Leaving Recent York for Cleveland? Here’s How Far Their Money Went.

Until Cleveland called, Sarah Scaturro thought she had all of it.

Ms. Scaturro had a plum position on the Metropolitan Museum of Art. She was renting a parlor-floor apartment in a brownstone in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn. And he or she was a 12 months right into a blossoming relationship with a fellow art enthusiast, Chris McGlinchey, a former conservationist on the Museum of Modern Art who now works remotely as a consultant.

But just because the pandemic was gaining speed in 2020, Ms. Scaturro, who was the top conservator on the Met’s Costume Institute, was offered the role of chief conservator on the world-renowned Cleveland Museum of Art. It was a dream job, however it would mean moving to Northeast Ohio, an unfamiliar area. Mr. McGlinchey had been to Cleveland just once, years before.

But town, with its reasonably priced housing and walkable inner-ring suburbs inside a brief drive of the Museum of Art, drew her. “People within the museum world know Cleveland, and know the Cleveland Museum of Art’s quality of programming,” said Ms. Scaturro, 46. “I used to be immensely intrigued, and I just decided to make the jump.”

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Adding to her confidence was Mr. McGlinchey’s assurance that their romance would survive the move, and that he was willing to affix her in Cleveland — and even buy a house there.

“We each had jobs in Recent York that we loved,” he said, “but there comes a degree when the work-life balance is out of whack.”

On the time, the couple weren’t living together. Mr. McGlinchey, 61, was widowed in 2018 and had been splitting his time between a house on the North Fork of Long Island and a house in Jamaica Estates, Queens. So Ms. Scaturro went on her own, renting a house in Shaker Heights, a leafy Cleveland suburb.

Its footprint felt absurdly large — “I had to purchase some furniture,” she said — and the rent, at $1,800, felt absurdly low. But essentially the most nice surprise was her commute to work: lower than quarter-hour on most days.

In the summertime of 2020, Mr. McGlinchey’s Queens home sold for $1.05 million. A 12 months later, the couple connected with Edith Myhre, an agent with Howard Hanna Real Estate, in Cleveland. Mr. McGlinchey planned to pay money and canopy the acquisition entirely. He was less focused on a budget than on finding a house with annual property taxes under $15,000.

In Cleveland, house hunting proved more manageable than in Recent York. “There was no smoke and mirrors,” Mr. McGlinchey said.

The couple hoped to seek out a house with a minimum of 4 bedrooms — one for guests and two for home offices. Ms. Scaturro, an avid cook, wanted a giant kitchen and space for entertaining. Cleveland’s housing stock is varied and distinctive, and with the couple’s skilled backgrounds, architectural heritage was also essential.

Amongst their options:

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