Buying a condo...need your expertise (Cincinnati, Avon: real estate, rentals, condos)

[Staliz77]

Hello, everyone....first of all, I've really enjoyed reading through a lot of these posts. Cinci is a great city...I've been here almost a year (I moved here out of college when I got a great job) and love it so much. A lot of you seem to really know your stuff!

I am looking to buy a condo, and I am looking in "up and coming" areas (the idea, of course, is to watch my property value just SOAR). I have looked at about a million places, and there are a few I really like...so:

What do you think (in terms of relative safety for a young white woman and value now and in the future) of these locations?


1.) the intersection of Moorman Ave. and Wm. Howard Taft in Walnut Hills

2.) the intersection of Sycamore and Orchard streets in OTR

3.) Main St. around 13th in OTR

Thanks! Let 'er rip!

[Staliz77]

Ah, and I should also say that I currently live in Hyde Park, but am looking for some added diversity in my life...as well as cheaper properties!

[YoMikey617]

I'm a former broker turned college student... I think you can get some bargains in this market, but I don't think anyone in this town is going to see real estate values SOAR for quite some time. If you think you might want to sell within the next 3-5 years, then renting a place might be your best route as any gains will be lost with the broker fee when you sell.

I don't care how nice they say it is now... OTR is not a safe area, and I would predict that it will get less safe with the economy going downhill. OTR has another 10-15 years before it's going to be a solidly nice area... ...if even then.

I would live there because I'm a guy... But then I would want locked & secured parking. On the same note, I would gravitate toward the 2-4 bedroom condos or even single family homes in OTR instead of those 1 bed condos. Cincinnati is not a 1 bed condo town, and OTR developers are cranking out tiny 1 bed units that are not selling very well. People in Cincinnati are going to want more than a tiny 1 bed condo for $150K. It might be a city condo, but it's still Ohio...

Moorman & WM Taft probably has the most potential as does anything East of Woodburn & South of Madison. But make sure the condos are actually selling to owner occupants. Many of the condos on Woodburn are NOT selling very well and they're being leased by the developers. Builders are really good at making it easy to finance a new construction condo, but when you want to sell your place you're in a rough spot because most buyers are not going to get financing in a development with too many rentals.

The key to condos in this market:
* Low monthlies.
* High reserve accounts.
* Small associations.
* Garage parking preferred.
* Avoid oversized developments where the same floorplans are repeated more than 3-5 times. Condos in such developments are tough to sell.

[darstar]

Very few places in the Country right now , where I would consider buying property.
the best advice , is to stay liquid , rent , don't buy anything that will put into debt.

[goyguy]

I'm not "feeling" any of those locations. Mikey hit the nail on the head about OTR. And guess what East Walnut Hills is east of? Ghetto-azz Walnut Hills. Mikey's and my extra chromosome make any of your three named addresses a possibility for us, but I wouldn't advocate buying at any of them to a single woman of any age or ethnicity. Ditto for The Belvedere and the big WWI-era complex on Reading Rd in Avondale, more's the pity.

My reco is to find a cute lil house in Oakley, Hartwell, or Northside, maybe even College Hill.

If you elect to go condo, DO NOT purchase in a building with less than five units. Small condo associations are fraught with risk. As much as I like my place in a "three-decker" house, having to undergo four changes of ownership before the occupants of the other two units had compatible personalities with each other isn't something I'd wish on anyone. There was drama on the second floor initially when the husband of the couple there turned his attentions to "the bottle" and other women. Then once they were gone, their replacement was a pair of yuppie brats who took it upon themselves to bring in a dog against association rules, rototill the back yard with no notice - killing treasured plants and flowers in the process - etc. Now that the guys living there (third owners in my time) have been tamed of their wild ways (steady girlfriend in the case of one, long work hours in the case of the other) and the third-floor owner (owner #3 in my time also) has a baby to take care of, all's well. Do YOU have fourteen years to wait before your building's management is handled effectively and in good time? I didn't think so.

[YoMikey617]

I'm a big fan of the little houses in Fairfax. Fairfax is Mariemont SD, Mariemont SD inventory is always low, and homes in the MSD always sell briskly even in this down market.

As far as "up and coming areas" of Cincinnati, I only really see Northside as having the major potential because the Artist / Hippie / Gay Renovation Team is now over there. But Northside changes block by block and it's still sketchville in some areas. So you need an actual Northside broker who knows the 411 on a block by block basis to advise you on potential purchases.

When you're fresh out of college, you really have no idea where your job will take you. So staying liquid is especially important right now. Cincinnati is full of "would be outbound transferees" who desperately need to sell their cheaper homes /condos but they're trapped. Many of these people can't even rent their properties for enough to cover the mortgage and the monthly condo fees. If they move anyway, they're losing any valuation gains by maintaining their empty homes for 2+ years and paying the broker fees if they can ever sell.

[YoMikey617]

Originally Posted by goyguy

And guess what East Walnut Hills is east of? Ghetto-azz Walnut Hills.

I live in East Walnut Hills just 3 blocks from Walnut Hills. It's really not bad at all. We have occasional petty crime issues like cars being rifled through at night if we forget to lock them. But for the most part, people in WH generally just don't cross into EWH. St Ursula and UC's Edgecliffe College have their own security guards, and while they don't patrol our streets... ... I think we benefit from their guards, their closed circuit cameras and their occasional drives down our streets. Anyone who attempts to commit a crime around here will likely fall under the security radar.

[jlrosen]

This is a highly suburban slanted forum. If you want some better advice go to Urbanohio[dot]com I think OTR is a great idea.

[jlrosen]

Originally Posted by YoMikey617

I'm a big fan of the little houses in Fairfax. Fairfax is Mariemont SD, Mariemont SD inventory is always low, and homes in the MSD always sell briskly even in this down market.

.

Those places are in no way similar to what he is looking for

[Cincy-Rise]

Originally Posted by jlrosen

This is a highly suburban slanted forum. If you want some better advice go to Urbanohio[dot]com I think OTR is a great idea.

That's the sad truth. Staliz77, take this advice.