from an AP report on Shaquille O’Neal arriving in Cleveland today:
O’Neal, who will wear jersey No. 33 — his high school and college number — in Cleveland, is staying at a posh downtown hotel during this visit.
He hasn’t decided if he will buy a house, rent or stay in a hotel during his time with the Cavaliers, his fifth NBA team.
As a native Clevelander, I can tell you –if Shaq is still debating about buying versus renting– his
plane has not landed yet. I’ve seen this discussion countless times with friends transferred to
Cleveland and it always ends the same, hilarious way:
“Will we be in Cleveland long enough?”
“Do we know the areas well enough to buy?”
“Should we wait to see if you like your job?”
Then –usually at their first cocktail party– they overhear some one mention how laughably
cheap their house was and, the next day, they buy a house. Once you hear how much a
house sells for in Cleveland, all those questions go out the window. It’s like when your
dad passes a garage sale with $1 bikes- he doesn’t care if you have no room for them; he
buys them because they are too cheap to pass up. I know one lady who moved to Cleveland from
San Francisco (the most expensive real estate market in America). She ended up buying
four houses.
Take this quaint, three bed room house on the east side:
Sure, it’s small for a NBA center, but guess how much it retails for in Cleveland, OH: $950. To buy, not rent. By comparison, there’s a guy across my street in Chicago selling a stroller for $400.
