Bexley homes?? (Columbus, Reynoldsburg, Whitehall: rent, houses, neighborhoods)

[kabou]

We are relocating to the Columbus area. I have zeroed in on Grandview, UA and Bexley areas as possible towns to buy or rent a home in. We really prefer a walking downtown, good restaurants, no sprawl, charm and older suburb feel.

I look at some of the beautiful tudor and french normandy style homes in Bexley on line and I am perplexed. Why are some of these houses-pretty big (4 bedrm/2bth between 2300-2800 sq. feet) selling for slightly over and under $400,000? These homes look like they should be slightly over 800K if not way more. Maybe I'm just bringing my northern NJ housing market into the Ohio one, but even the smaller and lesser impressive loooking homes in Grandview and UA are more expensive than some of these old gems! What's the real deal with Bexley??

[HuskerDu]

I'll bite. (and probably get bit for saying this, but...) Bexley has many great houses that are borderline mansions and an amazingly good school system. The area has many wealthy Jewish families that have lived there for generations and a ton of money was spent on making it beautiful... It really was the place to live back in the 70's before central Columbus (German Village) was well on it's way to being gentrified. This was back when the east side of Columbus, Reynoldsburg and to some extent Whitehall, were at the top of their game and were acceptable places for even the trendiest young singles to live. As I said earlier, that was back in the 70's. In the 30+ years since that time, there has been a major eastbound poverty push from downtown and the near east side that created middle class flight in just about every area of town in it's path BESIDES Bexley. Now, Bexley (however nice) has some slightly run down to pretty damn bad neighborhoods in the surrounding area. Bexley will always fight the stigma of being an "east side community" and will be less and less sought after as the central urban core of the Columbus becomes more and more gentrified.

I grew up with a ton of friends that live and have extended families in Bexley. I still go back to visit and sometimes end up stopping by cookouts at the parents houses. When I do it is absolutely amazing to walk inside their homes. You would think it was 1975 again. Some of these places are still done up in a way that would make Liberace queasy.

[kabou]

Really interesting Husker Du. I really appreciate the history. It's this little snapshot of a town and a town's history that is very hard to come by when you are relocating, but this is the main reason I post here on the forum-I need the lowdown from those who know it best.

Outside of NYC, in northern NJ, we have a town that reminds me of Bexley, it's called Teaneck. If you looked at the houses online, one could easily fall in love with the Tudors and Mansions that are very affordable. But the real story, since I know NJ well from growing up and working here my whole life, is that Teaneck was a very different town 75 up to 30 years ago as it was one of the early NYC suburbs. You can't really trust house hunting online for that very reason. Every town has a story.

It always makes me sad though because I love homes that were built pre-depression with all the bells and whistles of great craftmanship and labor.
Eventually though, many of these suburbs are reclaimed, but it takes almost a mass movement and a lot of confidence.

Thanks again. We are hoping to get out there soon to see for ourselves but all the forum talk is VERY helpful and appreciated. Looks like we'll be focusing Grandview-any insight on that HuskerDu??

[kabou]

HuskerDu, doesn't look like you got bit (bitten?) either!