Madeira (Euclid, Kenwood, Madison: for sale, how much, house prices)

[mondesi99]

My wife & I bought in Madeira just less than a year ago. Thus far, we love it here. I work in commercial real estate and I applied some of the same investment principals in choosing Madeira as our home. Location is the broad answer, but more specifically Madeira has:

1) easy access to I-71, 275, Montgomery Rd, Madison Rd, etc. Reaching downtown is typically 15 minutes.
2) proximity to retail, restaurants and other lifestyle amenities. Madeira itself has a great Kroger, a couple coffee shops, CVS & Walgreens, a hardware store (McCabe), a butcher shop, liquor store, bike shop, etc. Kenwood Mall is directly across I-71. There are great non-chain restaurants nearby as well as 10 minutes away in Hyde Park, Montgomery, Mariemont, Milford and Oakley.
3) a couple small parks (McDonald Commons & Sellman Park) and proximity to Kenwood Country Club, Camargo Country Club, and an Indoor tennis club.
4) proximity to Indian Hill, one of, if not, the most expensive area of Cincinnati.
5) Great schools.
6) limited land for new residential development. Where new developments or teardowns are occurring, these homes are selling around $500-800k.

Each of these factors will help keep Madeira values stable or rising in the long term. I'm not implying these characteristics are unique to Madeira. Other areas offered some similar characteristics but we found a house here we were happy with. We're in a 4/2 cape cod on Dawson at $190k. It is 1,500sf, is in great condition, has an updated kitchen and baths, another 1,000sf of unfinished basement, and a detached 2 car garage on a 50'x270' lot. Dawson is under construction, but once complete will have all new utility lines, pavement and a complete sidewalk from Kenwood to Miami.

I can't speak to what Madeira values were 15, 20, 40 years ago, but we moved from Nashville and this house would have sold for twice the price in that market. I'm completely new to Cincinnati, but felt happy with our purchase.

In our scenario, we did not consider Mason an option and if we had we wouldn't have been considering Madeira. They are different, so I'm only commenting on Madeira.

[kjbrill]

Great, I am glad you love Madeira. I have said many times am glad I grew up there and went to school there. Had two kids there through part of their schooling. My brother and I will not trade Mason for Madeira in a heartbeat. As retirees to us there is no comparison. Mason beats Madeira about ten ways from Sunday. But great so many like different things or this would be a very dull world.

[kjbrill]

mondesi99 ...

Again, glad you enjoy Madeira. I grew up in a 4/2 cape cod on Mayfield Ave. at the top of Southside and Laurel ave hills. Know Dawson quite well. Used to ride my bike on Dawson over to Kenwood Country Club to caddy, back in the days when that was a going entity. Had several classmates who lived on Dawson. When my parents moved to Madeira, Euclid Rd was mostly farms and basically everything north of Euclid out to Montgomery Rd was farms. The same was true of Kenwood Rd. After attending UC I married and bought a small 3-BR ranch on Longfield Dr on the east side of town. After 13 years my wife announced we were expecting our 4th and demanded a 5-BR home. That is when I moved to Mason. Totally lucked out as the company I worked for in Norwood, my only job straight out of Madeira HS, decided the old factory was decrepit, sold it and built a new facility in Mason practically in my back yard.

My younger brother worked for the same company and also moved to Mason when the new facility was constructed. He is only about 1/2 mile from me, and both being retired we can interchange very conveniently.

I certainly don't knock the living environment in Madeira. It basically built out when GE Evendale was built and people needed a place to live. Many engineers and other professionals at GE bought homes in Madeira, modest as they were at the time. They were the ones who demanded and put Madeira Schools on the map. Being born in 1939 I benefited from that boom. Far as I can tell Madeira Schools have maintained the initiative.

My only complaint about Madeira is housing prices have become ridiculous and taxes doubly ridiculous. If you want to put up with the costs fine. I and my brother are perfectly content here in Mason. Large homes on large lots with plenty of local shopping. Don't much care if I never go south of I-275 anymore.

But Madeira was and still is a very pleasant place to live. Would take it over Oakley anytime.

[veetzvino]

Mondessi99- I really appreciate the feedback. Thank you.

[kjbrill]

labarbmb ,,, If you locate in Madeira great success. As said I can't knock the locality I grew up in too much. I gained a lot from living there, and hope you will too. And certainly it has good convenience to the City, particularly for work. But being retired now I probably will only see the City while passing through to my daughter's home in Paris KY, outside of Lexington. Even that will be marginal, as we will likely state come visit us. Just one of those revolving circumstances as life rolls on.

[veetzvino]

Thanks KJ and everyone else. We did pull the trigger on Madeira and we are really looking forward to it. I really appreciate all the great information.

[kjbrill]

Originally Posted by labarbmb

Thanks KJ and everyone else. We did pull the trigger on Madeira and we are really looking forward to it. I really appreciate all the great information.

I certainly hope Madeira is all you expect. It should be as the majority of the people who live there are just good upstanding citizens. As I said before I would take it over Oakley any day. And Mariemont is just plain too snobbish. Just be careful as you navigate through Madisonville. It was a fine place when I was a youngster, we did a lot of shopping there. But somehow it just deteriorated. There are some magnificent old houses there and there are some dumps. I keep hearing about its rejuvenation, but considering how far it has to go and the age of the properties don't expect any miracles.

Again, enjoy life in Madeira, I sure did. Consider running for city council, they need some fresh ideas.

[kjbrill]

Originally Posted by kjbrill

I certainly hope Madeira is all you expect. It should be as the majority of the people who live there are just good upstanding citizens. As I said before I would take it over Oakley any day. And Mariemont is just plain too snobbish. Just be careful as you navigate through Madisonville. It was a fine place when I was a youngster, we did a lot of shopping there. But somehow it just deteriorated. There are some magnificent old houses there and there are some dumps. I keep hearing about its rejuvenation, but considering how far it has to go and the age of the properties don't expect any miracles.

Again, enjoy life in Madeira, I sure did. Consider running for city council, they need some fresh ideas.

Labarbmb ... I truly meant what I said. Get on and run for Madeira City Council. They do need some new blood. It was the newcomers who built Madeira over the last half century. I hope you are one who helps build it into this century.

[Investor001]

Originally Posted by mondesi99

My wife & I bought in Madeira just less than a year ago. Thus far, we love it here. I work in commercial real estate and I applied some of the same investment principals in choosing Madeira as our home. Location is the broad answer, but more specifically Madeira has:

1) easy access to I-71, 275, Montgomery Rd, Madison Rd, etc. Reaching downtown is typically 15 minutes.
2) proximity to retail, restaurants and other lifestyle amenities. Madeira itself has a great Kroger, a couple coffee shops, CVS & Walgreens, a hardware store (McCabe), a butcher shop, liquor store, bike shop, etc. Kenwood Mall is directly across I-71. There are great non-chain restaurants nearby as well as 10 minutes away in Hyde Park, Montgomery, Mariemont, Milford and Oakley.
3) a couple small parks (McDonald Commons & Sellman Park) and proximity to Kenwood Country Club, Camargo Country Club, and an Indoor tennis club.
4) proximity to Indian Hill, one of, if not, the most expensive area of Cincinnati.
5) Great schools.
6) limited land for new residential development. Where new developments or teardowns are occurring, these homes are selling around $500-800k.

Each of these factors will help keep Madeira values stable or rising in the long term. I'm not implying these characteristics are unique to Madeira. Other areas offered some similar characteristics but we found a house here we were happy with. We're in a 4/2 cape cod on Dawson at $190k. It is 1,500sf, is in great condition, has an updated kitchen and baths, another 1,000sf of unfinished basement, and a detached 2 car garage on a 50'x270' lot. Dawson is under construction, but once complete will have all new utility lines, pavement and a complete sidewalk from Kenwood to Miami.

I can't speak to what Madeira values were 15, 20, 40 years ago, but we moved from Nashville and this house would have sold for twice the price in that market. I'm completely new to Cincinnati, but felt happy with our purchase.

In our scenario, we did not consider Mason an option and if we had we wouldn't have been considering Madeira. They are different, so I'm only commenting on Madeira.

Hello, I've been looking for a place closer to the hospitals around UC/Children's. However, I've had no luck as inventory has been low so I've been expanding my search to the inner ring suburbs. One of those areas is Madeira. I read through a bunch of threads and came across this one. Can anyone who knows Madiera well tell me if there is a better part of madeira than other parts. I would think being closest to the downtown area around Miami & Euclid or Miami & Camargo would be best but not sure. What specific areas within Madeira should I focus my search on? Is being walkable to that downtown important for resale. I've seen homes available on Thomas drive to the west of the downtown square, some on Euclid and some very south of Madeira closer to Madisonville which looks closer to my work. Which areas should I focus on?

[SalamanderSmile]

The ship has sailed on Madeira, there is so much pressure from builders there are not values to be had. Look at the faux craftsman new construction that plagues the MLS in Madeira. It is all about being close to that "center." Resale values will be strong for the forseeable future, people want a 4/2 so prioritize buying one of those rather than a starter house.

I have said this a bunch on this forum and gotten disagreed with but I think the vintage 4/2s north of Euclid and btwn Miami and Hosbrook are undervalued. The developers have not dug in too much there because the prices are too high and the walkability is lesser. But with new construction going into the 6-700k range in Madeira people are going to want the bigger lots sizes available in that neighborhood.