Jennifer Keller interviewed nine school districts throughout Northeast Ohio when her family moved from Toledo. Avon Lake’s Redwood Elementary School immediately made a positive impression and seemed like the right fit for her 10-year-old son, Owen.
“When I met with the principal, kids [were] high-fiving him,” she recalls.
Although good schools sold the Kellers, the West Side suburb charmed the family of four in other ways too. Their 5,800-square-foot, five-bedroom home is located on the water, a peaceful feature the family had experienced — and fallen in love with — at a previous home.
“It’s like being on vacation,” Keller says. “It has such a calming effect. If you’ve had a bad day at work, [you are] able to sit out on the deck and have a drink, or sit with friends around the fire pit. [It brings] back some of the slowness of what we all had as kids, that kids don’t really have as much today.”
Spacious lakefront property makes Avon Lake particularly attractive to high-end homebuyers. “You get a little bit more elbow room,” says Howard Hanna real estate agent Kim Crane.
With its low crime rate and easy access to downtown Cleveland, the suburb is ideal for those who crave both urban amenities and a small-town feel. It also has plenty of high-end developments such as the Legacy Pointe Golf Community, which boasts features such as a pool, tennis courts and a golf course, and offers houses with diverse floor plans and amenities (including yard maintenance and snow removal).
Keller and her husband, Bob, were attracted to their house, which was built in 1994, because it had some must-have features on their homebuying list: a three-car garage with plenty of space for Bob to tinker, an abundance of natural light, an open floor plan and enough room for grandparents to visit.
Keller also likes that the all-brick house has nice touches — such as a two-story great room with custom cherrywood paneling — and well-crafted details such as crown molding, a chandelier and marble flooring.
Plus, she says that Owen, who needs a little extra help with reading, has thrived because of how caring and attentive his teachers have been.
“[He’s] jumped a grade-and-a-half in reading, which is building his confidence,” she says. “After living here for a year, I couldn’t ask for better.”
