PinkMartini--We too live in N.E. Ohio near Youngstown State.
It depends what you are looking for. The closer you are to any city, the higher the cost of living. Where we live we are 1 hour from almost everywhere-from Cleveland, from Akron, from Pittsburgh. 3 hours from Columbus which is truly wonderful. Its definately a growing area. In Cleveland the town of Solon is extremely beautiful. So is Lyndhurst. But a bit pricey. Kent too is a great town. Its a bit older though. But there is soooo much development everywhere. I have a ton of clients though who work in the city either Cleveland or Pittsburgh, but live in my area because cost of living os soooo cheap compared to anywhere else. You can get 4x's bigger house in my area for the same price in Cleveland and have a very small home. Please do your research though- Any questions- I would be glad to help!!!!
Mandy
PS $300,000 will buy you a 5 bedroom house. Probably close to 3,000 sq. feet. Taxes are very cheap and so are utilities!!!!!!!!!! ( in my area where I live!)