Central Ohio Real Estate Trends (Columbus, Dublin: homes, public schools, taxes)

[Lairdstew]

I was wondering what everyone thought the future of Central Ohio real estate holds. The wife and I will hopefully be moving back to the area with our three little ones and are trying to decide where to live.

I feel like the exurbs are not going to be the place to live in the next 10-15 years. With the price of gasoline steadily going up and peoples interests seem to be heading to more urbanish living , I am afraid that the out lying areas are going to experience a decline both in home values and quality of education in public schools.

What say you?

For clarification, right now we are trying to decide between New Albany and Bexley.

[jbcmh81]

Originally Posted by Lairdstew

I was wondering what everyone thought the future of Central Ohio real estate holds. The wife and I will hopefully be moving back to the area with our three little ones and are trying to decide where to live.

I feel like the exurbs are not going to be the place to live in the next 10-15 years. With the price of gasoline steadily going up and peoples interests seem to be heading to more urbanish living , I am afraid that the out lying areas are going to experience a decline both in home values and quality of education in public schools.

What say you?

For clarification, right now we are trying to decide between New Albany and Bexley.

There are national trends at work now, not just in Columbus or Ohio. Migration from the urban core to the suburbs started to slow down in the early 2000s, and only accelerated during the recession, and corresponded with a steady if not growing migration from the surburbs to the urban core. Some of it had to do with the fact that people couldn't financially make the move, but there seems to be a slowly changing viewpoint about the suburbs and the city in general. The city is always going to be the heart of a metro. It's where most jobs are, where cultural amenities are, etc. The suburbs are built upon the idea that there will forever be cheap resources (like oil) to subsidize infinite growth. Unfortunately, that's just not a realistic way to build. The recession proved this in ways that all urban enthusiasts had been unable to.

Honestly, if there is any suburb (outside of the urban core) in Columbus you should be looking at, it is Dublin. They now have in place a master plan that includes increasing density by about 10 fold and building an entirely walkable environment connected with mass transit including light rail. It's an impressive plan, and one that I think other outer suburbs will take notice of. New Albany is okay if you like confusing, unplanned sprawl that's not really close to anything. They have good schools and a lot of new builds, though. Bexley is much older and was a streetcar suburb 100 years ago. It's a very insular community with good schools and older homes. It is also close to Downtown and is much more walkable than New Albany. Taxes are about the same in NA, Dublin, and Bexley.

Simply put, I think New Albany is the worst option of the two you mentioned, and there are much better suburbs that have active plans for a more cohesive, urban future.

[Lairdstew]

Thank you for the response. I feel the same way about New Albany.