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Neighborhood Question
Hey there! I'm new to the C-bus board. I grew up east of Columbus, and never really had the opportunity to explore the city while I was living with my parents. After college, DH and I moved to TX, and now we've moved back. We're living in the Columbus/Gahanna area now and renting.
I think we're curious about buying a home soon, and with the extension of the new buyer's credit until April 30, 2010, I want to look around a bit. I'd like to be putting my money into a mortgage...not rent. We like where we are: good access to major highways, a good amount of trees (a big one for me), 15 minutes from downtown...but I wonder about which neighborhoods you like?
I'm concerned about safety (because like *every* city, Columbus has its pockets), good schools (because once we buy, we probably wouldn't sell for awhile and kids are in our future), access to a park or a good amount of green space, not too busy or loud...
I don't mind if its inside the outer belt or outside, just looking for your opinions about where I could be looking on real estate webpages.
TIA!
Re: Neighborhood Question
I teach in Gahanna and they have really good schools. It made the list of top 100 places to live. So if you like where you are, I know there are a ton of things on the market there.
Other great neighborhoods are Worthington and Grandview.
I would skip Grandview. I lived there for a couple years and it's not that great. Some of the homes are gorgeous but really expensive. It's mostly young couples and college kids, so a lot of the housing is rentals. The traffic there is horrendous at all hours of the day - enough that we decided to move. The school system isn't that great there either. They do have the cute little "strip" of downtown but outside of a couple restaurants there's nothing there to do.
I would go for Worthington, Westerville, Upper Arlington or Gahanna. You should spend some time in the areas you're looking at, go check out the library, parks, restaurants.
wow...there are so many people close to Gahanna on here! I also live in Gahanna. I agree, it is a great community.
We bought our house about a year and a half ago and realized that taxes in the burbs can be outrageous. What we focused our search on was finding a good school district in the burbs with Columbus taxes. We are in the Polaris area and have Columbus taxes, Worthington Schools, and a Westerville mailing address. Other areas are in the Dublin school district or Hilliard schools that you can find Columbus taxes. It really makes a big difference!!! I spent hours on remax.com searching for houses!!!
I've lived on all parts of the city (Grandview, Pickerington, Dublin, New Albany, and now Westerville/Worthington) I loved all of them, but where I am now is the best. So close to everything at Polaris: shopping, restaurants, etc.
Thank you, ladies. We're renting now, and probably will continue to do so for another year. I've found that tax rates inside 270 are also pretty bad depending on where you are.
I will continue to look, but thank you so much for your input!