+ feet up in the areas where the plows had to move it.

Lots of Amish are in Ohio, so you can get some great furniture!

[Great-Kazoo]

All bits of info good to know.

Anybody else have an opinion?


That's a loaded question.

[wctriumph]

Right now the wife is against moving farther east (her family is all in CA as is mine) but I look forward to new adventures. Not knowing anything of the area I have been looking at my atlas and I need a better atlas.

Right now I am waiting for the head hunter to send me the job details and compensation package offer. If I am offered the job I will need to high tail my butt out there and move the family in the next 30 days or less. The company will not pay for the move which makes it a bit of a priority to know where to land.

All the info provided so far is very helpful and I appreciate it.

[Ah Pook]

Spent ten years in OH. Never want to go back. Seriously.

Not sun. No public lands. No good beer. No good food.

Pretty fall and good architecture.

[kidicarus13]

Spent ten years in OH. Never want to go back. Seriously.

Not sun. No public lands. No good beer. No good food.

Pretty fall and good architecture.

Sure there's good beer... http://www.greatlakesbrewing.com , http://thirstydog.com/news/beers.php
OP, what are your priorities as far as finding a place to live besides you have a family and do not want to move to a big city?

[wctriumph]

Sure there's good beer... http://www.greatlakesbrewing.com , http://thirstydog.com/news/beers.php
OP, what are your priorities as far as finding a place to live besides you have a family and do not want to move to a big city?

Privacy, reasonable rent, low crime potential, modern stores and conveniences within a 20 minute drive, open space nearby, good beer and restaurants, decent people. The same things we enjoy here in CO.

[Bowtie]

I have spent 2 weeks last year in Maumee Ohio, its a suburb of Toledo. It was nice. Bland but nice.That area seemed to have alot of potential. Its 60 minutes from Detroit.

[Ah Pook]

I have spent 2 weeks last year in Maumee Ohio, its a suburb of Toledo. It was nice. Bland but nice.That area seemed to have alot of potential. Its 60 minutes from Detroit.
And about an hour from Ann Arbor.

I spent one of the coldest winters on record in Toledo. [Freeze]

[fairrpe86]

Now sure how housing prices are, but my parents use to live in Marysville, OH...northern suburb of Columbus and they seemed to like it. it had the smaller town feel and was a bit out of town, but still had everything you needed.

[wctriumph]

Thanks guys for the great opinions and information, it is helpful. Wife still doesn't like the idea but the compensation (I haven't seen it all) so far looks to double what I make now. I should know everything on Monday.

In the meantime, if anybody has anything else to add...

[Ed_S]

I used to live in PA until I moved here in '06.
Worst things I encountered was the fact that the Klan was still active and it’s difficult to buy beer on a Sunday as most beverage stores are closed!
On the plus side car registration is really cheap compared to here!

[tmckay2]

man i don't know. i grew up in the midwest, have travelled around it a lot. it kinda blows, especially weather wise. cold, cloudy, and rainy a lot of the time and in the summer its hot and muggy as hell. nothing much to do outdoors. best bet in the midwest would be wisconsin, some parts of pennsylvania are nice. ohio is meh, michigan pretty much the same save for a few parts where there are less people and more mountainy type areas. ive been around a lot of the country and have never found a place as good as colorado when you factor in everything. id think very long and hard about moving.

[bogie]

I'm from Ohio and will vouch for the cloudiness based on 30 years of experience. However, compared to michigan it's much better in almost every way (less snowmobiling) not to mention that at least it usually swings red in elections. If you want to see how liberal voting and union excesses killed middle america then go to michigan or pennsylvania. Same with northern ohio. It's a shithole hotbed of welfare. Southern Ohio is the best part of the state. Very conservative until you get to the far south east. The south is also by far the most scenic part of the state and has some of the best hunting i've ever seen. There are national forests, lots of outdoor stuff to do. Sparsely populated too. And very good people.


Spent ten years in OH. Never want to go back. Seriously.

Not sun. No public lands. No good beer. No good food.

Pretty fall and good architecture.

Fail, you lived in northern ohio? OP I'll give you any information on all three categories if you're interested.


Avoid Ohio and Eastern Michigan like the plague... not kidding. West Michigan is nice, but it's not really a central location for the three states. If you have to live in Ohio, find a small town within about 50 miles of Lake Erie. All three states get lots of wet, heavy snow in the winter and have lots of cloudy days... not like sunny Colorado at all!

Lake Erie is nice, but it snows a lot due to "lake effect". And the snow doesn't melt like it does here. You'll see 10 ft high dirty snowbanks in all the parking lots up north by February. Also yes, small towns are great. You can actually afford to buy property in any of the three states you listed if that is interesting to you. You're money has probably at least 20% more buying power in the midwest than it does here. But I would avoid the north for the political reasons and the snow.

I certainly love Colorado. But you can find a nice life elsewhere if you have to go for your career. Ignore the haters and look for the positive side to everything. If you need any information, just let me know.

[wctriumph]

Awesome info guys, keep it coming.

[SuperiorDG]

My x-wife's family live in a small town on the Allegany river near I-80. Lots of places to shoot and hunt, property is cheap, and it has a real small town style of living. It is also within a couple hours drive to both Akron and Pittsburgh airports. If you can get a job there it would be a good place to live.

[espAmerica]

The real questions is what do YOU want from a place to live? Urban, suburban, country? Activities - Cultural, sports, outdoor? Climate issues? With more info on what you would want it would be easier to make suggestions.

[fairrpe86]

Not sure how much it matters, but I do remember my parents complaining about property taxes being much higher in OH than they were here. They were able to afford a lot more house out there, but then when property taxes hit it was a wash at best.

[Irving]

I have friends that live in OH now and they say that everything is way cheaper. They can insure all three cars AND house out there for nearly as much as ONE car out here. I think the property taxes might be a little higher, but not enough to make it a wash.

[Ah Pook]

Did real estate appraisal, in OH, for a couple of years. Prices were WAY cheaper than CO. Taxable % seems to be comparable to CO but value was less.

My parents live in TN. When I'm there I will pick up a real estate guide. There are houses for 20k. Granted, they are not much of a house but considering 20k will not cover the price of the land here, it's definitely cheaper.

Didn't notice a difference in ins. in OH to CO but it's been a few years. 20k tires did last me close to 60k in OH though. 40k tires last just over 20k now, in CO.

[wctriumph]

Well, most of you seem the feel Ohio is the place to be. I prefer to be in an area that has a smaller town feel with open land around. Not necessarily looking to buy a house right away if I am offered and accept the job, will look to rent for a year or two to be sure the job will work out and learn where we really want to live. It is a reasonably good sized territory to cover so I will get to look around a little after I establish a stable base.

I appreciate all the info and please feel free to continue with anything else you can add.

[bogie]

Well, most of you seem the feel Ohio is the place to be. I prefer to be in an area that has a smaller town feel with open land around. Not necessarily looking to buy a house right away if I am offered and accept the job, will look to rent for a year or two to be sure the job will work out and learn where we really want to live. It is a reasonably good sized territory to cover so I will get to look around a little after I establish a stable base.

I appreciate all the info and please feel free to continue with anything else you can add.

I completely understand your reasoning, but you may want to reconsider this for two reasons: 2.5% interest rates and the increasing home value. Even within only a few years, at ~2.5% you would have considerable equity in a home. This only works out if you are in a neighborhood where homes sell relatively quickly. A little research will help you determine if that is true. You are also betting on increasing home values. They are on the rise in many parts of OHio now.

So would your sales area be the entire state of Ohio and portions of MI and PA? Are you interested in being in the geographical center of your would-be region? I could let you know specific areas to consider if you could give me an idea of the major cities you would be traveling to.

[wctriumph]

I completely understand your reasoning, but you may want to reconsider this for two reasons: 2.5% interest rates and the increasing home value. Even within only a few years, at ~2.5% you would have considerable equity in a home. This only works out if you are in a neighborhood where homes sell relatively quickly. A little research will help you determine if that is true. You are also betting on increasing home values. They are on the rise in many parts of OHio now.

So would your sales area be the entire state of Ohio and portions of MI and PA? Are you interested in being in the geographical center of your would-be region? I could let you know specific areas to consider if you could give me an idea of the major cities you would be traveling to.

The territory is all three states and centering a location is not usually necessary. Of course I will also get a recommendation from my potential employer as to where I should locate which will need to be considered but, that is never written in stone. As long as I can get to a major airport within a 2 or 3 hour drive I will be OK.

In a previous similar job I covered 13 states so a 3 state territory will be a piece of cake travel wise, I don't see doing any 900 mile days in the truck.

[bogie]

CMH is the way to go, it's a smallish airport, but big enough to have nonstops to a lot of cities. Look in the SE part of the state (south of I70 and east of US23). Avoid Zanesville like the plague unless you like crack houses, mafia, and dirty hookers. Once you hear something from your perspective employer, and accept the job, I'd suggest you start looking somewhere between Athens, OH and Columbus. It's about 1.5 hour drive from Athens to the airport in Columbus. Athens is a college town tucked in the Wayne National Forest. It's a very nice part of the state to live in. You can buy a decent house on 100 acres for less than $300k or a very nice home on 5 acres for $200k. Also I saw that some people thought property taxes were higher back in Ohio, that is partially true, especially in expensive city municipalities within the large cities. But we are talking like $2500 there versus $1500 for a comparable place here. That's just ballpark. If you take the job, you can give me a ring if you have questions. Good luck.

[brutal]

I'm spending a few days in Westchester, PA, less than an hour from the Philly airport.

Can't say much more than what I see driving from Philly to the hotel just outside Westchester, but the countryside here is beautiful. Sounds like the winters can be brutal.

[dwalker460]

I get to Ohio a couple times a year. The people are nice but the gun laws are weird. PA probably makes more sense. I grew up In TN and we had a lot of friends relocate from Ohio to TN because Ohio sucked so bad.

[hunterhawk]

Grand Rapids Michigan or anywhere around there is awesome. Get into salmon fishing on the Great Lakes and take many trips to the upper peninsula and you won't hate life. I lived there till 09 when I moved out here and I miss it. Fall is amazing I am at work but any questions you have I would be happy to answer. I grew up an hour north of Detroit and I always fly out of Grand Rapids.. The airport is very easy to get in and out of.

[buckeye4rnr]

Stay away from Michigan and PA. Northern Ohio is absolutely horrible too. Southwest Ohio is pretty nice especially Cincinnati and the surrounding area.

My experience: lived in Ohio for 25 years(Columbus and Cincinnati)

[King]

I lived in central OH for 14 years. The weather was usually hot/humid in the summer but not miserable like the south. Winters were a little colder with thicker heavier snow. They also use salt on the roads out there. Its not all bad though. Housing is significantly cheaper and the grass is greener. Good whitetail hunting down south

[kidicarus13]

Update?

[wctriumph]

First, I want to say thank you to all that responded, your information was invaluable and we were able to narrow our choices to a couple of areas in each state in the territory. Much gratitude to you all.

OK, they came to me and we discussed a rep position at a certain pay with certain benefits consistent within the industry and we discussed a time line. Then last week they came back and not one thing in the original discussion came through on the final offer so I politely declined and asked them to call me again when they needed a quality rep out here in the west and we could start over again.

That's life and life ain't fair. Oh well, I am safe where I am for now so life will go on and I get to stay in Colorado.