Moving from Northern Kentucky to the Columbus area--need advice (Cincinnati: for sale, real estate)

[Flossy33]

Hi. My husband took a job in downtown Columbus. We are moving from northern Kentucky (10 minutes from Cincinnati). I have a middle schooler who likes soccer and a pre schooler. We are looking for great public schools and a 30 minute or less commute for my husband. Our budget for a home is up to $550,000. I've read a lot of people suggesting New Albany because of their great schools but from what I see online, they're not ranked that great. We are looking for a newer home so Bexley is out probably. All of the Olentangy high schools are ranked very well and Dublin Jerome High School is too. Any advice on these areas or other areas near Columbus?

[2 Da Beach]

Best bet is Dublin or New Albany.. I went to Dublin schools, loved it. I live in New Albany now.. Dublin would be a great fit for soccer, huge soccer city. Check out The Wellington School, best private school. I'm a Basketball coach there. Soccer team needs some work. Wellington is in Upper Arlington another great area.. 10-15 mins from downtown. Lots of kids live in Dublin and go to Wellington
My wife is a realtor if you would like to have a list emailed to you?

[ohioaninsc]

You cannot go wrong w/ Dublin for the schools and all the programs that are offered. Worthington is also really good.

[wrightflyer]

Just keep in mind that the commute may not always be 30 minutes or less, especially coming out of the northern suburbs. I know people say that Columbus is a breeze to get around/across/through. While not LA or DC or Chicago, there is still heavy interstate traffic around Columbus at rush hour and when you hit construction zones, be prepared for delays at peak times. I would try to stay as close as possible to the beltway, without being out in the northern fringes of Olentangy Schools (like Delaware north) or Plain City's parts of Dublin Schools. $550K max could get you anywhere pretty comfortably around Columbus and the surrounding areas. Olentangy and Dublin rank as some of the best soccer schools in the state.

Olentangy (Liberty HS I think?) and Dublin Coffman HS are constantly in state finals. They usually are thorns in my local high school's side (Beavercreek) as Olentangy has knocked them out twice in state semifinals over the last four years. Keep in mind these schools are highly competitive to reach varsity level. They are Division I schools with plenty of students to select, many having been in soccer since Kindergarten. But, that also means plenty of rec leagues for students in the spring because of the wealth of players, so if the HS level isn't in the works, there are plenty of alt options.

I would rule out New Albany. If you like a disney-esque suburban designed area such as Mason (sort of), then this is for you. Think horse country around Lexington, with white fences and large estates, though fewer estates as developments spring up. That is the style of New Albany.

You can get that same master plan suburban feel in more established suburbs such as Dublin, which would be my first choice. Then Worthington (closer and underrated IMO, then Powell/Olentangy/Lewis Center, then New Albany. All are good choices, but that would be my ordering.

[Flossy33]

Thanks for all of the advice. I didn't realize that soccer was so big in the Dublin and Olentangy schools.

We did go look at a few houses this weekend in the Olentangy school district, Jerome Village area and New Albany. Jerome Village felt kind of out in the middle of nowhere but had some very nice craftsman style houses and Dublin Jerome High School is ranked very high. We would've looked at houses closer to Dublin and not Plain City but there aren't really any houses for sale right now that we liked.

Our realtor mentioned that some of the Olentangy area houses (Deleware and Lewis Center) might have some traffic issues when my husband is traveling to downtown during rush hour.

We really liked New Albany from what we saw of it. We looked at a house that Fischer homes is in the process of building and really liked it. @Wrightflyer...can you tell me a little more about why it's Disney-esque? Is it the people?

[bgfalcons86]

Dublin, Olentangy and New Albany are all considered very good school districts.

Personally, given the choice, I would opt for Dublin over the other two. New Albany just had a levy failure and is going to implement very steep pay-to-participate fees. Mind you, most folks in New Albany will be able to afford those fees, because the area is very affluent. Olentangy is very good across the board (all three high schools), but I am not a huge fan of the traffic in that Powell/Lewis Center area. Olentangy Liberty (Powell) is a perennial soccer power on the boys side.

Dublin, while a new suburb, seems to have made very solid choices with their development. IMHO, Dublin will be a very good investment choice for years to come. All three high schools are very good, by the way. Jerome and Coffman may have standardized scores on the OGT (Ohio Graduation Test) that are a bit higher than Scioto. That said, Scioto students do very well on the ACT and AP tests. Jerome serves Muirfield Village and Tartan Fields, which are exclusive golf communities. Coffman is an upper middle class school, that (IMHO) probably has the best overall athletic department in Central Ohio right now. Scioto is more socio-economically diverse than the other two, but again is a very good school.

[Zen_master]

Originally Posted by Flossy33

Thanks for all of the advice. I didn't realize that soccer was so big in the Dublin and Olentangy schools.

We did go look at a few houses this weekend in the Olentangy school district, Jerome Village area and New Albany. Jerome Village felt kind of out in the middle of nowhere but had some very nice craftsman style houses and Dublin Jerome High School is ranked very high. We would've looked at houses closer to Dublin and not Plain City but there aren't really any houses for sale right now that we liked.

Our realtor mentioned that some of the Olentangy area houses (Deleware and Lewis Center) might have some traffic issues when my husband is traveling to downtown during rush hour.

We really liked New Albany from what we saw of it. We looked at a house that Fischer homes is in the process of building and really liked it. @Wrightflyer...can you tell me a little more about why it's Disney-esque? Is it the people?

Re: New Albany, it is essentially a planned community. The most wealthy man in Ohio more or less 'bought' the city for his employees (The Limited) to call home (an oversimplification but you get the idea). The New Albany Company, a real estate holding co. / development firm, owns most of the developable land and therefore practically operates unilaterally when deciding what developments will go up. I'm guessing this is what Wrightflyer means when applying the Disney label. New Albany is a fine community, perhaps has the highest income per capita in the Columbus MSA. This may draw some fire from other posters but high per capita income areas tend to be self-selecting and NA is no different. In the aggregate IQ and income are positively correlated and income and crime are negatively correlated. Therefore, whether or not the schools offer the level of programming that other suburban districts offer (many will say NA does not) the 'stock' of students in NA is likely to be higher so the school does fairly well and has a good reputation.

Some cautionary advice with respect to NA, get a good home inspector. You can search these boards for horror stories of shoddy home construction in New Albany. However, it is not just an NA problem. I contend it is more a time-period issue with homes being constructed in Columbus from about 2000 through the housing bust in 2008 being built very rapidly and by sub-contractors with few scruples. If you can find a home built after 2008 you are likely in the clear as these would have been constructed by the surviving (more respectable) builders. Also, NA is still building out. Density is going to increase and the schools are going to look very different in five or ten years. One need only take a drive down Thompson Rd. to see the hundreds of apartments that have gone up in the last 12 to 18 months. Ask yourself what those apartments will look like in a decade and the impact that will have on the makeup of the schools. Lastly, traffic and congestion can be a pain traveling from NA to Downtown though I would contend Dublin / Powell traffic is the worst in the metro area. One way to mitigate your traffic concerns may be to look on the southwest side of NA on either side of Rt. 62 / Johnstown Rd. before reaching Dublin-Granville Rd. In addition the triangle between Rt. 62, Morse Rd. and Reynoldsburg-New Albany Rd. is going to offer closer proximity to downtown than going further north and to the east.

[wrightflyer]

^Ditto. And, yes, that was what I meant by Disney. Not that Disney and Disney-esque is bad. I like some parts of it and other parts I do not. Just a personal preferance.

Agreed also on good home inspections and newer-builds, such as what you looked at, will probably have fewer quality issues. Anything post 2008/2009 should be better, but no guarantees. Not sure if all the apartments are in New Albany Schools or if they are still Columbus Public. The lines for the districts out there (New Albany, Columbus, Gahanna, Licking) are really weird and don't always follow their respected city's municipal lines.

[baseballmom94]

Agree with all of the above comments regarding Dublin, Powell/Olentangy, and New Albany. I've been a Dublin resident for 18 years and my two children have gone all the way through the Dublin school system from K - 12. We're in the Dublin Coffman area and I highly recommend this high school (still upper middle class but more diverse than Jerome). Please let me know if I can answer any questions regarding Dublin or Dublin schools.

[Flossy33]

Thanks for the opinions everyone. So, after looking up actual tax bills for a few different addresses in Lewis Center, New Albany, Dublin and Plain city, we would like to look more into Lewis Center and Plain City now. Not dead set on that but the taxes are out of control. We just don't want to feel like we're out in the middle of nowhere. Is Lewis Center close to shopping and restaurants? Also, does it have a community pool?