Buying my First House in Youngstown, Ohio

by ReedyfromtheYo

As many young adults do, I recently took upon the endeavor of buying my very first home. I began my search after many years (almost ten) of renting apartment after apartment, and then renting an entire house. I always enjoyed the freedom that comes with renting. An apartment felt like an over extended stay in a hotel room, it really wasn’t my place to begin with, I just stayed there for a while-I can leave anytime I want, or that is, when my lease ends. After some time, I started to see and hear the value of ownership from friends who became proud home owners. I began my search in Youngstown, focusing on both the North and south sides of the city. I first moved to the north side of Youngstown in 1999 for college, stayed mostly in the city for the majority of my time in college, and then found an amazing job in downtown Youngstown. Being familiar with living in the city, especially the north side, I had no apprehensions about moving back. I grew up in downtown East Liverpool, in a house from the 1890s my parents completely restored- and I knew I wanted something similar to the big, old house I loved so much as a child. The suburbs-Boardman, Poland and Canfield-had none of the architecture or price range I was looking for. Youngstown became my only answer. One of the first sources of opposition I faced during this time was convincing my colleagues, family and some friends that buying a house in the city was not going to be such a “terrible mistake,” as one family member put it. I listened, nodded and then explained my theory- “If you want to make the city better, don’t sit back and wait for it to happen, do it.” I feel one of the greatest problems plaguing Youngstown has been the deterioration of our beautiful and historical homes run down by numerous slum lords, blight and abandonment. Yet regardless of how anyone felt about Youngstown, I received constant lectures about my safety, property values and of course- school districts. It is a grand, all brick,...

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